NMPRA

I have been racing 424 for 1.5 yrs now and my truck has been maxed out with the bed full and the back seat also full just with my 424 equipment. I have a tonnau cover on my truck


I am now going to move up to 426 and 422 classes and will need to carry more airplanes. I am also to that part of my life where I want to carry some comfort items with me. My wife and I talked it over and it came down toooooooooo either putting a topper shell on the bed or tow a trailer. I all ready have a 7'x16' enclosed trailer but that is a bit large for airplanes and it can create logistical problems when stopping for meals or at a motel for the night. We finally decided on a camper top with a bedslide in the bed. I felt that I could get everything in the bed of the truck and leave the back seat area empty so if we needed some overflow area we would have it.
I bought a Leer 100XR Cap

With the side WinDoors and other options.

and the Bedslide (Isaw one in Jim Katz's truck)


Now I have to design and build a light weight, sturdy, and strong rack to store my pride and joy's on

I have been thinking of this rack for a year so every time there is a race I am wandering around looking how others are packing and storing their planes. I finalloy decided on pine wood for the material and to make 1X2 angle boards for strength and lightness.


I used Gorilla glue and deck screw to hold them together.

The corner joint I notched and then glued and screwed them together

When I had the basic structure completed

I laid out the fuselages and I got an idea for how far apart they had to be

Then I cut the notches and test fit the fuselages


Next to test in the truck.

I put the frame in the truck and it was kind of loose and not very stiff

I decide to bolt it to the Bedslide and installed metal threaded insert into the frame.

After bolting the frame in it was great. Very solid

Nice, Barry - class act!

Trying to get it finished in between the rain. I noticed that the foam I put on rotated the fuselage and the exh. pipes rested on the bare wood. The long board in the pic is to be an installed baffle to protect the tailfeathers when sliding in the wings on the to be built shelf under the fuselages.

here is a view of the baffle installed and the shelf supports for the wings.

I re-installed the foam on the fuselage support rails and it seems much better that the other way.

Re-installed in the truck. Now to fill it up with Pylon racers and equipment and get ready to go to OJA for a practice weekend.

This was the truck loaded for Mulberry and I had room left over. I was very lucky with this project as it came out better than I expected.