This might be one of those recurring questions for which everyone has their canned answers, and if so I do apologize. It occurred to me though that I’m hesitating going out paddling today because I’m home alone and my boat is rather awkwardly placed among the 4 boats in my small (about 10’ x 24’) shed.
It’s a working shed, in which I need to also store gardening stuff and a riding lawn tractor. I’m sure I’m trying to stuff more in there than I should, and every time I look at it I imagine having a nice huge heated enclosed space for all my crap. This isn’t likely to happen any time in the near future though.
You can see in the picture that I put up a rack for one boat, and I had plans to do the entire wall and get about 3 or 4 boats there, but I’m not happy with the rack design I came up with. I see this as the most likely solution for me, it just needs some tweaking and I’m hoping for some suggestions.
So, I’ll put it out there. How do you store your fleet of sea kayaks indoors/protected in limited space? I’m aware that other boats may be easier to store but it’s the long hard-shell boats I’m interested in. With a fleet of 4 and at least one more in a few years (cedar strip long term project) I’d like a way to effectively store all of the boats while maintaining easy access to them.
Anything goes, but cheap, simple, and effective wins gold prize.
I see that you can easily fit three of those boats up at ceiling height, so I’d start with that idea. That way you don’t lose nearly as much wall space. Take a look at a few pics of the method I use for overhead storage:
For kayaks, I’d change the design of the part which holds the boat. I’d keep the upper 2x4, and use a simple sling to replace the two lengths of threaded rod and the lower 2x4 bracket.
Also, in adapting this system to fit your shed, I think I’d stagger the boats slightly, so that all four of them would fit up near the ceiling. You could have three boats (probably even four) stored tightly against the ceiling, and you could have additional hoisting lines passing between those boats to support boats at a slightly lower level. With that arrangement, it would be a simple matter to remove one of the higher boats from storage if the boat (or boats) located diagonally under it were also lowered, just enough that it (or they) could swing to the side as the other boat passed by. It looks to me like you could hang as many as six or seven boats that way, with even the lowest ones being higher off the ground than the one that’s currently on the wall rack.
I’ve been criticized here for my method being “too complicated”, but to me, years and years of having instant access to any boat, with no need for manual lifting, has been worth far more to me than the few hours that were spent building each hoist. As you have discovered, even a small amount of inconvenience in getting boats in and out of storage is sometimes enough to prevent you from using them!
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” is what the police chief said to the skipper when he saw the shark for the first time in the movie “Jaws”. Its the first thing that came to mind when I saw your situation.
Actually I think you are very blessed to have a 24’ long shed. Guideboatguy has a great system for his boats and great advice as well. I would organize your shed best you can and utilize the ceiling and one side wall best you can for your boats. For fast inexpensive results hang two more on ceiling the same way you did the first and then reassess the the space you have and go from there.
What’s your concern about storing the composite boats outdoors? I’ve got 3 composite boats stored under tarps on racks I installed on a 6 foot high stockade fence. 18’ kayak, surf ski and a canoe… They survive our north Jersey winters fine. My other 3 boats are in another house in PA. In garage for now.
Take the boats out of your shed, the result is more space in shed!
@Guideboatguy said:
I see that you can easily fit three of those boats up at ceiling height, so I’d start with that idea.
(Snip)
I’ve been criticized here for my method being “too complicated”, but to me, years and years of having instant access to any boat, with no need for manual lifting, has been worth far more to me than the few hours that were spent building each hoist.
I’ve considered this type of system but have stayed away from it so far because it seemed a bit “Rube Goldberg”. But it does seem like it could be worth the effort. I especially like the way you’ve used the fixed ropes to swing the one boat out from the wall.
It doesn’t seem to matter what size space you have, it fills up with stuff. My solution was to build a rolling boat rack that holds three boats, but could be modified to hold more. When I need the space for indoor shop projects, I just roll the rack outside–no ropes, no pulleys, etc. and each boat is accessible without disturbing the others.
I have a suggestion to improve your setup. IMO you could arrange all 4 boats on the right-hand wall. There’s nothing really under the white boat there now but the bike and some junk, so the space is mostly wasted.
Rather than having cantilever bars off the wall, I would put up 2x3 or 2x4 verticals, one boat-width from the right wall, standing on the floor and attached to the ceiling joists. Two would go at the location of the current cross-bars, one more at the entrance of the space. Then put horizontal cross-bars from the right-hand wall joists to the verticals to rest the boats on. The first set goes on the floor to elevate the bottom boat and anchor the base of the verticals, space the others to store the boats evenly. If you cover the cross-bars with carpet, the boats can slide straight in from outside - that’s why you need a support right at the entry. A diagonal brace or two will be needed for the verticals to keep the bases from moving around.
The cross-bars will support the verticals and and form a false wall in the space that you can hang paddles from or lean things against, and all the boats are confined in a single column on the right side, and are somewhat protected. Three verticals, 4 sets of three crossbars and two diagonals should do it.
I too think all four kayaks could go on the wall. Take a look at Talic racks. I put the three rack condo up. Your one rack is similar but the horizontal is at the wrong angle and likely over built for the light weight boats. Talic was a little expensive but quick when I needed quick… http://www.talic.com/boats-boards/triple-bunk-kayak-canoe-storage-rack
Agreed, I have two singles of this type and they work well. Four down the right hand wall would cover your needs. The 2x version I mentioned above would be about 1/5 the price, but the Talic are a really nice product which I endorse.
We ended up buying a toy shed – 12x20’ It cost about the same as a new sea kayak at the time, and delivered.
Add another sea kayak hanging above the canoe by straps, a whitewater kayak on it’s edge next to the Sunfish, 3 more bicycles, and paddling gear, and that’s what it looks like nowadays.
@Wayne_Smith said:
We ended up buying a toy shed – 12x20’ It cost about the same as a new sea kayak at the time, and delivered.
That looks very nice and tidy. How do you keep other crap from accumulating around the boats? Or has there not been enough time for that to happen yet?
I considered buying a used 20’ shipping container, but I actually try to limit the amount of extra storage available to prevent the accumulation of “stuff”. I’m afraid having another place would just get stuffed quickly.
@Overstreet said:
I too think all four kayaks could go on the wall. Take a look at Talic racks. I put the three rack condo up. Your one rack is similar but the horizontal is at the wrong angle and likely over built for the light weight boats. Talic was a little expensive but quick when I needed quick… http://www.talic.com/boats-boards/triple-bunk-kayak-canoe-storage-rack
My logic behind the horizontal racks was to maximize the number that could be stacked vertically. If you look at the Talic racks, and similar designs, there’s a huge amount of wasted space between them. Unfortunately the simple horizontal beam sticking out needs to be overbuilt because the end is just hanging out in space, rather than the very strong triangle design created by the angle and webbing strap.
I did look into those when I was considering my own design but figured I’d only be able to get 3 boats on the wall with the available height. I was trying to get 4 with my own design but as mentioned I’m not liking the way they work.
It’s looking like a hybrid solution using the wall and ceiling might be the best way to go at this point.
@carldelo said:
Rather than having cantilever bars off the wall, I would put up 2x3 or 2x4 verticals, one boat-width from the right wall, standing on the floor and attached to the ceiling joists. the verticals to keep the bases from moving around.
… snip …
The cross-bars will support the verticals and and form a false wall in the space that you can hang paddles from or lean things against, and all the boats are confined in a single column on the right side, and are somewhat protected. Three verticals, 4 sets of three crossbars and two diagonals should do it.
It was a bit hard to follow at first, but I think I get it now. Unfortunately what you didn’t see from the picture is that the doors at the end of the shed don’t open the full width of the space. That means that you wouldn’t be able to slide a boat in because the end wall of the shed (beside the door opening) would be in the way.
You did, however, make me think about the possibility of building such a thing on the opposite side of the wall (on the outside of the shed). This would keep the boats out of the weather, make them more accessible, and free up space inside the shed. I’m liking this idea… though there’s a bit more construction involved.
I store mine on the garage ceiling with cam buckle straps I bought in a four pack at Wal Mart. I modified the cambuckle as seen in the photo. It’s not an original design; I picked up the idea here. The original poster said he used corner / shelf brackets to trip the cam. The angle wasn’t right so I added a small extension to get the angle a little higher over the cam lever. I went to the fabric shop and bought 1" webbing to make each strap 19 ft long. I did have to remove the hook from the 12’ strap and sew it to the new strap. I do have to alternate from one strap to the other when raising or lowering but it isn’t as as awkward as it might sound. So far this has worked well. I haven’t had these up for a whole year yet.
@RWL said:
I modified the cambuckle as seen in the photo.
Even if the original concept wasn’t your own, your home-built version shows very good ingenuity. I have my own reasons for not preferring the alternating-strap-adjustment method for lifting/lowering (including problems with rafter-stringer spacing as related to support locations on the boats, and my use of solid-bracket gunwale supports), but I have to say that in your case, your solution to the cam-release problem is perfect.
@Wayne_Smith said:
We ended up buying a toy shed – 12x20’ It cost about the same as a new sea kayak at the time, and delivered.
That looks very nice and tidy. How do you keep other crap from accumulating around the boats? Or has there not been enough time for that to happen yet?
I considered buying a used 20’ shipping container, but I actually try to limit the amount of extra storage available to prevent the accumulation of “stuff”. I’m afraid having another place would just get stuffed quickly.
Well, it’s got a lot of stuff in it now. That photo was from the week we got it about 10 or 11 years ago. But it’s still ample for our needs.
@Sparky961 said:
My logic behind the horizontal racks was to maximize the number that could be stacked vertically. If you look at the Talic racks, and similar designs, there’s a huge amount of wasted space between them.
The thing is the “arms” are flexible in that multiple holes in the wall doubler mount can move them together and get more on the wall/ less wasted space. My 3 “wall” yaks are almost too close together but everything fits and I can add another if necessary. The arm joint is also a pivot so it will move up out of the way when needed.
… the new web site has some surprises…
