How to Build Your Own Beach Umbrella

A beach umbrella keeps you protected, and helps you stay cool.

Although a traditional umbrella is used to protect you against the rain, a beach umbrella is used to protect you from the sun. When having fun at the beach, it is always useful to have a beach umbrella at hand to protect you from harmful UV rays, and to rest in the sun if it is too hot for your comfort. Beach umbrellas are made in a variety of sizes, colors, fabrics and shapes. Make an umbrella that suits your needs and personalize it, rather than buying one.

Things You'll Need

• 7-foot bamboo pole
• Hacksaw
• 9 wooden dowels, 4 feet long
• 12 eye hooks
• Sturdy thin wire
• 4- to 5-inch-long bolt or screw
• Screw with washer
• 5 or 6 yards of fabric
• Scissors
• Sewing needle
• Sewing machine
• Power drill
• Pencil
• Protractor
• PVC coupling 1 1/4 inch by 2 inch

Instructions

1. Use the hacksaw to cut the bamboo, which is the main umbrella pole, at an angle above a joint at the thicker end.

   This makes it easier to sink into the sand at the beach. Use the hacksaw to neatly cut three of the dowels in half, which will give you six 2-foot spokes and six 4-foot spokes.

2. Drill holes into the end of each of the 2-foot spokes. Screw an eye hook into one end of each of these 2-foot poles. Drill a hole into the top of the umbrella's mast to allow you to fit the top screw to it.

3. Drill twelve holes into the circle of the PVC coupling to make the umbrella's slider.

   Then drill a larger hole for the 4- to 5-inch-long bolt running through the center of the PVC coupling.

4. Cut the fabric into six triangles at 50 and 65 degree angles.

   Use a pencil and protractor to do this, as you will want the triangles to be exact. The sides of the triangle are 4 feet long, and the base should be 3.4 feet wide. Sew the triangles together from the sides, leaving the bottom open and leaving a 2 inch hole at the top, creating sheaths for the spokes of the umbrella to slide through. This gives your umbrella a cone shape.

5. Attach the fabric to the umbrella's mast using the screw with the washer.

   Insert the 4-foot dowels into each of the umbrella's sheaths. Drill eight holes in the PVC coupling, big enough for wire to pass through. Two feet from the top of the umbrella, cut 15 small holes between the fabric seams and the spokes. Don't cut the seams of the fabric open.

6. Push the wire through the holes you made in the PVC coupling, and through the eye hooks at the end of the short poles.

   Slide the PVC coupling onto the main pole of the umbrella. Attach the other ends of the short poles to the fabric holes at the top of the umbrella, using loops of wire in and around the holes and 4-foot spokes to make your structure more durable.

7. Open the umbrella completely and note the position of the bolt holes that you drilled through the PVC coupling.

   Slide the slider of the umbrella down and drill a hole, the same size as the bolt, through the main shaft. Now your umbrella can be locked into place, simply by sliding the bolt through the mast and coupling. Sew the fabric sheaths closed, and use scissors to neaten any rough edges on the fabric and umbrella.

References

• Beach Umbrellas