I am blessed to live in an area that has three put-in within walking distance of the house so I decided to get set of wheels just to make getting there a little easier.
The ABN Universal Kayak Carrier and Trolley I got through Amazon works great!
I have the exact same one from Amazon. I made a few mods to it and my canoe that made it perfect.
I found it works best when placed more to the center of my canoe. I have an OT Guide 147 that I converted to a solo with a single seat slightly behind the center of the length. The bottom hull is wide there and wanted to oil can under the weight of the boat and when I designed my seat I placed a foam block below the seat that is tight to the hull that supports the hull from flexing and also supports the seat as the load of me sitting on it is shared between the gunwale and the hull.
Placing the wheels there made it harder to know when its centered and lined up and I was down on my hands and knees hooking the strap. I added 4 short ropes with loops off the corners of the dolly that are all the same length and come up and over the gunwales. Then I use two short cam straps with hooks up where I can see what is going on. My dolly like I assume yours came with one loop cam strap. One works ok but two is ten times better.
We unload at our car and I put the canoe on the dolly load a large cooler into the canoe and all our gear ether in the canoe or in the hatch of her 10’ rec-kayak. Then I set her kayak on top of the canoe and with one hand lift and roll both boats to the ramp. She normally walks along side with one hand on the kayak. When we get to the water where it is busy we are ready to go and her boat takes a couple seconds and mine I snap the two cam straps fold the dolly and stash it with the straps behind my seat. In a minute we are paddling.
I see people jamming up the ramps on busy days running back and forth to their cars.
This dolly for the under 40 bucks is such a time and back saver.
PS: leave it on when you load it. it will be ready to go when you get there.
Here is an article on a simple modification to this style of cart to make is much faster to use. Works with canoes and kayaks. No chance of the cart collapsing when using a single long strap.
This style a of cart is very popular and is made by many manufacturers, but check around. Prices vary widely from about $40 to well over $100…
Cam straps come several ways. The common straight strap where you connect one end into the other to make a loop. Then there is the two piece some have hooks on both ends and others that have a loop on both ends.
The method you showed is similar to what I’m doing with the ropes. If someone didn’t want to cut straps and bolt loops around the framework they could use the loop ended ones. Amazon.com
I really like the hooks because I don’t have to put my glasses on and get a flashlight to fumble around threading those cams each time. I did cut my hook ended cam straps free end as it was about 5’ more than I needed. For a canoe where you go straight around it is nice the cam is right in the middle of the cockpit and I put my knee against the side to snug it up. I have a thwart right there pretty close so I don’t worry about pulling too tight.
Since the photo was taken I have gone to using two straps with one of them wrapped around the thwart. @rstevens15 rstevens15 I’m liking that info on the mod. I do believe I have a project coming up.
