DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)
Posted: 02 Aug 2015, 18:12
I've used a DIY scupper trolley for the last few years, which has worked well although the wheels have been through several iterations.
I started with metal trolley wheels off a bunnings hand cart before they rusted out. Then I went to some $12 green machine plastic drift trike wheels from Kmart. These looked promising being very wide but I found with my heavily loaded PA that the wheels would just dig into soft sand, pushing a wedge before them and being pretty useless on the beach. They were better on hard surfaces but noisy being hard plastic. Next I got some slightly wider trolley wheels with plastic hubs off ebay. These would at least roll through sand but were still extremely hard work in the soft stuff. Regular punctures were a pain and eventually the rubber tread de-laminated with the tires basically falling apart. So it was back to the drawing board trying to research an alternative wheel that would work and be light on the pocket.
The best wheels for beach work seem to be the bigger wheeleez beach wheels but these cost upwards of $100 per wheel which is more than I wanted to pay. The same sort of thing is about $25 on alibaba but I wasn't going to be ordering 100 of them. The key to getting wheels to work on soft sand seems to be a larger diameter combined with a soft surface to increase contact area. So I decided to modify my existing green machine wheels by adding a layer of foam to increase the diameter. Thick foam sheet was going to be too expensive so I ended up just buying a roll of expansion joint foam for the hardware store at around $10.
The width of the foam is about half the green machine wheel width so two side by side covers it nicely. I cut lengths long enough for three diameters then sliced wedges off each end to provide a smooth transition. Then I applied contact adhesive to both sides of the foam and the wheels and left it until touch dry. Then it was just a matter of wrapping the foam lengths around each wheel with a bit of tape over the end for extra security. The final result was a much larger diameter wheel that seems robust enough with a solid tread area but also a bit of give to spread the load.
I tried them out last night at a couple of different launches. Over hard surfaces like bitumen, gravel and dirt the wheels rolled silently and with less resistance than before. When I got onto the soft sand it was amazing how easily the yak rolled over the soft stuff without ever looking like digging in. This included easily pulling a very heavily loaded PA up a steepish incline of soft sand that previously would have had me tugging and straining for each half metre. Time will tell what their longevity will be like but it seems promising and if the surface wears I can always just put on another layer.
I started with metal trolley wheels off a bunnings hand cart before they rusted out. Then I went to some $12 green machine plastic drift trike wheels from Kmart. These looked promising being very wide but I found with my heavily loaded PA that the wheels would just dig into soft sand, pushing a wedge before them and being pretty useless on the beach. They were better on hard surfaces but noisy being hard plastic. Next I got some slightly wider trolley wheels with plastic hubs off ebay. These would at least roll through sand but were still extremely hard work in the soft stuff. Regular punctures were a pain and eventually the rubber tread de-laminated with the tires basically falling apart. So it was back to the drawing board trying to research an alternative wheel that would work and be light on the pocket.
The best wheels for beach work seem to be the bigger wheeleez beach wheels but these cost upwards of $100 per wheel which is more than I wanted to pay. The same sort of thing is about $25 on alibaba but I wasn't going to be ordering 100 of them. The key to getting wheels to work on soft sand seems to be a larger diameter combined with a soft surface to increase contact area. So I decided to modify my existing green machine wheels by adding a layer of foam to increase the diameter. Thick foam sheet was going to be too expensive so I ended up just buying a roll of expansion joint foam for the hardware store at around $10.
The width of the foam is about half the green machine wheel width so two side by side covers it nicely. I cut lengths long enough for three diameters then sliced wedges off each end to provide a smooth transition. Then I applied contact adhesive to both sides of the foam and the wheels and left it until touch dry. Then it was just a matter of wrapping the foam lengths around each wheel with a bit of tape over the end for extra security. The final result was a much larger diameter wheel that seems robust enough with a solid tread area but also a bit of give to spread the load.
I tried them out last night at a couple of different launches. Over hard surfaces like bitumen, gravel and dirt the wheels rolled silently and with less resistance than before. When I got onto the soft sand it was amazing how easily the yak rolled over the soft stuff without ever looking like digging in. This included easily pulling a very heavily loaded PA up a steepish incline of soft sand that previously would have had me tugging and straining for each half metre. Time will tell what their longevity will be like but it seems promising and if the surface wears I can always just put on another layer.