Rage Powersports Apex BLC-1-1 Kayak, Canoe and Overhead Storage Hoist

Okay, first of all this item is less the $40.00. You pretty much get what you pay for. The instructions are practically worthless -- you'll need to find the youtube video to show you how to thread the rope. I put mine together and used it to hoist my Emotion Stealth Angler Pro, an 11'6" kayak that has an empty weight of 80 lbs (according to the manufacturer). I have a set of scupper wheels, a life jacket, a paddle, and a couple of fishing poles stuck on the kayak, so we'll just say the whole thing weighs 90 lbs (at most). Given this is a pulley system, I thought raising the kayak would be much easier. It wasn't at all. I'm a six foot, 220lb male, and it was all I could do to raise the kayak once I had leather gloves on. The gloves were a must for the amount of effort needed to pull the ropes. Sitting here now, I'm a bit unnerved as I have 90 lbs of kayak hanging over the hood of two cars in my garage. These brackets are being held up by just four (probably cheap) lag screws (and not overly large ones).Oh, and for those wondering, the bottom of my kayak is 39 inches from the ceiling in the raised position. I had to use the "small" straps for "smaller" kayaks to achieve that height even those my kayak is probably pretty much at the top end of what this thing will handle. I don't think I would buy this thing again as I feel it is poorly engineered. For the piece of mind, I could have built something myself or just popped for an electric hoist system.

I really like this hoist, purchased it for storing a rooftop cargo carrier we bought before a recent vacation. It is sturdy, and makes it easy to use the otherwise unused storage space in our garage. Aside from my specific issues (below), this was really easy to install, and is really easy to use. Definitely recommend if you are looking for an inexpensive, good quality hoist for a cargo box, kayak, etc.So here are the "issues" with this hoist, and to be honest, neither one of them is really a limitation of this product in particular, just the nature of how and where I mounted the hoist. The first issue is that the direction I wanted to mount this required me to attach a 2x4 to our ceiling, perpendicular to the ceiling joists, and then mount the individual pulley brackets to that. You can see that in the picture. If I had mounted this in the other direction (turned it 90 degrees), I would have been able to attach each of the brackets to a single joist, without the 2x4. The second issue is that the straps that came with the hoist were about 6" too long, and not adjustable, so I was not able to raise the carrier high enough to clear the garage door when it opens. I solved this by just making my own straps (using rope), cut to the exact length I needed. This appeared to be the case for any of the hoists I looked at though, so neither of these things are really issues with the product itself.

Threading the rope through the pulley with the brake was a bit tricky but after a couple of tries I got it. I am a 70 year old woman and I was able to complete this by myself. It did take all morning, but that was mostly because it was hard to do all the measuring to be sure I had a joist above the drywall ceiling in the garage. Once that was done it was easy to install. I didn't use the slings, but rather fastened the hooks directly to a thwart in the canoe. That way it is up against the ceiling. With the slings it would probably be much too low. I am thrilled with the entire system. The brake is very helpful when lowering or raising the canoe and it holds perfectly. It is wonderful to have the canoe out of the way but easily accessible!

I like this hoist but it is really made for a ceiling height GREATER THAN eight feet. We are now walking around the suspended kayak - instead of being able to walk under it. Even with it cinched up its absolute limit, a 6-foot tall person has NO chance of actually walking under the kayak. That does not make this particular hoist a bad choice or lousy value, it just makes it less than optimal in many (most?) eight foot ceiling settings.

This Kayak pulley system is amazing. I do have to say that while assembling it there were some non-matching parts, but even then it still all fit together fine. I bought two and installed them in the beams of our garage. They work very well, I saw a review about the rope not being so great, but it seems to work fine. The price is very good for two of the kits, as I would have no idea how to assemble a pulley system on my own at the hardware store. I am a short female, and I think it only took me about an hour to install both of them, which is pretty good for me considering it usually takes me longer to assemble Ikea furniture. The diagrams are very helpful and the package arrived on time. Overall, I would recommend this product very much.

I am using this unit to suspect a car top carrier instead of a Kayak. It works perfectly and allows me to lower the carrier directly onto the car's roof. The straps are fully adjustable and big enough to go around the carrier. Install was easy.Only thing I don't like is the rope quality. The manufacturer uses a clever locking system to suspend the items. I noticed that the rope becomes frayed the more you use it. Not a serious issue but a better quality of rope would solve this in the future.

I’ve installed this before...there are similar types on eBay, but this one is a better quality. Mounting bracket is sturdier, as is the hardware that is provided. Overall, nice system. Used it for a kayak. I had to mount it above the rafters in the garage to clear the garage door. Make sure to figure out how wide to place the mounts based on the kayak width.

Easy to install, but watch one of the few YouTube videos out there for a few tips and pointers to get it right. I’m not so disappointed as some, but yes it does end up holding your kayak bottom about 3 feet from the ceiling. Hint I have mine mounted side to side in the garage, so there is plenty of room for the cars underneath it. My one complaint is the straps. Too thin and slightly a pain to align, wrap... I think I might cut some swimming floatation tubes to better support and protect my kayak.