How to Make a Duct Tape Camp Chair

Did I say in the last blog post, I would blog the instructions for this chair tomorrow? Well “tomorrow” is a loose term that can be interpreted in some cultures as “next week”! Sure, why not.

OK, here we go. The pictures that I am going to show are for the toddler sized chair, but the same steps work for the child and adult sizes, too. I chose to showcase the toddler’s chair because I wanted to color code the pipe lengths, and lets face it; toddlers are adorable in rainbow!

For all of the chairs you will need PVC joint cement — unless you like sitting on the floor. All the fittings and pipes are 3/4″. Either a PVC pipe cutter or a mini hack saw work well to cut the pipe. You will need 3 sticks of standard 80″ pipe for the Adult and Child Sizes, and 2 sticks for the Toddler Size.

For the Toddler Size you will need:

8 – 90′s

8 – Tees

4 – 4″ pipes (Orange)

4 – 4 1/2″ pipes (Green)

2 – 6″ pipes (Purple)

4 – 6 1/2″ pipes (Yellow)

2 – 10″ (Red)

4 – 11″ (Blue)

For the Child Size you will need:

8 – 90′s

8 – Tees

4 – 4″ (Orange)

4 – 6″ (Green)

2 – 9″ (Purple)

4 – 9 1/2″ (Yellow)

2 – 13″ (Red)

4 – 14″ (Blue)

For the Adult Size you will need:

8 – 90′s

8 – Tees

4 – 4 1/2″ pipes (Orange)

4 – 7 1/2″ pipes (Green)

2- 12 1/2″ pipes (Purple)

4 – 11 1/2″ pipes (Yellow)

2 – 16″ pipes (Red)

4 – 18″ pipes (Blue)

Take each length of pipe and cover it in the color of your choice by ripping 2 strips of tape 2″ shorter then the pipe. Center and cover.

Next, put all of the pipes together. I don’t really know a good way to explain it, so just match the colors and the lengths of pipe with the picture.

Next, cover the seat. Because I want to be able to fold the chair, I wrapped a piece of plain gray sticky side up all of the way around the blue pipe, sticking it to itself tightly in a loop. Then, cover the loop with another layer of gray sticky sides together. The loop should move freely around the pipe. After the whole seat is covered, reinforce the back blue pipe loop with several (2, 4, or 6 depending on your size) 6″ strips of gray so that it won’t rip when you sit on it!

Next, wrap gray tape around the seat cross wise for added stability. Cover the entire seat once, sticking it right on top of your existing layer.

Now wrap the back of the chair around the purple pipes, but this time you can wrap sticky sides together. Then repeat going cross wise.

Now cover the back and seat with a design of your choice or, just leave gray for that extra special duct tape look.

Remove the front blue pipe (the once holding the seat in the front) and the bottom blue pipe pipe and set aside. Glue all of the 90 joints to the pipes with PVC joint cement.

Fold one orange and one yellow pipe to the front and one orange and one yellow pipe to the back. Throw the chair — along with your tent and sleeping bag — in the back of your vehicle and head to your favorite campsite. Set up your tent and build a fire. Replace the two blue pipes in your chair insuring that the joints are snug and secure. Pull out a bag of marshmallows, add your scraps to your duck-o ball and you are done!

**Disclaimer: All sizes of chairs HAVE NOT been extensively tested. Artduck-o DOES NOT guarantee the safety of these chairs although no significant problems have occurred with the current design. For maximum stability glue all joints and test the strength of tape.**

Happy camping Duck-os!