pick up truck tank storage

I know many people are just laying the tanks down. Was wondering if anybody stands the tanks up along the sides of the bed and have they built any homebrewed racks or anything the keep the tanks in place along the bed.

I lay them down mostly but I have stood them up. I built a small box that holds them standing up and the box has handles on it that I run straps thru and hook to the lil eyelets in the bed of my truck.

I have seen a couple build tank racks, to stand up doubles in their SUV & Trucks. I don't have pics but it is made out of 2x6 as the bottom and back with 2x4 on the edges as supports.

If you stand tanks up, you MUST secure them somehow. Chain, ropes, very heavy bungee, cradles. When tanks are laying down, you only need to "chock" them in position to keep them rolling around. Normally this is accomplised by all the REST of the @#$% you are piling in the truck.

For home made racks, pieces of PVC pipe, correct diameter for tanks, and cut to about 3/4 of tank height work great. You can bolt them together with a wood frame that can be removable from truck, or bolted to truck body.

Many people with "dedicated" trucks or trailers for diving will string a set of eye bolts and chains down the side wall to secure tanks in upright position.

Oops, sorry. I'm a sidemounter. I'm only thinking in terms of individual cylinders. You're talking about securing doubles?

I am the one who brought up doubles, but the OP said nothing about singles or doubles.

I do both.
Long haul (e.g. StL to Huron or StL to NFL) I lay them down up next to the cab to distribute the load in the truck and keep most secure. I snug them a bit to the front, low cargo tie-offs to keep them from shifting around.
Short trips or after arriving 'in the area' I stand them up on each side for quicker access. I have a capper that is bolted down, but I had the installer give me the unused clamps. I threaded the aluminum, installed large eye-bolts, backed with locking nut and use them as anchor points to strap the upper portion of the tanks in place. If I have singles, I throw a strap from the low cargo tie around the lower portion of the tanks to keep them from 'kicking' out.

(fwiw, I ordered some special made clamp on, bed rail mounts that were supposed to work even with covers and cappers. They would fold back when not in use where the clamps I use now always stick out into the bed. The special clamps didn't work with my setup and I returned them and went back to my old standbys.)

I went to Walmart and bought pool noodles. I cut the pool noodles in half to make them each about 3' long. Using a 3/8" drill bit, I drilled a hole through the pool noodle at the top middle and bottom. I slid 3/8" rope through the pool noodles at top, middle and bottom to connect the two noodles together. I laid the pool noodles in my truck bed, then put the tank in the pool noodles. The tanks won't move even with very aggressive driving. Total cost: Less than 20 bucks.

I used the same method to move K and T bottles for Oxygen and Helium

I put a bed slide in my pickup and lay the tanks down. Then I strap them down to keep them from rolling around. When traveling long distances I put the tanks up forward to get the weight in the center of the vehicle. When traveling from the dive site to the fill station, the tanks are on the back so it's easy to fill them.

Next, I built a set of shelves for the back seat of the crew cab. These knock down so I put them in and out as needed for diving. While you can't see this in the pics below, I installed some cheap LED lights under the lip of the bed side and wired them into the cabin lights. With the bed cover closed, you can see what's in back at night by oping any door.

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This is what I made and it could be adjust to carry doubles or extra cross piece put in one section to carry 40s. If I made another one I would make so the tanks valves didn't hand over the end, I have turn the valve on several times putting them in the rack.

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The straps are on the one in the truck because it wasn't glued yet and I was doing a test fit.

cwswine,
I like your idea and it would be a very efficient use of space. What kind of bed cover do you have?

That cover was on the Ford SportTrac. I sold the SportTrac and purchased a Chevy 1500 and put hard quad fold and it fits about the same. When I purchased the truck Chevy had small business package and got the cover for $110.00, I know I paid for somewhere else in the deal but makes you feel better at least.

I am trying out some ice fishing sleds. They are 2 ft wide and about 4 ft long. They fit between the wheel wells of my truck. I side mount so I put one set in each sled. I put carpet down to allow them to slide easier front to back. I push them up and I use a rope handle to pull them out. I have a 6.5 ft bed so the 4 ft sled can go all the way up and still have room by the tail gate.

cwswine, after seeing your PVC tank rack, it motivated me to make one out of some scrap plywood I had in the shop. I will bolt it down to the bedslide after I determine the best location for it. After I return from a trip, I can take it out and use it to store tanks in the garage too.

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