 |
Here are some pictures of my 10 ft Portabote |
| |
|
 |
|
| |
|
 |
|
| |
|
 |
Here are a couple of close ups of the seats in the
pictures above. The seats & mounting bracket are 2 separate units. The
mounting bracket is adjustable & spring loaded. It allows the seat to
swivel. |
| |
|
 |
|
| |
|
 |
This is the jack mounting before. The 3 larger bolts are
what hold the jack to the mounting assembly. I had to replace them with
longer ones. if you do that make sure you go to an auto supply place & get
class 8 ones, don't use the ones you get in a hardware store. they have to
have high shear strength. |
| |
|
 |
I cut a piece of 1 inch angle iron the same length as the
jack mounting plate and drilled 3 holes through it to match those on
the plate & bolted it on. You can see the bolts 2 pictures below this one. |
| |
|
 |
This assembly is the front Bracket. The rear is done the
same way, except for the metal inserts. I wielded it onto another section
of angle iron (the small bolts can be removed after wielding. The white
piece is the actual porta-bote bracket I bought (for an outrageous amount)
from the dealer. The 1 inch angle iron has 2 holes drilled in it, to bolt
it to the piece I added to the camper jack. (see next picture) The 2-
metal 1 inch pieces inside the white bracket are wielded in place to
prevent the boat from sliding forward. ( so it can't be removed by thieves
or fall out during transit. the curvature of the boat prevents it). I
purchased the boat first, positioned it in the back & then marked where
these pieces had to go. I cut the pieces & doubled checked their position
before doing so. I can hang this assembly on my garage wall when not in
use for storing the boat. |
| |
|
 |
Here you can see the assembly holding the boat support
fastened to the angle iron attached to the jack. I used wing nuts here,
but for security I'm going to use regular nuts & a lock washer. I took
the picture before painting it, so it could be seen easier. |
| |
|
 |
Here you can see both ends fasted on the camper. If you
look at the last picture, you can see how the boat positions. On my camper, the brackets end up 110
inches apart. This is about 11 inches more than the recommended separation
for the 10 ft boat. The 10 ft boat when folded is 129 inches long, so
about 20 inches is in the front bracket. It is sturdy & stiff enough that
this supports it OK. A 12 ft boat would have been about right, & I think
my door would have just opened past it OK (super cab). I only wanted the
10 footer, though. I think on a 10 or 11 foot camper, the separation might
be too much for the 10 footer. The 12 would be fine. The dealer did not
recommend the 8 footer, by the way, I thought that might fit upright on my
rear ladder. The cost difference was negligible, so I believed him that
the 8 footer is not really stable enough. If your camper is longer, You
might have to wield some cross pieces to bring the brackets closer
together. My camper is a 9 ft 5. I was prepared to make an aluminum
sleeve that would fasten to the underside of the camper overhang to
support it in the center, but it was not necessary. Notice the exhaust
location, its about 18 inches from the bottom of the boat. I might have to
wrap some foil around the boat in this area to protect it. or make a
tinplate sleeve. |
| |
|
 |
Here is a view looking at the rear support. The clearance
between the angle iron & the fiberglass side is about 3/4 of an inch. The
angle iron will not bend into the side of the camper, its very stiff. The only storage bin blocked by the boat is the one pictured here.
I don't need access to it while the boat is on. |
| |
|
 |
Here is boat mounted on the truck |