A canoe cart story (and bait for Mike)

[gumpus]

I decided I wanted a canoe cart to have more frequent access to a nice put-in. We live in a small neighborhood and there's a farm adjacent to it and the farmer lets folks from the neighborhood walk through his property which includes access to the local river. So my specific needs are to be able to transport the cart about two blocks to the end of the road and then use it to wheel a solo canoe about a quarter mile to the river on a dirt road that sometimes has grass up to a foot deep.

After a lot of Internet searching the engineer in me was not too happy with anything I saw so I kept thinking about it. Eventually I found the awesome Rubbermaid cart on the link and got super excited. It looks incredibly durable and also looks like I could attach a canoe right to the top. But it is kind of expensive and also looks a bit awkward to transport.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubberm...cu-ft-Plastic-Yard-Cart-FG564200BLA/100344354

After thinking about it some more it hit me that regular trash containers are pretty darn sturdy and they have sturdy wheels on a real axle. I'm convinced that one could just cut one down and contour it a bit and add a little foam and a few holes for straps and one could have an awesome little canoe cart that would work well for some uses. So that's the bait for Mike. Betcha can't make a canoe cart out of a trash container.

Then I talked it over with my wife and she pointed out that she had a portable folding shopping cart that I could use if I wanted. She said it cost about $30. It has a real axle and wheels with bearings. Turns out to work super well for me. When folded the second set of wheels creates a backstop for the stern of the boat. I added a few small loops of rope to keep the one strap in place. Then I just put my kneeling pad on the folded cart and then put the boat on and tighten the one strap. Then I use Ty-ups plus one more strap to keep the boat from slide backwards. Voila! I used it last night and it worked just fine. I think it was easier than portaging but it was still some work but mostly because the grass was long and it was 85 and humid.

 

[Guest]

So that's the bait for Mike. Betcha can't make a canoe cart out of a trash container.

I am waiting for glue to cure, I will take the bait. But not the trash container challenge.

We have three carts, leftovers from a portage cart review many years ago. Unfortunately the manufacturer of Canadian/Swedish/Whatever Boat Walker style cart wanted theirs back; I really liked that one, although even it had terrain, size and weight issues.

Every design had some issues depending on the topography and style of cart. The tall bunked Canadian Boat Walker type tippily suffered from height on side ways slopes, especially hauled solo when it rolled over and disgorged my gear down the hill. Perhaps a different story with a tandem team at both ends manhauling across a rooty slope. And I was not a fan of the bicycle tires.

Shorter axeled carts, especially with wider bunks, were less prone to sideways roll over, but some left too little ground clearance to clear the occasional rock or root.

Some were too bulky to haul in the canoe, or required too much effort (and too many lose-able parts & pieces) to disassemble and put back together. The Happys Wheel a Weigh, made more for dingies and rowboats, was awesome where cart weight, size and portability did not matter. Decent axel height, fat pneumatic tires, wide bunks.

https://www.boatingmag.com/gear/davis-wheel-weigh-boat-dolly

One of the best take-apart compact center haulers was the PaddleBoy Heavy Lifter. Decent clearance, fat tires, breaks down via button clips into three pieces.

https://www.amazon.com/Paddleboy-Heavy-Lifter-Canoe-Kayak/product-reviews/B0024QAPLM

Oddly enough, the cart I use the most, around the shop and from roof racks to launch on easy paths, is an end hauler. A Paddleboy kayak hauler. Yeah, I am picking up much of the boat weight, but it only takes a second to stuff one end of the canoe in and walk away.

I would not want to walk more than 50 yards of smooth path with it, but in those circumstances I am at the launch with the canoe before I could have assembled a center hauler, balanced the boat on the bunks and strapped it down.

The end hauler does not break down for storage, but then it also needs no assembly. BTW, end haulers suck at making sharp pivot turns.

https://www.amazon.com/Paddleboy-06...ocphy=9007844&hvtargid=pla-350589281485&psc=1

Then I talked it over with my wife and she pointed out that she had a portable folding shopping cart that I could use if I wanted. She said it cost about $30. It has a real axle and wheels with bearings. Turns out to work super well for me.

I added a few small loops of rope to keep the one strap in place. Then I just put my kneeling pad on the folded cart and then put the boat on and tighten the one strap.

All of the carts we tested needed some strap help, most came with loose straps and some had no good way to wrap them securely around the cart to keep the hulls straight and level on the bunks.

I ended up cutting a couple of cam straps, sized to widest boat, and pop riveting them to the Paddleboy Heavy Lifter with washers. Having two straps was helpful to keep the hull restrained straight on the cart, and it was easier to have the right length cam straps always there, attached to the cart, not forgotten at home or hunting around Hmmm, where the heck did I put them.

You are fortunate to have a neighborly and cartable put in to your local river.

 

[Odyssey]

I might be thinking outside the box here, but how about pulling a trailer with a riding lawnmower. It would be a two birds kinda thing.