My daughter likes to take her dog kayaking with her, and though he's small enough to fit in the cockpit, he prefers to stand on the deck. However, because it's rounded and a bit slippery, it's not an ideal standing platform, so to make life on the water a little easier, I decided to build her a little platform for her dog to rest on.

I wanted the platform to be lightweight and easy to store, and I wanted to attach it without drilling any holes in the top of the kayak. The design I came up with uses a simple frame made of 1/2" PVC that fits in the groove of the cockpit cowling and is held in place with a bungee cord. A yoga-mat covered plywood panel sits on top of the frame and is fastened with six velcro straps. The end result was a comfortable and stable platform that makes it easy for her dog to stand or lay on the back. It's also easy to put on and remove, and disassembles for storage,

To make it even more stowable, you could replace the plywood deck with a heavy fabric deck stretched between the pvc frame, and I may do that as an option for my daughter down the road, but for now, she prefers the rigidity provided by the plywood.

Tools Needed

This is pretty easy to build, with minimal tools required. I used a small japan-tooth flush trim saw to cut the pvc to length, and used a tablesaw to cut the plywood. You could also use a circular saw or jig saw for that part, or even a hand saw for that matter. I also used a small disc sander to ease the edges of the plywood, and a cordless drill/driver to drill holes in the pvc end caps and to drive the screws that hold the velcro straps to the plywood. I cut the yoga mat to size with a utility knife.

Supplies

1 10' length of 1/2" pvc pipe

2 1/2" pvc elbows

2 1/2" pvc t-joints

2 1/2" pvc end caps

4' of 3/16" cord or rope

6 #8 x 3/8" stainless steel pan-head screws and washers

6 velcro cable straps

bungee strap

1 24"x24" x 3/8" thick exteriior plywood

21" square piece of yoga mat

spray adhesive

paint (optional)

Step 1: Make a PVC Frame

The PVC frame is comprised of 6 pieces of 1/2" PVC. The two forward arms fit snugly in the cowling groove on your kayak, and should be as long as the cockpit's straight(ish) section at the rear of the cockpit. Cut these pieces to length first, then drill 1/4" holes in the end caps and attach the end caps and t-joints to each end, as shown in the photos.

Now hold the two pieces in place in the cowling groove on either side of your cockpit and measure the distance between the t-joints to determine the length of the forward cross piece, then add 1-1/2 inches to the measurement to allow for the length of pipe that fits into the t-joint. Cut the front frame piece to this length.

The rest of the frame work will go easier if you add the cord and bungee strap that holds your frame in place. Thread the cord through the cap, the arm, then through the forward frame piece and back through the other arm. You'll need to remove the end cap to be able to thread the cord back out through the hole in the other end cap. Tie a bowline or figure eight knot in the end of the cord, then assemble the frame and slide it into place on the cockpit. Then hook the bungie cord to the loop on the one end of the cord and stretch it around to cockipt to about 90% of it's maximum length. Now cut the other end of the cord about 10" past this point, and tie another bowline or figure eight knot. You should now be able to lock the frame assembly in place using the bungie strap.

With this assembly in place on your kayak, measure the length you want for the two outside frame pieces. I cut mine to about 19 inches, which was long enough to make a good platform base for my daughter's dog, but still short enough to stop shy of the back of the kayak, I didn't want the platform to extend too far back because I wanted to make sure that the weight stayed more centered on the boat.

After cutting the side pieces, add them to your assembly and attach the right-angle joints to the ends, then measure the distance between the elbows, add 1-1/2 inches to allow for the length of pipe that fits into the joint, and cut the rear frame piece to length. After adding the rear frame piece to the assembly, your PVC frame is complete.

Step 2: Make the Platform

I made my platform from a piece of 3/8" thick exterior plywood, which seemed plenty strong to support my daughter's dog without being too heavy. It is important to use exterior grade because the pltatorm will get wet. I measured my plywood to just overhang the frame and cut it to size with a tablesaw. I then rounded the corners and eased the edges with a small angle grinder fitted with a sanding disc, and spray painted the edges and bottom with some exterior enamel to provide some additional protection.

To make the surface more comfortable and non-slip, I covered the top with a piece cut from an old yoga mat, which I fastened to the plywood with some spray adhesive. To get the best adhesion, I sprayed both the mat and the plywood and then let them dry until they were tacky but no longer wet to the touch, then carefully applied the yoga mat. Be careful with this step, since once the mat touches the plywood you won't be able to remove it.

With the platform finished, I needed to be able to fasten it to the frame. I happened to have a bag of 3/4" Velcro cable wraps handy, so I fastened 6 of them around the sides and back of the frame so the plastic loop would sit just outside the PVC frame. I secured each strap with a single stainless steel screw and washer.

To attach the platform to the frame, place the platform upside down and set the pvc frame in place. Wrap each of the straps over the pipe, thread them through the plastic loops, then pull them back over the loop and secure the Velcro. When you're ready to kayak with your pet, just slide the assembled frame in place, secure it with your bungie strap, and you're ready to go!

Step 3: Get on the Water!

There's really no additional step here, but I wanted to share that we've been out many times with my daughter and both of her pups. I built this primarily for her first dog, Tilney (the dark grey, larger dog) because he liked to stand on the deck of her kayak but often slipped off, and he doesn't enjoy being dunked unless he's really hot or decides to swim to another boat. He seems to love his platform and spends the whole trip either sitting or standing so he can watch for fish, birds, or whatever interests him. But my daughter's JRT puppy, Lottie, also likes to join him on the platform and as you can see in the pictures, they can both stand comfortably on it. Tilney's been dumped off the platform a couple of times when Lottie squirms underneath him, but he happily returns to his perch.

UPDATE: It looks like I’m going to have to add a second platform to the front of the kayak now. Tilney got tired of being inadvertantly being pushed off by Lottie, so he took the preventative measure of evicting Lottie from the platform: watch Tilney evict Lottie from the platform.

Step 4: Update - Adding a Front Deck

After a couple summers of using this with two dogs, I decided to upgrade it by adding a front deck, so that each dog could have it's own space, or so that even with one dog, they had a choice of where to sit. In adding the front deck, I used a different yoga mat that matched the kayak color better, so I also replaced the rear deck and slightly changed how the decks are attached to the frame.

As you can see in the photos, the PVC frame for the front deck follows the curve of the cowling, and a couple of fittings attach at the rear of both sides, where the side pieces of the frame attach. I wanted the frame to somewhat follow the line of the kayak, and the available fittings didn't quite result in the angles I wanted, so in addition to heating and bending the PVC pipe, I also had to heat and bend the fittings to get the angles right. I used a heat gun to achieve this, heating the pipe until it just becomes flexible (275 F is ideal), and then forming the pipe or fitting to acheive the pipe I wanted. Here's the process I followed:

Cut the PVC pipe to fit the front of the cowling. Make it a couple of inches longer than you think you need, so you can cut it to final length after bending it. Heat the pipe along its length with a heat gun until it deforms easily, then form it to the front cowling of your boat and hold it in place until it cools. You'll need to wear some leather work gloves for this because the pipe is too hot to safely handle with bare hands. After your happy with the fit trim it to length on both sides of the cowl so that it is symmetrical.
Attach a t-fitting to the ends of the formed cowling pipe. You need t-fittings here because you need to be able to run a length of paracord through the cowling pipe in order to hold the frame to the kayak. My frame doesn't show a t-fitting here because my brain died when I glued the t-fitting to the pipe and I got the orientation wrong, which I fixed by cutting the t-fitting so I could still run the cord through.
Cut the short lengths of pipe to run from the center of the t-fiitting out away from the kayak cockpit and attach 45 degree elbow fittings facing forward towards the front of your kayak. Don't glue anything yet!
Cut the two side pieces of your frame from the PVC pipe, and insert them in the 45 degree elbows. If your boat has geometry similar to mine, this will probably not follow the shape of your kayak, so you'll need to adjust the angle by heating and altering the fitting. You'll do this AFTER gluing a portion of the fittings together (otherwise you might not get a good fit as the fitting wil deform from the pipe).
Assemble all pieces of the frame that you have made so far and thread a section of paracord or rope through the t-fittings and the cowling pipe so that you can use this to wrap around the cowling and hold the frame in place while marking it for gluing. Fasten the assembled, partial frame to your boat, and adjust the rotation of each of the fittings so that the side pieces of the frame follow the top of your boat deck (as closely as possible. Then use a permanent marker mark the alignment of each fitting to the adjoining section of pipe. You'll use these marks to align the fitting when gluing.
Remove the frame from your boat and remove the rope, and glue the small section of pipe to the t-fitting and the 45 degree elbow, making sure that you align the marks you made in the previous step.
With the side pieces of the frame in place, heat the small section of pipe and the adjoing portion of the 45 degree elbow until they are pliable, and bend this heated section until the side frame follows the countour of your kayak to your liking. Don't heat the frame while it's on your boat (you'll damage your boat). Put it in place after youu've heated the section and then adjust the angle. Hold the frame in place until it cools enough so that it no longer changes its shape. Repeat this for each side of the frame.
Cut the front piece of the frame to size, and with your frame resting on a flat surface, glue the sides and front together, connecting them with 90 degree elbows.
In order to connect this assembly to the cowling assembly, you'll need to heat the 90 degree elbow fittings so that you can bend them out to the angle needed to mate with the 45 degree elbows. Heat both elbows until they are pliable, then attach the front frame section to the cowling section and let the fittings cool. You may want to check the symmetry of the angles and adjust while the elbows are cooling.
With the frame done, cut your decking material to fit the frame. I switched from 3/8" plywood to 5/16 to cut a little bit of weight. I also rounded the corners of the plywood and then eased the edges with a 1/8" roundover router bit. Although I used exterior grade plywood, I did spray a coat of enamel paint to provide some additional protection.
As with the rear deck, I covered with deck with a yoga mat, which I attached with spray adhesive.
To attach the deck to the frame, I used some polyester webbing material, which I fastened with some 3/8" stainless steel screws and washers. The washers have one rounded edge and one sharp edge, and I placed the rounded edge against the webbing so that the sharp edge wouldn't cut through. When cutting the webbing, I used a hot knife to ensure that the ends would not fray, but if you don't have one, just use a lighter or small kitchen torch to melt the cut edges and protect against fraying.
In using the rear deck, I replaced the bungee cord with a loop of paracord, which had just enough stretch to allow me to snap the frame into place, so to add the front deck, I just untied the loop and strung it through the cowling section of the frame, then retied the loop using a reever knot, which is a great knot for joining two lines end-to-end.