My kayak storage is similar to the bicycle lifting apparatus. The difference is I have a single rope that goes from the kayak to a ceiling pulley, to another pulley and back down to the kayak instead of a double pull. The pulleys are about 6 or 7 feet apart for our (5) 12 foot kayak(s). I made a soft sling with a hook to go around the yak and easily secure it for lifting. With the kayak on the floor, I measured the rope and left a foot or two of slack. Then on the back side of the second pulley I tied another rope with a square knot to the slack “loop” and with more pulleys routed it to a hand cranked winch. This method keeps the kayaks level and the winch has a lock that holds it but I use another ceiling attached sling for added security. It was a bit complicated to figure it out, but it works great and frees up floor and wall space and it is quite sturdy.
Storage
Under 10 ’ yak, (4) piled on an old bunk bed frame behind the in law cabin under a couple tarps.
Bigger than that (6) 3 " roofing nails pounded halfway into the barn rafters two feet apart with a 6 or 10 foot cam strap slung between them, two straps per yak at the bulkheads. Out of the way except where their doubled up. Another (1) on its side in the shade on the south side of the tool shed currently buried under a pile of oak leaves.
Royalex canoes (4) on custom built racks on one custom built room off of the barn.
Milk jug river cleanup queen canoe (1) and the pirogue (somebody TAKE that dm thing) on the boat trailer, under tarps.
Aluminum canoe (1) upside down in the front yard where the grandkids (2) can flip it over and play river pirate.
Wooden canoe paddles (6) on a gun racks in my dojo. Aluminum canoe paddles (4) in the barn with the Royalex. Canoe pole (1) in the rafters of the front porch. Kayak paddles (buttload) in the barn on a shelf, in the barn tied to a rafters,backseat of my truck, on the couch in the in law cabin, on my foosball table under a pile of PFDs (?) and one (1) Marine Raider Academy Sports special up in the branches of a tree in the front yard where it’s been for three years.
Sounds like a good method
So far, I can't actually visualize what you mean by "behind the second pulley", but what I'm imagining is that the rope from your winch pulls laterally on the center of the line that spans the gap between the two lifting pulleys. You need a right-angle pull for that method (IF that is what you are describing) to naturally keep the boat level, so it might be hard to arrange in some situations, but it's still very good thinking to come up with that. If my perception of this the arrangement is correct, you also need the pulleys mounted on swivels to accommodate how the angle of approach "upstream" of each pulley changes with the lifting height. If none of that sounds right, then I'm not understanding exactly what you built.
I bet if you were to post photos online illustrating your hoist, a lot of people would be interested in seeing what you came up with. Of all the different kinds of photos I've posted on Flickr, the ones which get looked at the most, by far, are shots of boat-storage hoists.
I use a method that's very similar to what it seems to me you are describing, but to accommodate a main lifting line (coming from the winch) that's oriented in-line with the two lifting pulleys, that line is a single one that splits into two, each of which runs through a different lifting pulley. I've built a number of these now, both for myself and friends.
I tried the winch method,
But I live in Kansas so every time the garage door opened the kayaks became wind chimes.
I have made square frames 18' long and 2' wide out of 2'X4" lumber with lawn chair webbing wrapped crossways as a sling for my longer boats. I attached hinges on one end of the frame (then attached hinges to the wall about 16" below the ceiling) and rope pulleys on the free hanging end. I can lower the free hanging end and slide to boat onto the frame, then raise it with the pulley.
For my shorter boats (14' and under) I have 2"X4" wrapped in carpet attached to the wall, and lay them on their sides, supported at the bulk head area.
Right now I can store 5 kayaks and a car in a single car garage.