I bought 2 sets of the Kayak Condo 2 in order to hang my 4 kayaks on my garage wall. I considered making my own but having a limited amount of free time, that I would rather use paddling, I chose to bite the bullet and order these. I couldn't be happier with my decision.
Within 30 minutes of the UPS truck leaving them they were mounted with all 4 boats stored safely away. It really is a simple design that works perfectly. I mounted mine 64" apart and they hold 3 Necky Looksha 14's and and OT Otter.
I bought this for my 2 kayaks, a Necky Manatou 14 and a new QCC 500 (can't wait until things thaw around here! ) Ater looking at the many options, I picked the Talic Kayak Condo - 2 kayak version.
The kayak condo is nicely made of polished hardwood braces, 2 hardwood arms per boat cradle and 2" nylon webbing per arm that is suspended from the end of the arm to braces. It took me 20 minutes to set everything up in my garage along one wall with exposed studs.
The kayaks are well supported by the nylon webbing. They take up surprising little space in the garage, Probably 26 inches from the wall in total. Every time I go out to the garage I admire the set up. There is something very esthetically pleasing about the quality of the wood, the simplicity of the set up and of course, the boats.
I would be hesitant however to use this in outside applications, at least without treatment of the wood, but for indoor use, it is outstanding!
I bought 4 of the Talic Kayak Condos. They work great for my 3 sea kayaks and 1 white water boat. The 2" webbing is gentle on the boats, and it is very easy to load the boats on the cradles. If you care about looks and workmanship, you will like the kayak condos. The workmanship is surprisingly good.
I recommend the kayak condos. Some people say they are not so good for rec boats. It may be true, but I guess if you lay them on their sides it will work. They work great for my 22" wide touring boats. I lay them on their sides as even the touring boats can be wide for the kayak condos. It's great to see them all in 1 place, and not be tripping over them all the time. It beats hanging them from the ceiling because loading them and unloading them is a 1 step process.
The hard part is the constant reminder to my wife, on 1 wall in the garage, that I own so many boats. She keeps asking me what boat am I planning on selling. My kayak buddies tell me it's too hard of a question to answer...
I have to add to the praise already posted for this product.
Everything about this product shouts that the manufacturer took the time to think things over and do it right. The materials, packaging, and directions are all excellent. Just a small example - the lag bolts use washers, and they are wrapped separately with those washers. This package is inserted into the main package. So you don't have to wonder which bolts these washers are used for. All the bolts are trimmed to perfect length so that nothing sticks out too far.
Just a very well thought out and executed plan. I don't see how you could go wrong with this product. It is priced higher than others - but easily worth the cost.
Just bought a 3 kayak tower and 2 kayak tower to get my kayaks up against the garage wall. Part of me said I should save a bit of money and just build something myself. But now that I've got them installed I'm glad I spent the money. They are very well designed, and much sturdier than they look in the pictures. And installation was a piece of cake. I was also concerned if they would hold a couple of "pumpkin seed boats" I own. The arms were wide enough, and the distance between the arms was just barely tall enough to fit them in. But as these are chubby Old Town otters, I figure if they fit these boats, they'll bit just about anything out there.
In sum they seem to work for boats of varying sizes. The three kayak unit was mounted about 4 feet apart for a whitewater boat and two short rec boats; the two kayak unit was mounted about seven feet apart, to accomodate a 12.5 foot rec boat and a sea kayak. This compromise distance seems to work pretty well for both. Obviously, you'd run into trouble if you wanted to hold a whitewater boat and a sea kayak on the same rack.