I'm embarrassed to say that it took me a few years to realize I could hang my Ecuador hammock from the rack when I was camping but better late than never. About every 3rd weekend, last season, I would camp on Friday night so that I could get in a 2nd fossil day on Saturday. The only problem with sipping my gin and tonic while lounging in my truck hammock is that it attracts an enormous amount of initial attention. Everyone is friendly and curious but I have a lot of questions to answer before I can kick back into fossil-daydream mode.
The ladder rack works overtime hauling my kayaks but I constantly deal with the problem that my Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 is a barge, weighing in around 68 lbs unloaded, and while I am fairly strong for my gender and age, it's a feat to get it on top on the rack after a full day of digging in the Peace River.
I previously blogged about figuring out how to pull my kayak and gear up the river banks with a rope attached to my truck. How could I use my truck to help me get the kayak loaded? I have lots of mental sketches involving the cranks used to pull boats onto trailers but I haven't gotten around to creating that system yet. What I did do was figure out a way to use a tie down strap to at least pull the nose of the yak off the ground and stabilize it while I finish the task. I knot the strap on the ladder rack's prongs, loop it over the top rail, and tie it to the nose of the yak. Lots of trial and error as there has to be just the right amount of slack and the strap must be positioned exactly, but overall, for a basic caveman approach, it helps when my shoulders are feeling a bit rubbery at the end of the day.
Someday, this Ford Ranger is going to give up on me and when it does, I will have to move on to...the exact same setup!
Fossilized deer antler from Peace River, Florida.
I use the ladder rack on my truck for everything EXCEPT carrying ladders. When I bought my first kayak on Craigslist I also found a used ladder ... eladderrack.blogspot.com
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