Cart storage ideas

[MSP]

How do you store your carts? Any innovative or practical ideas for storing carts where space is limited?

Has anyone used a hoist to store a cart like this hoist system
, would that work? Pros, cons?

I need to get my cart out of my garage. I also need a plan for a future pony cart and where to store it where it can be accessed easily.

I have an 8’ isle in my barn and was thinking about rolling the carts in and using hoist to raise them up out of the way. Sounds good on paper but I wonder if this is going to be practical for weekend driving.

[Yip]

I ran into the same problem so will also be interested in the solutions.

I made room for mine temp. in my feed/tack shed. The feed cart used to be in the center back and the feed bins were on the left side. I had to remove some things altogether and move everything else to the one side, and now feeding is not so easy, nor getting a saddle out.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3511/3721628321_1c586d79f1.jpg

My 4-wheeler used to live in there, but it got crammed into the one-car garage with the tractor. As much as being under cover, we need to keep vehicles locked up. They fit but it’s a pain to drag the 4-wheeler out to get the tractor.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/3722441208_5df3146547.jpg

I had just pushed it in & took the pic before lifting the shafts onto a stand. It’s a bit tight, but it works and the doors close by 1 inch! I have to pivot the cart to the right in order to get to the harness, in the front left. Pain because right now I use the harness and not the cart.

We don’t have a trailer yet, but when we find one, I hope to store the cart in the trailer where it will be very accessible and locked up when not in use. The trailer will be for hauling cart/horse to lessons, so it shouldn’t be a problem there.

Wendy

[goodhors]

I would not store a cart with a hoist system. Wooden vehicles are not designed to take stresses of weight, being pulled from above. That constant downward pull is really hard on any kind of wood, it has to give. Carriages are built to take very different kinds of stress and strain, while in motion on the roads. Wood parts will give or torque, and the shape will end up twisting in the body. Will happen slow or fast, depending on weight and humidity in the air.

Shafts are recommended being stored hanging down or laid flat for 4-wheelers. 2-wheeler vehicle carts need LEVEL support under shafts while in storage. Shafts might also need a strap around them, to hold the bent areas apart the correct distances. Shafts with sharp curves or hooked ends are usually seen with metal strap support underneath the bent area, to hold them in that shape. They still need LEVEL support out in front of the cart, to prevent one high or low shaft while in storage.

For the vehicle shown by Yip, I would put a sawhorse under those shafts to level them up, get the weight off the tips on the ground. You could also tie the shafts to the ceiling, probably midway (thicker area) down the shaft length. Then making sure they are the same height from ground, level, when you tie them off. Tying them up by the tips to the ceiling, is the same as putting tips on the ground, weight is pushing on the thin, very flexible end parts.

Not much more pitiful than a cart or buggy with shafts that tip up at the ends, from being stored with shaft tips on the ground.

Wood is extremely flexible, can change very fast in poor storage. Wood absorbs and looses water according to the air around it, all an on-going process. Wood exposed to ammonia smells, by storing in the stall area, will make the finish, paint or varnish deteriorate faster than expected. May make other things happen to the wood also, like rot. Might be a reason to look at the newer vehicles, with metal wheels and bodies. They can also have paint problems, some rust, in ammonia exposure storages.

Quite a few folks do store their one vehicle in the trailer, but trailer is cleaned out, dry floored, NO BEDDING. If you have little or no other storage space, you have to live with the problems that come up. Maybe a rental unit to put the wood cart in for long times of non-use, like snowy winters.

[Yip]

I put mine up on a stand just after I took the pic.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3722441318_1aa5d0726f.jpg

And to clarify, that’s not water in the back corner - it’s oil. Before I had horses this was hubby’s shed for the tractor and all it’s fixin’s. I soaked up as much of the oil spill as I could with clay litter but the floor is stained.

[pricestory]

I keep the one I am using under the carport, the other in the carriage house. When I just had one, it lived in the carport. Unfortunately, I have to back my trailer into a fence to store it so I can’t use that for storage unless I don’t plan on using it between trips away. We built the carriage house so we would have room to store the lawnmower, ATV, carriages, etc. It’s a mess because my husband throws everything in there without putting anything away but at least there is room for one horse and one mini carriage.

[MSP]

Good points! And now I wonder…

I had left my cart at my fathers for many years suspended from the garage ceiling but my father had build a wooden support. I don’t remember the details but I think he had it supported from under as well.

If I used the hoist to raise and lower the cart and built a support shelf for the wheels to rest on as well as a bar to support the shafts that would work. It would be better than the position it is in now! :eek:

This is a jog cart that was old as dirt when I got it in the mid 70s. It needs to be restored but I can’t deal with it now.

Dust will be an issue but I am not sure urine would be part of the problem. Changing humidity and temps will affect it but it would if I had a carriage house too unless it is heated and cooled.

My garage may be worse than the barn because my dryer vents into it! Oh my!

Do most people store their carts and carriages in heated and cooled buildings?

[goodhors]

Jog cart or racing bike, might be able to be hung on the wall, so shafts are straight down. Usually are very light, not heavy to hang, especially if seat is off. Not sure how handy that is if you plan to use it often.

Also these two types can be set so shafts are straight up in the air. This is common at the track, takes up little room for storage, if ceiling is high enough. A rubber stall mat under, will help keep damp from dirt, coming up quite so bad on a dirt floor.

Heating and cooling would be nice in the carriage shed, but could get expensive, not sure it is really the best for the carriages if not consistant. A dehumidifier in very damp weather or conditions, might help some. Antique wood furniture, stayed solid, lasted “back then”, because wood didn’t get all dried out with central heating in winters. Vehicles stored out in many old wood barns for years, do seem to age fairly well, though paints and finishes are bad when finally pulled out.

[DebbieB]

You could use an old table top or build a platform out of plywood and 2x2’s or 2x4’s and hoist the cart on that. Be sure to block the cart wheels before hoisting.

[Thomas_1]

Excellent postings by Goodhors.

They need to be kept so they’re well aired but not dry and on the level. For wooden wheeled old vehicles not being regularly taken out I either stand the wheels in water or else spray them with water.

Putting a false roof in a high building so you can store on 2 floors is a possibility but you need ramping to get the vehicle down and if it’s just a small floor space then that’s not viable.

Truthfully, there really isn’t any innovative solutions to storing carriages for all the reasons explained. What you do is you spread to take the available space and everything is crammed everywhere and then move!

[Drive_NJ]

We are lucky in our area to still have many existing “carriage barns” from the late 1800-s (I know Thomas - thats not really OLD like in England - but here its old)
Anyway, many of these barns have some version of an upper floor where they would switch the carriages and sleighs - Summer and Winter
most were switched using a hoist system into the “loft” and not ramps

the hoist was easier to stabilize the vehicle in the lift and you did not need the length of ramp to get the vehicle up

Friends of ours had a system with a bar to rest the shafts of a 2-wheel horse cart. This bar was attached to a pulley in the ceiling and a peg on the wall (to tie to). It would lift the shafts evenly and safely to hold them up - so another cart could be stored under the shafts

Have to admit, I have always been intrigues by those garage hoist storage “solutions” but I probably would not use it for a large or heavy vehicle because Id be afraid of their tipping

[MSP]

I think the hoist and platform would work for long term storage but I am having a change of mind about storing a cart in use that way.

If its too much trouble I probably won’t drive as often!

Some great points!

Isn’t it too bad so many old carriage houses have been converted to other purposes. It would be nice to see how the best made ones used their space. Very interesting that they did use a hoist to store on a second floor.

Ironically my barn was designed to look like a carriage house and would function nicely for that purpose if I removed the horses!

I think I will have to make room in my feed/tack area for the future pony cart. I can stand a cart with shafts up and that will take the least amount of room.

[2ndyrgal]

yes

our cart is hoisted up on a pulley system in our barn. Up out of the way. Works wonderfully, especially since it isn’t used much.