Boat cart

B

Buddy

Member
I have been all over the net trying to find a heavy duty boat cart. This thing needs to be overkill so failures are minimal.

Will be pushing/pulling on a trail. I am guessing the heavy loads with boat to be in 300#. My worry is what wheels/tires combo can take the weight and bumps?? As of now I think one way .75 mile might be the longest I would pull one way.

I am leaning towards making one since good carts are in the $200+ range.

Can anyone share any thoughts or advice on this. Do and don'ts. Hopefully others can share their experiences.
 
Buddy,

I'm not really sure what kind of terrain you've got to deal with so maybe this isn't an option. We have one that we used to pull behind our bikes. A friend made it for us. The wheels are the front V and wheels of bicycles. There is a frame welded between them and the basket down below under. I don't think that 300lbs was ever put in it at one time, but I don't know that for sure. We carried LOTS of decoys and gear and camera and clothes (I get cold a lot) and the kayak and decoy sled and poles/paddles. We did learn that if pulling behind a truck even at 15mph, the wheels needed to be upgraded to heavy duty rims/rubber. If you can weld, I'm sure that you could find the parts and pieces that you'd need of bikes to make this work for relatively cheap. Not sure though after it's all said and done that it was cheaper than $200. Still gotta buy the metal for the frame. It was very easy to pull with the bike as well as by hand. We were hunting in an area at the time where we were riding the bikes, or walking if the dike was too muddy to ride, 3 miles each way. The only failure we ever had with it was learning that regular bicycle rims aren't heavy duty enough to pull behind a truck for multiple miles at 10-15mph but the heavy duty rims fixed that issue.


View attachment sulky.jpg

Good luck in your search
Dani
 
maybe you could cut the flat base off a hand truck then strap it to the bottom of your boat and use the bow of the boat as a handle to pull it. a hand truck should be able to take a 300 lb load easy.
 
Dani has the right idea with his trailer in the photo. I built a cart to haul my Marsh Rat using front forks as well. Terrain clearance, trail width, and stability ( think tippy ! ) are all factors. 300 lbs doesn't sound fun on foot or behind a bike. Reeder Rice Portland, Oregon
 
I have a canoe carrier that my grandfather made. Originally he used bicycle tires. I adapted it to accept cart tires and wheels I purchased from Norther Tool.

It will take 300 pound on a flat. It would take 300 pound on a grade too but I have found at 54m I lack the horsepower for that kind of weight.
 
David,
Do the cart tires from northern seem more robust then the bike tires?

300# would be an adventure with a couple hunting partners.

The terrain varies but we primarily have dikes that are grassed and mowed down. Other areas are partially gravel.

I have this same setup with a smaller outboard and no cart yet. I think with GH mags and gear I will hit over 200#. I have learned the hard way to also include DEAD weight!


View attachment 20141126_142019.jpg
 
Reeder Rice said:
Dani has the right idea with his trailer in the photo.
Click to expand...

Reeder, daaaaaaaaaarling. Siiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhh this is just one of those things that happens more than just occasionally but I just gotta set the record straight on something. I'm one of the few ladies that visits this fine site.

i-3Zm3XKN-L.jpg


The fellers here got stuck with me around about 2003 when I stumbled onto this incredible resource and they haven't been able to get rid of me (holy geez y'all I've been here at least 15 years!!! How time flies). The picture I posted with the sulky was of my hunting partner with our two dogs (though his grey muzzled dog has passed on to the big blackbelly blind in the sky and my younger dog is now grey muzzled).

Buddy, I think you'd like having the bike forks with the larger tires compared to something like that in your picture. A pain perhaps to get the boat up that high but if you and several guys are lifting it, perhaps not too bad. It's nice to have the "tow bar" at a comfortable level compared to down low like that. I guess you could just build a set of handle bars if you end up making something that sits low like that picture. It's also nice to have the clearance where if you do have to pick the tongue up, you don't end up dragging the stern of your boat (or whatever you're hauling). My first cart (before that one) was a modified baby bicycle stroller. It worked, but it wasn't made for the rigors of what we do. My dad did some welding for me to beef up the frame but the axles ultimately failed....one thing I learned with that first one was that the lower ground clearance was a big pain and when I did have to haul it by hand, I ended up dragging the back end of my gear in the ground or having to crouch down if I hauled by hand. There was one hunt I actually rigged the tongue to be at a natural level but then it was attached to my belt. Kept me from dragging the gear and having to hunch over but the backs of my legs were bruised at the end of the day....no brakes kinda sucked. So I am a big fan of the bike fork style frame.

The terrain you describe seems pretty much like what we were using our sulky on and we were VERY happy with our sulky. I don't know anything about the Northern Tools wheels so don't really know how they'd compare to the heavy duty mtn biking rims and rubber we ended up getting.

Dani
 
I had a handmade cart for my Wide on for whicH I probably carried several hundred pounds. However I only went maybe 200 yards with it. Whatever you do, there are two very important factors to consider., 1) balance. That's quite important. You'll want to balance the rig so you're not straining your back any more than you have to. 2) make sure the carrying handles are at a comfortable level so again, not to put too much pressure on your back.

Good luck and post some pictures when you're finished. We like puctures!

Jon
 
Dani,

This is an amazing forum with friendly people. its nice to see and share ideas with people who have the same interest! Its always nice to see ladies enjoying the sport!!


I have thought about using the bike forks. My current carts are all based on bike tires. I have broke axles and bike carts on heavy loads. Rare but they can break. I want to eliminate any failures or be able to limp back to the truck at least.
I can see this cart on occasions having more weight than I want. I want overkill as the hunt scenarios change and so does the gear. This cart won't be towed with a bike. I like having the option of pushing or pulling!!

Thanks for all the ideas. I am narrowing the search down some. Great pictures Dani.
 
After building several carts I settled on a cart from Cabellas modified to fit my Poleboat. It has worked very well for years now.
 
Dani said:
Buddy,

I'm not really sure what kind of terrain you've got to deal with so maybe this isn't an option. We have one that we used to pull behind our bikes. A friend made it for us. The wheels are the front V and wheels of bicycles. There is a frame welded between them and the basket down below under. I don't think that 300lbs was ever put in it at one time, but I don't know that for sure. We carried LOTS of decoys and gear and camera and clothes (I get cold a lot) and the kayak and decoy sled and poles/paddles. We did learn that if pulling behind a truck even at 15mph, the wheels needed to be upgraded to heavy duty rims/rubber. If you can weld, I'm sure that you could find the parts and pieces that you'd need of bikes to make this work for relatively cheap. Not sure though after it's all said and done that it was cheaper than $200. Still gotta buy the metal for the frame. It was very easy to pull with the bike as well as by hand. We were hunting in an area at the time where we were riding the bikes, or walking if the dike was too muddy to ride, 3 miles each way. The only failure we ever had with it was learning that regular bicycle rims aren't heavy duty enough to pull behind a truck for multiple miles at 10-15mph but the heavy duty rims fixed that issue.




Good luck in your search
Dani
Click to expand...

Dani,
I went ahead and fabricated a cart using the front bike forks. I bought two used bikes for $15 and had scrap metal at work!

The bike half of the bikes was recycled into another cart! Tubing through the large hole where the peddles once were seemed to work on that one well. We will have my ducker and 2 kayaks on a 1.5 mile push this weekend. I feel that the carts will not fail and are up to the task better than what is offered at the stores.

Thanks for the idea! Will try to get pictures of these carts. Not pretty but maybe useful for others.
 
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Dani,
Great pic!

I would think that would be a pretty good way to stop a train if needed: a pheasant, a shotgun and a gal!

Terrific!

Larry
 
Hope it works for you this weekend Buddy. Look forward to the pictures and good luck this weekend!!

Thanks Larry!
 
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