- Location
- Grapevine, TX
Electric Kayak Hoist / Storage
- Thread starter raneil
- Start date
iluv83vettes
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Houston
I like it. Details? Its about time I get mine off the ground behind the garage.
lazyxj
NAXJA Member #1310
- Location
- Los Angeles
That's cool. What did you use for the hoist?
I need to get my 17' sea kayaks inside, instead of living outside under shade cloth. I use boat winches to lift then up on top of our motor home.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/sets/72157602095130748/
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
Each hoist uses an inexpensive electric winch (Harbor Freight Item #60385) to do the work. Each one is bolted to a 24" long piece of 2x6, which is attached to the wall with four 3/8 x 5 lag screws.
I disassembled the controllers, and extended the wires (via some PVC electrical conduit) down the wall to a 2-gang plastic Zip Box. I used a Dremel tool modify an ordinary 2-gang wall plate to accept these power-window rocker switches with arrows on them. I’ll add some pictures of the switch panel later, if anyone’s interested.
Limit switches shut off each winch when the corresponding boat has reached the ceiling, and another switch prevents either one from spooling out (down) when the garage door is open.
For each winch, I cut the hook off the end of the wire rope, and terminated it with a thimble. To each thimble, I simply used a carabiner to attach two lengths of 1/4” nylon rope. One rope goes through a single pulley to the bow, the other goes through two pulleys and then to the stern. The pulleys are secured to the garage ceiling joists by a few pieces of 14-guage angle iron and a couple of 1/4 x 3.5” lag screws.
The other end of each rope is connected to a piece of 24” angle iron (same as above) that is wrapped in soft foam pipe insulation so as not to scratch the yaks. A short piece of 1-1/2" flat nylon web strap is attached to each end of the angle iron, and loops around under the keel of each boat — one at the bow, the other at the stern. Two pieces of nylon rope with loops on either end were later added between the two pieces of angle iron (parallel to each boat) to keep the nylon straps from slipping off the ends of the boats during lifting.
Each boat has a piece of plastic screen covering the cockpit (with bungee cord) to keep the bugs out. I have this fear of getting a mile or so up river only to discover I’m sharing my boat with a pissed of black widow.
All in all, it's worked out every bit as well as I'd hoped. And it was a fun project, too.
I disassembled the controllers, and extended the wires (via some PVC electrical conduit) down the wall to a 2-gang plastic Zip Box. I used a Dremel tool modify an ordinary 2-gang wall plate to accept these power-window rocker switches with arrows on them. I’ll add some pictures of the switch panel later, if anyone’s interested.
Limit switches shut off each winch when the corresponding boat has reached the ceiling, and another switch prevents either one from spooling out (down) when the garage door is open.
For each winch, I cut the hook off the end of the wire rope, and terminated it with a thimble. To each thimble, I simply used a carabiner to attach two lengths of 1/4” nylon rope. One rope goes through a single pulley to the bow, the other goes through two pulleys and then to the stern. The pulleys are secured to the garage ceiling joists by a few pieces of 14-guage angle iron and a couple of 1/4 x 3.5” lag screws.
The other end of each rope is connected to a piece of 24” angle iron (same as above) that is wrapped in soft foam pipe insulation so as not to scratch the yaks. A short piece of 1-1/2" flat nylon web strap is attached to each end of the angle iron, and loops around under the keel of each boat — one at the bow, the other at the stern. Two pieces of nylon rope with loops on either end were later added between the two pieces of angle iron (parallel to each boat) to keep the nylon straps from slipping off the ends of the boats during lifting.
Each boat has a piece of plastic screen covering the cockpit (with bungee cord) to keep the bugs out. I have this fear of getting a mile or so up river only to discover I’m sharing my boat with a pissed of black widow.
All in all, it's worked out every bit as well as I'd hoped. And it was a fun project, too.
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- Location
- Grapevine, TX
That's a pretty slick setup! I like it.
By the way, do you leave your cockpit covers on when hauling your boats? We're still rookies when it comes to the whole kayaking thing, and we haven't invested in cockpit covers yet. I was wondering if they're made to stay put while going down the road.
We're headed out to Caddo Lake on Friday, and it's supposed to rain. I can just imagine what the inside of those boats will look like after 3+ hours of highway driving in the rain...
lazyxj
NAXJA Member #1310
- Location
- Los Angeles
I leave the cockpit covers on to prevent rain from filling the boats and also to contain the paddling equipment stored in the cockpit. You can collect an amazing amount of water driving in the rain without a cover.
We use Seals cockpit covers and spray skirts.
http://www.sealsskirts.com/index.php
The cockpit covers have a strong perimeter bungee, just like the spray skirt, that hold the cover in place and they are also tethered to the deck lines, just in case one pops off.
If on a budget, carrying the boats upside down will prevent water from collecting inside.
If you really want to learn all the ins and outs of kayaking, lessons are a great idea. The various paddle strokes and recoveries are best learned when instructed by an good teacher, slight changes in technique can make a huge difference.
How did you wire the limit switches and how are they mounted?
Boss Cherokee
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Riverside Calif.
Cool never thought about doing it for thr wifes tandem. I have a similar set up for the garage attic. I put the winch far enough away to attach four additional cables to raise and lower the Xmas trees yes trees cause the wife has to have two. One for the grand kids and one formal in the living room. I have a 4x3 platform that goes up and down for all the additional totes.
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
No doubt. For this trip, they'll definitely be riding keel up, but I'm still concerned about road spray/grime getting all over the seats. There will be 4 boats riding on a 17' car-hauler (Jeep hauler, actually), so they'll be down low enough that the other traffic will spray road grime all over them -- hell, they might get sprayed pretty thoroughly by my own tow vehicle. We'll see... I wouldn't worry much about it in dry weather, but the forecast is calling for thunderstorms on Friday, and that's when we're heading out. I'll probably cover the seats with plastic trash bags or something, and just cinch 'em down real tight. Being upside down should help, but I definitely see some cockpit covers in our future...
Excellent, thank you! That's exactly the kind of info/recommendation I was looking for.
My thoughts exactly. There's a club here locally that offers classes both in a pool and at a small, local lake (White Rock Lake, in Dallas). I definitely plan to check it out.
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
Ha! I've considered doing the attic elevator, too. The kayak hoist is surely much simpler. If you successfully pulled of the attic elevator project, the boat-hoist will be a walk in the park.
Post a video of your elevator in action -- would love to see it!
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
The winch comes with a cable-in limit switch on the frame. There is a rigid metal loop through which the cable passes that is hinged to the winch frame on one side. A small lever on the loop presses a momentary action (normally closed) switch (button) when the metal loop is pushed up against the frame by a large, round weight that came pre-attached to the wire rope, just above the hook (see the enlarged photo on the Harbor Freight website).
However, I removed the weight when I cut the wire rope. So, I simply attached a small piece of metal flat stock to the metal loop (using zip-ties, of course). There's a small hole in the flat stock through which the wire rope passes. A cable clamp was attached to the wire rope at the right spot so that it hits the flat stock, which moves the loop on the hinge which presses the built-in limit switch button and stops the winch just as the boat reaches the desired upper limit. I’ll try to remember to take some pictures or a video and update this post later. It’s much easier to show than it is to describe.
There was no cable-out limit switch provided, so I had to start from scratch. Electrically, it was simple. The fun part was figuring out how to pull it off using only the parts I had on hand that particular Sunday afternoon — my goal was to avoid yet another trip to Home Depot. The end result looks like something straight out of Southern Engineering Magazine, but it works like a charm.
I found an old double-pole, double-throw (10A) toggle switch in a tool box drawer. I’m pretty sure it’s been there since Abe Lincoln was in office, but it worked like new. I mounted the switch (toggle pointing downward) to the screw-drive support of the garage door opener using a home-brewed L bracket. A small hose clamp was used to attach a short piece of 1/4” fuel line to the toggle, thus extending it to the required length. The end of the fuel line was bevel cut such that it just makes contact with the garage door opener’s screw-drive carriage each time the door is opened or closed. When the door opens, the switch is toggled and it breaks the cable-out circuit. When the door closes, the switch is toggled the other direction, closing the cable-out circuit. I slathered a little bit of axle grease on the end of the fuel line to ensure that the carriage slides by smoothly.
Is it pretty? No. Elegant? Hardly. Functional? Yup. Reliable? 100%, so far.
Total cost: A six pack of Dos Equis Lager, one lime, some miscellaneous garage junk, and a several hours of my precious time. Mission accomplished!
Again, I’ll try to get some photos or a video posted later. They should be good a for a few laughs.
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
Switches mounted on the wall between the two garage doors.
- Location
- Grapevine, TX
