My expertise when it comes to construction projects is limited to knowing (or at least having a strong suspicion) which end of the hammer to hold onto. I have access to skilled workers, so my question is more about concept and design than actual assembly.

The local kayak club has racks to store the kayaks at lakeside. I am not enamored with the design, efficiency, or space utilization of these racks, so...

Utilizing invincible ignorance, I have thought up what I feel is a better system.

Attached is an amateurish computer sketch of what I have in mind, 7 feet tall, 20 feet in length, a bit more than two and a half feet deep. The cross hatched shelves are what the boats will rest upon and are nominally plywood, supported along their edges by angle iron welded to the supporting legs which are made of pipe. There are five shelves at 16 inches separation plus the roof.

I say nominally plywood, because that was what I could think of, but plywood is not suitable because of cost and weather exposure.

So, the question: What is the least expensive, weather resistant material I can use, both for the shelves, and for the outer skin of the rack? Each shelf of the rack will support a maximum of 65 pounds. One end of the rack will be closed like the sides, the other end will be a hinged door with deadbolt lock for access to the kayaks.

My system, in the unlikely chance that the club can afford to do it, would store 60% more kayaks in less than half the space of the existing racks, offering better weather protection, better security, far less maintenance, and vastly improved ease of access. FWIW, the ultimate plan would be to have nine of these racks in three groups so only two side skins would be required for each set of three racks, one set at 20 feet, the second at 18 feet, the third at 16 feet length.

Suggestions?

tanstaafl.

So the kayaks are simply sliding in from one end, just sliding along the shelf surface?

Cheap material depends on what is cheap locally, and cheap is a relative term. Scrap sheet metal or other panel material may exist.

In some places the standardized marine shipping containers can be purchased for modest money. These are made of heavy steel, with substantial lockable doors at one end. They can be customized as needed then delivered and relocated using normal container trucks.

The standard shipping container length is 20 feet, I think, but there are several sizes of extended containers.

If a shipping container will work, the 'shelves' might become simply a series of rollers or round rods that the kayaks slide over.

I like the shipping container suggestion, though those might be expensive to come by deep inland in Mexico.

Whatever the materials, the "shelves" do not need to be "shelves." Just some sacrificial liner on top of the metal crossbars, such as short lengths of 2x2/2x4 wood, or UHMW plastic (best!).

Plywood, or corrugated steel, would work for the outsides, if painted regularly.

That's one of the mistakes they made with the current racks.

Each kayak rests on two steel bars covered with foam pipe insulation. This works OK for the fiberglass boats. But some of the cheaper boats are "rotoplast" construction - a plastic resembling polyethylene. This allows for an inexpensive boat, with a tradeoff of extra weight. These boats have to be stored upside down because if left resting on their hulls in the heat the bottoms become deformed where they rest on the cross bars. When resting on their decks they don't deform because the raised cockpit cowling adds rigidity.

tanstaafl.

I spent 11 summers attending and working a camp with an extensive paddling program - canoe, C1/C2, and kayak - (the founder had a rapid named for him and they've produced several olympians). They always hang the kayaks and C1/C2s. Only the aluminum and wood canoes were stored on old style racks.

-jk