Yes. Covered it should last a long time. Here at an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet PVC pipe left out in the open starts getting brittle in pretty short time, if a year or two is considered a short period of time. I have built many archery target stands out of PVC pipe and they lasted quite well, but they were stored in my garage and the only time they were exposed to sunlight was when I used them.
I did not think PVC would become brittle in one or two years, maybe elevation really accelerates it. But he is getting the stand for way less money then the pipe would cost to build one,so he can’t go wrong. He is getting a good deal.
Are you really so bothered by what I said about other methods being possible in the cases of people who like to tinker and build things? Are you really this strongly motivated to demand that I provide an example? I did already suggest to you that you shouldn’t be eager to think that the fact that you can’t envision something is not evidence that it’s impossible, so maybe I will reply to this. I don’t want it to be a fight, though.
I am not bothered and it is not and will not be a fight. I am applying logic, if the logic is flawed , point it out. There is absolutely nothing personal in my approach and hopefully never will be. I believe things should be approached logically and cleanly. That removes politics, personal preferences and preconceived notions.
My position is very simple, there is not a more efficient, effective, clean, easy to install, readily available, durable method to attach a 1 1/4” pipe to a structure for 82 cents then a metal 1 1/4” pipe strap. That is my logic, that is not an affront to you, anyone else or a fight. That is what logic lends me to believe and that can be debated logically.
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Okay, I said I might reply to this and here we go.
Considering the fact that I did not actually recommend a specific alternative method, and considering that I did not recommend that anyone should think of alternative methods for themselves, and especially considering that I’ve already stated three different times that I fully approve of a person using pipe straps if that’s their choice, I don’t understand why you seem to be so strongly driven to prove me “wrong” about my offhand remark that other suitable methods in this case are possible. I wouldn’t have cared, but you challenged me to describe a method that would meet certain criteria, and since that is such an easy thing to do (why else would I have said what I did in the first place?), and especially since I already mentioned that blithely proclaiming that no method having suitable qualities can exist if you haven’t already envisioned it, here goes. I think I’ll include quite a bit of detail here since it can be hard to convince people sometimes that things they have not seen in real live can actually work.
My simplest idea for making an effective connection would be to run a steel wire around the front of the pipe and through the fence, with the free ends being connected behind the fence. The wire would pass through two tiny holes, one on each side of the pipe at the location of the connection. Wire is just a natural clamping material and is well suited to jobs like this. I bet that you are already thinking of reasons to say that this idea sucks, but bear with me, and especially try to think about the criteria for acceptability which you listed.
I have various sizes of steel wire in my shop which are just waiting for opportune moments to become part of something useful. I never had to pay a dime for any of that stuff so to me it has no cost at all, but I think even the most expensive steel wire that a person is likely to have, can be gotten for around 7 cents per foot, and most other kinds are quite a bit cheaper. However, just to make things interesting for this example, I am choosing a very different source of wire which is actually a whole lot more expensive than most (cost comparison in this case is for wires of the same diameter).
For each device clamping the pipe to the fence, I could make a single wrap around the front of the pipe with a 3/16"-diameter welding rod. For each welding rod used, I’d knock off the flux to expose the bare steel. Each rod would be a little longer than what is needed to make a clamp connection, which would be convenient but not noteworthy otherwise. The rod would wrap around the front of the pipe, fitting the curved surface just as smoothly as if it were a piece of tight string (I describe this because I’m not sure you can envision how neat and tidy this would be). I’d plan on twisting the free ends together on the back side of the fence, but this could be done on the same side as the boat rack if that was preferable for some reason. Twisting that connection with pliers could create as much clamping tension in the wire as a person could ever desire. If for some reason a person wanted to only use screw-in fasteners (instead of passing the wire through holes in the fence), that would require some minor changes to the system, and it would slightly increase the time involved, but it would not be a major issue for me.
Now let’s consider your list of criteria which were listed in your challenge.
- “specifically show me any material on hand or hardware that is as readily available as 1 1/4” pipe straps”
Steel wire is surely far more available than pipe straps, and certainly a lot more likely to be found laying around in someone’s shop. Virtually anyone who does a variety of shop work already has steel wire on hand, and likely more than just one kind. In contrast, pipe strapping is a very purpose-specific material which a person is far less likely to have just laying around in such a way that the material has no purpose until the right project comes along. As described above, for the purpose of illustration, I chose wire in the form of 3/16th-inch welding rods. This also is hardly an unusual material to have on hand for someone who does miscellaneous shop work, but as noted, any common kind of steel wire would be suitable and the method would be basically the same.
- “can do the job as efficiently and effectively”
Efficiency:
The described method is certainly efficient by any standard that I can think of. This kind of steel (in basic welding rods) is quite ductile so even having the greater thickness that it has (in comparison to more-common types of steel wire), it would be very suitable for shaping and providing tight clamping action. More-common types of wire are usually had in smaller diameters, which of course makes them even more workable. And of course, part of the aspect of efficiency here is that there would be no need to spend time in the hardware store.
Effectiveness:
This method would certainly do the job effectively. If you tried to pry the pipe away from the fence, thereby stressing the wire in tension, a simple connection using a single wrap of wire from the kind of 3/16-inch welding rod that I chose, would have a breaking strength of approximately 3,300 pounds. That’s based on the rated tensile strength of 60,000 psi for the material itself, the actual wire diameter, and the fact that the load is being shared by two strands when it’s wrapped once around the pipe in this way (it’s worth noting that many common types of steel wire have a higher tensile strength than this). For wire having a much smaller diameter, adding two or three additional wraps (even more wraps if the wire is thin enough to warrant it) would eliminate any worries about inadequate strength, and the smaller diameter would mean that adding those additional wraps would not really add to the difficulty of the job.
Now, you might claim that a connection of this kind might make the pipe weaker because there’s a smaller contact surface against the pipe than is the case with a strap. In a controlled setting one could create a stress situation where that would be true, but in practical terms out in the real world, this will not matter. For one thing, when the pipe is stressed due a force which has the effect of prying it away from the fence in some manner while it remains anchored to the fence at the attachment points, (this would describe any type of stress that would be imparted to the boat rack in real life), and IF that force somehow were strong enough that the pipe would fail, the pipe would fail right at the edge of your pipe strap where effectively there is a point load, and it’s where the greatest stress occurs anyway. The width of that strap in that case would have no effect. Staying even more fully within the real world, nothing about the use of this boat rack could possibly result in forces great enough for this to matter in the first place. Any way you look at it, using wire in a proper manner will be overkill in terms of strength.
- “is as easy to install”
I think it would take about two minutes to make each connection using the method I’ve described. That would include drilling two holes through the wood, routing the piece of wire and curving it to match it to the surface of the pipe (all very easy due to the ductility of the wire), connecting the free ends, twisting that connection to create sufficient clamping force, and then trimming the twist connection down to a smaller size for the sake of appearance. But let’s say it takes twice as long as that, or even three times as long. I wouldn’t care. The way I look at the situation is that, even if one wants to quibble about small bits of time, this would invariably be a very minor project that would be finished within minutes. Honestly, it could probably be completed in the same amount of time as going into the store to buy materials, or at least almost that quickly. I believe that qualifies connections of this type as “easy to install”.
- “is as neat in appearance”
I really can’t imagine that a single strand of 3/16-inch wire that is stretched across the visible face of the pipe at the location of each connection would be unsightly. Actually, I’m struck by the whole idea that the kind of material which passes across the surface of the pipe would matter. Anyway, using the method described here, the appearance of the wire clamp as seen from a few feet away would be practically the same as that of a perfectly-straight line drawn across the pipe with a felt-tip pen. In my opinion (not that I would ever care), this would actually be a lot less obtrusive than a pipe strap and it’s associated fasteners. If a person were really fussy about such things, they could stick a piece of white duct tape over the wire so that it wouldn’t be readily apparent that any connecting devices were present at all (you couldn’t hide a strap connection nearly as completely, though again, I would never care). As I see it, a little boat rack that’s cobbled together with PVC pipe hardly deserves artistic treatment in the first place (I mean, seriously, no one is EVER going to say “wow, that’s nice!” and give compliments to the builder the first time they see this thing. That’s not knocking such a utilitarian rack, but let’s just be realistic about how pretty it can be).
- “and would cost 82 cents apiece”
It was silly for me to even calculate the cost of each connection using the method I’ve described here, but I did it because you made the challenge. Remember, I chose welding rod in this example, partly just to make the basic method more expensive than it has to be since that helps make the point that worrying about cost in this instance makes no sense. I didn’t think about that aspect much, though, so I did not check to see how the cost of the particular type of rod that I selected compares to those of other rod types that I have (I buy such material so seldom that I can never remember comparisons on price anyway). The rod type I picked (E6011) is pretty basic and commonly used. Once I picked that type, I looked on Amazon and noted the first price that I saw for that material, and I didn’t bother to see what range of prices is available. Anyway, for the product that I checked, I then determined the price of the material per pound. Then I determined the weight of a single rod picked at random from my supply (I happen to have some laboratory scales which were given to me when the company where I worked for so many years closed it’s doors at the time of my retirement, so I can weigh lightweight items with very high accuracy) and I used that info to calculate the cost of a single rod. I might have over-estimated the cost of a single rod since I weighed it with the flux attached, and in all my years of welding I have never actually paid attention to whether the cost per pound is for the total weight or just for the steel. It turns out that for this material, each connection of the boat ramp to the fence would cost a grand total of 11 cents, though the cost would actually be noticeably less if the per-pound cost of welding rod is based only on the steel. Getting more than 3,000 pounds of holding power for 11 cents or less seems like a decent value to me. Of course, for ordinary steel wire the cost would be less. For a person who has wire laying around in the shop, one could argue that it is almost free. But again, having shown that even a very-expensive type of steel wire is dirt-cheap, I really would not ever care.
That is indeed another method of attaching an 1 1/4” pvc pipe to a wooden fence line if one chooses to do so, it is there choice if they so desire, I am not here to convince anyone how they should do it, they can do it anyway they want. I am just pointing out facts and how they are put to use is up to each individual. Pipe straps are easier and quicker to instal then the method you describe, they will create more clamping force over a broader area then wire, they will provide more lateral stability then wire, they will provide more uplift resistance then wire due to their broader surface area, galvanized pipe straps are more durable and will deteriorate less then wire because the wire will rust (welding rod wire) , a pipe strap will provide a more finished, functional look and the amount of money involved is so small the differences are negligible.
Wow, you guys must be really bored and have way too much time on your hands. 
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When I am called out, it does not go unanswered. It goes with the territory….That is the way it is.
Pipe clamps would not require drilling through the fence and defacing the other side. Both two hole and single hole straps are available in various materials suitable for outdoor use.
There you go, but to each his own, I respect that. Just make suggestions and people can do whatever they want.
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Dear jandrew,
Absolutely the best post in this thread by far! It’s $ 30.00, can’t be built for that, and $ 10.00 worth of anchor material will hold it still in all but a hurricane. At that point I seriously doubt he’ll care about the kayaks.
Regards,
Tim Murphy
PVC pipe is strong and lightweight. Make sure it is secured to something strong, like a shed or trees or the house. Also, I notice you are not using straps to secure the kayaks to the rack.
3rd thing: I have read that kayaks should be stored on their sides, not tops or bottoms.
Any chance you could do that? Seat belt straps are strong and could be used as cross-pieces to support the kayaks.
U bolts work quite well as pipe straps for fence mounting and are available in many sizes at any large hardware supplier or building materials store.
Another similar alternative is a strut and bracket system (for wall mounting). During my career as an industrial construction electrician, I secured many conduits with those. Another option is to attach 1 5/8" channel Unistrut vertically onto the wall or fence and use the tee-based conduit/pipe brackets with flange bolts to secure the conduit to the structure. These are easy to adjust vertically in the channel to align with what you are attaching, and also make it easy to remove the structure if you want to alter or move it. The strut is stocked at building centers but you might need to go to an electrical supply house for the piple straps.
Can all this be done for $3.28, the cost of 4 - 11/4” pipe straps?
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$4.96
For around $11 you could get stainless steel.
The link you provided brought up only “ This product is not currently available.”…There is no way to tell what you are talking about.
I’m no paradox. Not once have I ever disagreed with anything about your idea of using something cheap and easy, and not once have I ever said that your idea of using pipe clamps is not a better method than the alternate method I suggested of using wire. And remember, I only came up with the idea of using wire to support my idea that when someone says there’s only one method worth considering, that may not actually be the case. All along the way, I knew that all your comments about the reasons wire would be totally unsuitable were wrong, and for a while I tried to explain why, but then I intended to quit and just let it go. Today I’ve actually changed my mind about that, but it’s STILL not a competition and I STILL agree that using pipe straps makes the most sense.
But regarding the subject of me coming back to say a little more about why using wire is not the weak and flimsy method that you insist that it is, after lunch today I decided to do a full-scale test to determine the strength of both methods, clamping with pipe straps and clamping with wire. My main reason for doing it was curiosity and because I knew that wire clamps would not slip as easily as you “stated as fact” would be the case. I only finished the test just half an hour ago. I was actually surprised by the results, and it turns out that I was wrong about both of my expectations regarding strengths of the two methods. I think you will be surprised by the results too.
Yes, some people will say I’ve got too much time on my hands, but why should I care? I’m retired and I’m still reveling in my new state of freedom after spending 30 years working at a job that required outrageous amounts of overtime and which was almost too stressful for me during large portions of each year. Besides, I’ve always enjoyed mechanical things, I’ve always enjoyed understanding how things work, and I’ve always had a practical approach to both, so I actually enjoyed doing this test of the two clamping methods. Tinkering in the shop is just plain fun for me and I make no apologies for that. Now I’m thinking of a particular “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon that I remember, where Calvin is telling Hobbes how great it must be to be older and thus not have responsibilities such as schoolwork, and he says “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to putter around!” Well, that’s me!
While it’s true I may have “too much” free time, that time isn’t limitless. I’ll see about posting the results of my test tomorrow instead of right now. And don’t worry, I’ll still say that your method of using pipe clamps wins if a person is considering all possible aspects of the project. This was never a competition anyway, which is another reason I’m not a paradox for liking your last post.
Before someone says we are dragging this out way more then is necessary by any stretch, let me clarify a few points between me and you. I never said there was only one method worth considering, I never said wire was totally unsuitable, I never said wire was weak and flimsy, I said that all the way around pipe straps are the most efficient, effective method of securing a pipe and you said the same thing. Then you say I am being disagreeable and you post a like on something demonstrating its efficiency. That is my understanding of a paradox and may be misusing the literal, classic definition of the word. To me there are good paradoxes, it means thoughtful and challenging the status quo.
Edit: Many a farm boy has kept machinery running with Bailing Wire.