DIY Hockey Storage Rack

I love this post.

Actually I love the project, I love that it’s my design and I love how it turned out – the post is just my way to show it off to you.

I was recently asked to help out with a couple of fundraisers for some neighbourhood kids. One needed an item for a silent auction and the other needed a prize for their hockey draft fundraiser. Both Moms asked if I would recreate the pallet hockey storage rack….

but then I couldn’t post it a second time, and if I’m going to work on something, I might as well make a blog post of it right?

Besides, as much as I love pallet projects, I’m not sure I want to be known as “the pallet lady” – so instead I came up with a new DIY sports storage cart.

DIY sports storage cart

You will need

• one sheet of 4′ x 8′ plywood – 5/8″ thick. These come in around $37 Cdn.
• 4 swivel castors
• 1 ½” wood screws
• sander and sandpaper
• paint or stain to your taste

I tried to maximize the use of the wood so that there wasn’t much waste leftover, unfortunately, it means that there aren’t many straight cuts that you can have the lumber store do for you (unless they are really nice).

I started my DIY sports storage cart by laying out by bottom piece (14″ by 36″) and then attaching the two outer sides (14″ by 28″) using 1 ½” wood screws coming up from the base.

I then used my shelves (14″ by 20 ½”) as spacers and positioned the last partition in place – again screwing up from the bottom of the unit.

Attach the shelves in your DIY sports storage cart as seen in the building plan above – your top shelf will be really shallow to hold tape, pucks or to rest your hockey bag on top of. If you’re using this as storage for another sport, then this area can be for baseballs, golf or baseball gloves etc.

I screwed 1 ½” wood screws in from the outside of the DIY hockey storage rack – on my first attempt I did try to use pocket hole screws, but they weren’t strong enough – I suggest drilling in from the outside and worry about aesthetics afterwards.

Now it’s time to attach your back (28 5/8″ by 36″) by covering the entire frame of your DIY sports storage cart and drilling in from the back.

Add extra screws and attach the back to each shelf and to the partition for added strength.

The final piece of your DIY sports storage rack is the front casing for your hockey stick bin. If you’re planning on using this for golf, you can forgo this piece and leave the section open to hold your golf bag, otherwise line your 13 5/8″ by 28″ piece up with the front edge of your unit and screw into place.

Finish off by attaching your swivel castors to the bottom and you’re done!

You know I couldn’t leave it like this right? Not when there’s paint nearby that just happens to be almost the colours of Canada’s National Hockey Team.

You may notice a small size discrepancy between these two DIY hockey storage racks – that’s because HD mis-cut my plywood and I was short for my second unit. The first (the black one) is 16″ deep and lines up with the track of my garage door. The second is 12″ deep and tucks behind it nicely…. for my building plans I decided that 14″ would give the best usage of space and storage so that’s what you’re building above.

Two coats of paint and they’re pretty darn cute!

But not cute enough to bid on, or at least not cute enough to raise much money for the kids’ fundraisers – so I ramped it up a notch and added some stripes and wording.

Hubby came home as I was finishing up and was stressed to see his skates standing on bare wood (even for the few minutes it took me to stage these). He suggested that the racks needed a rubber carpet to keep blades sharp. To keep him happy, I added removable carpet to the bottom boxes. (He’s such a diva!)

The striping went all around the black DIY sports storage cart. Another option might be to paint a goalie net on the back and the kids can shoot pucks at it? You might want to go with ¾” plywood for the back if you go that way.

Someone told me to add a coat rack to the hockey stick bin so that pads can be hung up to dry, or maybe a hook or two to the outer edges?

You can see below how the 14″ unit will be the perfect size to tuck along the side of your garage without it getting in the way of your car or garage door track.

I love these! I want one for every sport! Use the bin for soccer balls, baseball bats, basketballs, ski gear. Use it to keep all of your sports organized in one spot – roller blades, balls, skateboards etc. With the castors, this can easily be moved in and out of the garage.

Oh my gosh! What if I built one to hold a Christmas tree (collapsed of course) and the shelves can hold boxes of ornaments and lights! I can see a garage full of these DIY sports storage carts in my future!

Have a great one!

Linked to:

• Between Naps on the Porch
• Curly Crafty Mom