Not sure where else to put this. I guess it's pretty DIY lol...
After years of junk all over the place, I decided to do something about it. I wanted to get my tanks off the floor, and have a place to hang all my stuff all in one single shelf.
The old dive area was just a few 2x4's setup with an old metal fence bar across the top for my gear to hang on. Tanks were all over the place, in the way, etc. Lots of wasted space.
I went to home depot this morning, got some 2x4s and 2x2's and set to work.
Building the upper/lower frame.
The design is such that is fits in the remaining space at the end of my garage, and makes use of the odd space between the garage door rail and the wall. That will be the drying rack/hanging area. Whatever hangs there should clear the garage door easily.
My original plan was to use some 1x4's to separate the tanks, but by the time I got to the 2nd shelf, the 2x2's worked out better and had more support. I'll be pulling the 1x4's off the bottom and replacing then with 2x2's. I also measured it a bit too deep, so the tanks had no support at all. To fix this I just put some 2x4's on the inside of the legs. Since they are mounted laterally, they can easily hold the weight.
It started storming by the time I go to the 3rd and 4th shelves. I also had a massive headache from the killer heat/humidity today so I had to call it quits for the day.
Here's what I ended up with before going inside.
This will hold all my tanks. The two AL80's on the top are too old to use, so are just place holders right now. I plan to cut the tops off them and use them to hold my spearfishing/lobstering gear, leaving me with two more slots for future tanks.
I am going to be putting a shelf above the tanks to store some gear bins.
To the left is the drying area, once I find my hole saw bits I will get the bar in place and get all my BCs, wetsuits, etc hung up. My wet bin will just slide under the hanging stuff.
Stay tuned! I should be finishing it tomorrow morning!
---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ----------
Finished Project!
---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 01:42 PM ----------
FYI Total project cost me under $70
I used:
3" box of exterior screws
2 1/2" box of exterior screws
15 2x4's
7 2x2's
random scrap of plywood I had
random chain-length-fence top beam I had (for the hanging rack bar) that I had
all 4x4 joints have 4 - 3" screws
all 1x4 joints have 2 - 3" screws
all tank rails have 1 - 2 1/2" screw on each end.
The top shelf is held on with some 2" screws I had laying around and not shown is a 2x4 beam under the center of the shelf for support.
I shook it pretty hard while fully loaded down and even did some pullups on the hanging bar. It's built like a tank.
The tanks are flush with the front and I plan to build a door to cover them up.
If I had more space to work with, I would have made it longer, lengthening the hanging rack a bit and then making the shelf/tank rack area wider too. In doing so I could have eliminated a level of tanks and had more room to add another shelf up top for storage. My plans started with the need to have 4 tanks per rack, however high I had to make it. The rest was just built around it and the space I had available between my other garage shelves and the end of the garage.
After years of junk all over the place, I decided to do something about it. I wanted to get my tanks off the floor, and have a place to hang all my stuff all in one single shelf.
The old dive area was just a few 2x4's setup with an old metal fence bar across the top for my gear to hang on. Tanks were all over the place, in the way, etc. Lots of wasted space.
I went to home depot this morning, got some 2x4s and 2x2's and set to work.
Building the upper/lower frame.
The design is such that is fits in the remaining space at the end of my garage, and makes use of the odd space between the garage door rail and the wall. That will be the drying rack/hanging area. Whatever hangs there should clear the garage door easily.
My original plan was to use some 1x4's to separate the tanks, but by the time I got to the 2nd shelf, the 2x2's worked out better and had more support. I'll be pulling the 1x4's off the bottom and replacing then with 2x2's. I also measured it a bit too deep, so the tanks had no support at all. To fix this I just put some 2x4's on the inside of the legs. Since they are mounted laterally, they can easily hold the weight.
It started storming by the time I go to the 3rd and 4th shelves. I also had a massive headache from the killer heat/humidity today so I had to call it quits for the day.
Here's what I ended up with before going inside.
This will hold all my tanks. The two AL80's on the top are too old to use, so are just place holders right now. I plan to cut the tops off them and use them to hold my spearfishing/lobstering gear, leaving me with two more slots for future tanks.
I am going to be putting a shelf above the tanks to store some gear bins.
To the left is the drying area, once I find my hole saw bits I will get the bar in place and get all my BCs, wetsuits, etc hung up. My wet bin will just slide under the hanging stuff.
Stay tuned! I should be finishing it tomorrow morning!
---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ----------
Finished Project!
---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 01:42 PM ----------
FYI Total project cost me under $70
I used:
3" box of exterior screws
2 1/2" box of exterior screws
15 2x4's
7 2x2's
random scrap of plywood I had
random chain-length-fence top beam I had (for the hanging rack bar) that I had
all 4x4 joints have 4 - 3" screws
all 1x4 joints have 2 - 3" screws
all tank rails have 1 - 2 1/2" screw on each end.
The top shelf is held on with some 2" screws I had laying around and not shown is a 2x4 beam under the center of the shelf for support.
I shook it pretty hard while fully loaded down and even did some pullups on the hanging bar. It's built like a tank.
The tanks are flush with the front and I plan to build a door to cover them up.
If I had more space to work with, I would have made it longer, lengthening the hanging rack a bit and then making the shelf/tank rack area wider too. In doing so I could have eliminated a level of tanks and had more room to add another shelf up top for storage. My plans started with the need to have 4 tanks per rack, however high I had to make it. The rest was just built around it and the space I had available between my other garage shelves and the end of the garage.
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