Storing kayaks and canoes - curious

-- Last Updated: Aug-16-07 7:46 PM EST --

Just looking for suggestions and ideas here.

We finally got our garage finished, and now we need some workable, simple, efficient storage solutions for the boats and gear.

What worked, or didn't work for you? What do you currently use? Curious what people actually use.

We have the equivalent of a one-car bay to use for storage of all the garage junk plus the boats and gear. The ceiling is 9 ft high.

In past, I just laid the 2 kayaks on their sides against the garage walls. I put old carpet underneath them. We tried hanging them from straps against the wall, on their sides, but it was a pain to get them down and back up (for me). The boats get used A LOT so are constantly going in and out of the garage, even in the winter.

Have only stored hubby's canoe on the concrete floor so far. We will also be getting a second canoe sometime in future. Or maybe a third.

eye hoooks from ceiling
I can hang three boats up from the ceiling(the most frequently used one has pullys) I have rack where I can take off th ecanoe and put it on a cross bar, and slings under that for 5 spaces in the garage. If we ever get rid of the kids furniture we are storing we could easily get a full sixed car in the garage, with the lawn mowers etc. IF I ever got motivated I could rebuilt my wall rack for three canoes

water pipe

– Last Updated: Aug-16-07 8:20 PM EST –

take a look at what i did under my old shelter. 1/2 inch galvanized water pipe on a floor flange. use pipe insulation or swim-noodles to protect boat finish.

currently working on similar setup for my canoe.


http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1169xrc6.505lovou&x=0&y=g4dtpy

p

canoe racks on the wall
I built canoe racks for my shed out of 2x4s. Horizontal “arms” made out of a 2x4 on edge are attached to vertical posts in the shed wall. I have 3 pairs of these on a 7 ft high wall, though I probably could have squeezed 4 high in my shed. Each “arm” has a shorter piece of 2x4 at an angle to brace the arm. It is held together with carriage bolts and deck screws. So far this system has held up and worked well for me, though my fleet is all canoes and not kayaks.

Would love to see but…

– Last Updated: Aug-16-07 7:45 PM EST –

"Account is locked for migration -
pastrad's photos are currently moving to Kodak. You'll need to go to Kodak to view their photos."

Yeah, send me the link to the Kodak site when you have it, OK? Thanks.

here’s mine

– Last Updated: Aug-16-07 7:46 PM EST –

I have a one car garage and also use it occationally to build stuff. Mine's only for one boat, but with a nine foot ceiling you might be able to get 3 on one wall (one above the other). It is nice to have them hang from the ceiling though.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2831406740101890177bTRQER?vhost=good-times

Steven

I use the Talic Kayak condos
to store five kayaks on my one car garage wall. I don’t have a canoe. They might have a product that works.

link working now…
sorry everybody! kodak was faster than I expected.


Too many
and they were all over the place, so now I am in the middle of building a 14 foot by 28 foot long boat barn.

The framing is all up and I just ordered the metal for the roof yesterday, and picked up four windows at the Habitat store for $20.

The boats are all eagerly awaiting their new home.



Cheers,

JackL

I use a rack system i made that
raises and lowers with a Harken Hoist canoe lift system. I made the rack from lumber and attach the Harken Hoist to the rack. I can raise or lower with ine rope. Works great for me and totl cost (including Harken hoist) was less than $200.00 http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2102760240033466906jCAkuK

Talic Kayak Condos. Very nice.
http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1731

canoe storage
jerryohare…That is an elegant storage system…

Thanks
mckennaroad. It works very easily. I used the 145 pound Harken Hoist as my combined weight of boats and rack is right at 145 pounds. Been up there for a year and seems to be fine. Gets used frequently.

Canoe rack

– Last Updated: Aug-17-07 6:29 PM EST –

Hi Ness!

I rebuilt & converted into a boathouse an old dilapidated 19th Century corn barn on our farm a couple of years ago. While I was at it I built permanent canoe racks on each of the two long walls. This sort of rack system could be added to a typical garage as well. My racks each consist of two 4X4 posts attached to the walls about 6 feet away from each other. I anchored the posts to the walls with hefty lag screws. Each post has a series of holes drilled in it about 4 inches apart from each other (all the way through) from bottom to top. The holes accommodate 1 inch (inside diam.) galvanized water pipes. Using a bench grinder I ground down an oversize spade bit (Speed-bore type also call a flat bit) to fit the pipe snuggly. To prevent the canoe gunwales from coming into direct contact with the steel pipe I covered the pipe with a piece of plastic conduit. I ran the plastic conduit across my table saw to take out a kerf from end to end. This allowed the plastic conduit to spread a bit so that I could force it over the water pipe – it’s tight enough to not slip off. By adjusting the location of the pipes (in pairs) in the post up or down I can easily store 5 canoes (maybe 6?) in each (approximately) 7 foot tall rack. The pipes are rigid enough to hold the 38 to 70 pound canoes with only slight sag. Anticipating a bit of sag I drilled the holes at about a 2 or 3 degree angle. Accurate lay-out and accurate hole boring are key to a rack of this sort, I used a drill press to ensure precise drilling.

Here’s a link to my boathouse: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560182081jHaLvE

& to the racks: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2562897310092377353cBxQaf

Drilling a post: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2064448220092377353DvtMOv

Works for me… - Randall

Keep stacking
Ness,



Canoes should be stored on their gunwales. It is nice if they slide off the rack right on to your shoulders. When canoes are stacked over one another keep the one you like to use most often at shoulder level. My heavy fiberglass tandem is on a dolly; it can be rolled out of the garage right to the side of the transport vehicle.



My garage wall rack is comprised of two vertical 2X4 rails 8 feet apart that rest on the floor. They are fastened on edge to the wall studs using lag screws. The arms or horizontal support members are the same thickness as the vertical rails and have two pieces of plywood screwed and glued to the ends. These plywood brackets slide over the rails and are pined with several screws. Pictures tell the story much better. What ever you do be sure to leave room for the acquisition of additional boats.



Hope you get some good ideas. I have used arkay’s pipe in a hole technique to build lumber storage racks it works well. I’m sure Dave can find a way to bore holes to a close tolerance.



http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2583049210086525661ndBRXl



http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2056189530086525661bRkdCT



http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2259081530086525661KtAKMY

Thank you all
I love examples and pix!



These are the things I need to know. I appreciate all the great information you all have provided. Many thanks!

this is what we do-
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1835/hpim0540fp3.jpg

If you have access to a pipe bender and
welder you can fashion a bit sturdier J hook.

Most pipe shops (in my area anyway) will bend the pipe for you and $15. gets the pipe welded to two 1/4" thick x3" wide steel plates for mounting on the 2x4s.

On a stand alone I went with 2 saw horses that were curbside ($0 there)4 scrap pieces of 2x4 a circular saw, 4 pieces of 1/2" thick plywood and some rubber matting we had in the basement.

angle cut the pieces of 2x4 \ / installed to horses, nailed on the 8" wide pieces of plywood

(which increased the cradle size) and glued on the rubber mat to the plywood.

Tern stays high and dry in the garage, space under for storage and the mat allows me to work on the boat without it sliding fore or aft.

Haven’t seen your garage (height) but block and tackle may be the way to go with hanging the canoes up in the rafters (heavy canvass webbing straps to hold the boat)

Arkay - WOW!
Your boathouse restoration project was amazing. Congrats on such a successful project. I love the looks of it. It was fun to see all the steps you went through to get it to its final presentation. And it is bee-yoo-tee-ful!



Your boat storage system, much like Conk’s, is “visually” what I had imagined for our garage. Now I just have to get hubby to build something like that…



Thanks for the input. It helps! :slight_smile:

Drat! A Commercial WebSite
Check out placidboats.com; storage. Pics help a lot