Shell removal and storage

I wanted to see if anybody has ever removed their shell and hung it by their Prinsu rack for storage?

 

Probably not a good idea, the rack is really ment to take load in one direction, downwards, I suspected the hardware would pull through the fiberglass if you hung the weight of it and the shell from it.

You *might* be okay if you put eye bolts on the corners and made a pulley system in your garage that could lift it off, then the load would be distributed across all the mounting hardware but it may yet still pull through over time especially if repeated frequently.

 

My thoughts too. Thanks

 

I lifted mine off plenty of times by the prinsu rack using 2 ratchet straps running underneath all the cross bars near the rails. I had mine mounted in yakima tracks with cap nuts.

It's better to lift it by the bottom rails of the topper, but I never noticed any problems.

 

I suppose OP you could get some aluminum channel and or big fender washers to put on the hardware inside the shell to help better distribute the weight if you wanted to try it.

 

Something like this?

 

exactly like that. Any issues you’ve seen?

 

Why not get a couple 2x4s that are wider than the cap and put eye bolts on each end? Would still require you to deal with getting the boards under the cap initially but then the weight is properly supported. Is how we used to store/lift kayaks in the garage.

 

No.
Its about 50# on each mount.
I walked to each corner of the shell and pushed upward a little on the corner as I synched the strap.
The weight wasn't bad and it was actually easy which made me feel better about hanging it like that.
Go for it!

 

This is a better way. What @gsubioguy suggests.
I hung mine for a couple days while putting on a rear bumper.

 

That’s how I support our canoes. Wasn’t necessarily trying to avoid that, just wondering how a different way would be.

 

@Mattynokes 10-4