While I wish we could trust everyone out there, we don’t live in a perfect world where theft isn’t a thing. I often make long road trips solo for my fishing trips and sticking all my rods inside my truck cab at every stop I make is a pain in the ass. So I’m going to show you how to keep your rods from growing legs and walking off while you are in the bathroom or grabbing a quick bite to eat with this DIY bed rack or roof rack mounted fishing rod tube. Building one of these yourself will save you a decent chunk of change compared to just buying a premade one online.
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Ok, the first thing you need to do is grab some pipe. I found 10-foot lengths of 6″ PVC pipe at Lowes locally for around $65 a piece, so not really cheap but one of the only big buys you need for this project. If you don’t think you need to go that big you can get a 4″ PVC Pipe or if you think you need a bit larger you can go with an 8″ PVC pipe. For reference, I can fit a St. Croix Mojo Bass with a Shimano Stradic 2500 reel into the 6″ PVC pipe snuggly.
The next thing you need to get a “conduit carrier kit” online. I got mine from Amazon for under $60 bucks for the kit. These are also available in other sizes but the cost changes as you go up or down in size. They are all pretty similar, an end cap, a door, and brackets to mount it to your bed or roof rack. These are the two big buys for the fishing rod tube.
Other things you will need to get for the roof or bed rack mounted Fishing Rod Tube, are 2 cans of Krylon Fusion paint, 1 tube of silicone, and 6 stainless self-tapping screws. Now you got everything you need the first thing you need to do is scuff up the surface of the PVC pipe with sandpaper or a sanding block. This is for better paint adhesion later. After that is done give the PVC pipe a wash to get rid of all the dust and dirt. This is the best time to also cut down the PVC pipe to the length you want your fishing rod tube to be. I fish a lot of 9ft long one-piece rods from the pier so I cut mine to 9 foot 2 inches. I also cut mine after I painted but I don’t recommend that. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go with a full 10′ or not at this point and decided the trim was for the better.
Then degrease the pipe with some alcohol. After that is done the pipe is ready for painting, pick whatever color you like. Or just sand off the PVC markings and call it a day with the white of the pipe and skip these next steps.
Set up your pipe on whatever painting stand you have, I used some scrap wood to make mine. Then follow the directions on the can and paint a couple of coats of paint. Let this cure overnight after you get the coats on the paint for the hardest finish. You can also use clearcoat if you want to help protect the finish, I didn’t because I was in a rush but I also have a few scuffs where I scratched off the paint too.
Once your PVC pipe is cut to length and the paint is set on it, it’s time to attach the end caps of the conduit kit to it. First, put a bead of silicone or adhesive of your choice around the lip of the caps. This has two purposes, one to adhere the caps on and two as weatherproofing to keep the rain out of your fishing rod tube. After you get a good bead on the caps firmly stick them onto the PVC pipe. Then take your self-tapping screws and stick 3 of them in each cap to really lock the caps onto the pipe. This is the end of the building portion, the rest is just mounting.
Now get the provided mounting hardware and figure out where you want the fishing rod tube to sit. I mounted mine on a cheap Harbor Freight Aluminum Bed Rack so I needed to drill some holes to mount it in place.
Position the fishing rod tube so it doesn’t stick out too far out the back of your vehicle, for my truck I have it sticking out as far as the tailgate would be when its open. Once you have the holes drilled or the mounting point picked just set your fishing rod tube on the mount and lock down the provided U-Bolt and nuts. Throw a lock on it, no point in having secure storage without a lock to keep it secure. Then you’re done, ready to go. No more having to worry about someone snatching your rod while you run to the bathroom at that pit stop in the middle of nowhere on your way to fish.
One last note, either grease or repaint the U-Bolts that are provided after you assemble everything. A lot of kits aren’t using stainless bolts so salt exposure eats them up.
