PVC Washing & Drying Rack

Washing and drying rack for diving gear (In my case, underwater hunting gear).

Check out one of our underwater hunting/cooking trips in this Instructable.

The first thing i did before buying anything, was to design and layout the construction. I chose to design the whole structure as a tree to have it compact, but also to keep it the least expensive in material use (This also gave a good design for distributing the heat inside the tubes).

After having done this, i went to Bauhaus and bought all of the tubes. Right next to the tubes i found tube insulation, which i thought would be good for mounting my wetsuit around.

The hair dryer i bought from eBay for 40 DKK (6,4$ / 5,4€), se link in the bottom.

First of all I placed all of the PVC tubes as they where going to be assembled, I then found all of my diving gear and adjusted the individual tubes for each of their purposes (short ones for gloves, longer ones for the socks).

Next up i drilled the needed holes in the tubes for assembling and ventilation, I then fixed their position using screws.

For the wetsuit itself I placed foam around the tubes to protect the wetsuit, since the inside is "open celled" and very fragile.

I made a bottom plate from a thick peace of particleboard, i then rounded the corners, attached wheels and mounted the tube adapter.

Disassemble the hair dryer and take out the heater/blower element.

Make a hole for the switch and exit for the cord.

Wire the cord together with the switch again.

Use silicone to fix and tighten the space around the blower (make sure that the heating element docent touches the PVC tubing).

This kind of wood handles water very poorly, so in order to protect it against this I have applied two thick layers of boat deck lacquer all over the wood.

Wash.. Dry.. Store.. (pre-heat your suit before going into ice-cold water)

(The tubes with exposed end caps is not connected to heating system so it docent matter if there gets water in, evt. drill holes on the bottom of the tubes outside to let the water pass. Dont let any of the heating tubes be exposed when washing the gear, this will let water in to the build-in heater)

Here is then the final result! A washing / drying rack for diving gear..

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PVC tubes:

1 x Tube 100cm x 70mm

1 x Tube 100cm x 32mm

6 x Tube 30cm x 32mm

1 x Reduction 110mm/70mm

1 x Reduction 70mm/50mm

6 x 45˚ Bend 32mm

2 x 90˚ Bend 32mm

1 x 45˚ Bend 50mm

2 x 90˚ Bend 50mm

1 x 45˚ Tee split 50 mm

2 x End caps 50mm

Other:

Screw collection

Hair dryer

Insulation tube 100cm

Bottom plate

4 x wheels

Boat deck lacquer

Total prices 450DKK (72$ / 60€)