Homemade Beach Dolly?

lawrencer2003 wrote: Yep the snowy winter and all this rain did it.

Wow! we have some erosion issues here as well and a MONSTER divit that the high tide floods and drains at.. and sometimes crazy sea grass but a 2' wall sounds real rough

On the south its a steep grade..north it is a wall.

I'm having the same issue (a small, steep grade) on the beach on Lake Michigan on the other side from Chicago (near Douglas/Saugatuck). Water is at a high level and storms have carved an edge in the dune. I have a Prindle 16 that I need to move from water's edge to our privately owned beach up by the cliff (on which our house sits) Would the harder (and less expensive) Tiger trax be ok to move it across the hard sand to about 15 feet of softer sand (with beach grass growing there? If not I'll just do as advised and get a set of Cat trax...Don't think I need the handle as we always have at least two and mostly 3 or more people to help. And yes, I'm a female sailor (owner of a Tartan 30 and the Prindle)

Tiger trax are pretty worthless unless you are rolling over hard pack. For soft sand Cat Trax are the way to go. Its only another $250 bucks.

Thanks, I kinda figured that from reading prior forum topics on this. Do you think the cradles are necessary for the short distance I have to go?

cradles are a nice feature.. they prevent the cat from slipping off the axle. you HAVE to tie the lines (that come out the wheel axle) without the cradles. with the cradles.. its optional (depending on your boat).

I would recommend the cradles.. if you purchase them as an upgrade (as i did) its more work/expensive in the long run.

Also, make sure you order a set with holes drilled for a 8 and a 8.6' beam as you dont know what cat you will have in a few years (plus easier to sell)

Thanks for all the great advice as usual. I've been on the fence about the wheels but have decided it is probably necessary. I doubt I'll be up-sizing--have the Tartan that I sail on Lake St. Clair and Detroit River and race there. The Prindle is just for fun off the lakeshore on Lake Michigan.

sailconi wrote: Thanks for all the great advice as usual. I've been on the fence about the wheels but have decided it is probably necessary. I doubt I'll be up-sizing--have the Tartan that I sail on Lake St. Clair and Detroit River and race there. The Prindle is just for fun off the lakeshore on Lake Michigan.

I am just north of you on the lake in Laketown Township. The problem is not wheeling the cat down to the water, the problem is bringing it back up. Anything over a 16 footer is a problem without proper & functional beechwheels. I am in the process of fabricating a set and will post step by step instructions if successful.

looks like we have a few catamarans along the beach where I am---based on what some members have said about fabricating beach wheels I'm not inclined to try it and will probably just get the cat trax. Wondering if anyone has an opinion about the cateez vs. cat trax???

Breakwater, I have a set of Catrax for Tornado with cradles & handle. Shipping might be high from Ca. Contact me from my ads on parts for sale section.

I just built a set of trax with cradles and 6 tires for under $70. I will test this weekend and if they work well (which they should!!!) then i will post pics and instructions as well as parts lists and the price I paid.

So far they are very cheap, and very sturdy but weigh a little more then the real ones

I used a galvinived home grounding rod (at just over 8ft)for the axle so anything over 16ft might be to wide for this design

PDS624 wrote: I just built a set of trax with cradles and 6 tires for under $70. I will test this weekend and if they work well (which they should!!!) then i will post pics and instructions as well as parts lists and the price I paid.

Almost exactly what we just did. We used galvanized tube, welded some ball bearings from a heavy duty conveyor belt system to old car rims, used old tubeless tires; cradles are made from wood boards covered with rubber mat. Next we will rust-proof the whole thing. All components came from scrap yards, below 100 bucks. If there is any interest, I can also post pics next week.

Here are the promised snapshots of our homemade beach dolly:

There are a few details to change, but generally it works flawlessly. Tubes are galvanized, yet the whole thing is painted to rust-proof it. Time will tell if it holds up...

If anyone wants more details, let me know. However, as nearly all parts are from scrap yards, design to some degree depends on what you can lay your hands on.

Wow.. thats interesting

how do you trasport it?

I would describe that as more of a trailer pulled by a person than beachwheels. Maybe go as far to call it hybrid.

Why not mount the rear cradles over the axle and ditch the rest, then you would have a transportable but somewhat heavy homemade beachwheels. BTW, great effort and unique.

Looks great if you live on the beach but for most trailering would be an issue. plus with the axel on the rear you have to lift the weight on the front of the boat to move. better than nothing but with trax the weight is balanced on center so all you have to do is guide it and try not to over balance front or back.

On this I would suggest maybe find a way to add a 3rd wheel to that front center that can swivel for steering then it perfect a dolly to leave at your beach house if your lucky enough to have one. I imagine it would be great for those whose have mast up beach storage space as well

plus with the axel on the rear you have to lift the weight on the front of the boat to move. better than nothing but with trax the weight is balanced on center so all you have to do is guide it and try not to over balance front or back

You could still center the axle under the center of gravity just like you do with a standard set of beach wheels. This looks like it would reduce the slipping around and need to tie the wheels on.

It does look a lot like a light weight trailer.

That's pretty interesting looking. I'd like to see pics of it in action with the cat.

Not for everyone but if it works for you, at your location, with your boat, then it's perfect.

It's just for the beach, not for the road as the boat stays on the beach; I do not need to transport it anywhere. Yes, it is heavy, but then it rolls... we simply cannot weld aluminum nor find the parts in the first place.

The wheels are positioned in the center of gravity; a single person can very easily handle it. It's pretty effortless to roll it into the water until the boat floats, or shove it underneath to bring it in.

The reason for having those pads is to leave the cat on the contraption all the time - difficult to do that with only an axle, plus I'd be worried about having the whole weight rest on the 2 cradles, a relatively small surface that might deform the pontoons after a while. Maybe no issue.

The vertical bar in the front; we planned to attach a small wheel, but it's not really necessary.

As long as it works for you.. then awesome!

PS catamarans have hulls, not pontoons. pontoons are for ... pontoon boats.. you know .. the slow, ugly, fat, aluminum (and other) boats that are good for cookouts.. and sunbathing.. and MOVING SLOW!!!!

🙂

Yes i am a CATSNOB (and proud of it)

PS catamarans have hulls, not pontoons.

OK 😀
Promise, I'll never call them that again!

As for deforming the hulls when each rests on a single cradle for a long time, is this in fact a non-issue? Or perhaps it depends on the type of boat.

I can't answer the deformation over time, but remember that most boats sit on a trailer on 4 rollers.

Years ago I remember watching someone raise their main sail while the boat was on beach wheels. They were pulling down on the halyard hard enough the wheels crushed the bottom of the hull. They did not have cradles on the beachwheels, but ever since then I have never raised the sails while the boat was on beach wheels.
It occured in an unusual situation and at least 10 years ago. But in was in Santa Cruz with some high surf, they didn't want to beach launch so they rolled the boat to the boatramp and were going to launch through the harbor. So sitting in the parking lot on beach wheels they tried to raise the sail when they crushed the hull. Don't remember the boat type but it wasn't a H16 or H18.

catdan wrote: As for deforming the hulls when each rests on a single cradle for a long time, is this in fact a non-issue? Or perhaps it depends on the type of boat.

I have never heard of a cat having problems from a craddle.

i (and most people here) raise our sails with wheels underneath with no problems (craddles and not)

There are issues with cats on rollers for long times (esp when snow builds up and adds weight to the cat)

Yes... resurrecting the past...
This setup seems easy enough.

I have yet to see a homemade set work 1/2 as well as the real deal

outer wheels (or 4) are not needed for 99% of beachcats (sharks are 10' and heavy and i bet they WOULD work with the right set of cat trax)

iron bar??? why not make it out of anti-matter if more weight is desired 🙂

a line inside the tire area will get caught under the wheels.. and / or wrap around the bar.. both will stop your forward movement

Lon have you found a cat yet? Hopefully so. I think the design you found would work, not sure how well it would work versus the cat trax ones. The delon plastic needle bearing design for the cat trax bearings really works well in this application.

I bet the steel pipe wheels shown above would weight over 100 lbs. Probably better then carrying a cat up the beach, but would take extra effort to push compared to the cat trax.

Cat trax are worth their weight in gold. I can move/launch my H16 by myself on the beach with them. I thought about the homemade version but one of my friends gave me some old cat trax and they worked perfectly after I patched the holes in the tires. Yes, they are expensive but you get what you pay for.

CatTrax only weigh 46lb.

Yeah the 4 tire setup like that is similar to the one used by Cateez in the past. If you are going to try and make your own use an aluminum axle to save weight, steel will kill you. Locally source it to get the length you need, I can get up to 20' lengths from a local metal supplier. The ties, are meant to be tied off to the shrouds to prevent the wheels from moving around under the cat (although I don't think anyone actually uses them). Use the widest/largest smallest tread (slicks if you can get them) tires you can find, or they will bog down in sand. The system on that web site would work if you need to move your boat around on a hard surface but would probably fail pretty quickly in the sand.

The cattrax system is so simple and effective, really pretty ingenious. I just got mine brand new and am so impressed with how easy they go together. I wasn't convinced about the price but after actually putting them together I think that, althoguh it would be possible to piece one together yourself, it would probably cost more in the end than buying it from Florida Sailcraft and then you still have to figure out all the sizing and layout.

What you are paying for are 2 sealed low pressure balloon wheels and hubs, 40 delrin (UHMW Plastic) needle bearings (dowels really) that go between the hubs and the axle, a 9 foot length of 2" dia 3/32" thick walled aluminum tube, some stainless cotter pins, rubber tubing and custom molded plastic end pieces that slide over the tube. The wheels themselves would run between $100 and $150 alone (plus shipping) and the rest of the pieces would easily make up the difference up to the $400 price tag.

There is definitely a reason that you rarely see them for sale in good condition and then they sell really quickly. Great product, fair price.

edited by: Wolfman, Jul 08, 2010 - 11:45 PM

The ties, are meant to be tied off to the shrouds to prevent the wheels from moving around under the cat (although I don't think anyone actually uses them).

depends on the boat. if they have a sharp pointed hull (h16, g-cat) then the ropes are required (esp without cradles). Most dager cats have a rounded or flatter hull shape and you can get away without using the rope.

my cat has very flat hulls (behind the front beam) but due to the weight of my cat (520 without coolers and radio and anvil) the type of sand/grass and the steepness of our beach..i have to use the ropes or the wheels slide around... and just a few inches of center... ugggggg