The kayak is 12'8" and the pickup is a 4 door Ford. So, the pickup bed is pretty short.

Can you safety and legally transport a kayak of this length in that pickup bed? I'm not sure if it will fit or not.

Anyone tried doing this before? Any suggestions on the best way to do it?

Thanks!

I have the Ascend FS128T (which I am assuming you have) and can load in a four door Tundra at an angle with only 2' sticking out. I would not go longer than 4' or 5' sticking out to prevent damage to the kayak from stress from road bumps and gravity. That yak is heavy and the scuppers are the only support in the middle and I am not a fan of that flimsy deck supporting a heavy load. Conceivably you could hang 6' off the back but that is approaching halfway and that would surely cause your yak to stress break in the middle or around scuppers.
Being that it is at an angle you can safely see it in your side rear view mirror if your truck is loaded down and you cannot see the yak in your rear view.
I also leave a red flag tied to my front handle at all times and don't need to put it on and take it off all the time.
I strap it in using ratchets tied to the front handle running back to bed to secure it in place using two straps total (redundancy). Works fine.

We had a Native Ultimate 14.5 in the same deal here, i fabed up a small be extender that
mounted in my 2" reciever coupler. Yes about little over 4' stuck out past the bed some
it was secured well. Had some good carpet padding on it, strap it down good and you
should be fine. Never really took long trips with it, and no LEO never did mess with me.
Nice part about loading it that way, was easy unload for this old man, back down to water and
dump it off. Also had plenty of the DOT red/white reflective tape on post and side braces of it,
so at night it was great reflector!...


gud fishing.....

For states that I know of, something extending more than 4 feet behind needs a red flag that is at least one square foot, plus lights at night. Look into a bed extender, they are pretty cheap. I made some lights so I'd be legal at night or early morning. I also carry a copy of the regulations in my glove box in case an LEO ever stops me.

15 footer in a Chevy S10. No support.

Thanks for the help. The kayak is a Diablo Amigo that was unexpected, so I'm scrambling to figure how to get it home. Sounds like I should be able to do it without a trailer, but it also sounds like a trip to Harbor Freight for a bed extender could make it a little easier on the kayak.

Thanks!

The harbor freight bed extender works great for me.

I have the same truck (F150 Supercrew).

With the tailgate down, my FS128T sticks out about 5 feet past the taillights.
I have not needed a bed extender when transporting. I have 2 straps going across (where the truck bed tie-downs are at).
I have had no problems.

As Tallgrass said, make sure you put a red flag.
You can get Tow lights from Harbor Freight and use them for added visibility.



PS: I just added a low profile truck tool box which takes about 2 feet of space, so I'll need to re-think the way I normally transport my kayak
When I get time to figure it out, I'll be posting a thread about it.

Here is my four door Ford F150 with a toolbox. My yak is 12' 8" also and I just purchaed a pickup bed extender from eBay for $55, no tax or shipping. Its lightweight, works great, and even came with a red flag.

I am lucky enough to have four doors and a long bed. Here is how I transport my Big Rig (13'3"):



I have a full bed box that raises the bed floor 10", plus a futon on top (a nice cushion for my yaks to rest on!), so I welded up an adapter for my bike carrier:



I attach the midships grab handles to lashing points in the bed, attach a lashing strap through the closest scupper holes and then through the kayak adapter (also a place to run a Python Lock), and lash the window down, as well. I have driven with this set up just over 200 miles at 65mph, and not even a shimmy! The front 1/4 of the yak is supported, as well as the support of the yak adapter at about 1/4 from the stern. There is no contact on the top rail of the tailgate, to prevent creasing the keel. The bike rack pivots down to allow loading through the lowered tailgate. The only draw back is dust inside the camper, when I drive to certain locations with unimproved roads.


cricman

Thanks for the help everyone. I brought the kayak home today without any issues. Thanks for the advice, the bed extender worked great. I won a Casting for Recovery edition of a Diablo Amigo kayak. I was just making a donation and had no expectation of winning anything. So, I was not prepared to transport it. A very big thank you goes out the team at Tailwaters Fly Shop in Dallas for holding it for me.

The Amigo is a improvement from the kayak I've been using. I'm excited to take it fishing.

Thanks for the help.

You might want to pad your bed extender cross bar where the kayak is riding to provide a little extra cushioning. I zip tied extra large pool noodles to my bed extender.

I agree. It got me home today, but that is the last I'll use it without some sort of padding. I was thinking about using electrical tape to hold the padding on the bar, but zip ties are a better idea. Thanks!

congrats-p-

It's pink! take it back...lol Don't forget you need the lights.

Congratulations!