Big ol' Canoe Rack

[awdriven]

Just about ready to finalize the design and start ordering materials. I plan to add a little more flair to the design with some curves cut into the rafter supports, tapering the boat supports a bit, etc, just to make it look a little nicer.

I've also been wanting to try cedar shingles, so I think that's what I will use on top of the spaced sheathing I have in the model right now.

What say the group about using 14mm dominoes for the joinery of the rafters to the ridge board, rafters to the rafter supports and rafter supports to the upper trestle? Any other design feedback or concerns? It's about 18 feet long and 8 feet wide. I'm wondering if this may be a magnet for birds looking for a place to nest.

Materials would be mostly 2x4 and 2x6 cedar with 1x and 4x in some places.

 

[Rob-GB]

The Domino joint idea sounds good for locating and adding some shear protection but would need some mechanical help by way of counterbored lag screws or similar. The counter bored holes can be plugged with Cedar pellets or dowels.
Not knowing where in the USA you are I cannot say how well the design will stand up to weather.
My gut instinct is that in an area where heavy snowfall is likely then the central support system as shown may cause roof failure due to snow loading.
That said, I love the whole design idea and as a keen paddler, would be quite envious of anyone who had such a place to store their canoes or kayaks.  [smile]
Rob.

 

[rljatl]

If I may make one suggestion, you may want to incorporate something from which to hang wet gear such as life jackets, helmets, clothes, paddles, etc...

Otherwise, that is a very attractive design.  Please take some build pics.

 

[awdriven]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys! I was thinking just the same thing, Rob. It would be great to have a covered place to hang wet PFDs and other gear to dry.

I'll look into the fastening some more. I was a little concerned about pull-out resistance just using dominoes at the top.

This is going to be in New Jersey. We get snow, but not massive amounts of it. I scaled this design up from a smaller one I saw elsewhere and it didn't originally have diagonal braces at the bottom of the legs. I added those. I'm also planning on adding some eye bolts and turnbuckles between the bottom boat supports and the legs at the bottom, to help add strength. I'm also kicking around the idea of some removable braces that would tie in with the roof and could be slipped in before the snow falls and removed in the spring.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[c_dwyer]

[member=5859]awdriven[/member] - Very nice design.

Another possible suggestion, is to either raise the center arm up a little bit to conform to the middle portion of your canoe rails (if stored upside down), or have some shims handy.  My guess is that with the placement of the canoe on the outer arms, there would be an inch or two of freeboard left in the center.  Maybe set the height of the outer arms, put the canoe in place, and then figure out how high your center arms need to be.

Just a thought...

 

[Gregor]

I would design the internal roof supports as triangular (replace the two arm pieces to the middle center support with one-piece through horizontal ones) and have base of it rest on the middle support instead of connecting into it. Just add two kerfs at the bottom to register over the two boards that form the lower certral horizontal roof support to keep the roof from tilting (as the center of the triangles bases then can't slide sidewards on the central support).