A canoe cart, and more kayak carts

I've started putting together a cart for the Navarro canoe.  It's made with the wheels and part of the frame from a jogging stroller.  The finished cart will have an aluminum frame that can be broken down to be stored in the canoe or a car.  The wheels have a mechanism that makes them easily detachable, so the space needed to store the parts just needs to be a bit more than the size of the two wheels.

I might also want the width of the cart frame to be adjustable so that the frame can be set on the gunnels and support a tent or tarp over the canoe, so that I can sleep in the canoe and not have to find dry land to camp on--and I guess the frame could support the canoe so that it acts as a tent on dry land...these ideas still need some work.

I'm going to have to test to see how much weight the wheels and frame will support; they may not be up to the job.

The black parts are the cart's frame, from the aluminum frame of a jogging stroller.  The frame was cut in the middle so that a length of aluminum tubing could be added.  The bushings are for the wheel axles, and the kickstand was part of the stroller.

The wheel bushings were welded to the aluminum-tubing frame, but the tubing had broken around each bushing so that the axles were only supported by a plastic casing around the bushings.  PVC couplers were epoxied into the tubes and cut away enough that the bushing and the broken tubing could be epoxied back into its original position to both the tubes and to the couplers.  The PVC provides extra support for the bushings on the inside of the tubes, and fiberglass, steel wire, and\or steel hose clamps will be used to reinforce the outside.

This is a wheel attached to the frame.

The finished cart will look something like this, probably with another cross piece near the axles.  The tube in the middle will be detachable at each end so that the cart can be broken down, and so that a different length of tubing can be used if I want to use the the cart for a kayak or for gear instead of for the canoe.

The new kayak cart will be made from an aluminum golf bag cart.  I don't really need another kayak cart, but the golf cart was only $2, so it was a must-have purchase.  Once it's finished I can sell or give away the steel-frame cart I've been using, or make it a cart for camping gear.

Part of an aluminum-frame golf cart.  The object is to make a simple folding frame that can be stored in a kayak, so the unnecessary parts were removed, and part of the long center tube will be cut off.  The wheels are detachable.  The yellow strips are cut from fiberglass battens, and will be replaced with something sturdier.

And finally, here's a photo of the old kayak cart in action at Ferry Point in Richmond.

The Necky Looksha Sport LV on the cart on the beach at the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline in Richmond.

The old steel-framed cart.  Even tho the wheels are detachable, it's too big to fit into the aft compartment of the kayak.  The new cart will have a simplified folding mechanism, which ought to reduce the weight and size considerably, although it will be more difficult to fold and unfold.  I suppose I could make a very simple, small, and lightweight non-folding frame, but that would be boring.

Edit, Dec. 2014: the steel-frame cart was stolen out of my car several weeks ago.  If you know the whereabouts of the cart please let me know; and in the meantime, if you can determine that the person in possession of the cart was the person (or one of the people) who broke the lock on the passenger door, ransacked my car (leaving everything on the street or sidewalk), and stole the cart, please feel free to put on a heavy steel-toed boot, and give the slimy degenerate a good hard kick to the crotch - in a tactful way, of course.  Alternately, you can inform the owner of the BMW that the same people damaged of the their whereabouts - I'm sure he's anxious to talk to them.

The next kayak cart

I'm planning to build another kayak cart.  This one will have an aluminum frame that can be configured as a small, portable cart for camping, and as a large, too-big-to-fit-in-the-yak cart for hauling the boat from the parking lot to the shore.  The larger size should be useful for navigating places like the small hill at Eckley where a wider wheel base and a longer frame might add enough stability to keep whole thing from rolling (which can be a problem at Eckley). 

 

Aluminum-frame folding golf bag cart

I'm hoping that I can get by with only the existing frame parts and some stainless steel fasteners.  The wheels (like the ones on my old cart) are some kind of dense foam material that seems to work well on concrete, sand, and gravel, but isn't likely to be long-lasting.  I might try adding bike-tire skins to the wheels so that the outer foam part won't wear out before the inner plastic rim gives out.

The frame of the cart shown in the photo is aluminum with some steel parts and some nylon parts, and with plain steel fasteners.  The wheels are detachable, so if all else fails I will at least have a spare pair of wheels.

Golf bag kayak cart again

The kayak cart is beginning to look like a small boat trailer.

This is the latest version of the same golf-bag cart that I've been using for a couple of years.  Now it has scrap wood supports made to fit the bottom of the kayak, bike-tire friction pads, wooden cleats, and nylon cord loops to hook bungees onto.  It seems to be easier to use this way, although it's heavier and bulkier than before.

 The long handle is more of a nuisance than a help so I'm going to cut that down next, or modify it so that it doesn't drag on the ground when I'm trying to navigate the hill next to the beach at Eckley.

A stowable kayak cart

This is a kayak cart that can be broken down and stored in the kayak.  Most of the parts are from a junk store (but can be replaced with off-the-shelf hardware, if necessary), and most of the pieces will float (once the internal foam plugs are added).

 The cart was made with common hand tools--a hand drill, a coping saw, a file, scissors, a utility knife, various clamps, and a couple more that I can't think of right now.  The materials are 3/4" and 1" PVC pipe and fittings, inner tubes, a couple of plastic wheels, a fiberglass tent pole, a skinny fiberglass rod, rubber bands, and a few other bits and pieces.

The cart was constructed to fit snugly on either end of my kayak.  The cart's shape was determined in part by the curved PVC conduit pieces that I found at Urban Ore.  I used ¾" PVC tees and 1" tees for most of the rest of it because it turned out that ¾" parts fit snugly into 1" parts.  Some of the parts are skinned with bicycle inner tubes so that the boat won't slide off the cart, and so that the connecting pins are held in place by the inner tubes, and because I thought it looked kinda cool.

In the above image you can see the tent-pole pins that keep two 3/4" tees connected to two 1" tees.  The pins are drilled so that they can be leashed to the cart, and some vinyl tubing was forced onto one end of each pin to make it easier to pull the pins out.  The other connecting pins are pushed under the blue rubber bands for storage.

The cart in a nylon bag.  It fits thru the hatch (on the left) even tho it looks too bulky.

Everything is stored in a nylon ditty-bag when the cart is disassembled, and it all fits under the rear deck--although it takes up more room than I expected, and I might end up lashing the cart's frame to the bow or the stern so that I'll have room in the aft compartment for camping gear.

The cart seen head-on.  The thick part right in the middle is pipe insulation.

The wheels have plastic bushings and plain-steels bolts for axles.  I think the wheels might be improved  by gluing some pipe insulation around the circumference, and then gluing shortened bike tires over that, so that the tires will be wider and get better traction, but I don't know if I'll ever bother to do that.

I'll post more details (although most of them aren't obvious from the photos) when I've got the necessary photos, and if it seems like anyone ever looks at this page

Kayak cart 2.2

The kayak cart might finally be ready to take on the dirt trail at Lone Tree Point.

The unfolded kayak cart

 The kayak now stays put relative to the cart, and the cart still folds and fits easily in the car.

The folded kayak cart

 Total cost: about $10.  The original cart cost $5 at Urban Ore, the new bungees cost $4 (some cheap dips**t stole the old ones off the cart while it was on the beach), and the wood scraps, duct tape, and foam thingies probably cost around a buck.

Edit, 10\8\11:  The cart has been successfully tested on a sandy beach, on a gravelly beach, and on the tiny steep rocky weedy trail between the pier and the beach at Eckley.

5\11\12:  I've made a kayak cart for camping, and details are at http://tedhamiter.blogspot.com/2012/05/stowable-kayak-cart.html.

Kayak cart 2.0

This is the second kayak cart I've made - the first one wasn't as easy to use, and the wheels were too small to be really practical.

This is a folding golf bag cart with some of the extra things cut off of it, and some bungee cords added.  It works (and I've used it) as it is, but it would work better with some tweaking.

I bought the cart from Urban Ore in Berkeley, CA, for $5.  The bungees with snaps on one end and hooks on the other were bought as a kit at Home Depot (off the clearance table) for about $2.  The 'regular' bungee used on the cart's handle was just hanging around the house.

The bungees attached to the wheel supports are connected around the kayak to one side of the cockpit, and the cart's handle is bungeed (isn't it annoying when people verb nouns?) to the kayak near the bow or the stern, whichever is closest.  The rest of the gear is piled into the kayak, and then I can push or pull the kayak from either end. 

One of the drawbacks to the cart's current state is that the kayak can roll relative to the cart, and when I try to pull the kayak down the weedy little gravel path from the paved walk to the beach at Eckley the kayak tends to twist to one side and then the whole thing falls over, which is annoying, albeit not a great big deal.  And I'm not sure the golf bag cart is meant to hold the weight of the kayak (50 or 60 pounds).  On the plus side, it has a handy gizmo in the handle for storing a couple of golf balls.  Yay!

When I get to the beach at Eckley I shove the cart behind a big piece of driftwood and hope that nobody notices it.  This strategy works, so far, and I can load the kayak back on the cart once I'm done paddling without having to walk back to the car first.  (Update: last Sunday some misguided person swiped the bungie cords off the cart while I was out.  Now I'm going to leave the cart in the car.)  With cart v1.0 it was possible to take the cart apart and stash it in the kayak - but it never seemed to be worth the bother.

To do:  there is a Y-shaped plastic things near the middle of the unfolded cart that needs to be cut down, then make wider, and given a 'sticky' surface that won't allow the kayak to slide easily.  I can't get rid of the plastic thing altogether because it's needed for the unfolded handle to lock into place.

A really cheap kayak cart

A quick google of "kayak cart" shows that the cheapest one cost $60, and most of them are over $100 - so forget that. I decided to make my own, and I did, and that's it in the photo.

The construction should be almost self-explanatory: a pair of training wheels from Thrifttown ($1) are bolted onto PVC t-connectors, and the rest is made from tees and thick-walled PVC pipe, and a "pool noodle." If it seems like it needs a stronger frame I'll add another crosswise pipe to it.

Improvements: I suppose the tees can be joined to the pipe sections with clevis pins to make a cart that can be disassembled. If the wheels were closer together then the thing could be turned upside-down and used to load the kayak onto the car. Bigger wheels would make the cart more usable on lawns, beaches, and gravel roads, but as it is it's only useful on hard, flat surfaces.

Materials:

• training wheels from the thrift store or flea market
• four 3/4" PVC tees
• one pair each of 3/4" x #14 machine screws, nuts, and washers
• glue (I used Plumber's Goop), clevis pins, or sheet metal screws to join the PVC parts
• pipe insulation, pool noodle, or other foamy cushioning thinger

The cost so far for the parts that didn't just come out of a junk box (that means the training wheels and the pool noodle) is about $2.25.


Edit, October '11:  This thing is usable, but it really needs to be sturdier, and the padded parts should be farther apart.  PVC cement would be best for permanently joining the PVC pipe and couplings, but I don't like to buy that stuff--most of it ends up sitting in the can until it goes bad.

December 2012:  If you make one of these, plan to make a better one and keep your eye out for a bigger pair of wheels and some aluminum tubing from an old pair of crutches or something.  A jogging stroller with an aluminum frame is a good source of parts.