bjornarhuse

You can see some of the issues and solutions here:

mbb

What's your definition of long?
I have a bed extender that plugs into my trailer hitch. It was $90
I can carry 16 ft lumber in my bed using it. Or small boats.

My bed extender supports at about 11 ft from front of bed.
with a 18" hitch extender that can be moved back to 12.5 ft.
I've carried a lot of 16 ft deck lumber and 12' siding planks. And i have a light 13.5 ft
​​​​​​boat for fishing some spots i carry too.

Works amazingly well to be so cheap. Just crank everything down good with ratchet straps
When not needed it comes apart and sits in a closet in the garage
If you can weld you can custom make your own for sure.
So much easier than hooking up a trailer to pick up a small quantity of lumber or siding etc.

Like this

bjornarhuse

@mbb Nice, but two issues: coppers here may freak out if you have loads sticking out a lot. The statutory rule is 1m (about 3 bananas), but they usually don't make a fuss unless it is twice that.
Other issue: I don't have a hitch socket (yet), I just have a ball screwed into the bumper. Not sure if I'm allowed to keep it since it obscures the license plate. If that happens I'll either install it when I need it or I have to get a under-mounted hitch. I may have to get a socket and a drop hitch anyways, as the bumper ball is far too high for twin-axle car haulers...

cfauvel

I priced out a very good 8 foot truck bed for my 1997 f150 at the junkyard and it was $300 (USA)....would cost a pretty penny to ship it, but imagine it would be a lot less work. Even the truck bed that I cut up for sheet metal replacement would be less work for you...but kuddos for your work.

bjornarhuse

@cfauvel Yeah, I'm envious... Most truck bed junkyards won't ship at all, so I haven't bothered finding a price with the forwarder who ships a container with car parts to Norway every week (still takes 4-6 weeks).

cfauvel

Yeah you would have to work with enthusiasts to pickup the bed from the junkyard and do the necessary leg work to ship to you.

mbb

I've never looked up any actual rules here but as long as you've got a red flag tied to the end of it and reflective tape on it, that seems to be all anybody cares about.