: Providing you have wheels available (take the same time to buy those as a
: whole cart?), the rest is simple.

: I designed the "T"bar trolley a while ago and its design has
: "taken off" in parts of this country.

: Basically there are two "Ts" in parallel, with an axle joining
: them. The axle goes through the bottom of the vertical bar of the
: "T". The kayak fits between/on the parallel tops of the
: "Ts" Make the distance between the "Ts" a bit less
: than the width of the kayak at a point halfway between cockpit and stern.

: I've made the "Ts" out of welded aluminium and used PVC water pipe.
: If using PVC, buy a couple of "T" pieces and extend the length
: of the horizontal and vertical. Use 50 mm high pressuse piping. The
: extension bits are actually quite short so strength isn't of a concern.
: The axle (1/2" stainless steel tube) should have a length of plastic
: pipe on it to keep the "Ts" apart and "R" pins or
: similar to keep the wheels on and make it easy to dismantle.

: The kayak is held on the trolley by a couple of webbing straps with quick
: release buckles (Fastex TM). I cross them under the bars of the trolley
: and crossed on the deck. If you wished you can cut holes in the ends of
: the T bars and feed the straps through (no crossing over).

: The height of the "Ts", the tops should be level or slightly below
: the tops of the wheels (kayak bottom curve should make it clear the wheels
: if the tops are lower).

: Broken down, you have 2 "Ts", 1 axle, 2 straps, 2 wheels which
: should find a home somewhere though on a multiday trip I usually start
: with parts of the cart on deck until I've "eaten" my way some
: way through the kayak.

: One final refinement, "legs". A notch in the bottom at one end of
: each horozontal of the "Ts". A piece of stiff nylon tube or
: similar equal the distance from the bottom of the horizontal to the
: ground. Bungy, stretched from the ground end of the "leg"
: (inside the leg), through the notch to the far end of the inside of the
: horizontal. This is the leg "down". If taken out of the notch
: the leg should disappear into the horizontal of the "T" as the
: bungy "retracts" the leg. When down, these keep the cart level
: for loading and they will sometimes retract automatically when you tow the
: kayak, doesn't matter if thhey don't.

: If there are still some parts unclear, e-mail me.

: Alex

hi alex,

the short legs are the way to go as the lever arm on the tube is high, but not so much on the cross bars as they could spread a bit. I wonder if you made the leg out of tubing 1/8 inch larger than the bars and glued a small pc of the larger tubing inside the cross pc of the t-fitting.

then on dissassembly the cross bars would fit inside the legs for a real compact assembly. slide the axle/tube assemgly inside one (or both toghether) of those.(like it would have to be 1/8in less than the cross bar for the fit).

for example 3/4in leg, 5/8in bar,1/2in axle.
-mick