For many years, we answered questions from people who wanted to hoist canoes or kayaks up to the ceiling in their garages or barns. It’s a logical place to store them, but the average do-it-yourself job contains some hidden problems (and dangers).

There are engineering obstacles, like how to hoist it so it rises evenly. You need a mechanical advantage, but the small pulleys you can buy at the hardware store don’t provide much. Then there’s safety. Without some kind of automatic locking system, you will almost certainly drop the boat when your grip slips. If you’re lucky nobody will be hurt.

Enter Harken. For those who don’t know them, they are a world leader in rigging for sail boats. As such, it’s no surpirse that they are experts at hoisting things. They’ve got the problem solved. The Harken Hoister provides easy and safe lifting of your canoe or kayak (or bike, or truck cap, or whatever) in a convenient kit with detailed instructions. You can choose your mechanical advantage ratio based on how heavy your load is or how easy you want the lift to be.

Some people set these up so they drive into the garage or barn with the boat on top of the car. They attach the hoister to the boat and lift it right off the top of the vehicle. It’s a slick system, particularly if you have a tall vehicle or a heavy boat.

Features

• 3:1 – 60 lb Capacity
• 4:1 – 90 lb Capacity
• 6:1 – 145 lb Capacity
• 8:1 – 200 lb Capacity