need truck rack to carry 2 canoes in 2006 ford ranger truckbed

[chickyboy]

I want to carry two 16' canoes in the truckbed of my 2006 Ford Ranger extended cab pickup truck. What are people using most often for accomplishing this. I do want to be able to still haul other stuff, camping gear etc, in the truck bed while the canoes are loaded so I would ideally like the canoes to be up high and extending over the cab roof.

[gearMONSTER]

There are two methods that most people choose from to carry canoes on truck racks. The first way is to use a truck rack system in the pickup truckbed only. The second way is to use a single crossbar on the cab roof and a t-bar style rack in a rear hitch receiver.

TRUCKBED RACK SYSTEM
For your 2006 Ford Ranger extended cab I recommend the Yakima Outdoorsman 300 (compact size) truck bed rack system. The Yakima Outdoorsman Towers are sold as a half set so you would need to get two half sets of Towers to make a complete set of four Towers for the front and rear of your Ford Ranger truck bed. You will also need to purchase a pair of 78inch cross bars to use with the Outdoorsman Towers (this length is necessary for carrying 2 canoes at the same time). You can then connect the Yakima canoe carriers directly to the two cross bars. Easy to follow installation instructions included. This truck rack is simple to install with no drilling required. The Towers quickly clamp onto the bed siderails.

You can then choose the Yakima Gunwale Brackets Canoe Carrier. Connects directly to Outdoorsman 300 truck rack front and rear cross bars. Four Gunwale brackets included and two heavy-duty padded straps included also. For carrying 2 canoes you will just need to get 2 sets of Yakima Gunwale Brackets canoe carrier.

CAB ROOF CROSS BAR & HITCH MOUNT T-BAR
For this option you would want to go with the Yakima Q Tower half pack system for your Ford Ranger cab roof. This includes a pair of Q Towers, a pair of Yakima Q25 clips (these are made specifically for your 2006 Ford Ranger) and a single crossbar (get the 78 inch length crossbar for carrying 2 canoes). Then you will need the Yakima DryDock t-bar style rack that attaches to a 2" trailer hitch receiver. You'll need to get a 78 inch length crossbar to attach to the DryDock. Then you just attach the Yakima Gunwale Brackets to the crossbars on this setup and you are good to go with carrying 2 canoes.