Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

So I crawled into my attic space above the garage yesterday and tied off two sets of climbing rope to the trusses. Then I dropped them into the garage, with the ropes being looped through small tow hooks at the end of each. Now my old skool Dagger Respose and recently purchased Pyranha Ammo are hanging neatly out of the way, next to the mountain bikes and other outdoor equipment I spent the day organizing. Feeling like an accomplished conductor of order and basking in the presence of my neatly arranged, "adventure gear/man section" of my home, I proudly call my good friend Anthony to boast about the accomplishment!

He wastes no time in burtsting my bubble.... "John," he says. "You cant do that buddy, you're going to oil can that nice new (to me) yak of yours, it's not good for it." So I immeadiatly take down the ammo and set it on it's nose on the other side of the garage next to my wife's storage wardrobe and her stored girly things, (a sad place for the resolute Pyranha Ammo...) Of course the Response had to stay "hung" b/c it is ten feet long and cannot stand on end in the garage.

My question is this: Is my friend correct? Is it detrimental to the life and quality of my boats to hang them in the garage by the nose and tail straps? Any advice on this topic is greatly welcome! Thank you gentlemen.

First off, sure good to know there is another Response boater out there. I think I got the last cross linked Response that NOC had to sell. Bunches of trips on this kayak and it still works great on trips with a lot of flatwater to cruise thru or big holes to bust. My boat is always stored in a shed and that helps the older plastic last longer in my opinion.

Lots of different opinions on kayak storage. Do what makes sense to you.

I think storage on end close to the wall is a good way to store.

I do not have space for that setup.

I have a metal rack (one of the Steve Plisco prototypes) that is basically a series of metal arms going out from a couple vertical metal stands that support the kayaks from the bottom (arms are adjustable and I can put boats on edge, 2 boats to each set of arms. Been using this device for many years and have not noticed any distortion. Steve used to make these units back in the mid 90's and they are bomber. Steve dropped out of the kayak scene some years ago and I have not seen a better stronger design than his.

I also store a couple of kayaks on slings from the shed rafters. This supports the boat from the bottom and my slings are basically on both ends of the cockpit outlines. Have not noticed any distortion from this method either. I like to put the kayak on edge but have kept them flat.

It seems logical to me that hanging kayaks from the end slings might create some level of hull distortion. Depending on the plastic, Distortion might be minimal. I have no really good data to support that one way or the other.

Prijon plastic is so stiff, I do not think it matters how they are stored. The softer linear plastic might be more prone to distortion. Also short boats look to me to be less prone to distortion than the longer ones like a Response or RPM Max.

I think the best storage setup is with the kayak on it's side with a rack support on the bottom with the arms basically positioned at the ends of the cockpit. This seems to me to be the strongest positioning for the hull.
In between trips I also store kayaks on edge against a wall.

So, why not two ropes on each end with a nice, soft sling to ride the boat on its side? It would take up more head-room, but...

Here is a link to a good one-page article on kayak storage from Boatertalk. It is a little dated, and the images are no longer there, but the information is still good.

http://boatertalk.com/faq/faq.php?id=4

I've always had at least one boat hanging on its side in a webbing sling; never noticed any problems. The two straps that form the slings are spaced about three feet apart. I would think this would put less stress on the boat than straps tied to the grab handles at the ends of the boat.

I also have my shorter boat standing on end. This combined arrangement happens to work well with our space.

Hey thanks to all who have offered their boat storage wisdom on this subject! My Response is now neatly nestled in a "hammock-style" sling and the shorter Ammo is standing on end in the corner, but I'm probably going to hang it the same fashion as the Dagger.

Now that I have storage out of the way, I just need to work on getting out on the water in them!

I got all inspired this weekend after reading the bit Diane pointed us to on BoaterTalk (thanks, Di!) . Spent about $10 on PVC joints and pipe...now I have a super-simple little stand-up arrangement for three boats. I really like this 'cuz it's: a) good for the boats; b) simple and efficient use of space in the garage, and; c) costs next to nothing.

Willing to snap a couple of pix if anyone's interested.

Anyone have any good tips for hanging a canoe in a garage?

I have a really tall garage with a standard door, about 4.5' above the door when it is open. I would like to store it above where I park.

I tried rigging a pulley system from two slings each 3' off center. For a 60 lb canoe, it felt like I have to put some serious pull in to raising the boat. Each pulley should be getting 2-1 mechanical advantage. This diagram is not really accurate, but might give you an idea of what I am trying to do.



So, the problem could be the rope. I'm just using 4mm cord, which is kind of hard to hold on to. Or, it could be that I am using carabiners instead of actual pulleys.

I could build a shelf, but I would then have to find a way to lift the canoe 7.5' on to it.

Suggestions?

Ryan

I have two different pulley systems in place in my garage, the more recent of the two I really like, but kind of made it up as I went along. I dunno if you are anywhere near me, (I live on top of the hill on Township) but you're welcome to come by and check out my system.

Thanks Ryan! I might just do that. I picked up some actual pulleys from Harbor Freight at lunch. If it does not help, I will come by to see what you did.

The pulleys should reduce the drag significantly. The carabiners, although cheap and easy, will have more drag to them than the average pully.
My garage isn't all that tall, but I plan on instigating a pulley system to hoist my seayak up. It's 16 feet, and yes, in the summer the plastic will heat up, and can cause disfiguring if the straps are on the nose and hull, esp. for a longer boat.
What helps this is using 3" or more straps in place of ropes or thinner straps, and spacing them on the wider areas of the bow and stern..about 4-6 feet apart or so should do.
You may have already solved it with your current setup, but I figured I would add my two cents.
Joe

Thanks Joe!

I got pulleys but still was not happy with the setup. So, I found a different spot in my garage where I could hand some 1" webbing in loops to hang the canoe upside down on its gunnels.

The loops hang down to about 6.5' off the ground, so it is a bit of a circus act for me to get the canoe in it. However, I am happy with the end result.

Randy,

Please snap the pix! I need to do something w/ my fleet and the pix might save me some time.

Pat

here is some additional input

http://www.jnkproducts.com/garage-pulley.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.krabach.info/kayak_hoist/hoist.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.instructables.com/id/CanoeKa ... iguration/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


first = purchase

second = do it yourself

third = step by step do it yourself including threading the rope

let us know if one of these work for you

Here is my solution for boat storage...I took a couple of 5' tables, school surplus, stacked 'em and ran a screw through the foot of each leg....this lets me store two boats and I throw all my gear in a big rubbermaid and slide it underneath on the floor....As soon as I find another I will be able to store all 3 of my boats with my gear on the floor or you could store 4 boats.....Works for me....