Kayak Dolly

Build this simple 2-wheel dolly to make it easier to trundle a small boat to the water. Hobie did not have its take-apart dolly available when I bought my Mirage, and I did not need to stow my dolly in the boat, so I designed and built my own.
To see my related Instructables, including "No-Pour Concrete Boat Ramp" and "Plug for Hobie Mirage Propulsor Slot," click on "unclesam" just below the title above or in the INFO box to the right. On the new page that appears, repeatedly click "NEXT" to see all of them.
Unclesam

Step 1 Materials and tools

MATERIALS: Dolly consists of wood body, a piece of 2 by 6 lumber (actual 1-5/8" 5-3/4"), whose length is determined by the shape of your boat, 12" worked for my Hobie Mirage. My wheels are two 6" diameter plastic lawnmower wheels running on a 1/2" diameter steel axle that runs through the wood, the wheels, two washers and two push-on nuts. If you push your boat over soft ground or sand, you way wish to get bigger wheels with pneumatic tires. Home centers sell them for wheelbarrows, and some tires are filled with rubber foam so they can never go flat. These wheels may need a larger diameter axle rod. Two lengths of foam pipe insulation, attached with 14 screws and washers, provide padding.
You will need several feet of 1" nylon webbing, length determined by your particular boat; several feet of 1/4" bungee cord, depending on your boat; four bungee cord hooks.
TOOLS: hacksaw to cut the axle; drafting aid to transfer shape of boat to wood dolly body (alternate: cut and try using cardboard and scissors); coping saw or bandsaw; drill and bit extender for drilling hole for axle through wood body (alternate: attach axle to bottom of wood body using large staples or put nails or screws through axle into wood body).

Comments

[DarthHeizenberg]

Nice simple design.
I ended up building it out of pvc as shown here and here

[seaton_wms]

Where can I find plans and supply list?

[dchall8]

You should add the word, 'canoe' to your keywords, because this will work for a canoe, too. Where do you get the axle material?

[L Lee]

Home Depot

[unclesam]

Wheels and steel axle came from a rusty old metal garden hose reel. I was going to toss it anyway at the time because it was not Y2K compatible. Wheels may run into the brackish water, so I wash dolly with fresh water after each use. Axle may rust, but that is not such a problem with the plastic wheels. Hardware stores and home centers sell wheels and 1/2" diameter steel rod.

[unclesam]

To see an easier way to attach the wheels to the wood body of the dolly, see my Instructable "Caddy for Garden Sprayer." U.S.

[gezortenplotz]

Wanting to avoid the $80 cost of this dolly in a kayak shop, I planned on building one like this. Thanks for doing the advance work. Brilliant!