Eliminating the grunt work: Thunder Bay inventor lifts loads the easy way.

AuthorRoss, Ian
PositionTHUNDER BAY - Rudnicki Industrial

Mike Rudnicki would rather do all the heavy lifting with the push of a button. The inventive owner of a Thunder Bay custom machine shop, Rudnicki Industrial, is hitting the market this year with a new pickup truck accessory that's quickly turning peoples' heads.

Dubbed the Overhauler, the patent pending product is a hydraulic-powered, overhead truck rack that tilts back at a 60-degree angle allowing one person to single-handedly lift heavy, long and awkward items atop a truck.

His promotional video has been making the rounds through social media in northwestern Ontario in the past few months, and is fast gaining followers for its simplicity and utility.

"It has far exceeded our expectations from the get-go," said Rudnicki.

So uncomplicated in its concept and design, one simply leans a boat, canoe or any object against the rack in the tilted position, secures the load to the tie-down cleats, and with the push of a button on a long controller cable, the unit lifts the load into the horizontal position overtop the truck.

The scaffolding-like rack lifts the object and avoids any contact with an open tail gate, truck box and cab roof.

The all-steel frame's maximum carrying capacity is 400 pounds.

Rudnicki maintains his invention is one of a kind, since other competitors only manufacture stationary roof racks.

After ruminating about the idea for months, the concept for the device shifted into high gear last fall when Rudnicki and his son, Christopher, were heaving a 14-foot aluminium boat into the back of their truck to go out for a day's fishing.

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The tedious task of loading and unloading a boat, outboard motor, life jackets and the rest of their gear got his creative juices flowing when he got home.

"Not long," said Rudnicki, "from the time I thought of it until the time I actually built it was a few hours."

The first public showing of the Overhauler was at an outdoor show in Thunder Bay last February. The brochures flew off his display table.

Next, Rudnicki brought the rack to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's convention in Toronto in early March, but wasn't able to display it on the trade floor, instead using it to load and unload another of his popular inventions, the Paca-Drum, a portable steel barrel crusher.

Still with a model truck and printer version of the Overhauler, he drew interest from professionals doing remote camp work, remediation, and helicopter and aircraft operations.

Rudnicki said...

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