I have a canoe that didn’t see as much use as it should have this past year and it has been just moving from one side of the yard to the other taking up space, occupying sawhorses, and just getting in the way. Normally, it is on and off the car for camping trips so I don’t mind moving it constantly to and fro, but this was a lot of moving with little usage. I decided it was high time to build a storage rack to keep it out of my way and so that when we do start using it again, the canoe will have a specific out of the way spot to return to after each trip.
I bought some steel just before Christmas and used my holiday break to take car of some long overdue welding projects – the canoe rack being one of them. Instead of just building a triangle and bolting it to the side of the garage, I added some flair by adding gussets with my logo laser cut out of their center and by using the Hulk Roller from SWAG to arch the support leg. It makes the rack look better AND it keeps me from smacking my head when walking by when I am mowing the grass in the back yard.
I mention in the video that I would share a drawing, but I don’t think it needs one. The whole thing is made of 1” tube (.125” wall) and main leg is 60” long, the canoe support is 29” long and welded in the center of the first piece. The arch was rolled to a 10.5’ diameter, ends cut on the Portaband to taper into the arms, and the gussets are 5”. I welded all the seams and welded 1” squares to the top and bottom of the main arm to close it up. On the canoe support arm, I welded a 2X3” piece of 1/4” steel with a 1/4” hole to tie the canoe down if it is ever super windy. Each is attached to the header above the windows with two HeadLOK lag screws and then attached to the wall in two other places with 3.5” deck screws. The thing is super strong My gussets were custom (email me if you want some), but I can’t recommend the ones from Motobuilt highly enough!