Hi there,
Complete newbie speaking. I bought a couple loon 100 (plastic) yaks and have subsequently learned that one generally shouldn’t store them on their hull or suspend them from their ends. I had been hoping to get some webbing and pull them up tight to the rafters in my garage and lose as little headroom as possible. No room on the walls to hang them.
Does the “no hull storage” rule apply no matter how much you distribute the weight, or only to throwing the boat on the ground? What if I used maybe 4 spaced straps? Would that still leave the boats vulnerable to warping? would it be better if I turn them over face down, or is this a bad idea all together?
How hot is too hot? My garage gets pretty toasty in the summer.
Thanks, I tried to search but couldn’t find the answers.
You could
If you used wide webbing, say maybe 2" to distribute the weight.
Plastic kayaks deform easily when they’re hot, so the more you distribute the weight, the better. 3 straps should be OK.
Definitely don’t hang them by their ends, or throw them on two metal bars or something like that – that would deform the boats.
DIY slings
At only 10' long and less than 50 lbs. in weight, you should easily be able to suspend each kayak on a pair of 2-inch-wide webbing straps like these: http://tinyurl.com/6ngn9n
Screw 4 eye bolts into your ceiling joists and snap each end of the straps into them, forming a pair of U-shaped slings for your boat. Use the buckles to adjust the length of the straps to get the height you want. You could even rig up some sort of draw line to snug the boats right up near the ceiling, then tie off the end to hold them there.
I suggest you place the slings about four feet apart, to evenly distribute the weight. This will probably put them near the front and rear of the cockpit opening. A boat of this size should be fine stored in nearly any orientation, though most boats are strongest when slung on their sides.
As for heat, keep the boats out of direct sunlight, and perhaps install a few roof and floor vents in your garage to facilitate cooling. This will not only keep your poly boats a bit cooler, but save you some AC expense if your house is attached.
Good Luck!
Delphinus
http://www.AquaDynology.com
Loon 138 from ceiling
I have hung mine bottom up in the garage or under the patio roof for years and no problems. The garage storage started a couple years ago with a new home and the garage gets pretty warm. I have been using bow and stern slings made from simple 3/8" poly rope and have had no damage. Its not a bad system either. The boat goes from ceiling to head (inverted seat on top of head, don’t wear a ball cap with a button on top, a padded Tilley works best) to top of truck without setting it down. The only real lifting I do is from truck to water and back.
I use ropes or slings hung at an
angle to the boat. The slings should be at about a 45 degree angle to the boat, and at least 90 degrees to each other. This means each sling has one end near the bow or stern of the boat, and one end nearer to the cockpit. Like this. —/-
But with the ropes sloped even more. The angle of the slings/ropes distributes force over a wide angle, and the large “mouth” between one side of the slings makes it easy to snake the bow into one sling and the stern into the other. If the boat needs to be raised further, the inner ends of each sling can be pulled tighter.