Hello all ..
I like the idea of the DIY beach wheels ...I have tried other wheels and none will work on soft sand so this concept looks good . I have two trolleys ...one scupper trolley that has an external square tube axle with an internal 18 mm tube axle. This one will take two sorts of wheels 18mmm hub and if you slip two 18mm upvc electrical sockets with the internal ridge honed off over the axle it will take wheels with 25mm hubs.
I also have a home made trolley with PE load bearing flat pads (my kayak has twin hulls) that straps on underneath for longer journeys to the water . ...wheels are interchangeable as axle same size as above but neither work on sand...so decided to try the Kmart wheels as suggested.

I didn't want to build another complete new trolley so as the axle was smaller for the Kmart wheels I purchased a 12mm galvenized axle (1.00m) from Bunnings for around $6.00 rather than a threaded rod as it is less likely to bend under load like the threaded rod and drilled out the wheels to suit and a pair of 5mm lynch pins to stop the wheels coming off. It was then just a matter of slipping the 12mm rod through the 18 mm tube axle and cutting to length with a couple of washers where the new wheels touch the existing housing. Then a $8.00 foam camping mat from Kmart which cuts into 6 strips to fit the wheels ...looking forward to test run on sand.

Has anyone tried golf buggy wheels on sand? I picked up some stroller wheels this morning to start my cart build but looking at being able to swap those wheels out for Golf buggy wheels as they are substantially wider. Dont really want to lug my golf clubs and cart along the sand at the beach for testing if I dont have to so Im hoping someone has tried them already.

The key to getting over sand with a heavy yak is to have a large and soft surface area in contact with the sand. Large are to spread the load and soft so that the wheel rolls on top of the sand instead of plowing through and building up a wall of sand. For a smaller or lightly loaded yak you may find the golf buggy wheels are OK. However if you get into really soft sand or are carting plenty of weight then the beach wheels or these DIY wheels with the foam trad are the way to go.

Ta. Im not anticipating much traversing over sand at this stage & not much in the way of soft sand. Would be towing 30kg tops i’d say. Will build with the pram wheels and go from there, can always mock up a test mount for the wheels off my golf buggy to try it. FWIW, this is the type of wheel im talking about, 10-15cm track width at a guess.

http://www.batterygolf.com.au/shopfront ... %20web.jpg

That wheel will be OK for light loads over most terrain. In soft sand with a bit of weight it will tend to push sand ahead of it and make it much harder to get through.

I still haven't put the foam on my wheels altough i have it most of my launches are on hard ground but some have been sand, you certainly notice once you hit dry soft sand, if you are used to pulling a heavy truck tyre behind you on a rope you will cope fine in soft sand

I have made these sand wheels with great success. Really struggled to cross sand beforehand ...these roll along really easy.Used the $8.00
K Mart Drifter wheels and glued the foam on to those using 3 layers. I first tried them on my scupper trolley and they worked well ..but due to the weight of my kayak I wanted a better balance so made a strap on trolley with a timber frame and duel axles which allows you to fit 3 types of wheels.These are ....the sand wheels (12mm axle) c tug style hard wheels and the standard pneumatic wheels . So the first axle is 12mm for the sand wheels the second axle is 19mm for the other two style of wheels. I did find with the wider footprint of the strap on trolley and the 12mm axle being 685 long I did get some flex in the axle so I am updating that to 4140 Moly steel which I hope will prevent bending with the softer standard axle. If you use the 12 mm axle on the scupper trolley it doesn't flex as it slips through inside the original scupper axle and is fully supported.The new trolley's 19mm axle is fine and takes the pneumatic wheels as standard . If you fit the c tug style wheels you need to use electrical sockets with the centre ridge reamed out to upsize the axle hub to 25mm.

I finally got around to putting the foam on my wheels, i did a few more than 3 layers and it made a huge difference in moving my old yak through soft sand. But then i bought the new yak and got the sand wheels in the deal I've been meaning to put the kmart wheels on my new yak to try them out as being around double the diameter they should work better than the bought ones