Kayak cart & flat wheels

C-Tug with sand wheels.

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Right and my boats hull integrity is just as important to me as my behind. I’d say if you use carbon, Kevlar or glass, some extra consideration for inflatable tires should be given.

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I have a heavy duty appliance dolly with inflatable tires as well as a couple of boat trollies and two bicycles, all stashed in the walk out basement. I bought a little $40 electric inflation compressor and keep it plugged in near the basement door so I can easily top off the tires before I use any of the wheeled beasts.

And I find that hanging the items on wall mounted hooks instead of having them sit with pressure on the tires seems to keep them inflated a bit longer, though that may just be wishful thinking.

I have an experience on a long trail that was not widely cut out after a major blowdown with this type of cart. The knurled knobs will ride up on cut log ends and the left one will tend to spin off before you know it. On a 3 mile deep woods portage I had to be very creative with materials I had on hand to compensate for the lost knob. So I also learned to replace them with permanent nuts. Of course, unless you carry a wrench for the nuts, that will limit the ability to fold the wheels to make the cart compact for carrying or storage in a canoe.

I do tend to lose air pressure if stored for a long time (seasonally). During use I do carry a short compact bicycle pump duct taped to the cart (with a wrench and tire tools, a spare tube is easy to carry separately on long trips). I also lose air in my regular bicycle tires during the same time of winter inactivity, not a big deal to pump up at home.

I replaced the original soft foam on the boat supports with stiffer noodle foam, and for a long heavy voyageur canoe on another such cart, I installed longer supports as well.

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Agreed, firm foam filled tires ate the way to go!

The problem with the kind of foam you suggest is that over time and use, the foam will break down into powder with each bump. Then you have a tube filled with powder foam.

If I could afford one, I would. If I could afford better wheels, I would.
But I am retired and living on a pension that isn’t as good as promised.

That is what i was thinking of. But at $50 per tire, too expensive. Harry suggested replacing the inner tube with a pool noodle.

Like that idea!

I do think that I payed much less than that for mine. Will have to search up what I used when I have time tonight.

Not a bad idea if your rims are split and the noodle is a good fit.

Tube tires are notorious for slowly losing pressure, but usually over many weeks, not days. If they are going flat over just a few days, there are a few possible reasons. One that others have mentioned is something sharp penetrating the tire. Another is defective a valve core. Many cheap valve cores can corrode if exposed to water, especially salt water. A final cause, which I have experienced, is that the tubes are old and dry rotted. Your tires may have been sitting in a hot warehouse for many years before you bought them.

The valve core can be checked by simply removing the valve cap and submerging the whole fully inflated wheel in a bucket of water and looking for air bubbles. The other two causes might be detectable by the same method, but you might as well pull the wheel and tube since you will have to patch or replace the tube anyway. If inflating the tube without the tire, only inflate until firm, not to what the tire is rated for. Carefully inspect the inside of the tire for anything sharp.

Be aware that small cart tires are fairly rigid and can be a pain to mount and unmount from the rims. Small tire irons are available to make this a bit easier.

One method for converting a tube tire to a tire that will not go flat, but still be somewhat flexible, would be to take a sheet of closed cell foam and roll it into a cylinder the correct length and diameter to replace the tube. Have to admit that I haven’t tried this.

These are the ones I used on my hand truck. At this point they’ve been on there for about 3-4 years and the thing lives outside, so I’m pleased.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-10-in-Flat-Free-Wheel-3337RW/301463402

Nature of the beast. I was looking at replacing mine with these airless tires and wheels.

Looks like they have some nice 10" airless for $15 a piece.
I may be picking up a set of those. :+1:t3:

Get the airless tires if it is a problem. However I have two carts with aired tires for 8 years rarely need air.

I’ve got two C-Tugs with sand wheels and recently picked up one with the original pneumatic tires. I think that they will work better for me for the 1/4 mile trip between house and pond that’s mostly asphalt and some gravel road. Only 30 feet of sand at the end…

My Wheeleez low pressure kayak cart wheels have never gone flat in over 12 years, never even had to pump them up (https://wheeleez.com/product/wz1-kcm/) the kayak mini cart comes apart and fits inside the front hatch of my QCC 700XL kayak.

The mini cart is on sale right now for $115, that is a bargain!

If you don’t need sand tires and want to avoid pneumatic tires, there is a model on sale for only $69.

A replacement pair of sand tires by themselves cost almost as much as a whole cart.

I have a C-Tug with inflatable wheels. I thought I wanted solid rubber so I bought a new C-Tug. Figured out I prefer inflatable, especially for towing a kayak loaded with camping gear uphill or over rough terrain.
My tires deflate often. I just carry a bicycle floor pump in my car. ***In any case, everyone should carry a bicycle floor pump in their car at all times for the car tires. A pump has saved my car tires many a time, including in remote places. Must be a FLOOR pump, for air volume.

C-Tug replacement tires and inner tubes can be bought at Tractor Supply, among other places.

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Yeah, I also have a Yedo cart with hard wheels, if I am going over hard very flat ground, pavement, concrete it is more energy efficient than the soft sand tires, but on sand and uneven ground the the sand tires are more energy efficient because they do not plow through the beach sand like the hard wheels do or catch on every depression or root or sand paver.