Hanging or storing a canoe off floor in a garage with vehicles

[Glenn MacGrady]

In a garage that is used for vehicles, how do you hang from the ceiling or otherwise store a canoe on the walls?

I'm going to give my Nova Craft Bob Special aramid canoe to my daughter and recommend that she suspend it in their garage, because that's the only inside shelter they have from the Florida sun, heat and humidity. I've never suspended a canoe in my garage, because I've always kept most outside on racks or otherwise filled my garage with some canoes on floor mounts along with a ton of other gear—no vehicles allowed. However, my daughter's family uses their garage for cars.

I know that there are commercial ceiling rigs available and that lots of paddlers have made DIY contraptions. I'd like to have a resource thread for my daughter.

I bought this particular canoe from a fellow in West Virginia who had this rig in his condo garage, but I didn't look at it in detail or see it in operation because he had the canoe on the ground when I arrived. The pictures are pre-sale ones he emailed me.







I'd appreciate any details or pictures or links to devices you have used or recommend to get a canoe out of the way of vehicles in a garage.

 

[stevet]

Scrap wood…works fine

 

[Mason]

I went with commercial hoists--cheaper and more convenient than doing it myself. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EUL2DO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[alsg]

Harken Hoister. https://www.hoister.com/productcategory.aspx?taxid=645

 

[billconner]

I'll try to snap a picture tomorrow but I like two "trapezes" - a 2x4 or 2x3 - rather than a hook on gunwale. I just bought pulleys and cord at big orange and a cleat on wall.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Good to have options.

Bob

 

[TrailBlaser]

I wanted to do what you guys did for my Hornbeck Classic 12, but I ended up just putting it up on the shelves. It is nice and comfortable up there and it beckons to me every time I go in the garage. My poor Sawyer Autumn Mist, that I have had since 1987, resides outside on sawhorses, under a tarp, for the winter.

 

[yknpdlr]

I've had as many as 5 canoes, including a guideboat hanging in my garage. Thankfully I built it with a relativly high ceiling, giving me plenty of head space over the cars. For the lighter ones (Hornbeck), I use dual ropes to pull up each end simultaneously. for the heavier craft (guideboat, cedarstrip), I use a more complex home constructed webbing pulley system to pull up the whole thing at once. Plans for the pulley system rigging with multiple pulleys can be found online. After I built my lake cottage and shed, I moved several canoes to rest on brackets attached to the shed walls. A Rapidfire is simply manually slipped into a a couple of looped pieces of webbing hanging from ceiling rafters next to another Hornbeck done the same way.

 

[Roybrew]

I suspend my, heavy 80+ pounds, Mad River from an 8 foot high ceiling with small rope, 10 simple pulleys and 4 hooks. It seems to work ok. I mounted and anchor clear on the wall to bite into the small rope. The bottom of the canoe is 6 feet from the floor.

 

[Cruiser]

I use a rope and pulley, from the middle of the canoe, to get it into position at the ceiling ,,, but at that point I attach fixed chains to actually hang it. I read somewhere about rodents chewing rope and synthetics ... so chain was recommended

 

[dougd]

View attachment 128950
Good to have options.

Bob

A car over a canoe! That is a first for me! Sweet!!!

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

A car over a canoe! That is a first for me! Sweet!!!

You recognize that canoe? I believe you have paddled it… picked it up in central MA last year for beer and beer money. Needs a bit of work. Hopefully when the weather turns as it won’t fit in my heated wood shop.

Bob

 

[Ralph]

I have a 2 car garage and have developed a method to hang the canoes over the cars. I built a frame over the doors and added a trapeze for the other end of the canoes. To put a canoe away, I have to move the car outside. I put the garage door opener from the car into my pocket. I close the garage door then I go to the trapeze end of the canoe. I lift that end of the canoe up and remove the trapeze. I then put that end down on the floor. This sounds simple but it usually involves some moving of the canoe forward or backward so it won't bind on the wooden framework and a bit of grunting and hand manipulation to both hold the canoe up and remove the trapeze. Once one end is on the floor, I move to the middle as if I was going to portage the boat. I back the canoe off of the wooden framework, get it settled on my shoulders then I push the garage door opener to open the garage door. Then I walk out and put it on my vehicle. To put it away it's pretty much the reverse of the above procedure but, with the canoe on my shoulders, I do have walk backwards into the garage. I put the frame end up, put the other end down and walk to the back of the canoe. I lift the canoe up, swing the trapeze under it and adjust. Also, I had to add a second 2X4 on the rack to allow for the shear line of the canoe. I also had to adjust the trapeze for the same reason.

 

[Gamma1214]

Ralph,

I'm planning a very similar set-up for the carport I'm planning for Spring. I'm even setting the trusses on 3 foot centers to accommodate 1 canoe per opening.

 

[Will Derness]

I've been using this system for 14 years and find it easy to use. Comprised of 1 inch webbing, cam lock, and some hardware, when sewn together simply requires screwing it into an overhead joist. I found it online, but can no longer seem to find it on the internet. A seamstress and some hardware could recreate it.
Center the boat between the 2 hanging webbing hoists, slide a separate webbing loop around the canoe and clip onto the hoist. Lift to the ceiling, alternating sides a little at a time. Easily done by 1 person
I've not noticed any hull deformities hanging this way, used with composite and royalex canoes

 

[snapper]

I'm really lucky...I have a pole barn next to the house for our vehicles and an old cow/threshing barn for my canoes. My first retirement project was to finally build racks for all my boats so now they're all off of saw horses and on proper racks. Makes getting around in the pole barn to our vehicles a lot easier. The only thing on the walls in there are some snowshoes, xc skis and bikes.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[dougd]

You recognize that canoe? I believe you have paddled it… picked it up in central MA last year for beer and beer money. Needs a bit of work. Hopefully when the weather turns as it won’t fit in my heated wood shop.

Bob

Yes indeed I have paddled that boat! Solo once which didn't go so well when the headwind came up! Yeah, you have a lot of work ahead of you with that rebuild! Almost wish I could help!

 

[Curlymoe]

I adapted Placid Boatworks hanging design based on materials at hand; it's an inexpensive effective design. https://placidboatworks.com/storage/

 

[Black_Fly]

I hang in my Ohio home, but the drywall on my ceiling is not holding up well. At he cabin, I built racks on the pole building garage walls. Easy peazy.

 

[Curlymoe]

I hang in my Ohio home, but the drywall on my ceiling is not holding up well. At he cabin, I built racks on the pole building garage walls. Easy peazy. View attachment 129060

Beautiful canoes. Ordered a Firebird pack config for spring. Have run out of room to hang in my small garage, but will figure something out.