Guide 147 stored on its side...

Hi All,



I recently purchased a used Old Town Guide 147. Unfortunately my storage options are very, very limited. Right now, the only option is to store it resting on its side, with a strap attached to the carrying yoke, holding it to a hook on the wall to keep it from tipping over. It is in a garage which is good for weather protection of course, but I am worried about the fact that most of the weight is resting on the bottom gunnel. How much risk to I run of the hull distorting from being stored this way?

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I wouldn’t store it that way. Can you create a makeshift rack of some sort? Even two 5 gallon buckets and two 24" 2X4 pieces can work in a pinch. That’s a heavy boat at 74lbs. I think you’ll be looking at hull distortion if it’s left that way for a while. Two saw horses out in the yard works too…nothing on the boat will ruin if it’s left outside.

I think you’ll get away with it, as long
as you don’t see marked bending of the hull when you lean it. You can also rotate, leaning it on one side after one trip, and on the other side the next. While I have no love for OT’s poly material, it has enough memory to retain its original shape if it isn’t pushed way out of form.

I keep my canoe on the garage
ceiling. 4 eye bolts , 2 pieces of 3" PVC and 2 straps.

Put eye hooks in joists far enough apart for the boat.Cut PVC just longer than the boat width. Run the straps through the PVC. You can ‘winch’ it up by alternately tightening the straps.

I’ll send photos if you like.I can walk under my boat and I ain’t short.

I’ve kept many on their side
An old town Disco 160. An Explorer 14 tt and various kayaks with no I’ll effects except for sun exposure for some boats.

thats a strong little canoe
and the length will let you store it that way without any problems. i had one for a very short time. i got it for some poling and found that its natural attitude when poling is on its side. doh!

Thank you…
Thank you for all your responses. I really appreciate it. Though I am left a bit confused now. It seems half of you say its no problem, the other half say it will be a disaster.



Playing it safe, I did find a space to have it sitting upside down on two saw horses. Problem is that it is now kind of wedged between a fence and two bushy small tree type things. The only other place I can store it. I am a little worried that as the tree/bush grows it may scratch or worse yet puncture the canoe. Also, I currently put a tarp over it to protect it from the weather, but I know you are not suppose to wrap it in a tarp in hot weather. Luckily the weather is Chicago is rather cool right now. I guess I will figure out how to handle the tarp issue when the weather gets warmer.



Will having the tarp around it really cause that much damage when it gets hot?

best not to store this guide on …

– Last Updated: May-11-10 7:33 PM EST –

...... it's side , the hull symetry will eventually deform .

You can set your boat on it's bottom and strech a string (fairly taught) taped to the tip of each deck plate (object is to have the string run down the center length of the canoe) . Using a tape measure , measure the distance from string to gunnel in the same places each side of string (various/multiple) along the length of the canoe/string . What you are looking for is symetry (same or nearly so) of the measurement each side of string .

An OT poly canoe that at first had nearly exact symetry , when left stored on it's side will deform and you will see the measurements on one side of the string grow , while the other side measurements will decrease . Turn and store on the opposite side and the process will begin to reverse .

Trapping a poly canoe under a tarp in the Sun (or even hot weather) will make the heat build up dramatically under the tarp (which causes the poly to soften and allow deforming ... best to have good air circulation around the canoe and not trap heat .

Why not hang it?
Is there some reason you can’t hang it with the easy method mentioned above? If you drive into the garage with the boat on the roof, to then lift it up a foot or two to hang it on pvc supports, or even just webbing straps is a about as easy as it gets.



An easy alternative that I used was to mount a Talic rack flat to the wall, just above the roofline of the car. I put the boat on the car by moving the boat sideways one end at a time - it only takes one hand, even. Here’s a pic:

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l234/carldelo/Kayak%20storage/Storage002.jpg?t=1273589114

Thanks again…
Thanks again for all the great responses and advice.



Yes Carldelo, I am considering your suggestion. There are a few problems however. For one I am a high school teacher by profession and have another part time job, which means I work around 65-70 hours a week and I will not have a day free from work at this point until mid-June, when the school year lets out. At that point I can take on a project like you suggest but not before. Secondly, I live in an apartment with zero storage. I am luck enough that a friend has offered me space to store it at his house. But the options are limited. We have discussed the idea of hanging it from the garage rafters, and we will try to do something of that sort in late June. However, the garage is old and we fear the rafters are not sturdy enough for the weight. It is a two car garage, but they fill it with two cars and the roof is rather low, much lower than the height of the roof you show in the photo. Even if the rafters can hold the weight, the highest we will be able to hoist the canoe will be around 7 to 8 feet. We are talking about attaching some new wood framing to the masonry rather than rely on the 80 year old lumber that makes up the roof, but my carpentry skills are rather limited. Hence all the concern over coming up with storage options.

Message received

– Last Updated: May-11-10 5:33 PM EST –

I hear you loud and clear - my semester just ended on Friday, and I'm not back to reality yet. For reference, I live in an apt 3 blocks away from my garage, which is a rental. I was not allowed to attach anything to the masonry wall, as it is old and funky.

What I built was cheap and quick - it's shown more clearly here and might work for you, as it avoids hanging from the ceiling (it's the yellow boat in the photo I'm describing).

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l234/carldelo/Kayak%20storage/Racksystem.jpg

It's basically just two 2x3 boards standing against the wall. The boards are not attached to the floor or wall. They have a simple L at the top - each L is attached to a vertical, and upward to 2 ceiling joists with long drywall screws. This just prevents the boards from falling over - the screws don't carry any load.

The Talic rack is screwed right to the board, and there is a horizontal board added to prevent the verticals from flexing. I added a couple of wood angle braces, as you can see, but they're not strictly necessary. The height of the racks was set so that they would clear my roof rack. The distance between verticals is about 6 feet.

It went up quick, and has worked well for several years. The only thing that was pricey was the Talic part. I added the 2nd rack higher up later, and the hanging boat later still. The first one is definitely the most convenient. There's even room for one more hanger in there too, so of course I have another boat on the way. You could probably hang your canoe the way you mention for a few weeks, then put up something better later on.

PS I think the wall rack is better as the car in the garage does not belong to you. How bad would you feel if the ropes or rafters gave way and your boat dinged up your benefactor's car?

Thank you for all the advice…
I just want to r=thank everybody once again for all the advice, especially carldelo. Yes, I think in mid-June my friend and I will construct something along the the lines of the picture you sent.

My pleasure
and glad it helped. BTW, I remembered that I replaced the lag screws supplied with the Talic rack with shorter ones so they wouldn’t go all the way through the verticals. Oh, and I forgot there is a horizontal at the bottom, not particularly necessary, I think. There are a few more pics here which may help:

http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l234/carldelo/Kayak%20storage/

Cheers, Carl