View topic - Pls give tips and tricks for storing a canoe outdoors

yes, blue tarps work but they degrade quickly.

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Hmmm.
Well it is agreed that one should keep the sun and snow off without having the cover touch the hull of the boat.
You can buy a sheet or two of plywood for 50 bucks.
2x4's are dirt cheap.
Most people have a cordless drill and a skilsaw.
If not, invite friends over and those with the most fingers at the end of the project win a case of beer.
Build a shelter with some sort of support that keeps the boat or boats off the ground.
The shelter can attach to a fence or a garage or be free standing if it has to.
It can be as finished or ugly as you wish or can tolerate.
I see a lot of boats suffering from storage neglect. UV seems to be the biggest wrecker.
I kick the living shite out of my boats on the water but at home they are high and dry and shaded.

I'm not going to buy an old aluminium canoe has a shelter for my others. I need the rack space. But, I like the thinking!!

Maybe I just re-think which boat goes go on top and takes on the worst hit of sun & snow...

So, which material is most resistant to the effects of UV exposure: old chopper mat fiberglass, a composite "Duralite" cloth & resin, Royalex, or PE?

Right now my longest boat (Hellman Duralite cloth & resin) is on the top/exposed rack. But maybe I just move my least nice, least valuable canoe to the top. The old chopper mat boat would make a pretty sturdy lid!

I'm no construction genius, but with 4 canoes stacked under the eaves of my garage, it's pretty tight space, I don't think building/installing an 18' plywood roof/shelter is really in the cards there.

P.

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Learning to paddle is like learning a language:
It's easy to learn the basics, but will you be understood in a strong wind?

Whatever you do.. make sure you don't lose the canoe under the snow.. I did once snowshoed over the stem of a Kevlar canoe..

The heavy duty brown tarps last much, much longer. We have what we call “The Tarp Shed” covering our split firewood supply; an old wooden swing set frame covered with tarps. Blue tarps lasted a couple years are best. The heavy duty brown tarps are going on 15 years old.

In the background; the A frame from the old swing set sheds snow load nicely, and the brown tarps don’t look as trailer park-ish.

PB280034 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

MIke, by brown tarp do you mean canvas like these? https://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/outdo ... wAod7LwJww

We can have "neighbour issues", so design and look must be considered, awkward usable space issues, as well as "lackoftimetobreath"issues, so considering all ideas! Thanks!

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"I've never met a river I didn't like. The experience is what we remember and the challenges make for great memories". Me

Not canvas, the ones on the tarp shed are just Home Depot Heavy Duty poly tarps. Like these, but ours are brown on both sides:

https://www.homedepot.com/s/heavy%20dut ... sitesearch

Ah! Good to know. Thx

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"I've never met a river I didn't like. The experience is what we remember and the challenges make for great memories". Me

TSC stores (Canada) often rotate promotions on their tarps in weekly flyers at up to 50% savings. This week the blue (poorest quality) are 40% off. Sooner or later the brown (better) and grey (best) also come up as promotional items. This will only be useful to you though if you don't need the tarps immediately.

No rush, thanks for the tip, I will keep my eyes open.

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"I've never met a river I didn't like. The experience is what we remember and the challenges make for great memories". Me

Cheryl, if you are considering building a simple frame to keep the tarps off the canoes I can attest that the pitch of the steep A frame slope sheds snow loads nicely.

There are 2x4 and even 4x4 brackets that hold support ends /\ in place. The old swing set has some beefy 4x4 brackets secured with lag bolts, but even a set of sawhorse brackets and 2x4’s should work.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-5-5-in- ... /303652579

Maybe something like this (used when I need vertical storage for boats in the shop) , but much taller, with an unoccupied top crossbar to drape the HD tarp over away from the boats, and a couple lower crossbars for end slide-in hull storage.

P2020028 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The brown HD tarps on the firewood shed are secured with screws through fender washers at the tarp grommets, and elsewhere through the tarp material itself along the frame. It doesn’t even flap in the wind, which would be noisy disturbing, and probably tarp destructive over time.

FWIW the “feet” of that swingset A frame wood shed are concreted in the ground, and it has withstood a mini-tornado/microburst that shattered trees on the far side of the house. Anchor the A frame securely to the deck if you go that route; there are ready made base brackets for that as well*.

*Not meaning to disparage your carpentry or design skills. If there is a bracket or “hurricane tie” made for the connection I’ll go that route instead of cobbing together something my own.

i think it's best to store canoes upside down supported on the gunwales at either end.

https://www.madrivercanoe.com/us/experi ... your-canoe

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Me too. The top boat in the photo is right side up and on the foam stabilizer blocks because I was doing some work on the inside.

Still mulling what to do with our 15'er this year. Thinking I might hang it from out deck shelter ( which is solid roofed). There will a f1.5-2 feet sticking out each end, and it is well wax.ed. Hubby saw these and was intrigued. What say you? There are a lot of differnent types. I have asked about the type of fabric, but not yet got a reply.
https://www.amazon.ca/Lixada-Universal- ... Q4Y3QNJT9&

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"I've never met a river I didn't like. The experience is what we remember and the challenges make for great memories". Me