Portable Kayak Wheels 08 09 2010

Portable Kayaking Wheels 08 09 2010


Or How I Made Detachable Wheels for My New Kayak From Stuff I Had I.e. FREE
After carrying my Kayak over a half mile including a steep ramp on a bluff, I decided there must be an easier way to carry the Kayak from car to water. On a walk one earlier afternoon to Lake Michigan I watched how three men pulled their Kayaks by the front with the rear mounted on a removable wheel base.

Now this challenged my ingenuity as I saw some listed for sale for $80 and did not want to pay that much for it, because I am an American with ingenuity.

So here is what I did, I grabbed a ½ inch in diameter long bolt about 2 feet long and determined what the wheel base would be by looking at the width of the Kayak back a foot from the nose and looking at the width of the wheels that I would use. I added an inch for the retaining nut and cut the rod, that had a bolt head on one end to length using a reciprocating saw with a Cobalt 14 tooth saw blade.

The wheels I used were dismantled off a plastic fertilizer spreader my neighbor two doors down discarded. They were light and had about the same diameter and my steel rod, maybe they were 1/16” larger in diameter.

I took a measurement of the approximate cross section width of the nose and determined the slope of the Kayak hull by folding a piece of paper to the angle of the hull and perpendicular to the surface of the “EARTH”.

I then found a remnant piece of a cedar 2”x 6” in the wood pile and subtracted my wheel width times two plus end nut from the length of the rod. I trimmed one end of the 2”x6” to have a clean and smooth cut measured and cut clean to length from that end.

Along the lower edge of the two by six I planned to drill an axle hole lengthwise for my ½” diameter axle bolt. So I made sure not to cut the wood into the area that would contain the axle hole. An axle of this type needs a bulk of material around it to be durable and safely drilled straight.

Having my measurement for the nose contour I found the center of my two by six. And drew where to cut my “Resting channel” from the other edge inward. I still had the miter saw out so I rough cut part of each of the channel sides. The remainder of the contour form, where the rounded bottom or keel would sit, I would cut out with a portable band saw and wood chisel.

On the upper channel edges I drilled angled pilot holes and mounted two eyelet screws.

On the bottom edge of the cedar support I marked where my holes were to be drilled ¾” inch in from the side and 1 inch in from the edge. I then drilled out the lengthwise hole for the axle using my drill press on each end and then shot through with a 1/2" diameter long drill bit to adjoin the holes for the straight axle shaft.

Engineers of the past used to add features that were not readily useable but where added to make repairs and upgrades easier by the consumer. This concept fell by the wayside probably at the same time as the adoption of the metric system came into being. Somewhat above the axle and centered on each side of my wood I drilled two tapered accessory holes.

I put the ½” rod in the vice and grabbed my electric pipe threader with its ¼” die for pipes and put some threads on the end of the axle bolt.

In the contour formed channel that would support the Kayak I industrial stapled a strip from the same blown out mountain bike tire that I used to cushion my bicycles handlebar grip with.

I used four large nylon washers to eliminate side friction at the wheels. The washers had to be cut to ½” diameter and I did so by using a hammer and a round cutting punch.

A bungee cord, ( I hate them) holds the contoured wheel base to the hull of the kayak by bastioning to the eyelet screws and providing dynamic pressure.

I did also end up using the accessory holes I drilled. Using ½” military surplus strap secured the wheelbase longitudely in place from the front eye of the Kayak to its accessory straps fore of the Kayak seat.

The second time I used my Kayak I was able to put forth more effort to paddling than carrying.

The light wheels rolled over sand and stone and up and down concrete walkways and ramps with ease.

The wheelbase fit inside the nose of my Kayak when I was paddling.

I made this wheelbase in less than one hour and went Kayaking the same day I talked to the three gentlemen Kayakers.

God Bless Those Who Think

Thomas Paul Murphy

Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy