Let me guess, you wanted to go on a kayak trip with your friends, and then you went to a very fine store where they sell quality kayak and get yourself one. However, after buying one and bringing it back home, you have no idea how to store kayak in garage or where to store it for maximum protection. Isn’t that what happened to you? I can assure you there’s no need to worry since I was in your shoes at one point, and now I know exactly where to store them and how to store them to ensure they get the maximum protection. Follow me as we go through the guidance.
Let us start off with where to store them. It could be either your attic or your shed, or even in your basement. However, before you decide to use any of the spots, I suggest it is an even better spot to store your kayak in your garage. Now, you might ask why.
Firstly, it will be easier to take it out and put it in your car since there will be almost little to no distance difference whereas if you keep it in your attic, it will be all up on the top of your house and not to mention it will be hard to put the it in one piece inside your attic and if you keep it in your basement, chances are that rats might get a hold of your kayak and start their very own family there while destroying your kayak and that is something that must be avoided at all cost, and if you keep it in a shed behind your house, then you will need to carry it for a longer period and then put it on your vehicle.
Secondly, garages are always built a bit bigger than usual designs which allow it to have a lot more space meaning that you will have plenty of space just existing there, so why not store your kayak in there and use some of that space for once?
However, not everyone has a garage built in with their house, which is why they need to store it elsewhere, but if you own a garage, then you are fortunate enough and make sure to use it as much as possible without causing any harm to it.
Now that we have covered where it is best to store your kayak, let us move on to the next section and which is how to store your kayak in your garage properly so that it stays intact and away from all kinds of harm.
If you are more interested in learning about kayak camping, we suggest you read our article on camping and kayaking-This is What a Weekend Sounds Like.
Tips on How to store kayak in garage
This section describes the tips on how to store kayak in garage perfect way . Here, we will talk more about the steps of storing kayak. Just follow the steps, you are so close to being done your stuff perfectly.
Wrapping it up all over
When you see how shipping companies deliver their products, you will see that they will either bubble wrap the whole package or wrap it several times with hard plastic to make sure that it doesn’t get damaged on its way to the customer.
Similar to that situation, if you want your kayak to last for a very long time, then the perfect possible method would be to create a barrier or shield around it. It could be either bubble wrapping or several plastic wraps, and if you want to take it up a notch, then you can put it in a hard wooden or cardboard box.
What I did with my kayak was that I bubble wrap it and then place it inside a hard cardboard box for maximum protection. I didn’t use a wooden box since it will make the whole thing heavier than usual but you can use it if you want to.
Hanging it up high
You might be confused about why you should hang it up high instead of just keeping it on the ground. Keeping it on the ground could be a huge mistake unless you have a very big garage. The reason why you should hang it up high is so that it stays safe up there. If you keep it down, you might accidentally hit your leg on your car, or even ram into your kayak without noticing. Basically, it can get hit by anyone else while it’s on the ground.
You will also need more space to keep it on the ground since garages are usually made to fit the car only unless it’s a custom built garage. Hanging up your kayak up high will prevent it from being hit by anyone or any vehicles and while it hangs up there, you will finally be able to utilize the upper space, which is always vacant. Now there isn’t just one way to hang it, but several ways to hang it up in the air. Follow me as we will go through them all.
The rope hanging method:
For this method to work, you will need some strong thick ropes which can support your kayak without tearing down, some turned eye bolt screws to hang the kayak and the necessary tools and equipment, and something soft like soft pillows, towels, or anything made of wool.
You can also use straps if you don’t have strong ropes but in my opinion, ropes tend to work better than straps in this case. Once you have gathered the necessary materials, we can finally head down to work.
First of all, we will take some turned eye bolt screws and drill it up onto the ceiling and once it’s properly tightened up we will take the ropes and tie the points through the drilled screws and make sure they form a to hang it from the ceiling. You need to use at least four turned eye bolt screws, but the more you use, the better, and make sure that there are an equal number of turned eye bolt screws on both sides.
Once you have tightly secured the ropes through the turned eye bolt screws, you will notice that it has a hammock kind of design. Now, carefully place the kayak and make sure that it is supported properly and won’t fall down after a while.
The Rack placing method
For this method to work, you will need a rack and some screws to fix the rack onto the wall and the equipment for working. This is a pretty simple method as all you need to do is measure your kayak and get a storage rack slightly bigger than it since we don’t want it to be clustered inside as that will damage it.
We need to make sure that there is breathing space in there for the kayak and that it can be moved a bit left & right and front & back. However, look for racks that can be adjusted horizontally if you place them in a vertical rack, it will greatly affect it.
Once you have found the perfect rack, screw it up tightly to ensure it won’t collapse randomly and destroy it completely. Sometimes you might not find the proper rack in the market and in such cases; you can make your own custom rack and use it. Once everything is complete, you can slowly put it on the rack and store it in your garage peacefully.
The Box storing method
This is possibly the simplest form of storing a kayak in the garage, as it doesn’t require much effort. This process is similar to the first method of storing, which is the rope hanging method. Follow the exact same steps as that till the end and when it comes to storing your kayak stop there and don’t store your kayak there simply.
Get a wooden box that is big enough to contain it and then place the it slowly inside the wooden box by making sure that it doesn’t hit the box and create a dent in the kayak once placed inside the box safely, close the box with a lid now you can place it on top of the hammock structure you created for hanging it. By following this method, your kayak will get the maximum protection whilst ensuring that dust doesn’t accumulate on top of it.
Factors that should be avoided in storing kayak
Being stored in an improper spot:
You might think that once you are done storing a kayak, your job is done. Ehh, Wrong! Your work isn’t done yet as you can’t just follow one of the methods up top and expect your kayak to be safe and alright. You need to make sure the place where you will be storing your kayak is an undisturbed place. You can build a hammock structure right in front of the door as people will slam the door on to it or even hit their heads on it every time they enter or exit the garage.
You need to make sure you are building a storage spot where people won’t go and clash with it accidentally and damage the kayak. Apart from people coming in contact with the kayak, the storing spot should also be a place where there aren’t many items nearby if there is a lot nearby, then people will keep going there and it might stand in the way of you and your items, and you might accidentally topple it on the ground while reaching for your item.
You will damage the kayak whilst also hurting you possibly to an extreme level. Therefore, make sure the place where you will be storing your kayak is somewhere safe where there aren’t many items that are required all the time and a place where humans won’t go too often.
Keeping it away from animals and insects:
Here’s another major problem that you might face are animals and insects. They love to take over anything and make it their own territory and by the time you even identify the problem, you will be looking at a whole family tree of the animal or insect living inside your kayak and has destroyed most of the portion inside the kayak.
The best way to avoid this problem would be to wrap it with hard plastic wrap several times until it creates a strong barrier that cannot be penetrated easily. We mentioned earlier that it’s wise to wrap it with plastic wrap to prevent it from being damaged and now it looks like you have 2 reasons to wrap it and keep it safe. Apart from just wrapping it and storing it up top, try to check on it from time to time to see if any animal or insect has invaded it and damaged it.
Sunlight:
We often talk about how sunlight is good for our body as it provides our body with Vitamin D and that sunlight can dry up clothes and anything wet within a small period of time. However, when it comes to kayaks, sunlight is not good news as it can slowly damage it before you even realize it. Sunlight contains UV rays that are very harmful to it as they can make the colors fade away easily and on top of that, if your kayak is exposed to sunlight for a long time, it can destroy most of the kayak components completely.
Sunlight also comes with heat which if keeps on hitting your kayak for a long time can deform it and damage it on another level. Therefore, to prevent such disasters from taking place, you can place curtains or window glass stickers on the garage windows to prevent sunlight from entering the garage and affecting your kayak.
Conclusion:
Now that we have reached the end, it has been a pleasure to help you with your problem on where and how to store kayak in garage for long lasting durability. There will be a lot of opinions and stories on how to properly store a kayak.
However, I feel like the ones that are mentioned up top are the best ones and will help you to a great extent. Storing a kayak isn’t that hard of a job as all it requires is a little effort, and you are all set. Always make that to tighten every single screw or else one night, you might wake up to the sound of it falling down on the ground and shattering into pieces and that is a horrendous situation to imagine.
You need to have a perfect shape kayak before hitting the water, so make sure to protect and store it with everything you got. I hope that this piece of the article was able helpful in determining how to store your kayak in a garage. If you have any other questions about kayaking, then you can refer to our other articles which might help you.
