Thursday, January 30, 2014

simple ski rack

Here is a simple free-standing ski/snowboard/teleboard rack that I built over the weekend. I thought it would be worth sharing for inspiration.
Free-standing rack with teleboard, snowboard, and misc. gear.
The point of this rack is to store the equipment my wife and I use the most right near the door so it is convenient to hit the slopes frequently.
Since we don't have much space to spare for it, I made it light and used knock-down hardware. The idea is that it can be stowed in the attic for 8 months of the year and anytime we have a dinner party. I also tried to make it as small as possible.

Bolts & wing-nuts allow for easy dis-assembly.
Part of what made this rack fun to build was scaling it to the things it would hold. All of the dimensions came from the equipment. I also tried to allow for some flexibility. Extra pegs could be used to hang coats or for extra skis, but not at the same time. The pegs go straight through to the back so they can hold ski poles, drying mittens, etc.

I built this out of pine boards, poplar dowels, and one small plywood sheet--motivated by weight. To get it built fast (while it is still winter), I chose pre-surfaced lumber, then did simplified joinery using a carcass saw and a router plane. It was quick and easy to mark out the recesses by tracing around the mating board while holding it in place. The router plane in particular was the hero as it kept one setting for the whole project (board thickness), and made short work of the pine. Screws and glue provided strength while saving me the trouble of clamping.

Pegs vary in length and height for different skis/boards. You can see in this shot the small dowels that hold each one in place.
The bolts at the bottom allow this rack to break down into two pieces. Wingnuts are perfect here.
The dowels (pegs) are held in place with intersecting dowels. The smaller dowels were an easy way to ensure the pegs don't loosen and fall out.
Assembly was eased by having a Yankee screwdriver and cordless drill each set up to only do one job each.
To finish it, I orbital-sanded the whole thing once assembled, then wiped on 1 to 2 coats of thinned polyurethane.

That's it! I hope this inspires you to simplify a project.