Harmony Stowaway Beach Cart

I need a cart to haul my kayak over soft sand at a couple of launch sites. One is deep beach sand and the other is a combination of deep sand and packed sand mixed with lots of stones.

Don’t want to pay $250 for the Wheeleez beach cart and could find nothing in the archives about the Harmony cart.
https://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Stowaway-Beach-Cart/dp/B00CSUHACQ

If anyone reading this has used this Harmony cart, would love to hear your opinion. Thanks!

Or this one? A Malone with a lifetime guarantee that looks like it could be used on Mars (if it had water).

http://www.outdoorplay.com/Malone-Clipper-Kayak-Cart-With-Rover-Wheels

The Harmony cart sure looks like one of the Wheeleez beach carts.

Are you planning to take the cart inside your kayak? The Rover wheels look like no-go for that.

@pikabike said:
The Harmony cart sure looks like one of the Wheeleez beach carts.

Are you planning to take the cart inside your kayak? The Rover wheels look like no-go for that.

Thought so, too. I don’t need to store the cart in a hatch but after reading some reviews on the Malone, decided against it. Will opt for the Harmony/Wheeleez look-alike and give it a try. Thanks, pikabike.

Edited to add that I checked the Outdoorplay site and they’re offering the Wheeleez mini cart for $99 and free shipping. Looks identical to the one at Amazon. http://www.outdoorplay.com/Wheeleez-Kayak-Cart-Mini

I bought one similar to this at Academy. Once I got the cheap China tubes replaced at a lawn mower repair place the tires would stay inflated. We’ve used it on soft and hard pack sand. You can get the bigger tires, but it doesn’t seem necessary, just pull more in a controlled manner.
academy.com/shop/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&productId=1442261&catalogId=10051&categoryId=224936&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&urlLangId=-1&attr=&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=10151#repChildCatid=1442262

@Rookie said:
I need a cart to haul my kayak over soft sand at a couple of launch sites. One is deep beach sand and the other is a combination of deep sand and packed sand mixed with lots of stones.

Don’t want to pay $250 for the Wheeleez beach cart and could find nothing in the archives about the Harmony cart.
https://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Stowaway-Beach-Cart/dp/B00CSUHACQ

If anyone reading this has used this Harmony cart, would love to hear your opinion. Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047H49LI?ref_=pfb_ghm4ndeljf567f71dla24cdbihk2&tag=hydfbook0e-20&ascsubtag=pfb-P01-V02-O5-T1-HI-4DCJUB

Been a big fan of the C-Tug with sand wheels for the last 18 months. Handles loose sand fine and grass/pavement/packed sand really well. Not cheap, but less then the Wheeleez: https://www.amazon.com/C-Tug-C-TUG-With-Sandtrakz-Wheels/dp/B01CSJ866K

@PaddleDog52 That’s the same cart Outdoorplay is selling for $99, which I ordered after chatting with a customer rep. Except the Outdoorplay cart is a Wheeleez and I think the one at Amazon is as well, as there are no Harmony carts listed anywhere at the Outdoorplay website. Checked the Harmony website and the cart they sell is branded down the center strap with their name. One of the challenges of online shopping: are the pictures accurate?

@GrumpySquatch Didn’t know C-Tug had sand wheels. That one looks interesting. Thanks.

I have a Wheeleez cart with hard tires like the one mentioned by Overstreet. Tried it once on sand. Wound up dragging the cart and kayak through the sand and the wheels sunk. But it’s great for hardpack.

I have a Wheeleez mini with the Tuff tires. They bogged down in soft sand, though they worked great for grass, packed sand, and pavement. The gray fat-tired mini wheels should be much better. I would have bought a set of those wheels, but you cannot use the frame with both types of wheels. The version of frame intended for the fat wheels is bigger.

In other words, you would need two carts. At $99 per cart, that might be an option. I didn’t think the sand-tire frame would fit in my hatch compartment (the Tuff tire version of frame does fit in the bow hatch).

By the way, if you have a similar cart, after every paddle you should rinse off any sand or dirt from the “axle” area and wheel “bearings” before reassembling the cart to pull your kayak back.

The “axle” and “bearings” will use any sand as abrasive if you don’t take the above precautions, eventually wearing grooves into the “axle” area of the frame. That means the tube thickness has been worn down. On my cart, mine wore down enough that I bought a replacement frame from Wheeleez. I estimate I replaced it at about 700 miles of carting–my portage was about a 1-mile round trip.

My husband’s cart, a different brand and size with slightly thicker metal in the tubes, also showed the same type of wear. Since the wheel-frame connection is open to the elements, all you can do is slow down the wear by following my precautions. I wore out the replacement frame, too–at that point I just bought an entire new cart since the wheel tread had also worn down.

But that was still much, much cheaper, easier, and faster than the alternative which was driving the kayak to the beach! Passers-by used to look at me with incredulity and ask, “Isn’t that hard work carting it up the hill?” I said it was not as hard as lifting onto either a trailer or vehicle roof, strapping, etc.

All this cart talk makes me think I should MAKE a different cart still, one as small as the Quantum stern cart (tiny hard wheels for pavement only) but easier to take apart (flip rings instead of cotter pins) and stow in the hatch compartments. It would be ONLY for portaging between boat ramp and parking lot, which can be a fairly long distance.

Two days ago I used that cart and ended up just walking back and forth to put it in the truck rather than taking it inside the kayak. When you take that cart apart, it is too easy to lose the pins and bushings, and the pins would scratch the inside of the boat if not wrapped in something else.

@pikabike
Thanks for the suggestion about rinsing after use in sand. About the only use my Tuff tire cart has seen is moving my kayaks into the pool complex for winter storage, so it’s something I wouldn’t have thought of. I’ve been spoiled by being able to park a few feet from the water and haven’t used my cart much. But this year the water levels are quite high and my Lake Michigan access sites saw major changes.

While I think the sand cart would fit in my stern hatch, just as happy to walk back to the car and stash it there just to avoid the noise of something moving in the hatch, even if rolled in a towel.

My post might’ve been confusing. The Quantum stern cart is the one I just walked back to put in the truck. The cotter pins are a PITA.

The Wheeleez mini Tuff cart is easy to take apart, but for that portage I didn’t need anything more than the Quantum unit, which is faster to attach to the stern. Plus I wanted to practice rolling without having a cart moving around in the boat.

Good luck finding what you need. For such a simple item, there aren’t many choices, since so many of the carts are similar. Sometimes I think how nice it would be to have a plastic SOT with tankwell in back, and one of the kayak carts that you just stick its “posts” into scupper holes. No straps, and the cart stays assembled riding in the tankwell.

Go to the REI website, select “paddle”, then “cart”. They have a bunch to choose from.

@magooch said:
Go to the REI website, select “paddle”, then “cart”. They have a bunch to choose from.

Did that. The Wheeleez is $250 and has a weight capacity of 176#. My kayak weighs 47# so I opted for the mini cart with a mini price tag. :slight_smile:

My wife brought home a couple of garage sale golf carts (very cheap) that are easily modified into kayak carts. So far I’m still able to carry my heaviest boat on my shoulder within reason.

Update: used the Wheeleze mini sand cart this weekend. Worked great over concrete, grass, and deep sand. Rinsed the axles and wheels as suggested by pikabike. Getting the sand out of my shoes took longer.