Rod cases

[mtang45]

Been lurking here awhile, great site and lots of good info. Just curious what you guys transport your high dollar 1 piece rods in?

[Scott F]

Either a rod rack that hangs from the ceiling of the cap over the bed of my pickup, or the rod box in my boat.

[mtang45]

 

35 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Either a rod rack that hangs from the ceiling of the cap over the bed of my pickup, or the rod box in my boat.

I have recently become a St Croix fan and managed to break two of them on separate occasions.  I'm thinking the bed of my truck with all the other stuff is not a good place to transport unprotected.

[Scott F]

Have you got a cap on your truck? This is what I have mounted inside the cap on the ceiling. I don't have the longest bed so I mounted it on an angle. I can get 4, 7 footers hanging.

 

[mtang45]

I agree your setup would be ideal. Unfortunately my pickup does not have a cap and has a roll away cover, so attachment by that method is not possible.

 

Does anyone make tubes for long rods?

[islandbass]

30 minutes ago, mtang45 said:

I agree your setup would be ideal. Unfortunately my pickup does not have a cap and has a roll away cover, so attachment by that method is not possible.

 

Does anyone make tubes for long rods?

I can't recall who, but someone here posted what the did to carry their rods by way of a pvc tube on top of their SUV and even incorporated a way to secure (lock up) the rods inside the tube. 

 

With a little creativity and ingenuity, I  believe it could be modified/adapted to suit your truck. 

 

I think his carrier was made to accommodate rod with reel attached. 

 

If I ever get around to it, I'd use his awesome design as a foundation to start with and modify it to suit my needs, i.e., fit it to the top of a car and store the rods inside in protected from each other to eliminate damage for the banging around they're bound to do inside during transport. 

 

I am overly protective of my true bass rods in that I won't tolerate even the smallest amount or chance of them vibrating and banging up on each other during transport. And will never leave them in my car exposed to view for even a microsecond. 

 

The price I pay for that is that my 2-piece trunk rods get the action 90% of the time and my "true" bass rods might see action on the weekend. 

 

I built what I call a rod quiver that allows me to transport my bass rods in my car with the back seat down. The quiver does a fair job of keeping the rods isolated and it also allows me to carry 3 rods in one hand. 

 

I think of my quiver as a crude solution to carry my one piece rods around the lake and in the car. 

 

Hopefully our fellow angler who made the rod carrying apparatus for the top of his SUV will chime in. If I find the thread, I'll add the link here. 

[Raul]

Rod tube.

[Bluebasser86]

Passenger seat of my truck. 

[TOXIC]

I went from a 3/4 ton standard bed to a 1/2 ton short bed and I fish from a lot of my friends boats as much as I do mine so I am always loading 7 to 8 rods in the bed of the truck.  Will be doing it Saturday as a matter of fact.  In my new truck I have to load the rods corner to corner whereas my old truck they would almost go straight in.  In all of my years of fishing I have broken 2 rods, both my fault because I didn't take the time to load them properly.  There are a number of things you can do.  The best way is to put them in a soft sided zip up travel case. It gives them support and protects the tips.  I'm usually too lazy to load them into the case and for me the cases only hold about 4 rods rigged.  So what i do is this...Most importantly make sure the bed of the truck is loaded so that nothing can fall on, slide into or catch the rods.  Second, I am usually taking a soft sided tackle bag so when I load the rods, the butt ends all lay on top of my soft sided tackle bag.  That helps give them a cushioned base and helps them from sliding or moving.  I also keep an old packing blanket in the truck and I wrap it around the tips and upper sections of the rods.  That keeps them from hitting the bed wall and if they do move they are protected.   I have a sprayed in bed liner that is slick as snot and I went to Tractor supply and bought 2 thick stall mats that I cut to fit the bed.  They are tough rubber and nothing slides inside the bed.  I also have the folding cover and you just have to make sure the tips don't get wedged in it.  

[mtang45]

Thanks for all the feedback. I guess there is not a universal case that would work for most people in most vehicles. Everybody has  a different situation. Think I'll get some PVC pipe and see what I can rig.

[Further North]

Try a 7 1/2 foot long piece of 4" - 6" diameter PVC pipe.  Buy two caps, stuff the inside of the caps with foam.

 

You can buy commercial rod tubes, but they won't be as durable as the PVC.

 

You'll have to take off the reels.

[Drunkentigerrr]

Everything rod glove.