Homemade Canoe Racks

If, like most canoeing enthusiasts, you've begun to collect canoes, you're probably in need of a storage solution. Homemade canoe racks can be designed in a variety of styles and help you keep your boats clean and up off the ground. Here are some homemade rack designs that fit a variety of spaces and storage requirements.

  1. A-Frame

    • The A-frame rack is a simple wood structure built like a backyard swing set. It looks like two As with a beam connecting them at the ridge. The only difference between a swing set and canoe frame is that the cross member of each A on the canoe rack is extended beyond the legs to provide a resting place for the canoes. The cross member can extend as little as a foot beyond the legs or as much as three feet, depending on whether you lay the canoes upside down and flat on the extensions or turn them on their sides and bungee them into place for a more compact storage space. A-frames are freestanding and can sit anywhere in the yard. They hold up to three canoes if you allow enough leg length for a third canoe to rest between the legs atop the cross member.

    Flat Rack

    • The flat rack is simply four posts sticking up out of the ground. Heavy 2-by-12 cross members are bolted between two pairs of posts opposite each other. Space the posts so the cross members are about half a canoe length apart. Pad the tops of the cross members and simply set the canoes upside down across them and tie down. This is the simplest to construct, but also uses the most space on your lawn. It is adaptable to a variety of canoes and kayaks and, if you nest them, can be made to hold more boats.

    Canoe Shelf

    • The canoe shelf can be built on the inside or outside of a garage wall or outside on a back wall of the house. The canoe shelf is a pair of long shelf brackets with a three-foot 2-by-4 screwed or bolted to the top in place of a shelf and padded. The canoe is turned upside down and set on each bracket pair. Screw the shelves into the wall two feet apart vertically and you can put two or three canoes on a single wall space.

    Sling

    • A canoe sling can be installed in a garage, carport, porch or overhanging eve on any building. Simply screw two pairs of half-inch steel hooks into the ceiling. Make sure to screw into a ceiling joist for strength. The hook pairs should be about 10 feet apart lengthwise and the pair of hooks should be two feet apart in width. The sling can be made with half-inch rope with loops tied on the ends. Make the ropes long enough so that with both ends of the rope hung in the ceiling hooks, the canoe sits in the rope loop high enough to be out of the way, but still low enough to reach safely when slinging and unslinging the boat.

    Equipment Storage

    • Paddles, lines, life jackets, strap-on seats and other accessories can be stored up underneath the canoes out of the weather. For more secure storage, simply build a large box with a door and padlock for securing canoe accessories.