Starting a thread here for those who are interested about which kayak hatches a C-Tug kayak cart will fit.
My direct firsthand observations:
C-Tug R with Kiwi Wheels (mfr. Railblaza) fits (with partial disassembly) into the following rear hatches:
Wilderness Systems Tsunami 175 rotomolded
Valley Etain 17-7 rotomolded
Dagger Stratos 14.5L rotomolded
Motivation: I’m looking at trips in the San Francisco Bay Area and California Delta where campsites are not close to the water, or trips in this area where longer portages are needed.
Please no speculations, no ramblings, no “I don’t own a C-Tug but…”, etc. - stay on topic and share your first hand knowledge. Thanks.
Delta 12.10. Hurricane Sojourn 135. I sometimes carry the C-Tug on a day trip if the launch is far from the parking lot and there’s no safe place to hide the C-Tug on shore. I would never consider taking the C-Tug camping. I would take up half of just about any hatch and it’s heavy. Many portages would be too rough for the C-Tug. So the circumstances when it’s useful and practical to transport the C-Tug in the hatch are limited.
I just went out for a bit to see if I could find something that I couldn’t fit it into - easily disassembled of course - I couldn’t put it into anything of mine assembled I don’t think except an open cockpit tandem and canoes. The only thing I found that I couldn’t fit it into was my NDK Greenlander with only smaller round hatch openings. What it did fit into:
Current Designs: Cypress, Suka, Extreme, Sisu LV, Sirocco, Stratus 18, Unity
Point 65 Whisky 16 Rocker
North Shore Ocean 17.6
Valley Aquanaut
You are also hitting on the biggest issue with the Ctug for kayak camping. It takes up a lot of room. There was once that 3 of us brought one split between the 3 of us because of a long sand portage from the sound to the beach. It turned out that on soft sand, it just sunk in too far, and we ended up carrying the first one on our shoulders with the cart still attached, and then just carried the other two. I remember it being around a half mile, so no small consideration to not use it. We tried until we were thoroughly convinced. I’ve never used it on camping trips otherwise, as it’s just too bulky and heavy. With the large tandem Unity or Passat I might, as there’s a lot more cargo space. And for singles, like in the case above, if one person was carrying the tent for 2 and the other the cart, that could work too. But my consideration would be that it has to provide a lot of utility to be worth the extra bulk and weight. And if you simply can’t carry your kayak up from the landing and/or a distance to a campsite, at least not without real injury concerns, then that’s a lot of utility. If most of the portage isn’t soft sand, I have a couple other carts that pack away with far less bulk and the wheels spin more freely and efficiently on the axles.
I am taking the risk that you consider this past paragraph “ramblings”. My reasoning for including it is that you listed your motivation, and I’m simply speaking to that with first-hand knowledge and experience, as I feel it could be a worthwhile consideration for you or others. The Ctug works well for me for a short pull across the beach to the house or car, especially with the heavy tandems. But if I’m running or walking a mile up the trail to the crab dock on the tidal creek, I use the paddlecart with wheel bearings. If I’m camping and I really need a cart, I use the paddlecart for longer portages, or a smaller stern cart for really short portages, either of which take up less space.
Indeed it’s a robust cart, though it does take up hatch volume, and at 10# a heavy one. I would carry a gallon of water in the bow hatch (= 8.3#) to trim the boat.
It worked really well for this 2 mile portage on roads and paved trails in the South San Francisco Bay.
Great reply, thank you for the long list of boats that the C-Tug fits in.
You’re definitely on topic & not rambling, it’s helpful to know more about the capabilities of this cart on different surfaces, as well as more compact alternatives.
I just wanted to head off the posts that begin in the spirit of “I don’t know anything about this topic, but…”.
C-Tug offers other wheels that do better in sand, and I’ll roger your observation that the standard wheels are a real drag on beach sand.
Another alternative is to strap it on top. I do 10 days trips so my compartments are stuffed full. Having it on top is not ideal, but life is always full of tradeoffs.
This is a good topic, Eric. As time progresses, please eventually list all the positive and negative replies. Over a number of years, my C-Tug has held up well - albeit, not grea in sand.
I have the Etain 17.3 composite; the C-Tug fits there fine. I’ll check my other kayaks when my next season starts.
It fit into my tsunami 145 easy with the pads and the wheels removed. Everything fit in the rear hatch. The kayak was also packed for a week long trip along gltje Rideau canal from Kingstown to Ottawa with food, clothing and camping gear.
It also fits easily into the clc chesapeak rear hatch.
I have a 12ft point 65 nemo, everything bar the wheels fits in the front hatch with room for more. Wheels go in the back hatch. In june last year I imported a thermoformed boat from china, 14ft 2", from what I can ascertain its a copy of a Delta of similar size. Far cheaper than buying a local boat of similar size.Disassembled the c tug fits completely in the bow hatch, with a ton of room left. We are about to do a 10day+ 300k unsupported trip down the murray river ( Australia) and I’m taking the tug with me
What, Chinese manufacturers copying Western designs? Impossible!
This beauty is from Great Wall Motors. I’m sure any resemblance to a VW is entirely coincidental.
Thanks for your info on other boats, plus the important proviso that in most cases, the C-Tug needs to be partially broken down to fit.
Typically the quick removal of the hull pads and the wheels leaves the axle assembly, which usually doesn’t need to be broken down further.
This easily fits into the Valley Etain 17-7, the WS Tsunami 175, and the Dagger Stratos 14.5L rear hatches, & sometimes leaves a bit of volume around it.
Kayak has been great, and after sales service perfect, the skeg was sticking so they sent me a new one, when that dibdnt fix the problem they slso sent a new skeg box for me to bolt in. On the down side, the ratchet system which holds the spring loaded skeg up, failed so I just added a small cam cleat. Previously the skeg was either fully up or fully down no incremental adjustment this I now have. Im about to undertake a 300k self supported 10 day+ trip
Thanks for sharing your experience and photos. Few more questions. Who did you order it from? How much was delivery, and to where?
Trying to wrap my mind around buying a kayak sight unseen from China. One unknown would be the quality of the plastic, which I think you can only judge in person. Your thoughts?
