Prior to moving from my condo I was able to store my (17 ft.) kayak inside using a Talic wall mount system. Now the owner of a house without a garage I am forced to store it outside. The issue is that there is no good location on an outside wall to mount a more secure system (like a Martin Creek metal rack) to. My thought at this point is to construct a stand alone "pole barn" to hang the kayak (s) on. Simple structure with 2 4x4's to mount the rack on and a small roof to keep most of the weather off. Any better ideas or sources for plans out there? Thanks.

RossLake06,

Like you, I have a house without a garage. I do have an attched carport where I hang my 17' Kayak with a pulley system I got from REI.

If you don't already have a cockpit cover, get one. Leaves and other vegetable material are an inconvenience. Wasp nest, spiders, and other creepy crawlers are down right exciting when discovered after you're on the water.

Tim

Rosslake06,

Check out Harken Hoisters, their an Advertiser in Sea kayaker (http://www.seakayakermag.com/advertisers/gear.htm) and they produce a product which is exactly what you are looking for.


Paul

Check out Martin Creek's stand alone rack, I've got one and love it. It's very sturdy and quite stable. For security you can use a heavy duty bike/motorcycle cable lock system if your kayak has a secure attachement point.

There are multiple different ways to store your kayak, you can build a dog house for it but, you should have at least a few things taken care of with store your kayak outside. Biggest thing: get it off the ground. Prevent pressure points on what or how you store it, I would strongly suggest getting some cheap foam block and cut them to hug the hull of the boat. Second biggest thing is to directly protect the boat from the elements. A cockpit cover is at least a must. Covering the entire kayak in a massive tarp and tightly wrapping it with cord to help keep stuff out and away from the boat. Thirdly, lock it up! It doesn't matter if it's 75 degrees outside or -10 degrees a kayak looks good to anyting thief. Wash it down before you put it away with watered down Simple Green, and every few times you take your boat out, wipe it with the some 303. You cna pick 303 at places like EMS.

Paddle2gether

would it be all right to hang it below some custom made saw horses in slings made from seatbelt webbing (wide and cheap at a wreaking yard) and cover it with black polyethylene sheet to protect from sun and snow? I haven't designed the system completely yet (picking up the boat any day now) but how many hangers would be minimum and where should they be? Of course I would tent over the top to shed snow. I think that I will use some old dome tent poles as a ridge and tent poly over it.
Good?

What kind of boat are we talking about? If you're talking about polyethylene, I would want it on edge. No matter what it's made of, I wouldn't put it under black plastic unless it is completely in the shade. A black tent would become an oven if sun gets to it.

In any case, I don't see any advantage in hanging a kayak as opposed to simply constucting, or buying a proper rack with nice soft supports. I built a storage cart that holds three large kayaks. Two of them rest on their edge on nice soft foam rubber and the third one, which is fiberglass, sits upright on two minicell foam perches.

My yaks are kept inside, so I don't have to cover them, but I think it is very important to keep the sun off them as much as possible. Even fiberglass will fare much better without constant sun and in my opinion, sunshine is deadly over the long run on poly boats.

I'm getting a composite CD caribou. I thought that the fibreglass and gelcoat would be best kept out of the sunlight. It wouldn't seal it up tight, it would breath and I am in snow country, but the clear poly sheeting would let in the light. Thoughts?

The point of the slings for hanging (right side up) is this could be built fast. Basically 3 or 4 2x4 A-frames and a loop hanging under them. No cutting of shapes to nestle snug. Throw a sheet over the top as a tent. It would be up against the hedge to break the wind. There are some yard use issues in my household (nuff said on that, though my wife neither uses a computer nor would she be on a kayak site). I must build something more substantial this summer, but I must get this boat through its first winter first!

As a more charitable note concerning my lovely bride of 24 years... upon turning fifty a month and a half ago she consulted with my paddle buddy and came up with a short list of kayak choices that I could pick from for a present.... in this household this is an incredible luxury and despite the fact that I was slowly building my first kayak (a folder a la Tom Yost... the most generous kayak booster I can imagine) I said o.k. and am awaiting the arrival of this boat. I want protect it until I can rig some high tech solution under the deck.

I don't mean to highjack this discussion to my own ends RossLake06, sounds like I am talking about a pole barn as you call it. How about the U/V, though?

Steve, for what it's worth, I've hung my Dirigo 17 (fiberglass) from rope slings for 24 years now (in the garage) and it's just fine. Webbing would be even safer. If you're going to keep the boat outside suspended from A-frames, why not staple or nail up any kind of sheet goods on the A-frames to serve as a roof over the boat? Keep both the snow and the sun off.

Carl

I think most importantly you have to make sure it is staying in a cool spot. I've stored my poly boats on edge under a carport for years not and they've never oil-canned or dented on me, but the sun never hits them. A hoist system would be nice though, I may look into that, when I finish all the other stuff on my list.

Steve, be aware that you will most likely have certain homesteaders who will try to commandeer the Caribou for their abode. I would hate to think what kind of junk might get carried into the cockpit etc. by squirrels, mice, rats, raccoons, cats, snakes, spiders, ants, etc. I've demoed a Caribou, but I can't remember if they have a cushion built into the seat. The little creatures would make short work of it if it does have a cushion. If you put a cockpit cover on it, it had better be made of iron, or the mice etc. will chew right through it. I think it is also wise to at least loosen the hatch covers, so that the seals,or gaskets get a chance to expand.

Anyway, good luck and happy paddling.

I thank you for your input. I did think about the winter squatters as I have a nasty mess in the garden shed every spring. I actually may consider a sheet metal cover now that you have mentioned it. I also never thought about the hatch covers. That is a good plan. This is my new baby. It is more boat than I ever expected to own so I am going to be an overly protective parent. My present canoe has never had this treatment. Cheers!

I store my touring kayaks (HTP(two)and thermoform) outside on Talic sawhorses see their site for description), using Seals cockpit covers and Danuu kayak covers. I'm not really that big a fan of homemade solutions. The Talic sawhorses were about seventy bucks, the cockpit covers are the same as used for transport, and the Danuu covers were (I think) about a hundred).
In about seven years of using this system, the only damage I've ever had is when something (or someone!!) chewed the front toggle off my Kodiak - I had been too lazy to use the Danuu cover that week. BTW, I live in NW NJ.

Hey Steve, the more I think about it, if I had to store any of my boats outside, I would build a proper box for it. When you consider that your Caribou is worth at least 3 grand, a relatively small investment in some 2X4s and some plywood and paint would be well worth it. I would cut some vent holes and cover them with tight screening. I would make the top removeable in two, or three sections. Put some nice soft foam rubber on the bottom and you're in business.

If there are any freight hauling businesses around you, you might be able to pick up a shipping crate that could be modified for little, or nothing.

Magooch, that is a good plan. I will fly it past the missus. As with many people, I can build stuff, but when will I or even will I?

I will call some freight outfits!

S

P.S. My boat still isn't here.... hmmmm!

Here is my solution for 4 kayaks outside. In the corner of my yard, I dropped two PT 4x4's in the ground with Quickrete. I used some hanger brackets from Home Despot, each of which is supposed to be able to handle 50 lbs. Over the bottoms of the hanger brackets, I used some pool noodle foam, which does naturally conform to the shape of the boat. On each side, I also have the Riverside 2-kayak hanger straps. A bit of redundancy, but should a good wind come along, the straps will help keep the yaks in place on the brackets. Also, should a bracket fail for some weird reason, my kayaks are not going to fall.

The reason for the extra cross-beam on top is that I built the rack when I only had three kayaks, and I needed to extend it further out (for the strapping) when I got my Perception 16.5' boat. Rather than replace the existing top post, I just lag-bolted an 8' 4x4 on the existing rack.

Each kayak is locked to the rack with a plastic-coated steel cable and a padlock. I just bought a pack of 4 padlocks, so there's only one key. Though this pic doesn't show it, all three of the sit-insides have a Seals cockpit cover to keep out critters. Behind the boats, in a deck box, I keep most of my accessories and gear, excepting paddles. It too is locked off with a steel cable.

I had to go online to find a good-fitting tarp to cover it all up and keep the sun off the boats. I went with a green, heavy-duty, UV-protective version made for outside storage. Tarping everything at once was/is a lot easier than tarping the boats individually. The tarp fits durn near perfectly, and I just use tent stakes in the eyelets to keep it secure.

Here's a pic of the rack all tarped off...

The only thing I would worry about is the thing becoming an oven if the sun shines on that tarp. The heat would not be good for those boats.

Good point, but it wasn't an issue this past summer, even with the green boat which absorbs heat more easily. And I was using a brown tarp (less reflective) at that point.

To add...

It's in a well shaded area, and that green boat has been tarped outside there for three or more years with no ill effects. I've never noticed any sweating or deformations. The boats always feel cool to the touch when I take them out.

Just as an experiment this summer, I might take the temp inside and outside the tarp. If there's a significant difference, I might concoct some way to allow the ends to be more open and let a breeze through.

I doubt seriously the kayaks get anywhere near as hot as they might just sitting out in direct sunlight (on the ground, on a roof rack) on a hot, sunny day.

I made one with 2x4's with arms at a 90* angle. Bought some webbing 4" online. The boats are poly. I can place then in easy and store them deck up or down and on their side. Good part is I can rotate them for cleaning or working on them easily. Living on salt water metal was not a long term I idea for me. They have worked out very well. I can move the two stanchions I made and store then any where. Now I need covers for them.

Does anyone have any experience storing a kayak with a deck-mount compass outside in sub-freezing temperatures? Does it freeze? Does it expand and crack open the case? Thanks.

I cannot see a compass freezing as many are in use in sub freezing temps. Call the manufacturer or email them. I would say if it freezes it was a cheaply made.

I did e-mail Brunton. The tech guy said "sure, it could freeze". But I got the feeling he really didn't know, and was just guessing.

I'm no chemist...Does liquids other than water expand when they freeze?

Outdoor storage. Had my kayak set up under a tarp in the backyard for a few weeks. Just went out to go kayaking today, and found some critter (assuming a chipmunk) spent probably hours and hours and hours storing nuts in the front hatch. Must have been thousands of them. Fortunately, he did his pooping outside the kayak, and didn't chew on anything.

If the compass is any good at all, the liquid inside will not freeze under "normal" conditions. I've kept my kayak, with compass mounted, outside in freezing temperatures for decades of winters without incident. The liquid is often mineral oil, sometimes ethyl alcohol.

Thanks for the feedback. That's what made sense to me.

I have a top-of-the-line Brunton. Based on your experience, I'll leave it mounted. (Due to some issues during the mounting, it's a fairly "permanent" mount).