Attention, garage wall storage weenies

http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?CatName=GarageOrganization&SubcatId=FastTrackGarageOrganizationSystem&Prod_ID=RP091559



I bought the 7-foot Fastrack rail from Home Depot and installed it several days ago. Although I don’t believe the rating of 1700 lbs, it’ll be plenty strong enough for the wave ski I plan to store on two of the accessory hooks. Still need to pad the hooks, and because the ski will sit vertically on its side, which is not a stable position, I have to secure it with a strap or two, which means installing some ordinary garage hooks directly into a couple of wall studs maybe 30" above the track.



If you decide to get one of these tracks, don’t use Rubbermaid’s instructions for installation. I was lucky in that the instructions were missing from mine, LOL, so I just used common sense. Because there was no need to put screws through every possible pre-drilled hole (there is a top and bottom pair along every inch), I located the wall studs (used a magnetic finder), penciled the locations, drew level horizontal lines to use as installation reference, and very carefully drove screws into the studs. Instead of starting from the end of the track, I marked the two pairs that were on either side of dead-center, selected one pair as “the center proxy” (because there is no true center pair when there is an even number of pairs), then counted out holes for 16" outward and 32" outward from the proxy. So 10 screws (5 vertical pairs) secure the track to the studs. The rack is 1/2" to the left of truly centered below the windows, but somehow I doubt that’s a problem!



Also, ignore Rubbermaid’s advice to buy their hardware packets–the screws look too short, among other things. The guy at the Home Depot I bought from picked out 20 squarehead screws (1 5/8" long) plus a squarehead drill bit from their hardware section. He highly recommended using the squarehead instead of Philips or slothead. I had zero problems driving in the screws, thanks to his advice.



I don’t know if you can hang a kayak from the proprietary accessory hooks, but they’ll work for my waveski. The thing is designed for hanging tools and gardening devices, so anything skinny that can be hung vertically will allow you to get more devices on the rail.


ok
No pictures, lets see how it looks when done.

I could ask our carpenter bees
to install the rails. They would strengthen the structure of our carport somewhat.

neato !


I have $20 that 1700 pounds will tear the expletive deleted out off that rack.



Get back to us with a photo of your Evinrude hooked in.

For what it’s worth, it’s possible.

– Last Updated: Oct-26-14 10:28 PM EST –

If your gear were hung from a large number of hooks, so that no hook carried more than its capacity), and if each hook induced no real torque on the rail so the stress is all in shear, 1,700 pounds would certainly be possible. Screw a metal plate to a piece of wood and the resistance to that connection in shear would blow most people's minds, and a plate attached by 10 or 20 screws would resist any shear force you could dream of applying. They might also assume the substrate is pretty strong between the wall studs (like plywood instead of drywall, thus allowing the use of many more screws than what's possible when attached to the average garage wall). So while I too would not count on it being good for 1,700 pounds in the average situation, it would be a cinch to come up with a situation where it is possible, though certainly not practical (because how much weight CAN you hang from many small hooks closely packed into such a small space?).

Bottom line, this COULD be done if a person really wanted to, but a $20 bet wouldn't justify messing up a perfectly good wall just for illustration.