Storage question

Posted by Monterey Matt on Sep 21, 2006

I've got a couple of the nice straps with an integral metal hook to lift my "new" baby up to the top of my carport so it hangs from the rafters (I tested this today with the ratchets for my tie-downs as a sort of no-mechanical-advantage pulley, and it worked beautifully). The boat is supported by nylon web "slinging" it at two points, just forward of the one-third mark and just aft of the two-thirds mark in terms of her total length.

This is a Ches 18.

The load limit is not going to be significant as far as the hooks in the rafters go...I lifted myself up with a sort of chinup on the strap (more than 200 pounds of kayak paddler) as a test and the hook didn't budge.

My question is: how much gear, in terms of weight, do you think I can safely store in the kayak without there being undue stress on the boat framing itself?

This boat's got to be 20 pounds or more heavier than the "book" weight of 48 pounds due to my ineptitude with epoxy and general overconstruction. But one assumes that's evenly distributed.

I'm just wondering if I can store my gear in the compartments and cockpit -- even distributed, of course, to put equal stress on the two straps -- and if there's a practical limit to how much I want to put up there. (Not an issue when it's in the water, of course.)

Replies:

• Re: Storage question by Doug Wood on Sep 23, 2006
  • Re: Storage question by John Beck on Sep 25, 2006
    • Re: Storage question by Doug Wood on Sep 25, 2006
• Re: Storage question by Jim E on Sep 25, 2006