does anyone have plans for a kayak rack for the yard? I want to build one for year round-free standing storage of my boats on their side. I’d appreciate any help I could get. My longest is 16-6 and the shortest is 14.
tia- pat
one option
Here’s what I use. I added a vertical piece on both ends of the rack to keep the kayaks from slipping into each other and put a cover over the rack, but this works for us. I’ve seen more elegant solutions, but this one is pretty functional.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1133464505050807370npdFjS
No plans, but…
C2G’s looks a bit like mine.
Mine is half the size, just holds six. The upright posts rise high enough to support a corrugated fiberglass roof, to protect the boats from the Florida sun.
For cross rails I used galvanized pipe I had laying around, then slipped larger PVC pipe over the galv., and added pipe insulation.
This allows me to slide my boats in and out on “rollers” from the end, kind of like the drawers in a morgue.
Hope this helps,
T
simple kayak rack
I bought four ladder racks at the local home improvement store. Attached them to the wall in the garage. Bought a couple swimming pool noodles and slid them over the ladder rack arms. Was cheap. Very cheap. Like maybe $14 for the ladder racks and a buck for the noodle. You could use the same system outdoors on the side of a garage or out building.
steel garden fence posts. . .
For the polys, I bought four steel garden fence posts (the green colored ones with the tabs along the sides and the flanged spike at the bottom). They were driven in the ground and a depression dug for concrete rings, at four points of a rectangle - about two inches wider than the boat beam and about 2 1/2’ from each end of the boat.
Two lengths of chain were attached to the facing sides of the steel posts, one in front and one in back, about 2’ down from the tops of the posts, as follows: the post tabs at the proper height were pulled open, chain was inserted, and the tabs were bent back in place - securing the tabs over the chain. The loop of chain was attached, front and back, leaving enough slack chain long-enough to just loop around the boat’s hull at that point.
The chain was “drooped” enough to make a sling for the boat to rest in at each end and that part of the chain was covered with pipe foam insulation tubing. After the boat was lowered into the front and back foam-covered chain slings, the slack chain at each sling was wrapped around the boat, snugged and locked in place with a small padlock.
The entire array was then covered with a weatherproof tarp, although I plan to extend the posts with either PVC or bamboo poles and build some type of cover over the boats.
Simple A-frame rack
You can see pics of my rack at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg
It’s simple and inexpensive to build and you can scale it to whatever number of boats you need to store.
Thanks Bryan!
Great photos and ideas on your pages. I might reuse some of them for my new seat. Where did you get the foam (the one that is not a uniform grey but some sort of a mix) and why use that instead of just gray minicell?
4x4s With Galv Pipes working
very well for me and my local outfitter. We sunk pairs of 4x4s well into the ground with some post-set concrete, drilled holes on both sides (offset & slight up angle)in the 4x4s to accept 1/2" galvanized pipes 30" long (or as appropriate for your boats), and covered the pipes with sections of swim noole. Have 3-4 on each side. Could drape a tarp or make a cover for the rack. Use them at the house too. Been working fine.
Thanks Brian. Great shots.
I’m going to have my advanced construction class build a few kayak racks next semester. 20 students in groups of four…sounds like a fundraiser for the Woodland Adventure Club!!!
That foam is Minicel
It comes in a variety of colors, many of which are two-tone like the one you’re referring to.
Thanks folks
A few real well thought out racks and ideas. I appreciate everyone that took the time to “show me theirs” so to speak. Thanks.
Pat
covered rack
Do you have a photo, I live on a large lake and I want to build a covered rack along the lake in my back yard. The rack you are describing sounds perfect.
Thank you,
Mike