The Paddle Logic Trail Trekker seems to have good marketing, their video alone is pretty impressive for rough terrain. But the web site, wow, it makes me think of scam late night TV infomercials. Then again, it is clearly just made by a paddler like you and me and maybe he doesn’t get the nature of marketing. I dunno.
So is it any good? Given the price, and fact we need 2 of them, makes us really want to be sure before clicking add to cart.
The C-Tug looks great also. I was able to find video on mild terrain but nothing on rough terrain. And again, the price of 2 of them is pretty high.
We’re not fond of the folding cars that strap to the middle rear of the boat. We have 2 of them and the boats fall off when you hit terrain that is way milder that in that video. And it would be really nice to be able to easily carry the cart with you and those just don’t work.
Oh, we rarely do sand so that’s not an issue
There seems to be a lot of options out there, but the all don’t talk about rough terrain. Are we missing any choices?
Center loaded Swedish carts. We need a 16 inch wheel to get over rocks… End loaded carts take little of the load off of you.
Seattle Sports makes one but it is nearly $170. We got ours many years ago so did not pay nearly that much. Maybe it can inspire you because people have made them at home
Just want to reinforce Overstreet’s point. I’ve used a rear attachment cart and for me it’s a lot more work than a center mount because you carry a lot of weight in addition to the work of dragging the boat. For me the center mount is much preferred but your situation may be different if you are only going a short distance. Mine is a Suspenz and works fine but weighs 28 pounds which again is fine for me.
I suggest that you check craigslist or other sites for used stuff because they turn up regularly…like right after you buy a new one.
I hadn’t thought about center vs rear. We did play with our cheap folding ones and if you put them too far forward you actually have to push the boat down, and too far to the rear and you are lifting too much weight. But 28lbs, yikes!
Ditto to the center load carts recommended here. I have the Suspenz center load cart with 16" wheels and it’s been worth the price.
The best recommendation for that type cart can be seen in this photo of Water Triber ManitouCruiser, taken when I met up with him during a portage. He was paddling/sailing his Kruger Sea Wind 700 miles around Michigan, loaded with gear. Because of weather conditions, 85 miles were done off the water.
My cart gets chained to a tree while I’m paddling. There are some other nice designs out there but you need to dig around to find them all. The Wike’s look awesome to me (for my needs). There’s one other I really like but can’t find easily. I suggest that you do a YouTube search to get more ideas. You’ll also see some cool homemade designs using PVC pipe.
Mark (ManitouCruiser) carried his. It may have been a cart he modified so it could be broken down.
I have two other rear-type carts, one hard wheeled and one with sand wheels. Both can be broken down to fit into a hatch but I stopped using them because it was more work and I always bumped my boat into something. One of these days I should list them for sale as they’re just taking up space.
