Not a bad idea, I find with the AI I'm better off dragging it through the sand than using the c-tug, might try a similar mod.

Some really good 'info' on carts here lads, will have to investigate further. Question Shane........did you ever use the "Hobie Inflatable wheels" at all, or found that the total weight of your rig was too heavy for them to operate successfully in soft sand?

Cheers.........

I have the Trax 2-30 cart (with the 30cm Wheeleez inflatable wheels) and I regularly haul a fully-loaded A.I. (weight around 75kgs)
over 50m of soft sand, 150m of dirt road and 200m of sealed road. I had a plain Trax 2 cart at first, but found it struggled a bit on
the soft sand, so upgraded to the Trax 2-30 (that's the bottom one in the attached pic):
The wheels fit inside the front hatch of the A.I. and the frame either goes in the rear well, or gets strapped onto the front
of the yak, just infront of the mast.

The cart wasn't cheap (it cost around $250), but it's rock-solid, top quality. I figured that if I'm hauling a $3.5K yak around it
makes sense to have a cart that's not going to fail or collapse until the weigh of the A.I. lump.

Cheers,

Mike.

I've had a go of pulling the Trax 2-30 cart along soft sand with the PA and it works great.I was originally going to buy one before I saw Shane's idea with the foam. The main reasons I went for the DIY option was the cost and concerns about the durability of the Wheeleez tires. The Trax 2-30 trolley is $295 vs $60ish for the DIY trolley. I'm not sure how durable the Wheeleez tires are but I was a bit concerned that they might puncture they went over something sharp like rocks or a nail in which case you're looking at $95 for a replacement tire.

I also got a HD Hobie cart cheap because the welds had failed on the support bar which I've fixed up. I originally going to use for launching from boat ramps and other places where the Trax cart was necessary but now I've got it broken down and stored in the spare wheel well in my car incase as a spare something goes wrong with the DIY cart.

I drag my A.I. over very rough dirt road (with lots of sharp blue-metal) and also the odd bit of glass.

In three years I've never had a puncture. The main thing is not to have too much pressure in the tyres.
That way they just roll over any sharpish objects without allowing them to pierce the tyre.

If you do get a puncture, they are pretty easy to repair - essentially you just use a soldering iron
to 'weld' the split/hole.



Cheers,

Mike.

I just picked up some of the cheap $8 wheels from Kmart, so I will give this a go too
The wheels on my trolley atm struggle a bit on soft sand, so I have been looking for a different set of wheels to improve the ride. Well done again Shane!

Put the new $7 wheels on the trolley today, and added the foam.
They didnt have any 150mm wide stuff at bunnings at the time, so I got some 100mm and 50mm.
Keen to test it out now!

Looks good Phil. I found those narrow cut strips at the edge seperate and come off over time (mine were on the outer edges). With yours being in the middle of the tread keep an eye on them and glue or tape them down if they're getting loose. Also think about chamfering the sharp edge at the end of the foam with a knife so it doesn't give a little bump as it rolls.

Will do Shane, I have cut the end of the foam on a 45 degree angle at the moment, but I will have to round it off a bit more I think.
I bought some gaffer type as well which I haven't put on yet. Does it still work on the soft sand ok if I cover a full layer of the wheel in tape?

fishophil wrote:Will do Shane, I have cut the end of the foam on a 45 degree angle at the moment, but I will have to round it off a bit more I think.
I bought some gaffer type as well which I haven't put on yet. Does it still work on the soft sand ok if I cover a full layer of the wheel in tape?

I'd just run it over the join to keep it more secure and leave the rest bare. The foam gets nice and rough/sticky over sand with use, like racing slicks.