Garage Kayak Rack

I finally got around to getting my two kayaks off the garage floor and more efficiently stored. I built a simple wall-mounted rack on the side of the garage. So far it's working great. Originally I was going to build it out of 2x4s and pattern it after a design I saw on the web, but while browsing the home-improvement store, I saw some heavy-duty shelf brackets, and decided I could just build it with those. I carefully attached them to the wall studs with 3 inch screws. Then I bought some water-pipe insulation and slid it over the tops of the brackets for padding and to create a less-slippery surface. I fixed these to the bars with plastic zip-ties. I'm using bungee cords to help keep the boats from accidentally slipping off the shelf brackets. I attached the bottom bungees between the shelf brackets, and the top ones between the upper shelf bracket and some eye-bolts I screwed into the studs.

It remains to be seen if there will be much horizontal force that causes the brackets to try to spread apart. The brackets are certainly not as strong in that direction. If it becomes necessary, I think that I could run a small wire horizontally between the brackets to keep them from spreading. I probably won't have to, but we'll see.

This wall-mounted method replaces a homemade rope-and-pulley system that I used to have. It was a pain to get the kayaks off the floor...it took two people to do it, and it was always tricky to properly clear the garage door when it was up. The result was that the boats spent the majority of their time on the garage floor. Hopefully that'll be a thing of the past!