# Outdoor Canoe and Gear Storage ideas?



## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Okay, I keep thinking… There HAS to be a better way!...

I have my canoe and paddling gear stored on the ceiling of my shop. It is space consuming, and VERY difficult to get up and down to where I can actually use the boat.

I would like to build SOMETHING to store the boat in, that will keep it out of the weather, and safe from thieves. There must be room for…

14'6" canoe. With room to grow. I would like to sell this boat and get a 17' Old Town…

4 hardwood straight shaft paddles. 2 hardwood bent shaft paddles, rope, sponges & bailing buckets, PFDs, dry bags, thwart bags etc… Pretty much all my paddling specific stuff.

I am seriously considering a basic, well, sort of like 3' high loafing shed that is enclosed, the front panel hinged, and bumpers to support the boat on several points along the gunwales.

Has anyone here done anything similar? I don't want to sacrifice my boat to get more space in my shop!


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## Kindlingmaker (Sep 29, 2008)

Old gas station fuel tanks with boat rollers inside works well. Yes, I use one for storage…


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## DanLyke (Feb 8, 2007)

I built a 4×8 bike storage shed, stores the bikes (including two tandems) upright inside. A couple of 2×4s and some 5/8" ply (because it was the cheapest). I built it to be disassembled and moved, I initially tried to do a conventional shingle roof but that assembly was too heavy to lift on, so I used those sheets of corrugated fiberglass, which worked great.

The one problem I had with it is that I didn't anchor it as solidly as it needed to be, one winter a big storm came through and blew it over. I then moved, and now have it in a completely different configuration, but whatever you do, make sure that you anchor it solidly.

In my town, a detached structure under 120 square feet (with some setback and separation rules) doesn't need a permit. Barring an easy source for old gas station fuel taks, I'd get a couple of sheets of cheap ply, some 2×4s, and some of those corrugated fiberglass sheets with wigglewood for the roof, and build yourself something that opens completely on the side with the doors opening upwards, so you can get the full 17+' at one time.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

Polycarbonate sheetng. It's extremely tough and can be bent lengthwise into a curve. This stuff is thin but what they make fighter plane windshields from. It has a lifetime warranty. I'd make a plywood base (pressure treated lumber) with 2-4 inch sides and bend this stuff over it like a tunnel. It's see-through but smoked and is 26" wide and comes 12' and 8' so you'd need probably 4 of them??? I'm guessing a 12ft and 8ft overlapped for about 20ft long. If you just connect it to the wood with a few screws it could be disassembled and would lie or stand flat for the summer.

Or, how about a tarp and some rope?










Here's the home depot link to the specs or it.


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Interesting concepts, however, one thing that I kind of forgot to mention was the need for security. I have a Bayou right behind my backyard. Without the boat being inside something, or securely cabled to something that would be hard to remove, it is a simple matter of tossing it over the fence, and paddling it down the bayou…


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## 1planner (Aug 5, 2009)

If you get the Old Town, the rear thwart is also a seat and has space between it and the canoe sides. Use a good bike cable lock to the frame of your storage support…


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I just had to throw this out.. I own a 1946 old town 16' canvas canoe. In fact I live about 180 miles from Old Town Maine where they're made. In fact my wife is from Old town and her grandfather built canoe sponsons.

Contrary to popular belief, Old Town Maine isn't a bunch of native americans. It's actually a bunch of frenchmen like me. They do have a reservation on a large island on the Penobscott river in Old Town though. But the old adage "Old Town Indian Canoes" isn't really true even though some indians probably did work at the factory.

More Old Town canoe information than you wanted to know. There it is.


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

I built a very small workshop in Tenessess in the '70's to house my radial arm saw and tools. I put doors on both ends so I could crosscut long lumber, which I had some old pieces of in the tobacco shed, really a small barn made of cedar….yup, I had a tobacco allotment on my 20 acres, and I leased out that allotment for $2000 bucks a year. Fiberglass roof for light, but aluminum would be OK. Made of plywood and 2×4's.

I don't know what your permit stuff is like, but that sounds like a great opportunity to combine canoe storage and wood storage for your projects. Both need some length, both need security, and you could have a canoe rack on one side and wood storagae on the other wall, and probably some room around the canoe also. Put down some sonotubes to tie in to , and the the plywood should keep out prying eyes and make thieves have to work to get at it.

A source of plans and thoughts would be greenhouse plans, just replace most of the windows with plywood.

Now, if only I could convince my wife that I need to use part of her oversized potting shed for wood storage…..hmmmm.


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

Oh, and by the way, could the garage be one of the walls? Then your structure is tied to the garage and wouldn't need to be as strong and wouldn't need a foundation to speak of…..........


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Not enough space between the side of my garage, and my neighbor's property… I am sure the couple next door hears me snore…

As far as permits are concerned. I am not planning on building a "Building" per se, but rather a big box… From what I have been able to determine from the city building and planning commission, if it is under 6' tall, has no water, or power going to of from it, I don't need a permit.

I really need to measure up the boat, and check with Old Town for my total dimensions needed, then get busy with Sketchup.


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