Storing your kayak

[Lisa]

Curious how people store their kayaks?

There are many commercial products to help with this. Just wondering what people have used or created. Very interested in storing ideas that only require one person.

Thanks.

[bob budd]

We store ours against the wall in the garage. Defies the New England tradition of useless junk in the garage but so what. Cut a rectangle of roughly 3/4" plywood about 1ftx2ft, then make two triangles diagonally. Attach to the wall (2ft sticking out) and if you are finicky put some old denim or whatever on top of them.

Some people build an "A-frame" skeleton and pull a tarp over it, standing it somewhere relatively innocuous in the yard. Also useful when not "storing" the boat(s). I think Brian has some pictures of this sort of thing.

Liz has her boats hanging from the ceiling on ropes. This is a bit of a project to set up but everyone is secretly wishing they could be an engineer.

[djlewis]

I like webbing -- with fastex buckles -- that hangs down the wall of your garage, basement, living room (only for fanatics ;-), etc. Here's a commercial one with a reasonable price...

http://tinyurl.com/y26p42

You can obvioulsy roll your own too.

Compared to a rigid rack, it's a bit harder to stow a kayak in these solo -- I put the boat on the floor under the straps and lift one end at a time into its webbing loop. But they are simpler, cheaper, hold the boat closer to the wall, and won't poke you in the eye.

Oh yes, with the webbing system on the side wall of my garage, I can actually transfer a boat from the straps to the cartop rack and vice versa, one end at a time, without lifting the boat or touching ground.

--David.

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

Lisa,

The answers you got so far are fine. You could also get two plastic folding sawhorses and simply lay the yak on top (padded if glass). It depends on how much room you have.

[EEL]

Kevin:

You store a kayak? From the SNG's I'd think the only time its off the roof rack was when being paddled or carried to and from the water.

Is the padding just to avoid scratches and do you put them keel up?

I too use the plastic saw horses and found you can put two boats on each pair if you use the folding brace that forms horizontal part of the A.

Ed Lawson

[djlewis]

>You store a kayak?

You only have one kayak?!

[Michael_Crouse]

If you're interested in buying a rack you can check out Martin Creek, Talic, or Castle Craft.

If you're going to make your own rack do a search on community.webshots and you'll find lots of homemade solutions.

Our kayaks are resting on foam blocks or being cradled by 3" wide webbing.

[Brian Nystrom]

http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

There's a separate album for my kayak rack.

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

>You store a kayak? From the SNG's I'd think the only time

>its off the roof rack was when being paddled or carried to

>and from the water.

Ahhh, to be able to paddle two kayaks at the same time...it's nice to dream;)

I found that boats like to slide off the top of those plastic sawhorses, either becuase the ground is not level or they get bumped accidently. I happened to have a few of those roof rack, v-shaped pads lying around, so I bungeed them to the top of each sawhorse to provide stability and protect against scratching.

[glad]

I hang mine in the garage from 1.5 " webbing which is connected to a pulley system.

If I am desperate with no help to get the boats on my car, I can drive in, lower the boats andwith some effort get them centered on my car rack.

[gyork]

Ditto to Karen, save for 3" webbing, suspended from rafters.

Gary

[EEL]

>Ditto to Karen, save for 3" webbing, suspended from rafters.

Gary:

Where do you find 3" weBbing close to Concord?

Tubular or solid?

TIA

Ed Lawson

[Brian Nystrom]

...at most fabric stores or EMS, REI, etc. It works fine for suspending kayaks. You definitely don't need tubular webbing and solid webbing is easier to handle. On the pulley setup I have in my garage, I use eat belt webbing slings with brass grommets on the ends, that clip into carabiners on the ends of the pulley ropes.

[subaruguru]

My second 'yak sits upside down on a flattened (fully reclined) plastic outdoor chaise. Its arms prevent wind/bump slippage, and of course it's a freebie if you already have one of these long patio recliners. Makes a decent work platform for hull repairs too.

I even stuff the the cockpit with accessories, knowing they'll stay dry under this inverted "tent", but not get stinky in a closed system. Worked well last year, even under a foot of snow.

[bethany]

We built wooden racks that are sort of like wide chair shapes, if you imagine the arm rests made of webbing. There is one for each kayak and they lie at a slight angle upside down cradeled in the webbing. They are outside and mainly in the shade. This has been fine in summer with some occasional slug removal necessary, and fine in winter except for the time squirrels ate my seat. We now wrap tarps around them and bungie them if we know we won't be using the boats for long periods just to avoid ice in the skegs and squirrels in the cockpit.

--b+

[Fred C]

I hang ours on the walls of the garage. Home Depot sells “J” shaped pipe covered with foam insulation. Each J holder has a couple of screws that attach it to the wall. I think they are intended to hold ladders and things. Anyway they are inexpensive, easy to hang, padded, and fit the kayaks just right when on edge.

[rflanagan]

I also store my kayaks using a garage pulley system, directly above the cradles on the car. I tie the loose rope from the pulleys to two turn-buckles on the side wall. The kayak is attached using quick connect caribiners to the lifting straps at front and rear. Add a third tether for piece of mind if you wish. It is only necessary to lift the kayaks a few inches above the cradles to clear the car. I used some nice marine rope and turn-buckles, and pulleys from home depot. This setup works provided 1) You can drive into your garage with kayaks on the roof (I have about an inch to spare), and 2) You have enough garage clearance above to hoist them up a few inches.

[Gcosloy]

After reading these posts I got inspired and installed two Harken Hoister 4 point systems in my garage. They are more expensive than rolling your own but have the advantage of all the parts in one place and the mechanical advantage of a block and tackle system. Mine is 3:1 And most important to me, a patented locking pulley/cleat piece that holds the rope in place as soon as you take pressure off of it. I got mine on sale from West Marine and found the Harken Company very responsive to questions via email or phone.