New Garage Storage System

If anyone is looking for a cool idea on how to store your ice shelter adding a garage hoist a great space saving idea. The product I chose is made by Racor and I finally had a chance to install it this past weekend. It does an excellent job of lifting my Otter Outdoors Lodge full of just about all my ice fishing gear

I was able to find it on Amazon for $130 with free shipping and installation was a breeze. The only complaint I have is that the cables are not long enough to lower the way to my garage floor which means I need help to load/unload my sled.

Will, if you have the Otter as high as it will go how far from the ceiling to the bottom of the rack is there?

looks awesome. I tried to make my own last fall with pulleys and rope, however I wasnt paying attention in my physics class and couldnt get it to pull up easy enough so I just ended up lifting it up with a buddy and hooking it on 4 bike hooks.

Its nice to get it out of the way thats for sure!

I’m afflicted with small garage syndrome. I love this idea!

yup, I’ve had that system installed for a few years now, it works great at keeping my Otter cabin up & out of the way during the summer months and then I load my lawn mower and other summer stuff up in the winter months. I have 12′ ceiling height in my garage so I swapped out the 30′ of cable it came with for 50′. Now I can lower it down to about a foot from the garage floor, makes loading/unloading simple..

Make sure you go buy better lag bolts than what the kit comes with, they are crap…

That’s a good find Will!

I bought the exact same thing last year from Home Depot, but paid a little more than what you found it for. The adapter that hooks up to a corded/cordless drill is very nice too, makes for quick unloading and loading into your truck. Definately something you guys should look into with limited garage space

Quote:

---

Will, if you have the Otter as high as it will go how far from the ceiling to the bottom of the rack is there?

---

I think about 3′ on mine but I’m pretty sure if I took the seats off and organized the Otter better I could get it down to about 24-30″.

I’m lucky enough to have a big garage and this is how I store them in the back of my garage for the summer and most of the winter

might have to get one to put my kayaks on

Quote:

---

I’m lucky enough to have a big garage and this is how I store them in the back of my garage for the summer and most of the winter

---

I’d say big garage is an understatment for you bud… Nice Ski over the weekend!

I am going to assume you don’t have mouse or squirrel problems. Mines going in the furnace room until winter.

Cool idea
How do you crank it up and down?

Quote:

---

I am going to assume you don’t have mouse or squirrel problems. Mines going in the furnace room until winter.

---

We live on a wooded lot so we do get mice in the Fall… I actually think having it on this lift is much better than on the ground.

Quote:

---

Cool idea
How do you crank it up and down?

---

It comes with a small gearbox that uses either a hand crank or an attachment that allows you to do it very quickly with a cordless drill.

I have to agree, I have the same system and I love it. I have a small 3 car garage and having the portable in the air was a nice addition to the summer stuff. IE like the kids stuff they leave all over the place. I am so happy with it I might buy another one.
thanks for sharing

Quote:

---

We live on a wooded lot so we do get mice in the Fall… I actually think having it on this lift is much better than on the ground.

---

For sure when it comes to mice, unless you get white footed mice who nest up high. Even then, your probably ok. I am sure you’ve been storing it in the garage already anyway with no problem.

I guess I am paranoid because I have seen and heard of them doing damage to people’s shacks. But I think that was more common with the old canvas style covers.

Another tip is that you can store your lighter early ice gear underneath the platform holding your heavy flip over. I have my Otter Cabin ontop and a Frabil Ultralite connected by bungee cords underneath (obviously this works best with those who have high garage ceilings)

awesome I’m looking into that! You can back the truck gate right up, lower it down to the level of the gate and pull it in to the bed.

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

We live on a wooded lot so we do get mice in the Fall… I actually think having it on this lift is much better than on the ground.

---

For sure when it comes to mice, unless you get white footed mice who nest up high. Even then, your probably ok. I am sure you’ve been storing it in the garage already anyway with no problem.

I guess I am paranoid because I have seen and heard of them doing damage to people’s shacks. But I think that was more common with the old canvas style covers.

---

This will actually be my first year storing it in this garage so I don’t have a history, but I’m with you in that I would be concerned that if it was on the ground I might have mice nesting up. That’s actually one of the reasons I wanted to put this this hoist.

In my haste for stating my paranoia with critters and storing shacks in a garage, I didn’t observe that, not only is the hoist away from the walls, but your ceiling is finished too.

Quote:

---

looks awesome. I tried to make my own last fall with pulleys and rope, however I wasnt paying attention in my physics class and couldnt get it to pull up easy enough so I just ended up lifting it up with a buddy and hooking it on 4 bike hooks.

Its nice to get it out of the way thats for sure!

---

I tried the same thing two years ago and about killed myself trying to raise it up to the ceiling. I had gave up on the idea but I think I’ll have to try and get my hands on one of these now.

Thanks for sharing Will, great idea!

Here’s my setup for my new to me northland ATT trailer. I can winch it up against the wall and the truck or boat fits nicely in the same stall

http://www.idofishing.com/forum/files/photos/1376573002_fishhouse.jpg

There’s a great video online of a guy who setup a hoist with pulley system that lifted his utility trailer to the ceiling. It’s not too difficult to do, if I didn’t already have 18 inches of spray insulation in my garage ceiling I would have done it, but the Hi-Loft system works just fine..

I just use a bicycle pulley hoist that I picked up at Fleet Farm. It cost about $15 and has worked well so far. You just don’t want to put too much weight on it.