Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak hoist

On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Ky Stratton wrote:

> I'm hoping that one of you fellow kayakers out there can help me. 
> I just moved and need to store (2) kayaks above the cars in the garage. 
> Does anyone know of a, hopefully not to expensive, pulley/sling system
> that is on the market or have plans that one can build. Any and all help
> would be appreciated.  The kayaks are 16' and 14' w/a 28" beam.

We've currently got 3 boats hanging from the rafters in my moms garage.

One of the boats that we used to have hanging was an 18' fiberglass 
canoe, nicknamed the green monster, that weighed at least 80 pounds.

To get that boat up to the rafters we mounted 2 pulleys, one double and
a single to the rafters.   We also had a cleat mounted on the end wall to 
tie off the rope.  The rope was secured to the rafter at the far end of
the boat, it went from the rafter down to a pulley with S hook, back to the
rafter over to the double pulley, down to a second pulley with S hook,
back to the double pulley and then over to the wall.  Both S hooks would
attach to a rope loop at each end of the boat.  We would hoist the boat
to the rafters.  

Initially we left the boat simply held up by the slings.  Then one
day something came loose and the green monster fell from the rafters.  
We then put bolted old lap belts from a junk yard car to the rafters, one 
near each end of the boat.  After raising the boat to the rafters we 
would clip the safety belts in place and release tension on the hoist.

With lighter weight boats we now just use the old seat belts and lift
the boats into place.  Doing this solo I leave one seat belt clipped together
and feed the end of the boat into the opening, then work my way to the
other end of the boat to secure the second belt.

Seat belts are great because they are extremely secure and the webbing is
nice and wide so it distributes weight well.  They are also free if you
have a junker you are getting rid of.

For the boats in my own garage I built a 1 sided "canoe" tree with the
supports set according to the boats that belong there, the heaviest boats
go on the bottom.  I've never had problems with this rack and it keeps 4 
kayaks, 1 canoe and 2 sailboards in one easily accessable column.  In theory
with enough room to put cars in the garage, but I haven't tried that yet ;-)

kirk
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