Introduction: Fishing Boat Storage Stand

By Dalziel
About: I am retired and have been for 13 years. Love to fix bikes, golf, play pool, fish, bike ride, travel and build things. I have been married, to the same woman for 41yrs, have three boys, and three grandchildr…

I have a small 14' aluminium fishing boat, that, when not in the water, I store it behind my cabin at the lake.  I wanted to build something that would keep my boat secure and be at such an angle that the water, when it rained, didn't pool in my boat.  So I designed and built this boat stand.  Most of the materials were free, as I am very frugal (cheap).  I went to a local scrap metal dealer and got a couple of old metal bed frames. The rest of the stuff I had lying around my shop.  Here is what I did.

MATERIALS:

2" Angel Iron cut to the following lengths
6 - Pieces 2'
3 - Pieces 1'
1 - Piece of 6' flat iron cut to 8"
1 - length of thread bar about 10"
2 - Nuts to match the thread bar
2 - Pieces of 1" flat bar
1 - Trailer hitch ball to match your trailer

INSTRUCTIONS:

To start, cut all of your material to the desired lengths.  Once you have your material cut, start with the top.  Take two of the 2' pieces of angle iron and lay them out, 12" apart.  At one end, clamp a 12" piece of angle iron between the two 2' pieces and weld these together. You should now have a 2' X 1' large U frame.  Leave the other end open.  Now take a second piece of 12" angle iron and clamp it 12" from top of your U where you welded the first 12" piece of angle iron. Both pieces should be facing the same way.  Now 6" from that piece, clamp your last piece of 12" angle iron with the angle facing the opposite direction.  Now clamp your piece of 6" flat iron between these two pieces.  Weld all of these pieces together to compete the upper frame of the stand.

On the piece of 6" flat iron, drill a hole that will accept the piece of thread bar.  On the top of the thread bar, weld your trailer hitch ball.  Now on the two nuts that match the thread bar, weld on the two pieces of 1" flat bar.  Thread the first nut onto the thread bar just below the trailer hitch ball and drop this through the hole you drilled in the 6" piece of flat iron.  Thread on the second nut assembly below this.  This is used to adjust the height of your trailer hitch ball.  The upper frame is now complete.

Now take the rest of your iron and clamp together the base frame, using the 3' pieces for the legs and the 2' pieces as the brace pieces.  This should be built in a pyramid configuration as illustrated in the pictures.  Clamp this base to the upper frame and once everything is in place, complete the rest of the welding.  Once all the welding is done, flip over the unit and your stand is complete.  You can leave your materials raw, as I did, or give them a quick paint.

The reason you leave one end of the upper frame open, is so that your boat trailer, which is now a an angle,  will attach to the ball .  Attach your trailer to the ball and lock the hitch.  Your boat is now secure and at such an angle that the water will drain.

It is a fairly simple project.  If you don't have a welder, you could drill and bolt all the pieces together.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

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