Ingenious Clothes Drying Rack for Camping

You’ve got to love this design. It’s compact, it’s sturdy, and it’s ingenious! Go to the source.

This drying rack is based on suspending two concentric, equilateral triangles to make six cross sections for hanging wet clothing or towels during a long term encampment, and there’s no reason you can’t put it up on an overnighter if there’s a practical need. All that’s been said before regarding the advantages of this kind of campsite improvement apply to this simple camp gadget:

• It takes up less space while drying more wet things.
• It eliminates the clutter of clothing and towels haphazardly strewn around on tables, tree branches, tent platforms, or overcrowded on a disorganized array of drooping clothes lines.
• It can be set up in a location where there is the most sunshine.
• It’s especially useful when camping in an open area with few trees.

Materials (adapt these as you like)

• 3    4′ x 1″ sticks
• 3    5′ x 1″ sticks (Scout staves are ideal)
• 1    6′ x 1-1/2″ to 2″ straight pole for the upright
• 1    30″ pioneering stake
• 8    camp gadget lashing ropes (6′ to 10′)
• 3    15′  support ropes
• 3    small stakes

Start by lashing together two equilateral triangles, one smaller for the top (three 4′ sticks), and the larger one for the bottom (three 5′ staves). Use square lashings. One easy way is to lash two at 90° and then bend them in and tie the third square lashing to make the triangle. This yields a nice, tightly-lashed triangle.

Pound in a pioneering stake and lash the 6′ pole to it securely with two tight strop lashings or round lashings. Making this upright stand up vertically without moving or wobbling at all is a key to a good and sturdy clothing dryer. So, solidly pound in the stake and make sure it’s as straight as possible. Also, make sure the lashings are well-tied and tight.

Lay the triangles on the ground over the upright, first the larger triangle, and then the smaller one on top.

Using rolling hitches, tie the three 15′ support ropes to the top of the upright.

Tie each corner of the smaller triangle to a support rope so it will be suspended about 5′ above the ground. Use clove hitches which can be adjusted as necessary to assure the triangle hangs evenly and the 4′ sticks are horizontal. Continuing with each of the three support ropes, repeat this process for the larger triangle so that it will hang about 4′ above the ground.

Hammer in a small stake a couple of feet out, in line with each corner of the bottom triangle. Using the remaining length of the support ropes, attach them to the stakes with a simple taut line hitch. This will further stabilize the clothing dryer and enable you to make fine-tune adjustments to the way the triangles lay. (You can also just make them fast to the stakes with a roundturn with two half hitches, or another clove hitch.)

Any questions? Click here.