Just interested to hear where and how you store your beloved for the winter.
I've had my 17' Swift Algonquin both in the garage and outside up against my pool deck.
Putting it the garage takes up about half of my two car garage, but I don't like the signs of weathering that the thwarts are showing.
I know that some people have elaborate pulley systems, etc., to store their canoes.


Foxco
Somewhere in the
Georgian Triangle
Ontario

I am lucky to have a barn to store mine

I have a rack at the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club. It's outside & exposed. At the end of the year I'll dose my canoe with UV protector. I need to remember to visit it after heavy snow accumulation to brush it off.

Hi Foxco

I use a pair of pulleys .. one at each end. I pull out my our vehicles and use a step-ladder to release and lower one end and then the other. I also use a strap between the yolk and a truss, as a measure of redundancy-fail-safe .. which has to be untied first.





I guess one could incorporate additional pulleys and longer ropes, so that the step-ladder wouldn't be required.

(Note: the rope visible in the far corner isn't part of my canoe pulley set-up. It's a paddling-weight-pulley .. to keep my shoulders and arms in shape. Here in Aurora, we're in Oakridges Moraine country without nearby paddling lakes, so I have to rely on the weights.)



Barry Bridgeford
http://www.AlgonquinAdventures.com
http://www.ABRweb.ca

I have a similar setup to Barry's, except with 2 extra pulleys to make lifting easier, and a double pully by the wall so I can pull it up by myself and tie it off.

This is likely not the recommended storage method



Rac n

I always thought that storing it 'right side up' was incorrect, that it was possible for the canoe to sag in the middle? Is that not the case?

I would store it upside down like you see all the rentals sitting in the racks.

S.

Back when we had a cedar canvas dad would store it like this. He had a pully system in the garage and the canoe would rest upside-down on a couple of 2x4s. Modern constructions are likely more resilient.

If you do hang your canoe, be like Bary and have a failsafe. Dad learned too late. Fortunately the canoe was fine. The car needed $1000.

Chris this is the same pulley system I use. It works great, one rope to pull to get it up there, really easy for one person to run by themselves.

I have a short chain with a lock link that I rap around the yoke and the beam above as a fail safe, just to be sure I don't have a boat fall on my truck.

Some people have commented on not hanging it right side up. They are correct there are a few things that may happen if you hang it right side up. I don't think you need to worry about a new boat sagging in the middle under its own weight as long as your end lines go straight up and not pull into the middle of the canoe.

You may worry about having a squirrel live in your boat over the winter or if your roof happens to leak and your boat fills full of water well then ya your've got a problem. It's pretty simple to hang your boat upside down.. just get two 30" wide 2x2's and screw some eyelets in the end of it. Rest the boat on top of the 2x2's and tie a rope up over the top (bottom) of your boat through the eyelets.. then hang it that way.. You may need a little more roof height as you won't be able to get it quite as high.

Another option. The Garage Gorilla™ Motorized Electric Hoist


http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10302995&whse=BCCA&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-CA#

and before you ask. NO Algonquin Outfitters does not sell these.

For kayaks check out:

The Malone JDock Hybrid

http://www.maloneautoracks.com/gearstorage_317.html

We do have these in stock, currently at 20% off.


Randy Mitson
AO Huntsville
http://www.aohuntsville.com
http://www.algonquinoutfitters.com
randym@algonquinoutfitters.com

In our latest home within the city of Ottawa (originally built 1928 as a cottage) there is no garage. Until we get one built, I've setup a crib in the backyard to store the boats (2 kayaks, 2 canoes):



I still have to finish the other 1/2 of the roof.

In Jasper we stored all the boats in the horse barn on our property, protected from the elements. In BC we stored the kayaks on the side of the garage on 2 twin sets of v-shaped frames built out of 2x4's (one below the other), while the canoe was supported by a basic 2 pulley system that would span the front hoods of the two vehicles parked there but hoisted to be just below the garage's ceiling. The loose rope ends would be tied to two boat cleats screwed to the garage's wall.

Racoon - I wouldn't store your boat open like that. If you have no other option flip her upside down on two (or more) wood pieces so that the bow/stern won't touch the ground. Cover her with a tarp to avoid the rain/ice/snow getting inside any framing openings.

Hmmm... I only wish I had a canoe with wood gunnels

It's not mine... Just some picture I found

But it sure makes a great way to tell when it time to trip ( snow is gone
from interior of Canoe :-0)

My canoes .. old 14' St Ignace and newer 16' scott prospector

While not treated with care always in the park have a nice sheltered rack under
a roofed deck for thier hibernation rest

( I could hardly consider taking a cedar strip and travel the interior as I would always worry about marring the finish in May temperature waters)

My next will be Oltonar / Royalex and it will also have a sheltered winter berth but unlikely to be treated with kid gloves when tripping


Rac n

Yep you guys are correct, you want to be more careful with storing your old wooden canoes. Nothing sends a cedar strip canoe south faster than letting it sit on the ground and rot. Get it up off of the ground, sit it on some stands upside down. Cover it from the elements (a roof works best, but if you don't have that try a good tarp). let it breath, don't trap moisture under the tarp or store it in a place where mold and mildew may wreck havoc on the wood and canvas.

And well if you've never done this and things have just gone too far to save your beloved boat, well then they make great shelves is you saw them in half and put a little work into them (often selling for over $1000 for each half), or even great garden planters.




Randy Mitson
AO Huntsville
http://www.aohuntsville.com
http://www.algonquinoutfitters.com
randym@algonquinoutfitters.com

My Swift Temagami 18' is stored high at the end of my double garage. I bought two steel 'L' brackets from TSC, and fixed two 4 ft lengths of 2X4 to it to create a larger 'L' bracket. Found the studs in the garage, affixed the 'L' brackets and she sits up there, gunnels down, all winter. I walked by her the other day and and asked if she had anything to say about her winter berth and I heard nothing so I assume she's pretty content.

Any other condo/apartment dwellers in Toronto out there who own canoes? Where do you store it? I've been wanting to buy my own canoe for a long time, but have no place at my condo to store it. I see from Preacher's post there is storage at the Toronto Sailing and Canoe club...how much does this run per month/year? I currently have to rent a canoe everything time I take a trip, but would love the flexibility to own one. If anyone else has any suggestions, or know of other places to store canoes year round let me know!

One solution:

http://www.pakboats.com/


A place that carries them in Ontario (Richmond Hill)
http://www.keroboats.com/index.html


No experience with either the Pak Canoe or Kero Boats, just throwing it out there.



Barbara

Pakboats are great and there are lots of options in a collapsable canoe. I know one guy who has a 16'6" that we've taken on lots of trips. He also has a Feathercraft 'yak that he loves. They're durable and more boyant than rigid canoes. In fact, they're the canoe of choice for fly-in northern river action. Mostly because they pack like luggage, but if they didn't have the stuff to survive those waters they wouldn't even make it on the list.

There's one kayak out there that's really cool. Adjustable trim. With a few levers you can change the rocker and even the side-to-side bend. $5k.

Finding storage was a nightmare. Lots of legwork. I got lucky with the TS&CC. I think they have a waiting list now. $300/year there, but since I was spending $700/year on rentals it made sense to buy. Call marinas and clubs.

Caveat on the 'flexibility'...

More than once I've been at the end of an exhausting trip only to have to drive by the club, rack the canoe, tie the canoe, lock the canoe before I can go home. Once I got to the club and forgot to write down the new access codes so I had to go home, get the code, go to the club, rack the canoe...

It's bitter-sweet compared to the days of dumping it at the rental place and clocking 120kph on the way home. Yeah, forget 120kph anymore. Now that it's my canoe up on the car roof, 90-95kph is just fine. Add an extra hour driving time!

The Pak Canoe definately seems like a good option...thanks for the suggestion. Pricing seems reasonable and would avoid having to rent a storage spot. If anyone has any further experiences using a pak canoe (or something similar) please let me know. Specifically I'm wondering how long it takes to assemble and how difficult to assembe(ie will I be spending 2 hrs at an access point putting the thing together with bad Ikea type instructions?)

There are assembly instructions on the website. From what I've read, it might be "tricky" the first time, but once you get the hang of it, it goes faster.

If you do a search on CCR, you'll find lots of info about them.

Type it as one word: Pakcanoe

You'll get a lot of hits, including posts by the manufacturer Alv Elvestad (username: AlvElvestad)

Another advantage to folding boats:
http://canoekayak.com/features/stories/bikecanoebiker/



Barbara

Well I broke down and bought a pakcanoe. I managed to get in on this years pricing...the price is going up quite a bit with the sinking Canadian Dollar. Now I just have to wait 6+ months before I can use it in APP. Hoping we will have at least one nice weekend this year that I can test it out over on the Toronto Islands in the protected waterways. Thanks for the suggestion!

The simplist way to hang a canoe is putting some hooks or eye bolts in the ceiling. I then use straps to hold it up and hang it right side up by the handles or I turn it upside down and hang it from two loops of rope around the acnoe ends attached to the strap hooks. Took all of about 10 minutes to hang a second canoe next to the elborate setup made of wood for another canoe.

Cool! Congrats!
You can launch from Cherry Beach easily.

You're going to love it. Practice putting it together. I don't know how, but I know some who can do it alone. Having done it with 2 of us several times, I can't imagine how annoying it would be alone.

The other thread reminded me.

Get roofer/gardener knee pads. 2 of the people I know who use them have them because of the Pakcanoe. Pakcanoe's idea of kneeling pads is to take $5 worth of 1/2" foam and re-sell it for $50.

Yeah I had planned on working out my own solution as $50 for a kneeling pad seemed a bit excessive. I'm going to have to learn how to put the thing together by myself as I do alot of solo paddling....lots of time to practice now though! I will be happy not to have to lift a rental canoe up over the car by myself anymore!