Canoe Trailer Rack
1 Day project to build a functional and low cost trailer rack from “found material” and a quick trip to the hardware store.
Summary
- COST: $50 CAD
- TIME TO COMPLETE: 1 day
Overview
Every summer, my family loves to go on a canoe trip for 1-2 weeks to experience the beautiful nature Canada has to offer. The goal of this project was to build a trailer rack to hold 1-2 canoes with mostly “found materials”.
Quick and dirty CAD model
Most people just sketch out a few key dimensions and get to cutting but I find that it’s FASTER for me to ideate in CAD. Flying around in 3D space gives me confidence oversights can be avoided and provides an exact cut list and the exact length of the fastener.
The pros of the final design include:
- Can be assembled with single drive ratchet.
- U-bolts allow you to vary the spacing of cross beams for different lengths of canoes (15’, 16’, 18’).
- In shown orientation, the 2x4” has 5.6x higher stiffness than if it was laying flight from the second moment of area \(I = {a*b^3 \over 12}\)
- Wood (Pine) is weather resistant and has a lower hardness than the canoe gunwale resulting in lower wear on the valuable canoe.
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.