Malone Auto Racks Kayak Hammock Deluxe Hoist System

While this hardware is made under several names, they are all high quality overhead rack systems. The instructions are clear and the hardware is quality made. The weight limit is 100 pounds, probably more a factor of the included rope than the pulley hardware. The included lifting straps are a great help. I am holding a 60 pound tandem bike overhead in my garage, suspended by a home made cantilever beam which holds the bike about 2.5 feet out from a vertical wall, as my garage ceiling is 18 feet high (too high to directly attach this hoist to a garage ceiling rafter). The front hooks of the hoist hold the front handlebars, and a lifting strap supports the reat of the bike, because the rear seat on the tandem would not support the weight of the bike itself. The two-rope hoist system (actually one long rope but it acts as a two rope system) is the one to have as a one rope system will not allow level lifting of the object. I adjust the ropes so that my heavy bike is level when hoisted upward, and then I just pull the two ropes together. The pulley system is designed so that both ropes pulled together are half the lifted weight of the object; I am only pulling 30 pounds to lift my 60 pound bike. The rope locking system is secure, but just to be safe I added an additional double pulley system with a separate rope and wall cleat to also hold the weight of the bike, but is it probably not necessar as my bike is below the maximal weight of this hoist system. Do not hesitate to buy this; my huge bike is now up off the floor freeing up garage space, and instantly accessible when I need it.

It was a little difficult to install. The straps are super long so I just knotted them several times to achieve the right length to wrap around my kayak. Also, we had problems with the straps slipping off. My handyman added anti slip tapes for floors that have a rough surface to the straps and that works great. It's kinda scary hanging it over my Benz so I tie the end of the pulley strap securely to the wall. It's only Ok. I would prefer a better one but at this price, it works.

Have used one of these for about 5 years. Today I went out to the shop and found my 50 lb. canoe laying on the concrete floor, having first bounced off my table saw. BOTH of the Malone straps were broken. Enough said.

This is a fantastic product for hoisting a kayak. The product itself has very intuitive instructions and it's easy to assemble. I have hoisted a 15.5 foot tandem Old Town Kayak (weighing roughly 80lbs) in my garage. I'm giving the product a 4 star for a couple of small reasons. First, the nylon straps (in my opinion) are way too long. When the kayak is hoisted, the bottom of the strap hangs 4 feet lower than the beam that the hoist brackets are fixed to. That is a lot of wasted space. Secondly, the pulley rope seems weak and made of fiber as opposed to a strong nylon. To solve these "minor" issues, I have purchased 2 hammock straps with multiple loops so I can get the strap snug around the kayak and thus hoist it higher. For the rope, I'm simply going to replace it with a stronger nylon rope in the future. Lastly, I bought a stronger dock cleat. The cleat provided seems weak in my opinion. Overall, I'm still very happy with this product and would recommend it to anyone who wants to get your kayak safely hoisted. I just took extra precautions/steps to insure my heavy and long kayak will safely be up and out of the way. I've attached some photos for reference. Cheers!

Hard to install straps need to be adjustable l would not buy this again

We have a fairly high ceiling in the garage. This allows this system to work well for us. My kayak is no longer taking up the space in the garage that is supposed to contain my car. My kayak is a Nucanoe Frontier - fairly large and heavy for a kayak. I am a fairly small man whose age begins with the number 7. I have no problem raising and lowering the kayak under control. I think that when kayak season comes again in Maine I will be able to lower the kayak right onto my trailer - nice! For now the car fits under the kayak and I can walk under it without bending over. The Malone factory is about 15 miles from our house so I am patronizing local a business as well. I am very happy with my purchase!

I am a 74 year old woman and was able to install this pulley system myself

The overall product is very well made, easy to install and does the job well. My 4 stars instead of 5 is because the plastic pulleys seem out of keeping with the rest of the hoist. They look and feel cheap compared to the otherwise sturdy, well built features of the rest of the hoist. They seem to work ok, but for how long?