Canoe Stand

I do all of my restoration work in half of my two car garage and need to make the most of the little space I have. So whenever the weather allows I used to move the canoe outside on reuglar stands and a small bench for tools, supplies etc. To do this I needed a second pair of stands, and a second person, not to mention the five additional trips to get all the tools I missed the first four trips. This took time and effort.
To eliminate all the extra work and wasted time, I designed this rolling worh stand to hold tools, supplies and storage for the old parts that came off the boat so I don't loose or damage them. The angled braces are set for canoes 12' to 18' and the shelf below is spaced to allow me to roll the canoe over in the slings without moving any tools.
This set up saves me a lot of time and effort, and for a sheet of plywood and a few 2x4's, is worth the expense. Hope this can be used by other restorers whose wives won't give up the other half of the garage!

 

It is amazing how many people think that cars should be parked in boat sheds, so that ingenious work-arounds like your stand are necessary.

 

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you mean to tell me that some people actually put vehicles in their garage? Interesting concept!

 

What a great work stand! With some wide tires on those wheels, I can see building one that will work on jour gravel driveway.
Thanks for sharing, Ticonderoga.

 

What an excellent design! It would be handy even if one didn't need to move things around all the time.

 

Built two for the hangar last weekend. Great design, thanks for sharing! With some slight mods and safety gear we could race these things

 

What is the length and width of the plywood?

 

Rip a 4x8 sheet down the middle and it gives you (2) 2x8 for the decks. 30 degree angles on the sling supports yields approx 10' between the slings at 41" off the floor. I think my casters are 3" wheels which gives about 4" between lower deck and floor. I cut my verticals at 18" between the decks. With the tops of the sling supports at 41" and the belly of the slings set at 9" measured in a tight V (place board across them and measure down to sling pulling it down tight in the middle) I get a comfortable working height and can rotate a typical canoe up on its side with plenty of clearance between the hull and top deck. If you shorten the sling supports by much you'll want to lower the top deck as well. Or you could adjust the sling droop but I've found that 9" as measured above and 24" between the supports on my other stands gives enough support to keep a hull in whatever position you wish. If you make them too tight the hull will roll. These are the numbers I came up with based on my other stands and eyeballing Tico's photo, his may be different and you'll probably want to adjust for your desired work height. I'm 6'1" and the old back doesn't tolerate much stooping

One other tip: if you're working in a tight space you will want to put locking swivel casters on all 4 corners. Manuevering one of these things even without a canoe on it takes considerable swing room if you have fixed casters on one end.

 

And, I love the " beak " stem fix. It even integrates well with the face laminating. Nice work, and I will probably build one of these as well.

 

I am glad this idea can be used by so many of you. I've gotten many ideas from this forum over time and thought I'd pass on one of mine.

 

Thanks for the picture and directions. I know this thread is a few years old but....
My friend just got a 1946 vintage canoe that needs some work and he'll be working in my garage. I made this in a few hours and it's the cat's meow.
Thanks again.

 

Nice work stand !
Here's a simple display stand that is suitable for light work.

Jim