Contributed by Jon Hummel
Looking for a way to store your kayaks? Here’s an easy do-it-yourself kayak rack you can make in a couple hours. It will hold two kayaks and can be easily expanded to hold a third (or more). Most of the supplies can be purchased at your local big-box home repair store (the orange one) but the 4-way Tee’s are only available online.
Materials:
- 4 – 1 1/2” x 10′ PVC pipe
- 8 – 1 1/2” 4-way Tee’s (these are only available online)
- PVC Cement
- PVC Primer (optional)
Tools:
- Tape measure
- Marker
- Saw
Instructions:
- First you’ll need to cut the 10′ PVC pipes into three pieces – a 2 foot section, a 3 foot section, and a 5 foot section. Using a tape measure, mark each PVC pipe with two cut lines – the first line should be 2 feet from one end and the second line should be 3 feet from the first mark. Using your saw, cut each PVC pipe at the marks you have made. Remember the old adage “Measure twice, cut once.” After cutting your 10 foot pipes down, your materials should look roughly like this:
- Once your pipes are cut, you can begin assembling your rack. You’ll need to use PVC cement to secure the pipes to the 4-way tees. There are very easy-to-follow instructions on the PVC cement container, so I won’t detail them here. Most instructions will call for the use of primer, but for this project, it’s not necessary. Begin by cementing the 5 foot sections into the 4-way Tee’s:
- The 3 foot sections will be used to create the cross bars on the rack. Cement them into the Tee’s to create two rectangles:
- Now that you have two PVC rectangles, you’ll use the 2 foot sections to create the vertical supports. Choose one section to be the bottom rack and cement the 2 foot PVC pipes into the Tee’s. Then cement the second rectangle onto the top of the 2 foot PVC pipes. Your finished rack should look like this:
- Give the PVC cement 2-3 hours to set before putting weight on the rack. Here’s my finished rack with my kayaks on it:
