# cooler/rod rack



## Scrubby

Sooo. im starting to get things together so I can drive on the beach this year.. I think I have a pretty good idea of things I will need and need to do. I was just wondering about rod rack placement on the truck. I see alot of you have your rod/cooler racks on the front, and i get that you can keep a visual on the rods and the sand ect.. I have the opotunity to build one for the rear of the truck.. is it even worth putting one on the rear or should I concentrate just on the front? I also fish a pier quite often and having a nice set up in the rear of the truck is ideal.. just looking for opinions.. Thanks guys..


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## 1BadF350

Will it interfere with putting your tailgate down?


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## Dan Voss

I like the front if for no other reason it keeps a lot of the sand and road filth from being thrown up onto my rods and reels.


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## Scrubby

Thanks for the reply guys.. Im thinking of going an alternate route.. Im making a rod rack for the rear section on the bed and im looking to come up with some storage ideas..


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## John Smith_inFL

> The front mount keeps a lot of the sand and road filth from being thrown up onto the rods and reels.


if you read the archives about mounting rod and cooler racks, you will see that the majority of seasoned beach drivers
only use the front rod holders for short beach driving and for holding/storing the rods while fishing. NOT highway driving.
While in transit, the rods are stored inside your vehicle, strapped to the top of your ski rack or in the back of your truck.

Just read the back posts and make your own decisions accordingly. It's YOUR truck, do it your way.

Highway driving at 70 miles per hour with a dozen rods on the front bumper surely indicates an over zealous ego and vanity.
Not to mention any damage to the rods that may occur from rocks tossed up by the vehicles in front of you.

Also, you mentioned you


> fish a pier quite often and having a nice set up in the rear of the truck is ideal..


Do you drive your truck onto the pier ?? Or park in the parking lot and truck your gear to the fishing spot. (just wondering)

Jus my dos centavos

an idea that I have been toying with is an aluminum tube rod holder that fits in the trailer hitch receiver of my Jeep Cherokee . . . 
then, when at the beach, it is removed from the hitch receiver and transferred to an aluminum sand spike that
will accept the rod holder hitch arm. This will allow quick moving from one fishing spot to another with little effort about the rods.
As you can not open the rear hatch of the Jeep with rods in the rear bumper mount setup.


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## Benji

Highway driving at 70 miles per hour with a dozen rods on the front bumper surely indicates an over zealous ego and vanity.
Not to mention any damage to the rods that may occur from rocks tossed up by the vehicles in front of you.

I was in a drive through line at a fast food place one time, behind a nice lifted f250 with six really nice roller rods with big gold internationals on them perched in rod holders mounted to a tool box in the bed. Looked bad ass till he didn't notice the overhead bar with the hight restrictions on it. Out of sight out of mind I guess. Learned some new words when dude got out to look 
after hearing all but one snap.


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## jef400dread

I see a lot of the NCBBA old timers with the racks on the front. Some of them look like high dollar custom aluminum racks, others are home-made PVC versions. I like to assume that these guys know what they're doing and have a great reason for putting them up front. I've never asked any of them, but my guess would be for 2 reasons; to not interfere with the rear tailgate and bed usage/storage, and the view. Most the time I see a few of these trucks together, they are parked facing the breaking waves. I assume (again) that they are scouting spots. Front mounted racks (with room for bait coolers and cutting surfaces) allow them to quickly get bait in the water once they find a hole. I also assume they are on the beach in less than swim suit weather. Having the front mounted rack would allow you to sit in the cab, with bait in the water, and a rod in the rack, with the tip visible. You get to stay warm and dry until a strike.
But I can't see how long rides on the highway could be better for your reels in this location. Perhaps they travel with the rods and reels on a roof rack, and throw them on the front rack when they air down.


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## John Smith_inFL

.

.

. . . . . . . There ya go

.
.

. I'm surprised nobody has suggested http://www.rodrack.com/rod-racks/ for some ideas.


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## Scrubby

BarefootJohnny said:


> if you read the archives about mounting rod and cooler racks, you will see that the majority of seasoned beach drivers
> only use the front rod holders for short beach driving and for holding/storing the rods while fishing. NOT highway driving.
> While in transit, the rods are stored inside your vehicle, strapped to the top of your ski rack or in the back of your truck.
> 
> Just read the back posts and make your own decisions accordingly. It's YOUR truck, do it your way.
> 
> Highway driving at 70 miles per hour with a dozen rods on the front bumper surely indicates an over zealous ego and vanity.
> Not to mention any damage to the rods that may occur from rocks tossed up by the vehicles in front of you.
> 
> Also, you mentioned you
> Do you drive your truck onto the pier ?? Or park in the parking lot and truck your gear to the fishing spot. (just wondering)
> 
> Jus my dos centavos
> 
> an idea that I have been toying with is an aluminum tube rod holder that fits in the trailer hitch receiver of my Jeep Cherokee . . .
> then, when at the beach, it is removed from the hitch receiver and transferred to an aluminum sand spike that
> will accept the rod holder hitch arm. This will allow quick moving from one fishing spot to another with little effort about the rods.
> As you can not open the rear hatch of the Jeep with rods in the rear bumper mount setup.


I am always driving with people in the car, and i do not have a cap on my truck.. Keeping rods inside the cab of my truck is inconvienent at best, especialy if I plan to go on the beach with my kids in the truck. so my plan is is to make a rod holder for the back part of the bed of the truck to keep them out of harms way from shifting coolers and gear. its not vainty its out of nessesity, and yes I do drive on the pier..


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## John Smith_inFL

aaaahhhhhhhhhh so !!
I think the majority of the folks here mistook your question to be a *VERTICAL* rod rack !! (I know I did)
WAY back when I had an open truck with no cap, I made a simple plywood box that mounted
to the top edge of the truck bed to keep my tackle in. Cut 2x4s to go into the square holes
to secure the box to the bed top. Not as pretty as a fully welded aluminum
diamond plate box with chrome locks of today, but it worked for me. (and very cost effective).
I have not been there yet, but, Tampa Florida has an awesome pier you can drive on for fishing.
Hope to get there this summer. Driving right up to your fishing spot and having not to haul all your creature
comforts around has got to be the bomb .....

Okay, to your original question: I have seen guys use 6" PVC pipe to store the rods in - - - the reels are kept
locked up inside the car/truck. With some Krylon paint, you may be able to match the color of your vehicle.
This is what I will be doing for my new '96 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 as some of my one piece rods are 7' long.
Then, figure out a way to put a small padlock on it.
If your bed is 8' long, you could easily fabricate a very nice box to hold all your rods plus have a section
reserved for your reels. Just ensure nobody can walk away with your whole box.

Edit: Could you please estimate the size of the container you are thinking of ? Length, Width and Height ?

Sorry for the confusion. . . . . . 
Johnny


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## Scrubby

BarefootJohnny said:


> aaaahhhhhhhhhh so !!
> I think the majority of the folks here mistook your question to be a *VERTICAL* rod rack !! (I know I did)
> WAY back when I had an open truck with no cap, I made a simple plywood box that mounted
> to the top edge of the truck bed to keep my tackle in. Cut 2x4s to go into the square holes
> to secure the box to the bed top. Not as pretty as a fully welded aluminum
> diamond plate box with chrome locks of today, but it worked for me. (and very cost effective).
> I have not been there yet, but, Tampa Florida has an awesome pier you can drive on for fishing.
> Hope to get there this summer. Driving right up to your fishing spot and having not to haul all your creature
> comforts around has got to be the bomb .....
> 
> Okay, to your original question: I have seen guys use 6" PVC pipe to store the rods in - - - the reels are kept
> locked up inside the car/truck. With some Krylon paint, you may be able to match the color of your vehicle.
> This is what I will be doing for my new '96 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 as some of my one piece rods are 7' long.
> Then, figure out a way to put a small padlock on it.
> If your bed is 8' long, you could easily fabricate a very nice box to hold all your rods plus have a section
> reserved for your reels. Just ensure nobody can walk away with your whole box.
> 
> Edit: Could you please estimate the size of the container you are thinking of ? Length, Width and Height ?
> 
> Sorry for the confusion. . . . . .
> Johnny


I think I have the rod rack plans all settled.. My storage idea is, im going to get a plastic or resin strage cabinet with a couple of shelves I will drill a couple of holes in the side to put a lock through to match up where the tie down is in the front of the truck.. Ill put the lock inside the cabinet, and then I will be able to lock the doors of the cabinet as well. I have a spot to put a board across my bed toward the front, that will also keep my larger cooler and buckets from sliding around.. It may be a little crude but I think it will work out for me..this way i can keep stuff in my truck whan i plan on a couple of days fishing in a row and it will be pretty easy to remove when needed.. The cabinet Im looking for is going to be 18' deep 26-28 inces wide and anything under 36" high should be fine..


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## jef400dread

Oh snap, I completely misunderstood this thread too. I was thinking you meant on the front of the truck. I've built 3 different versions of rod racks for the bed. All close to the cab, with the rods pointed up about 45 degrees out the back. They'll all clear a 13' rod going through a tunnel. I like the all PVC one most. Very portable.














Pardon my inability to properly attach pictures.


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## Scrubby

jef400dread said:


> View attachment 15003
> Oh snap, I completely misunderstood this thread too. I was thinking you meant on the front of the truck. I've built 3 different versions of rod racks for the bed. All close to the cab, with the rods pointed up about 45 degrees out the back. They'll all clear a 13' rod going through a tunnel. I like the all PVC one most. Very portable.
> View attachment 15001
> View attachment 15002
> 
> 
> Pardon my inability to properly attach pictures.


Very nice jeff, Im wondering if I could make a version of the rack in the first picture and use clamps somehow to hold it against the rear of the bed.. this would also make very portable and easy to remove..


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## jef400dread

If you zoom in on the first pic, you can see square holes cut in each end of the top 2x12. The 2 blocks sitting on top of the rack (with big eye bolts driven down into them) drop down into those holes, and secure the rack into equal sized bed openings on the top plane of Dodge 1 ton beds. Those inserts were a few pieces of 1x2 that were glued together in a way to have the tightest fit into the bed "pockets". The eye bolts were added just to give me something to grab onto when time to remove them. That rack worked pretty good, but even with the spanning 2x12 and the other assorted 2x4 and 2x6 lumber I used to make it, the weight of (4) 12'-13' rods made the whole rack bow/lean back more than I considered aesthetically pleasing. 
This was also designed around my lawn cart that I use as a pier dolly. That thing slid right up in the space between the 2 sets of 3 tubes. Getting that cart in and out of a truck with 8" of lift and 37" tires was not fun.


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## printrman

I have one of these and absolutely love it. It swings out 90 degrees so the tailgate can open w/o any obstruction. Put a few rod holders on it and you're good to go

http://www.stowaway2.com/store/products/580/StowAway-Surf-Fishing-Rod-Rack-SwingAway-Frame


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## jbwilli

Go to cpidesigns.com
Open all the tabs. It will give you ideas!
They make some of the BEST rod holders on the planet!
They are proud of them1 $$$$ ,but they are high quality!


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## Axemanco3

here is what I use. Fits on the plates of the bed liner and can go in front or back. Holds 5 rods and the sand spikes but is homemade so you could do it however you want.


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## Papa-T

Well years ago I purchased the aluminum reels-on-wheels cart and the aluminum carrier that attaches in the two inch receiver in the rear of my Chevrolet 2500. Since I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains I only get to the OBX twice a year. I like the setup because I can use it to carry my surf fishing gear when driving on the beach and now with the closers the NPS does all the time, I can drive up to the closer to vehicles (ropes or signs); unload my cart and walk away from the crowd. I've never had any problem with sand getting on my reels or anything. However, I do drive with a common sense.


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