Just saw your post a minute ago and figured you won't be checking it anymore as its a bit stale. Just in case you are still wondering though, I've carried my 14 footer with me for years on all sorts of roads. Dirt roads are really the issue as your truck will bouce around a lot more. Firstly all I did was leave my tailgate open and lay a 2" x 4" on the end of it so the canoe would sit on that. Don't waste any money on carrying racks if you can get away w/o them. They have a nasty habit of wearing through the gunnels and ruining them, especially on an aluminum canoe. For tying down, I just ran a rope from the thwart to each corner of the truck bed near the cab and then put any equipment I was carrying near the front to keep it from bouncing. I used my canoe on the job, travelling 5 days a week on dirt roads and never had any problems.