Kayak rack dimensions

[Joseph Berkovitz]

I'm building a kayak rack for my driveway to hold 3 boats. I have a nice design in pressure treated lumber with pairs of horizontal boat-rests (braced of course).  My question for all you opinionated people out there: what are good general-purpose dimensions for...

- the vertical clearance between a tier and the one above it?

- horizontal distance between boat-rests in the same tier?

I will be storing the boats upside down and can easily measure their height and the distance between hatch covers on any given boat.  My question is more about a good compromise to fit a collection of varying boats, not about how to best fit a single boat.

[Paul Sylvester]

I made racks in my shed some time ago and found that they are a little tight vertically. You might believe you only need height plus a couple inches but when I carry one in alone it is on its side and I like to set it and roll it level. My spacing makes that more difficult but I live with it.

  If your racks tier out longer at the bottoms you will be fine going tighter.

  Why not just six feet apart on supports? Would that keep you closer to bulkheads for support?

 

 

[Joseph Berkovitz]

Thanks Paul - bulkheads do seem to be about 6 feet apart, that might work.

I like the idea of staggering the tiers to create room to "balance in" the boats at each level when loading them up solo.

[rfolster]

I used fabric straps between two supports, and load boats in from the end. Not easy for one person to do, so not a recommended system. Separation between each level of straps is only 18”. That leaves little room from high point of coating on lower boat to hull of upper boat. I would suggest 24” between vertical supports which, depending on how high you make the lowest, would put the highest of three boats around 4-1/2 or 5 feet up. Probably put your least used boat up there. Depending on how you manover your boats around, you should put your most used boat at the height most easily moved on and off the rack -  middle rack for shoulder carry or bottom rack for wheel cart, for examples.  

For horizontal spacing, do you want to rest on bulkheads or on hatch rims. I can’t speak for bulkheads, but if I recall, hatch rims average just under 8’ for play boats and just over 8’ for touring boats. If I can find my measurement notes, I will pass them along. 

[rfolster]

Here are approximate minimum and maximum hatch cover spans with optimal center spans in parentheses:

Cetus Classic - 90”-115” (103”)

Eliza- 75”-106” (90”)

Explorer- 99”-109”

Illusion - 79”-102” (91”)

Delphin 155 - 85”-110” (97”)

Epsilon C200- 84”-107” (96”)

Zephyr 165 - 82”-108” (96”)

[Dan Foster]

My super-high-tech driveway boat "rack" holds two sea kayaks and two paddleboards, and consists of pairs of cheap ~36" wooden benches. Angle the benches in or out so that both sea kayaks rest with their hatches supported. A third boat could either be stacked on top of the bottom two with some pool noodles or a custom cradle made from lumber, or you could just add a second set of benches as a boat rest. The benches double as actual benches during seating emergencies, and can be easily adjusted to accommodate different boats.

If you stack the boats vertically, you're going to have to worry about wind, and the resulting bracing may end up with a structure that's more than two boat widths deep anyway.

[billvoss]

On 7/5/2018 at 9:41 AM, Joseph Berkovitz said:

My question is more about a good compromise to fit a collection of varying boats, not about how to best fit a single boat. 

Make it adjustable.  This is a commercial example for indoors, but there are lots of similar home built approaches for adjustable height supports.

https://www.talic.com/boats-boards/starter-kit-2-narrow-boat-paddle-storage

-Bill

P.S.  I just installed their https://www.talic.com/boats-boards/starter-kit-1-tilt-boat-paddle-storage in my basement on July 4th to hold my two skin-on-frame kayaks.  I was very glad I went with their adjustable option once I realized my initial plan wouldn't work was less than ideal.

[detorres]

Lots of good kayak plans on the web. I found the rolling ones intetesting as it would allow me to roll the kayak right up to the car!!

[PeterB]

I agree that the height and spacing between tiers can be easy to get wrong:  mainly, too low and/or too tight between tiers. .   I would try to set  the lowest  rack  level fairly high: . maybe 2 1/2 to 3 feet, and the next one  2 1/2 to 3 feet above  that  ( 5 to six feet).  I have 3 tiers, and  I have  the easiest time plucking the boat off my  highest rack and the hardest time with the boat on the lowest rack.  I plan to adjust mine so that they are all higher (as soon as I've got my list of other household/ grounds and landscaping chores under control), and maybe ditch one rack and go  from 3 to 2 tiers. _.  My rack (sounds like similar construction to yours) is  three tiers, the lowest is about 16"  (too low!) , the next  is  22-24"  feet above that  (@ 38" to 40") and the  the next 22-24"  feet above that ( @ 60- 64") .. I find the lowest is too low, and  I have to bend and contort to get the boat, and the highest is not too high, could even  be higher : a boat at that forehead  or higher  level  can be transferred off the rack  right into a  comfortable shoulder carry position,or over onto the car top with relative ease,  
Its also nice to have the space between boats to be more than the beam of the boat;  my 22" spacing is too tight.  with 30-36" the boats  can be placed on their sides as well, if you either want it that way or want to access the hatches  (cleaning, inspecting, repairing etc) while it is right on the rack.  

Edited July 26, 2018 by PeterB