Saturday, May 15, 2010

I just built a canoe rack!

It's a hot and sunny day (Finally!) and I was lucky enough to be outside in the backyard to enjoy it. Actually being on the water or any where away from the city would be better. I just finished building a canoe rack to hold my canoes, to keep the boats off of the ground and to keep the grass underneath from dying. As you can see from the photos it was built to hold three canoes, at the moment I've only got two but I intend on building another in the not too distant future. The rack is nothing fancy, rather utilitarian in design but then it's just going to sit there in the elements. I used utility grade 2 X 4's were used to keep the cost down. While I was purchasing the lumber it occurred to me how low the price of some lumber is, granted I was buying utility grade lumber at under $2 a board, (most of the stack were bent like boomerangs) but none the less in some respects it seems as though it is under valued, considering how long it took the tree to grow to a sufficient size, then was cut in a matter of minutes. But from a consumers perspective I can appreciate a reasonably priced piece of lumber. It's just a thought that's been playing on my mind for a few days.

The rack spans 8', stands 64" tall and has 20" of clearance between the supports.

Top, is my TrailHead 16' prospector, bottom is the 17' solo boat that I built in the spring of '08.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey!
I was looking for a canoe rack design that would allow me to load 2-3 canoes from one side. This fits the bill- thanks!

Anonymous said...

Built the rack this weekend. Looks a lot like yours, except that I added a 45-degrees support to the 2nd and 3rd rows.

cheers!

Daves Workshop said...

I am not sure why I never ran across this design before. I need to store 2 existing boats, and a third one once I get the courage and skill up enough to build a cedar strip canoe... This will fit the bill!

Janneman said...

Thanks for posting the picture Mark. This helps to get idea's to make this. I am planning to make something like this in my backyard.