question about kayaking hanging out the back of pickup truck

riverrat88 · Post by **riverrat88** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 4:31 pm

Have anyone had any trouble with law enforcement when using a truck bed extender or just having their kayaks hanging out over the back of their truck bed. I am looking at having a 13.5" kayaks hanging out the back of a 6ft truck bed myself. Any infor would be great.

REDline · Post by **REDline** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:07 pm

just put a red flag on the back, and you will be fine...I haul my yak around in the back of my ranger, and theres no prob!

jhjspecks · Post by **jhjspecks** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:12 pm

the flag must be 12 inches by 12 inches

SOUTHWESTPADDLESPORTS · Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:52 am

We always tell everyone to use the flag, we sell some here but any precut peice of red cloth or fabric will work. I think the law states that anything that sticks out over 3' needs a flag.

Chris
SWPS
chris@paddlesports.com
281-292-5600

Night Wing · Post by **Night Wing** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:18 am

I use a bed extender for my SPTW which is 14' 9'" long. Never been stopped yet by the cops.

Play2Win · Post by **Play2Win** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:02 am

The red flag is fine during day light. If traveling in the dark, i'm pretty sure you have to have a red light on any thing that extends 4' past the end of the bed.

There are a few post on this subject. Here's one of them a quick search turned up..

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... hlight=dot

TrailShoe · Post by **TrailShoe** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:56 pm

I once had a flag, but it was lost on second or third trip. I added reflectors (standard DOT type) to bed extender. Thanks for idea Flafish. Then I added reflectors to both port and stbd; bow and stern of yak. I think it makes more sense than a flag or rigging lights at night. My 15 ft Prowler hangs past tailgate about 9 ft. I have had law enforcement pass me while on road at night and day and have never had any problems.

txdiamond17 · Post by **txdiamond17** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:21 pm

I thought about this the other day. I have a mini mag light I am going to get a red LED light for and just clip it on the rope of the carrying handle. It is waterproof and it will be there when I need it. I only fish in freshwater, so it may not work for everyone.

dwilliams35 · Post by **dwilliams35** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:18 pm

txdiamond17 wrote:I thought about this the other day. I have a mini mag light I am going to get a red LED light for and just clip it on the rope of the carrying handle. It is waterproof and it will be there when I need it. I only fish in freshwater, so it may not work for everyone.

I sorta did the same thing, with a red glow-stick: buck-forty a trip, and I don't have to even worry about it working next time: I know it won't!

troutmania · Post by **troutmania** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:02 am

I got pulled over last spring and the trooper measured my kayak. He said anything over 48 inches needs a permit, flags and reflectors wont do it. He gave me a warning And I've never gotten a second lokk from anyother officer. Seen pickups with lumber hanging off the back get pulled over. Does anyone know how to get a long load permit? Might help keep me out of trouble i haul ladders all the time.

New Yakker · Post by **New Yakker** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:07 pm

I scanned the Texas Motor Vehicle Code and found the following:

§ 621.206. MAXIMUM EXTENDED LENGTH OF LOAD. (a) A
vehicle or combination of vehicles may not carry a load that extends
more than three feet beyond its front or, except as permitted by
other law, more than four feet beyond its rear.

§ 621.2061. EXCEPTION TO MAXIMUM EXTENDED LENGTH OF LOAD:
CERTAIN MOTOR VEHICLES. Notwithstanding Section 621.206, a
trailer may carry a load that extends more than four feet beyond the
rear of the trailer if the load consists of a motor vehicle that:
(1) is designed and intended to be carried at the rear
of the trailer;
(2) is used or intended to be used to load or unload a
commodity on or off the trailer;
(3) does not extend more than seven feet beyond the
rear of the trailer; and
(4) complies with each applicable federal motor
carrier safety regulation.

§ 622.042. TIME OF OPERATION; DISPLAY OF FLAG, CLOTH, OR
STROBE LIGHT. (a) A vehicle subject to this subchapter may be
operated only during daytime.
(b) In this section, "daytime" has the meaning assigned by
Section 541.401.
(c) A red flag or cloth not less than 12 inches square or a
strobe light must be displayed at the rear of the load carried on
the vehicle so that the light or the entire area of the flag or cloth
is visible to the driver of a vehicle approaching from the rear.

New Yakker · Post by **New Yakker** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:10 pm

So it looks like you get 3 feet off the front and 4 feet off the back (except for trailers), and ONLY during daytime. I wonder if the 4 feet is measured from the rear bumper or the end of the tailgate.

kc5rkg · Post by **kc5rkg** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:43 pm

I added a set up tail lights to my bed extender just as an extra precaution. It cost less than $20 to do and only took about an hour.

Fla-Fish · Post by **Fla-Fish** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:46 pm

6' bed of a Tacoma with a bed extender and never a problem.

FishingSETX · Post by **FishingSETX** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:05 pm

I carry mine in the bed and have never had a problem although the law says its too long. I have a 2003 supercrew so the bed is about 5.5' and the yak is around 11' (kingfish). I'd be curius about the tailgate thing though (does the mesurement go from the bumper or the tailgate)

Fin-Addict · Post by **Fin-Addict** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:26 am

I just tie on a red t-shirt on the end.

Harold Ray · Post by **Harold Ray** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:50 am

I added a set up tail lights to my bed extender just as an extra precaution.

I think that's a great idea!

Ray

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:27 am

Where do you buy the reflective tape?

Skinnyfeet · Post by **Skinnyfeet** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:01 am

I hardly ever carry my boats in the bed of my truck because I have a trailer and or racks. This weekend though, I was hauling an X Factor in the bed (8' bed + 2' of tailgate), so the boat was sticking out about 4'. I wasn't going that far so I didn't worry about it. I had the red flag tied on the end of the boat.

While stopped at a red light, a guy pulled up and stopped behing me. I looked in my rearview; he was completely stopped so I didn't think much about it. A minute or so later, the same &^%$ that had been stopped evidently started coasting forward ...... he hit the back of the XF, which in turn gave me a pretty good jolt.

I got out to survey the damage; the hood of his Chevy Avalance was crumpled like a beer can! I didn't see any damage to the boat or my truck, so we went our seperate ways. When I unloaded the boat later, I noticed a large dent (looked like somebody hit it with a 16lb sledge) in the front bed wall where the nose of the XF had been driven into the metal.

I said all of that to say that it doesn't take much force to the back of a boat to really screw up a truck. If you can get the boat out of the back of the truck, do it. The cost of buying racks for the truck is MUCH cheaper than what its going to cost me to get the bed fixed. I should have got the guys insurance but didn't :evil:

.

Oh, if anyone is interested ........ even though 2 trucks were pretty beat up during this encounter, NOTHING happened to the X Factor! Even after being sandwiched between two moving vehicles, there's nothing; no scratches, no busted scuppers, nothing. This boat never ceases to amaze me .......

Harold Ray · Post by **Harold Ray** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:11 am

even though 2 trucks were pretty beat up during this encounter, NOTHING happened to the X Factor! Even after being sandwiched between two moving vehicles, there's nothing; no scratches, no busted scuppers, nothing. This boat never ceases to amaze me .......

That amazes me, too. Its hard to believe a kayak could stand up to that. They're pretty tough after all!

Ray

Coastal Country · Post by **Coastal Country** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:01 pm

Even after being sandwiched between two moving vehicles, there's nothing; no scratches, no busted scuppers, nothing. This boat never ceases to amaze me .......

Out of all the boats I tested at the demo days Sat. (And everyone there got a chuckle out of me testing ALOT) the X-factor felt like you could do some damage with it.

TexasKayakFisherman.com

question about kayaking hanging out the back of pickup truck

question about kayaking hanging out the back of pickup truck

Flags, Lights, Reflectors

extenders