I am considering purchasing a canoe cart with wheels that rest both the top and bottom of the canoe, the idea being that you can use the rollers to transport/move the canoe around either upside down (roll to auto and load) or upright (portage to boat launch at lake or river). Looks like Turf, Inc has a four wheel cart that provides both. Has anyone used this product or know anything about it?
I hadn’t seen that setup before. Looks interesting and could work well for loading from the back of a vehicle.
I use a kayak folding dolly that has air filled tires that I have modified just a little to aid in strapping it down. It was under 50 bucks off Amazon. What I like about it is I can place it right at the center of the length of my canoe and we can then load the canoe before we launch. We often place her rec-kayak on top and the two of us easily roll it all from the car to the water sometimes at a good distance. No repeat trips back and forth. It is then small enough when folded to tuck in behind my seat so it is ready when we get down river where we pullout.
When the wheels are out at the end there is still a good amount of weight to life (half) and it is hard to maneuver like steering a 16’ long wheelbarrow. With two wheels in the center it can spin within its own length.
When I first got the kayak dolly I strapped it to one end as the shape of the bow fit it better there. I tried it as an end set of wheels and it didn’t work out too well at home or at our launch sites. That’s when I figured out a better way to hold it at the center of the boat.
If you get one please post your thoughts and if it helped in loading.
1 Like
Thanks for your comments and photos, bud16415. I hadn’t considered the weight difference of wheels attached to the end of the canoe vs more toward middle as you’ve shown.
1 Like