PVC Clothes Rack in Rtic Duffle for Dragon Con
I am looking forward to sharing a host hotel room with three other friends at Dragon Con this year (2025). While that means we all can split the hotel cost, it also means that space might become a bit of an issue. With four enthusiastic adults sharing a hotel room, (each of whom have four or five cosplay costumes at a minimum), and the incredible amount of stuff we NEED to bring for Dragon Con, some amount of clutter will be non-negotiable. However, I do have a pretty deterimined streak when it comes wrangling my cosplays and maintaining some sort of organization.
My friends @artbzd and @cosplaythefamilyway mentioned the Dream Duffel dance bags which have a built-in clothes rack. However, those bags are more expensive than I wanted to dish out right before a convention. As we were brainstorming, my friend’s suggested I try making a PVC clothes rack instead.
I have had my eye on a rolling duffel bag from Rtic for a couple years, so I decided to take this opportunity to invest in a new suitcase. (No, this is not sponsored at all. I am just a fan of Rtic’s really good water botles, ice chests, and bags. And they are a Texas company, so yay!)
The Rtic Road Trip Rolling Duffel has rugged and durable construction. Heavy weight fabrics, beefy zippers, and big wheels are a huge win for a suitcase. I fly to many other conventions, not just to Dragon Con in downtown Atlanta. Therefore, I took note of the dimensions of the large size Rtic duffel: 29” long by 14” tall by 17” wide. (73.7 cm x 35.6 cm x 43.2 cm) Then, I verified the allowed size parameters for checked bags at the airlines I typically use. Since this is a duffel bag and not a hard side suitcase, I am planning on packing things that are okay to squish in this bag.
After I ordered my large size Rtic duffel, it arrived the next business day. Woah! Now I will point out this transit was rather short from Rtic’s headquarters in Houston to my location in Dallas. Priority shipping was free for my order, so that was a plus as well.
Okay, my dear fancy cosplay loving Dragon Con peeps, I have done the engineering and trial and error! Because we are all in this together, I will now gladly share my PVC clothes rack specifically designed for my large Rtic rolling duffle bag! Huzzah!
Supplies: I have provided links at Lowes, but other hardware stores will have this stuff. These are super common plumbing supplies at places like Home Depot and Ace Hardware.
About 20 feet of Schedule 40 1/2” PVC pipe - This comes in 5ft sections and 10ft or longer. I bought the shorter 5ft PVC pipe pieces because they were easier to fit in my car.
Six 1/2” PVC Tee’s
Four 1/2” PVC elbows
Four 1/2” PVC caps
PVC cutter - this tool is so useful. PVC cutters like this are extremely sharp. They are much easier to use to cut PVC pipe to certain lengths than a hack saw, or a Dremel tool. However, you need to have decent hand strength to use this type of clamping PVC pipe cutter tool.
A Sharpie
Tape measure
Cut the PVC pipe into:
Four lengths of 26” long (66 cm) - These become the two tall side posts for the clothes rack.
Three pieces at 23.5” long (60 cm) - two of these become the long bottom frame of the clothes rack, while one becomes the horizontal rod the clothes actually hang from.
Four pieces at 8.5” long (29.6 cm) - These pipes become the side hanger for wigs / vertical pipe for a hat and the two extenders to allow the rack to lean against the wall slightly.
Two pieces at 6.5” long (16.5 cm) - These are part of the bottom frame near the extending handle end of the duffle.
Two pieces at 4.5” long (11.4 cm) - These are the part of the bottom frame near the wheel end of the duffle.
Two pieces at 3.5” long (8.9 cm) - These little stubby pieces are a small extension for the top of the clothes rod.
Now pay attention to where the connectors are in this image: These are all the locations where I glued on the couplings. Notice too that one tee for the horizontal bar of the clothes rack is a different orientation. Think Tetris pieces here. I chose to have one PVC extension mounted horizontal for my wig hangers, and then one vertically for hats.
You are also correct in noticing that the PVC clothes rack base is not a rectangle. I intentionally designed this to be a trapezoid so that the base of the frame fit more snugly into bottom dimensions of the Rtic bag. One side is narrower because of the bag wheels. I made this design choice because it seemed a bit sturdier.
If you can find 1/2” PVC cross tee connectors, you could adjust the design some and skip the stubby 3.5” extensions that are part of how I built my Dragon Con cosplay clothes rack. However, my hardware store did not have any in stock, so I chose to do two sets of regular tees to allow for the horizontal clothes rod, plus the extenders to help the rack lean against the wall slightly. This greatly improves the stability of my design when laden down with cosplay costumes!
Great thing about my PVC clothes rack design is that it all breaks down for travel and can be stored in the Rtic duffle bag. This way I know I will still be able to hang up my cosplay costumes and garment bags, even though the hotel room closet is absolutely full!
Yes, this was a “con-crunch” Dragon Con project. But I think it will be worth it. I am especially proud of the extra wall supports I added to help add some stability. Let me know if you try it!