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Making a Launching Cart and templates for the Hull Cradles
http://www.hobie.com/au/en/forums/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=72100		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Gmorgan [ Thu Sep 04, 2025 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Making a Launching Cart and templates for the Hull Cradles
I keep my TI at a sailing club with my boat on a trailer. To launch, I’ve been hooking up the trailer and using a ramp which is a giant pain. My boat and trailer sit right at waters edge on sandy soil with a slight downhill to the lake.
I realized it would be so convenient to just push my boat into the water from where it sits, but the boat trailer with its two small tires won’t work with the sandy soil. I tried the Hobie 2 wheel dolly, but found that to be a pain also. At 80 years old, I don’t feel like trying to drag it into the water by hand.
I’m about to build a very low slung launching cart with cradles which I will leave my boat on. Amazon has 4 solid beach tires on sale for $119 which I will be using. To make the cradles I will make a template of the hull in the positions the cradles will go. An easy way to make a template is to take a piece of corrugated cardboard the width of your boat and using 12” skewer sticks, place a stick in each hole of the cardboard. Press this down on your hull and you’ve got the shape of your hull. An inexpensive contour gauge.
I’ll be pouring a concrete base level with the ground in front of my cart. This base will have a receptacle for inserting a hand winch mounted on a 2” square tube. The winch will have a 32’ cable and I’ll use this to pull the cart back to its position on shore. When done, the winch is removed and stored. The receptacle in the base will have a plug when not in use to prevent trash and dirt from filling it up.
Author:  kowbra [ Tue Sep 09, 2025 10:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Making a Launching Cart and templates for the Hull Cradl
Sounds like a great idea!

I'm interested in the idea of a launch cart... following ...

Send us photos and updates are you have them, thanks!
Brad
Author:  Gmorgan [ Sun Sep 14, 2025 7:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Making a Launching Cart and templates for the Hull Cradl
kowbra wrote:
Sounds like a great idea!

I'm interested in the idea of a launch cart... following ...

Send us photos and updates are you have them, thanks!
Brad


Hi Brad,

I’ve spent many hours designing and redesigning my launch cart. During the building process, I’ve made design changes on the fly.

I should have it completed in a day or two and will be going to the lake to give it a test drive.
I’ll be posting photos and details after I see if it works.

One design idea which did not work was using the corrugated cardboard and skewer sticks as a big contour gauge to get the shape of the hull. It got me close enough I was able to cut out cardboard in the approximate shape and holding that against the hull and then using a little stand-off block with a marker taped to it, I got a very accurate template.

George
Author:  Gmorgan [ Mon Sep 22, 2025 1:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Making a Launching Cart and templates for the Hull Cradl
Well…it didn’t work like I had hoped.

I won’t go into a great amount of detail about the build since I was not pleased with the outcome.

I built it using freshly treated lumber from Lowe’s. It weighed 210 lbs when completed. When dried out this weight might come down by some percentage.

It didn’t work to roll directly into then lake because the 13” beach tires proved too small for how heavy the cart and boat were and it just wasn’t possible to pull by hand in the sand.

I was able to roll it down the concrete boat ramp and pull it back in, although not easily. But having to use the ramp defeats the reason I built it. The distance from my boat parking spot to the ramp is a long pull to do by hand and it my be I just continue to keep my boat on its normal trailer and use my car.
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