DIY Wooden Canoe Rack

Canoeing is a pleasurable recreational sport that combines exploring nature's beauty with physical exercise. The ideal storage device for your canoe is a rack that hangs from the ceiling of your garage, carport or shed. You can create this rack from simple materials and without extensive carpentry knowledge.

  1. Preparation and Materials

    • The basic design of the canoe rack is that you will be hanging four heavy-duty chains from the wooden studs of your garage roof and attaching these chains to two pieces of wood. The canoe will rest on top of these pieces of wood. To accomplish this design you need four pieces of chain that can support at least a hundred pounds. When you buy the chain, have the store cut the chains for you, so make sure to measure the height of your canoe before purchasing the chain to have an accurate chain length. Typically canoes are about fifteen inches tall.

      The wood pieces that support the canoe should be two-by-four inch square posts. You should also purchase a self-adhesive carpet to attach to the wood posts. This will prevent the wood from scratching and damaging your canoe. Finally, you need at least eight "eyebolts," and four adjustable chain links.

    Assembly

    • Locate the studs in the garage or storage facility. Typically they will be exposed. If not, use a stud finder to locate them. The typical width of a canoe is about 32 inches, so make sure that you hang the chains from studs about four feet apart. This is equivalent to the distance between three studs. Using a drill to create the holes, you will be screwing the eyebolts into the ceiling studs with pliers. Link the chain into the eyebolts.

      Using similar measurements cut the wood posts into four feet lengths. Adhere the carpet to the wood. You can simply drill through the carpet and attach the eyebolts to the wood posts in the same manner as described above. With the adjustable chain links, hook the wood posts to the chains hanging from the ceiling.

    Alternative Designs

    • If you have a large shed or storage facility, consider building a self-contained canoe storage unit from PVC pipe. This process is more involved, requiring you to create a structure that can stand on its own and support a canoe or multiple canoes, if you so desire. A PVC structure also requires additional planning and design. The advantage, though, is that it allows you to store the canoe closer to the ground, which reduces the risk of the canoe falling and injuring it or surrounding objects.