JakeyPoo

I regularly throw a 14' Starcraft 130lb aluminum boat into my 6.5' bed on my 2nd gen Ram. I put a Johnson 9.9 2-stroke and the gas in back by the stern. I tie the bow rope to the hook on the inside of the box of the truck, then one ratchet-strap with an old orange lifejacket wrapped around the bow and that gets strapped to the other hook on the otherside of the box. Legal (here in Alberta). Easy. Can launch anywhere. A 130lb aluminum boat for a 210lb 5'11" guy with eh 86ish pound motor is VERY doable. It's dragging it from the truck to wherever the water is can be a bit more challenging. Furthest I've ever dragged my boat is across my yard, about 85 feet. 2 guys makes the whole process A LOT faster. With one guy you get the stern of the boat to go in first, you offset it and deadlift the back end so the left or right corner of the stern of the boat can be put up on the corner of lowered tailgate. The you push it in so the back slides across the tailgate and lines up with the middle. Then go to the bow, and deadlift the bow of the boat up and push in at the same time. DONE. I do keep a 3/4" piece of plywood because I was strapping the boat so tight the transom handles were bending the front of my pickup truck box in towards the cab. I'm considering getting a 14' Jon boat to do the same thing. The lightest Jon I've seen is a Crestliner 1436L which is 145 lbs. But to get more durability the 1436 is 185lb. I might still be able to do that by myself. It's just the dragging that can be a bit tough. But I think 185lb by myself would be my MAX limits, I can do 130 pretty easily though. The motor is the next challenge, a 15/20hp new EFI Merc is 99lbs with 15" and no electric start. Which is about 15 pounds more than my current motor. Honestly, getting the motor in is a LOT harder than getting the boat in. But I want to get an aftermarket jet for it, that might add a couple extra pounds. So lifting a 105ish pound boat motor byself UP into the truck would be tough, carrying it around isn't as big of a deal. One problem is, those 4x4 2nd gen rams ARE VERY tall trucks stock. A short cab truck like a 2wd or a Chevy (they seem to look smaller maybe I'm wrong) would help with the whole process too. Toodleloo