Maybe you'll finally get your money's worth on this one:

About 2 wks ago, Mark Woodhead asked about yak carts, after which Ross and Barry showed us some examples out there on the web. After seeing these, as well as the Crunchyer Lowerback Cart, I had such a strong negative reaction, esp. to the maroske approach, that I immediately thought there were some more interesting possibilities to be explored.

While surfyak was suffering slightly for the last bit, I've put together some dwgs of 6 carts and variations carrying single to multiple kayaks and varying from simple to complex. I've also include 3 pages of pulls - hands free, handhold or by bike.

That said, if it fits in your yak, I think that Jim Richardson's idea of modifying a 2nd hand golf cart has got to be a good solution.

Now I sometimes seem to have trouble w/ double posts - if you see one, just ignore it - each post will have a unique number (say 8/13). I have reasons (surfyak!) to get this over with quickly, so barring finger fatigue I'm going to do them all tonite. If the text is scant, I think you'll still get the basic ideas.

To begin, I think that the primary consideration is that the cart fit in your yak. It should also be simple, strong and if possible easily field repaired. And since we're all do-it-yourselfers, it should be made out of simple materials and as cheap or deluxe as we wish to make it. It also requires good clearance below the cart to allow for roughness of terrain. Some of these carts meet all of these considerations, but the laminated and folding ones are not so easily repaired away from home.

Now, if you really want to cut to the chase, stop reading now and jump to the cart 2a post and dwgs. Otherwise....................

All of the cart examples I've seen so far make the cart a separate entity from the kayak and completely miss the minimizing possibilities of using the kayak's structure as a integral part of the assembly. So most of the following carts will do this to a greater or lesser degree (one none). This approach presupposes that your yak is strong enough to handle say 3' - 4' waves. The stresses involved are fairly insignificant, but you may wish to put localized padding at pressure points in order to maintain that mirror finish or decorative elements.

As a design parameter, you need to keep about 18" clear below your kayak. This is so it will not hang up in dips and valleys and so it will track fairly level when either pulled by hand or by bike. The entry fee is a set of scrounged (or bought) wheels and usually an axle. The wheels should be as large as can fit in your hatch - 8 or 10" diam. - so they can go over bumps and rocks. The axle is best at about 3/8" diam , but don't give up that free set of wheels that uses a 1/4" axle!

Here are the basic assumptions I'll be using:

-The kayak is 20" wide at the cart location - yours will be slightly different so modify the dimensions

-the sheer of the kayak (widest part) is 5" up from the bottom.

-wheels are 10" in diameter

-18" clearance below kayak

So let's go:

A La Cart 1a

This is the 1st cart I sketched up and was drawn as a frustrated reaction to the high cost, spec'l mat'l and poorly designed maroske cart. It's prob 1/10 the cost and twice as strong if not more. After the entry fee (axle & wheels), this one only costs 6 bits of wood, two of those left over webbing clamps and a small legth of webbing. And hardware - 4 washers and clips and no screws, bolts or nuts.

This cart only uses the yak cross section for a compression member and otherwise is fairly self supporting. Pull the axle and it collapses and folds up totally. The cool detail is that the joints are only held together by the webbing clamps Easily made in a evening, but I bet Hans Friedel will be running down the road with it in an hour. But wait Hans, wait! There's even a quicker one coming up soon!