DIY Drying Rack Done The Boy Scout Way
Building Triangles
You will need two sets of equilateral triangles to serve as the racks for the wet clothes. You can scale them up or down according to your needs and available material, but for illustrative purposes, we will work with 4 and 5 foot long pieces of wood.
You will also need:
One 6′ x 2” stick to serve as the vertical support beam
One 2.5′ x 2” stake to serve as the anchor
Eight 6′ – 10′ long pieces of rope or cordage
Three pieces of cordage that are around 15 feet long
There smaller pieces of wood for stakes to hold the support ropes
Getting Started
The first step is to gather three 5 foot long and three 4 foot long sticks. The measurements don’t need to be exact, but the closer you can get to matching each stick will make the racks easier to assemble while making the unit more stable. Make equilateral triangles out of the shorter as well as longer sticks and lash them together with the cordage of your choice. The longer triangle will be the rack on the bottom and the shorter one will rest on top. Make sure to lash them securely so they will be able to withstand the weight of the clothing later.
Building the Main Pole
Take your anchor stake and drive it halfway into the ground and make sure it’s secure. Place the long pole next to the part of the stake that is sticking above the ground. Make sure the pole is touching the ground and in a vertical position along the side of the stake. Lash the pole to the stake in at least two different places in order to make a secure fit.
Place the larger and then the smaller triangle over the stake and let them rest atop each other on the ground. Center them around the stake. Attach the three 15′ long pieces of cordage to the top of the stake and make sure they are secure. Attach the other ends of the cordage to their respective smaller stakes.
Assembling the Racks
Take the smaller triangle and attach each joint to one of the support ropes at around 4-5 feet above the ground. Attach the larger triangle in a similar fashion to the support ropes around 3-4 feet above the ground. It’s okay to let the triangles dangle from the ropes before you stake them into the ground. This will allow you to make adjustments as necessary as you go in order to create a secure fit. You can also make modifications to the height of each triangle as necessary as long as each side is secured to each support rope.
Anchoring the Support Ropes
Pull each stake outward until each rope is taut and at about a 45 degree angle to the larger triangle. You want the ropes to from a triangle in a tepee fashion as they extend from the main pole. Stake each one into the ground and test the entire assembly to ensure that everything is secured properly. Adjust as necessary and you will end up with a sturdy drying rack that can handle quite a bit of clothes at one time.
Try this out for yourself and see how this can provide you with a fantastic alternative to placing wet clothes on rocks, logs or finding a good site to hang a laundry line. It only takes a few minutes, and this rack will go a long way to help you dry more clothes in less time.
