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Awning and Storage Rack

Awning and Storage Rack
Very elegant awning and kayak rack that hangs on the back of a standard shipping container. Or on the back of your house, garage, or barn.
Protect your kayak/lumber/stock from getting wrecked by the elements. And keep it all handy for instant use.
Put some boards on the bottom rack and use it for a workbench!
Park your motorcycle and HPV under it.

Made from 100% scavenged materials.
The metal came from railings off the fire truck and from a wrecked chainlink fence.
The maroon truck tarp material was gym floor covers from MIT.
The blue sunbrella fabric came from the dumpster of our neighbor the sailmaker.
The heavy threaded rods and nuts were left behind in our space by a defunct building contractor.

All welding was done with a homemade AC stick welder.

The excellent metal and canvas work on this project was done by Ita, Zan, and Franziska
 
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Step 1Hunting, Gathering and Butchering Metal

Hunting, Gathering and Butchering Metal
Thanks volunteers!
if I didn't manage to get a good shot of you at work, the help is much appreciated anyhow.

The railings from the firetruck were pretty close to the right shape, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

In these photos

Ita uses a portable bandsaw to cut down the old railings from the firetruck.
She's from Uzbekistan and is savoring the proletarian-type work she never got to do in the old Soviet Union.

Zan grinds the arms.
Ita and Zan weld arms and hooks using the homemade welder.
As you can see we've got every kind of commercial welder, but the homemade one is more fun.

Zan climbs a partly done frame to see if it's strong enough. It is!

"do you sail?" I ask. She: "Not really."
That turns out to mean she sailed a square rigger for several months.
Always check people's references!
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5 comments
Apr 14, 2008. 5:41 PMLinuxH4x0r says:
Nice! I want a container now. Maybe I'll build myself a small workshop this summer.......
Jun 6, 2009. 7:54 PMmatroska says:
Totally agree to this idea. I want such container bad. It's amazing to see how widely spread things can have so much different uses. Namely that container, which can be turned into somehow a workshop, cheap storage, and even some kind of bunker (Mythbusters, anyone?). Also, think about duct tape. :D
Jun 11, 2008. 11:01 AMllamafur says:
where i live, the city code people would freak out about anything thing like this. our wood fence had to be redone cause it wasn't proper???
Apr 14, 2008. 4:55 PMGorillazMiko says:
Ha! You were up there yesterday!

Thanks for the encouragement! :P

Was encouragement what you said?
Apr 14, 2008. 9:58 AMkillerjackalope says:
nice one tim, yet again you have incidentally helped in my goal for my two forty foot containers, once the stuffs out of them, except the couch, it should stay... *walks into distance murmuring insane thoughts of container projects...

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Author:TimAnderson
Tim Anderson is the author of the "Heirloom Technology" column in Make Magazine. He is co-founder of www.zcorp.com, manufacturers of "3D Printer" output devices. His detailed drawings of traditional ...
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