What’s with the crazy checkerboard square of tape on the kayaks?

We are trying a bold experiment. We have marked each boat with a very prominent swatch of colored tape. The tape is on the side of the hull just a little forward of the cockpit. This colored tape is intended to indicate where in the boathouse the boat should be stored. There is corresponding tape affixed to the boat racks. The hope is that when you use a boat you will return it to the rack with the corresponding tape color.

To take it even a step further, the tape has been deliberately placed on one side of the hull only. We would like to see the boat go back in the rack so that the side with the tape is facing out toward the isle.

You may be asking yourself, why go to all this trouble? Well there are a couple things we’re trying to achieve.

• Busy boats nearest the door
  The Prijons that we use for classes and that are familiar beginner boats to many have been racked nearest the door. These boats get the most use so we want to make them the easiest to get in and out of the house
  
  
• Locating your favorite boat
  I frequently see members coming into the boathouse and searching high and low to find the specific boat that they have grown comfortable in. By racking the boats in the same location we can reduce the amount of time spent searching for the boat you’re after.
  
  
• Reduced wear and tear
  We’ve added a number of ruddered boats to our fleet. Rudders tend to be more easily damaged so we’ve tried to organize the boats so that the rudders don’t get crossed up from one rack to the next. Putting the boats into the rack in a particular direction (tape facing out toward the isle) will help prevent rudders from damage
  
  
• Inventory
  Doing inventory and repairs is made significantly easier when we can find a boat in a specific rack rather than digging through all the racks.
  
  
• Big heavy tanks go on the floor
  The tandems and some of the sit on tops are especially heavy. These boats should always go on the bottom rack so that they can be easily moved without having to lift them and to prevent undue stress on the racks.

So that’s the story on the tape. If you have questions or suggestions for improving the system, please let the House Director know.