6 boats total.
I tried hanging boats from the ceiling at our old house and found that it’s a pain. Also the previous homeowner had hung a truck topper and the ceiling had cracks at all the joints in the Sheetrock. I figured the boats would weigh more than a truck topper so there was no way the ceiling could support the boats.
This rack actually works pretty well. It easy enough to just lift the boat into the rack and then hang them from the straps. Much easier that messing with ropes and pulleys. The kayaks are light enough that we can pull them off the lower part alone. The upper shelf take two people to get them down. To high to safely do it alone.
There is a short concrete knee wall that separates a stair case from the garage the legs are built on top of. The other side is attached to the wall with legs underneath that sit on the concrete wall on the other side of the stairs. I also built a floor and covered the stairs for more storage under the rack.
Looking good everyone. Keep them coming… especially those shed/garage photos, looking for ideas for a small 1 car garage amongst storage cabinets etc.
Early version of a system - 2 Talic racks on 2x3 studs, one suspended from joists with rope and a simple frame to hang straps from. Eventually added a second hanger - the hanging boats dropped directly onto V-bars on the car.
Lost the garage recently after 15 yrs. Now have 2 boats on office wall and 2 in a friend’s crawlspace for the time being.
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I don’t have a garage so I have mine mounted on the inside of my car port uprights. I got a cover for it but haven’t put it on yet.
Pardon the messy garage.
My Tempest is used for long trips or as a loaner so it is set up on a shelf. I can access it by myself but it is difficult.
My everyday boat is hung below it on Suspenz wall-mount doo-dahs.
When I had three boats the everyday unit set on the furniture dolly with Thule Hullaport Pros. That dolly folds flat and stores out of the way.
Five canoes on wall racks in the garage, one special canoe inside for the winter and one hearty Canadian canoe outside on saw horses under the deck.
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I saw a friend building a picnic table and remarked that it would be a great storage rack for my kayak. He offered to make one for me. I haul my kayak in the back of my truck, so he customized the table to the exact height of the bed of my truck. I just slide it onto the table, place a couple of pieces of pool noodle under it for cushioning, and bungee strap a tarp over it to keep it covered.
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Well, inside it’s two sets of pulley’s for kayaks. There are three up ther now. One is a Yost Sea Rider that I’m only good for ~ 15 min. in and another is an experiment that is waiting for warmer weather to play with epoxy. The two canoes hang from the end loops. The Indy lifts one end with a pulley while the other end just hangs on a J-hook.
The outside rack with 3 canoes on it is a bit snow covered just now.
Though my husband stored them in garage but I am thinking to store them with ceiling. Yes, ceiling rack would be a great idea especially if you want to safe some space. By the way, it could also be mount with ceiling in this way.
On a trailer in a storage unit to keep the kayaks nice. The trailer is designed to hold 4 kayaks, so we can take friends who either rent or own their own. I can’t figure out how to add a photo to this post, as there is no paper clip icon.
Kayaks?
We don’t need no stinking kayaks!!! 
I do have a couple of canoes.
The 11 in my 2 car garage are on wall racks, and hanging trapeze style ceiling hangers that I built; mostly using scrap lumber I picked out of scrap piles at construction sites(with permission), and using retired NRS tie down straps.
The other 11 are in my “loafer’s shed” are also on wall racks, trapeze style ceiling hangers,and saw horses.
There is a lot of switching/changing of positions that goes on endlessly; as I buy, sell, or paddle different canoes on a fair regular basis. About the only cost my system entailed was deck screws, some sandpaper, and quite a few hours of sweat equity.
I think it noteworthy that when asking for scrap lumber as construction sites; I have “never” got a no answer. Saved some money too.
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Deborah, when you are typing your message in the window, look at the banner of 12 icons above the text field. The middle icon that looks like a little rectangular frame with a mountain and sun image (it is supposed to look like a snapshot) is what you click on to open a window to download a photo for your post.
I don’t have pics but it’s easy to describe the system I used when we had a one car garage.
Start with two screw eyes like these. Screw them into the rafters on the far end of the garage…around 4 feet or so from the rear wall. Space them around 24-32 inches apart…whatever your rafter spacing dictates.
Then add two more screw eyes towards the front of your garage but make sure that one of them is an open-ended hook.
Then suspend a piece of rope from the screw eyes at rear of garage. You may have to putz around to get the length just right. You will just set one end of your kayak into the rope loop.
At the front of the garage you tie a piece of rope to the closed screw eye and put a loop (bowline) at the other end. Again you’ll have to putz to get the length just right. Once you stick one end of your kayak into the loop at rear of garage then you lift up the other end of the boat and hold it in one hand (much of the weight is already handled by the fixed loop) and with the other hand you take the piece of rope with the looped end which is just hanging straight down and put the end with the bowline on the open screw eye.
With my canoes it was super easy to just walk them in while carrying them overhead, stick one end in the fixed loop and then attach the end with bowline loop on the open screw eye. Maybe 30 seconds tops to hang the canoe or take it down for use.
It’s similar to the trapeze set-ups described but you can just skip the trapeze bars and use rope.
Clear?
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Thanks to pictures in this thread and studying pictures of off-the-shelf systems, I fashioned up my own hoist system (spent ~$45 on 5 pulleys, 2 eye hooks, a cleat and some of rope). I’ll probably need to cover the top half of the window to mitigate light/sun fading, or adjust the tie downs and hoist it up slightly higher (above the garage door instead of under).
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Bit off the post, and old…
What’s the wood kayak in your photos?
The wood boat is by Struer, a Danish maker. The model is labelled Bel Ami but it’s listed as Freedom on their website - I think I have a prototype or early version, labeled as hull number 9. It’s very pretty, cold-molded mahogany veneer with wenge accents, equipped like a racing kayak with a footboard, under-hull rudder, tiller between the feet, with an amazingly comfortable seat, and only about 30 pounds.
Although listed as a beginner touring boat, it’s has a nearly round hull, and since you can’t get your knees under the cockpit rim it’s actually quite tippy. However, it does look fantastic hanging behind my desk at work.
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