Looking for ideas for converting a bike trailer to carry a 10-14 foot kayak.
I am very close to a paved bike path that provides access to about a dozen or so small ponds. Unfortunately, these locations are a little too far to walk the kayak with my current Paddleboy cart and also do not have car parking so car-topping is out.
I have procured a few used kid bike trailers (Thule and a Burley d’lite) off Craigslist; my thought is to modify one of them so I can secure one of my kayaks and pull with my bicycle.
I’ve seen the Seattle Sports ATC cart, and they make (or made) a version for towing. I saw one on Craigslist a few weeks ago but missed it.
I’ve searched through the archives, but could not find pictures or details of trailer conversions (there were several dead links, as many of the posts are more than 10 years old).
Any help would be appreciated. Also interested of any experiences towing a kayak- what to watch out for, lessons learned, etc.
Thank you.
I have this one that works well, although it doesn’t look to be available for purchase. But it may help spark some ideas.
The general idea is that it is fixed so that the kayak isn’t allowed to rock up and down, and of course, the wheels are on bearings to minimize that type of drag.
With a kayak securely attached to a cart, I would think you could attach the bow of the kayak to your bike if you can fabricate some type of extension off of your seat post. Then just keep the balance bow heavy, so that some bump doesn’t result in a teetering kayak lifting your back tire off of the ground. And probably limit the amount of crosswind you pull it through. Just remember that the cart coming loose on your kayak while bicycling can result in something much worse than it would if you were walking, pulling it with your hand. The hand cart “I think that should hold” does not come into play here. You need to know it’s definitely secured through bumps and vibrations and what not.
Good luck. Send some pictures.
I just came by this link by chance after reading your post. I don’t know anything about the product other than a 58 second video I watched.
The one capefear uses looks great. From what little I’ve seen the Wike stuff has a good reputation (wicycle.com). That would be my first choice if I were in your situation. They also sell just the hardware and bar to attach to a bike.
For DYI ideas just type “bicycle kayak trailer” into YouTube and you’ll see some examples.
Long time cyclist here with a fair amount of experience with racks. What I don’t see in the pictures is the components to attach the trailer to your bike. That’s the key feature. You can modify a set of kayak dollie wheels easy enough, but you need an arm of sufficient length to reach the bike. I wouldn’t tow by the toggle and grab loop at the bow; it wasn’t designed for that force.
Once you get to the bike you have three options: connect to some sort of rear rack, connect to the axel dropouts or connect to the seat post. Burley used to make a thing called the Piccolo trailer for kids that had a sweet rack and foolproof connection. Not sold anymore, but Google for pictures. Seat post mounts suck because you’ll literally feel like you’re dragging the cart by your butt.
I think step one is sorting out your bike. Do you have braze-ons or bolts to attach a rear rack? You wrote that you have some past experience, so I’ll assume yes! If time is no object and you have someone with some metal skills, I’d get a set of dolly wheels, find some lightweight aluminum tubing and bend/weld it, then make an attachment system.
Maybe look at the Surly cargo bikes for inspiration. I’d say this as a former tandem rider once hit by a car: be careful on roads. Cars will not expect you to be hauling a 14 foot boat and they will misjudge when it’s safe to turn behind you and take out your boat! A car took out my stoker (she lived and we’re still married but we no longer tandem) that way.
The dumb-stick’s leverage on the seat post scares me. If you have a rear bike rack you could bolt a piece of wood to it that would do something similar.
As for keeping the dolly from sliding back you could always run a line back to it from the rack.