Kayak Storage

[joca]

I just bought two Heritage FeatherLite Alpha kayaks (the price was right!). Gonna try some fishing out of them, but also just to float around some inner harbors around Falmouth with the family.

My question is basement storage. Instead of leaving them outside at night, there's plenty of room in the basement for them and I was curious about how others store them. Was thinking of maybe hanging them - but not sure of the best way to do this.

Thanks in advance.

John

[Eddy Merckx]

I hang my yaks when they're not being used. You can make a pretty nice rack system with tubular or flat webbing and buckles from your local backpacking store.

I hang the kayaks on their side, with the webbing positioned about a foot from each end of the cockpit.

[Ray]

It is recommended that you store plastic kayaks up against a wall on their side. The structure is stiffest in that orientation. You want to avoid point loading, like that created by hanging it on two straps for example.

Or if it has a flat bottom, on that.

The plastic yaks are susceptible to cold creep when point loaded.

I have a Pungo 140 and have stored it outside; proper up against the garage on its side for 5 years with no signs of warping.

Heritage and kayak shops should have additional instructions.

[Eddy Merckx]

If the yak is on its side on the floor, isn't there a single point bearing most of the weight of the boat? Not picking a fight, I'm sincerely curious. Assuming you actually take the boat out of storage and paddle regularly, is cold creep something that would affect a plastic boat in a significant way? (I am obviously not an engineer.)

I've used something like the pictured rack for years. A few boat manufacturers sell them and my homebrew model has held up to three boats in the garage. No ill effects yet, but if it's that bad an idea I'll change my evil ways.

[Ray]

Yes. A yak stored on its side is point loaded. It is also loaded along two now vertical load-bearing surfaces, the top and bottom. Therefore reducing the stress on the structure.

Cold creap is a function of stress. When a yak is supporting its weight on the bottom it is stressing that portion. Remeber when the yak is in the water it is supporting the riders weight over the entire portion touching the water. This highly distrubuted load results in very low stresses.

There are two depressions on the bottom of my kayak from the roof rack where it point loads the structure.

I would not hesitate to put a yak in a strap cradle as long as it is held vertically.

[Shafty]

I made the mistake of storing my kayak on it's side, but at an angle where the bow was about 3' higher than the stern, making the stern and a portion of the bow the only parts touching a solid surface. It was only like this for the winter, and now my boat makes wonderful left turns all by itself. I have since gotten it mostly straight by leaving it on its other side for a while. I now store it in a rack I built, so it won't warp again.

[dlangan]

I have 4 suspended from the ceiling in the garage. The are upside down. 2 straps each - through pool float tubes. The straps are near th front and back of the cockpit. No warpage so far... and its been 2+ winters depending on the boat.

[joca]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm gonna have a go at it this weekend.

I like the pool float tube idea!

John

[ToddMan]

I point load mine from the basement ceiling, but I run a strap in the middle to support the weight and try to balance the distribution.

[chuckles]

The point is (no pun intended), when storing a plastic kayak (or anything else that is plastic and heavy or made of a pseudoelastic material) for a long period of time make sure that your storage system distirbutes weight evenly over a sizeable surface area. This is why your plastic yak doesn't deform when you sit on it in water.

Would you sit on your yak in the driveway?