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I am wanting to get my first boat and am looking at a 14Ft aluminum one I am wondering if it would be too heavy for me to put in the back of my truck by myself. Does anyone else do this and is it that hard? I have a F150 if that matters.
Welcome to the forum. It is possible but not advisable. First, your going to tear the hell out of your boat, have to completely unload and reload, including the motor, every time, have to tie and flag the boat due to the overhang, AND, you will get a good start on that hernia that will plague you for the rest of your life. For a hundred bucks or less you can find a cheap, usable trailer.
Well a 14ft aluminum job boat isnt to much for one person to handle if the boat is basic but fiberglass is a different story as it would be heavier. It just all depends on the style of boat & the hull material, plus what all the boat is rigged with. Save your back & pick you up something with a trailer, in the long run you'll be glad you did. Best of luck with finding your first boat.
I car-topped a light 14' semi-vee for a while. Lot of work and scarred up both the boat and the car. Looking back 40 years later I really wonder how the heck I managed it.
I have a 10 foot boat that I've put in the back of my F150 (6.5 foot bed). With the tail gate down a couple feet of boat still hang over. I wouldn't want to leave six feet or so of boat sticking out. It might not be too heavy, just too big...
alot depends on the boat and alot depends on you..... I used to haul a 12' alum v in the back of a pickup as a kid and I would drar the boat with one hand and carry the batt in the other down the bank to the water.... then get the 7.5 outboard and full gas tank on the next trip.... one more for poles bait cooler and tackle..... back up the hill took a few more trips....
I'm 6'4" 235 lbs but I'm nearly 20 years older and wouldn't want to work that hard now... if ur 5' 140 good luck
You would REALLY do yourself, your boat, and your truck a favor by getting a trailer. Harbor frieght sells a (cheep, kinda trashy) boat trailer for around 250.00 Like I said it is cheep, lightweight and not the best but it works. A trailer would be a worth-while investment (imho).
I used to have a neighbor that hauled a 15' bass boat in the back of a truck. He made a hitch extender with a pair of rollers on it, and mounted a winch to a 2x6 which sat in the forward bed pockets on each side, he'd winch the boat into the bed onto two carpeted bunk rails affixed to a sheet of plywood. It worked but the boat took a beating and being that it had a 35hp outboard hanging on it, the transom also got pretty well abused with all that weight hanging off the back in mid air.
I car-topped a 14' for a couple of years. It wasn't that I couldn't handle it, but my time is way too valuable to get the boat off, the motor on, the equipment in, and get out there, then the reverse at the end of the day, and then stow everything when I got home, only to have to pack it again to go out next.
If your like us and want to get into those 4x4 access lakes only, You may want to look at building a bed across the top of the pickup box, turn the boat over and slide it on stern first (this should be a two man job)
and put up a stopper fence so you dont take the rear window out.
