A drying rack for hockey equipment.

There are only a handful of smells that can literally bring a grown man to his knees and make him beg for mercy. While most of these smells are things I experience in the emergency room as a nurse, there is one in particular that's just as evil: Smelly hockey equipment.  The sweet, garlicky flavor of dead skin cells and bacteria excrement can be quite nauseating... not only for the person wearing the soiled garments but also for the people skating alongside him.  This kind of evil needs to be stopped.



Unless it's really old, really soiled equipment, most of the time this smell can be managed with proper air drying after a skate.  I've seen way too many PVC pipe drying racks that, while functional, are reserved for garages or unfinished basements only.  My goal was to make an equipment rack that could sit in the corner of my basement without being an eye sore.

Even though I used only two cross-sections, the pad configuration on this rack is near-endless. I've set it up the way it's most commonly seen online. Everything is customizable and the hooks may be arranged differently to accommodate goalie equipment.

This project used (2) 4x4s, (1) 1x2, (1) 1" dowel, 4 metal feet posts and hook hardware. Holding the post to the legs is a 1/2" lag bolt drilled through the center of the bottom.  While this rack could've been made other ways, I used a half lap joint for the legs to increase its sturdiness.  If I didn't own a table saw, I might have just used studs as feet and screwed one to each side of the main post.

The total cost for this rack was $55 and everything was purchased at a big box store.  It took about 4 hours to make.  It probably would've taken a bit longer but I was hurrying since it's January in Michigan!  Way too cold to dawdle!

That's it!

Hopefully this will help inspire players (or parents of players) to make something similar and end the scourge of dreaded hockey stench.

Edit: I've noticed a lot of people asking for measurements. Here you go! Good luck with you drying rack project!