Storing your Kayak and Gear
A few months ago I embarked on a project to store my Kayak and Mirage Drives in my garage. The following was a list of requirements for me.
1 Safely store my Kayak so no harm would come to it.
2 Be able to load and unload ALONE without getting hurt.
3 Be able to remove car’s or jetski’s without moving Kayak.
4 Be able to store it in a READY TO GO state for quick trips to the water.
5 Keep time to no more than 5 min for unload or Load.
So I started with the idea of a rail system that can be seen in these photos. I started with galvanized fence top railing and heavy duty shelf brackets. After welding the 2 pieces of rail together I added drops from the shelf brackets to mount the rail to. The middle shelf bracket needed to be mounted upside down so I reinforced the welds on all 3 of them.
The rail is run at a slight angle and curve to maximize the height a distance allowed in my garage.
My first real challenge was the rear truck. It needed to be able to support the weight of the fully loaded Kayak as well as stay clear of the mounts from the brackets to the rail.
While the rear truck is used to slide the Kayak into and out of the garage all of the weight is supported by the sling attached to the gear driven motor with the blue pully. The remote allows me to raise and lower from the ground.
My next challenge was lowering both the Front and the Rear of the Kayak into the truck without hitting the items under it or hurting myself while lifting it into the bed.
I built a swing arm seen in the pictures below to aid in my load/unload. The swing arm is installed at an angle so as it rotates out of the garage it clears the door and decreases the amount I need to lift for release.
After Kayak is released from the swing arm I walk it to the front of the bed and lower the rear by releasing the winch on the rear truck.
