An Inexpensive Canoe Rack Storage System by Jose Suro

An Inexpensive Canoe/Kayak Rack by Jose Suro

I came up with this rack because I had to get a second canoe in the garage and the only place it would fit was on top of the first one. I looked around on the Internet and such and everything out there was either too expensive, too cumbersome or it would plain just not work for me. So after pondering the situation and taking about a gazillion measurements I ventured out to Home Depot and came up with this really simple rack for about $25 dollars including tax. It’s really so simple you can put it together in about 15 minutes.

Here’s the parts and tools list: parts.jpg (13848 bytes)
Parts

1)       2 extra heavy-duty steel 20” closet shelf hangers
2)        2 1” x 1” x 33” PVC fence posts
3)        1 6ft length of 2” A/C pipe insulation rubber (optional)
4)        Box of 1 / 4” x 1 3 / 4” Tapcon cement wall screws
5)        Tapcon drill bit
6)        6 stainless smooth head bolts with nuts and washers – 1 / 4” x 1 1 / 2”
7)        Single malt scotch to taste (now it gets expensive)
8)        Electric Drill

The only extra thing to do when putting these together is to file off one of the little tabs at the ends of each of the fence posts. The tabs must be filed down so that the posts will sit flush against the top of the shelf hangers. After that it’s just a matter of marking the boltholes on the PVC posts, drilling them and putting the whole thing together. The insulation has a self stick glue covered by a thin blue tape. Care must be taken when peeling the tape off so that it doesn’t take the soft rubber along with the glue and the tape.

Note: The closet shelf hangers are very strong and will easily handle hundreds of pounds apiece. Not so with the PVC fence posts. If your boat is very heavy I recommend you use square aluminum fence posts instead – or just plain wood 2x4s.

wall.jpg (38133 bytes)

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