I have been contemplating buying a Hobie Mirage Kayak for at least 5 years. Well, I finally decided that this was going to be the year as I want to bring it on our family vacation to the OBX at the end of the summer. Likely to get an Outback. The thing holding me back at the moment is where to store it. I currently have an old Ocean Kayak Scrambler that sits against the shady side of the house on it's side for at least the last 15 years. I didn't want to do that to a brand new Hobie, but just cannot find a place inside to store it.
The best place I came up with is under our deck. It's a long deck with access at one end. We live on a hill, so the ground slopes up from where you enter end the deck, starts at maybe 4.5 feet and gets lower from there. I didn't want to just lay it in the dirt, so I came up with an overhead track system, so I can load it from the outside and slide it in on rollers. Took quite a while to get it all worked out (using the Scrambler as a test dummy), but it works well now. (see photo)
Now I don't know what to do about covering it and looking for some input. The kayak is completely shaded from the sun, so UV protection isn't an issue. Water, dirt, etc, will drip through the slats in the deck and onto the kayak. I originally was going to make a cover out of a tarp, but that seems like a hassle every time I need to do it. Then I started thinking I was going a little over board and maybe I should just leave it under the deck with no cover. Now my latest thought is to make a kind of tent over where the kayak will hang. More work to install, but once in place I don't mess with it (probably be a bigger task than I am thinking to get it installed).
So let me know what you think,
Thanks.