The Kayak project, part I

Last year I didn't have time to put much thought into a nice way to deploy and retrieve our Hobie kayaks. Here's the blog post I did when I first brought them aboard. I have been using the crane, and some nylon straps I had from tying down my previous kayaks to a trailer or car top. 

The boats are often hoisted at crazy angles, not that it really hurts them, but it looks kinda sloppy.

Above is where they live on the deck when not in use and covered up. 
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When we go to use the kayaks, the seat and the pedals/flippers have to be installed. Last year I generally did this on the swim step, with the kayak still attached to the crane. I had the seat/pedals in a closet in the lazarette. The whole process was sort of a pain. Here they are on the table on the flybridge deck. 

I realized I have a big storage locker under table's seating area that would fit all four pieces nicely. I bought some anti microbial bath mats to keep them from sliding around. 

And I decided I could do the pedal/seat installed with the kayaks placed like this, now I have lots of working room and a nice surface.

Inspired by the three point hoist that came with our tender, I bought some various bits to fashion a hoist for each kayak.

First I had to figure out the center of gravity. 

I measured and tied the lines to the caribbeaners. I had threaded the lines through the same mounting points for the seats, thinking these are very strongly reinforced in the hull. But the caribbeaners are just a little too small for the steel lifting rings I bought, that are large enough for the big hook on the crane. 

I put the boats in the water with them, we went paddling/pedaling. I also realized those white lines would get grungy in a hurry. 

So as I often do, I'll think about this for a few days and come up with a much better version in round two.