Best Way To Lug My Hobie Mirage Tandem Island kayak?

I've just bought a second-hand Hobie Mirage Tandem Island kayak from a friend of a friend and wanted to know the best way of lugging the kayak around. I've been looking at the options and it seems you can buy either a Kayak Dolly or a Plug In Cart to get your kayak from A- B. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between the two and which is best suited to the model I have. Judging by the price, the Dolly is going to be more effective as it sits at over double the cost of a standard Plug In Cart based on what i've seen so far. I don't mind paying that if its worth the cash and its going to make my life easier. I'm guessing it depends what terrain as well as the wheels etc would have to be suitable. I'd be using it on solid ground, rough and uneven ground rather than sand, for the time being anyway but that could change in the future. Can you easily swap out wheels on either of these types of cart if you were drastically changing the terrain you were launching the kayak from? Any pointers would be appreciated, sorry for the lack of knowledge, I just want to make sure that I'm getting the best one to fit my needs. Thanks.

I am only able to chime in based on my experience with my AIs. If you plan on transporting the TI fully assembled with Amas, then I would suggest the Dolly cart hands down. Even with my AI, I do not trust the weight on the scupper carts fully assembled. I will use the scupper cart for extreamily short distances (usually hull only & will walk the AMAS over) and placed pool noodled on the posts for cushy support. The Dolly is also much easier to place under the kayak than lifting and trying to get the scupper cart up and in there.

The only negatives Ive had with the Dolly are:
1. size- hard/cumbersome to carry with you on the kayak.
2. width. The beach where I launch at has a narrow entrance between the dunes, thus learned the hard way my first trip that the dolly won't work for me

Fitting various wheels on the carts isn't that difficult with a trip to the hardware store. I switch between wheeleez and hard tires all the time- I simply place a cut piece of PVC with washers when I place the hard wheels on the dolly/or scupper cart to reduce the size of the axels.

The dolly for your AI will be stronger and easier to load than the plug-in cart. And either set of wheels (tuff tires or beach wheels) can be used on the dolly. The axle adjusts to give additional width when used with beach wheels.

_________________
Howie Strech
Parts & Accessories Product Manager
Hobie Cat USA

Yes, the dolly will be easier, but here's the problem.
1. It's too big to carry with you, so if you have to park far away, it's going to be a long walk back with the dolly. How you going to get the TI into the water after you pull the dolly and haul it back to your vehicle?
2. If you get in a situation where you need to land and get the kayak quickly out of harms way. Then the dolly is not the option, it's back in the vehicle. Also a scupper cart can be installed before landing the TI or removed after getting safely past any surf.

Thus, I would recommend the heavy duty scupper cart over the dolly as your primary cart. It can handle a fully loaded TI. You may consider a dolly for an additional cart, if often alone on landings. I know, not the answer you want, but it's the best I've come to accept. There just isn't any other good options for the TI.

_________________
Mark
Tandem Island- 2013
2 - Sports - 2014

Thanks a lot for all the responses, I still have the conundrum though on which one to go for. As I expected, making a decision wasn't going to be plain sailing as there's always pros and cons. It may be the case that I just get both as has been suggested and then I can utilize them depending on which scenario I am in. I think its clear that the different types excel depending on the location and environment. I'll have a think over the next day or two and weigh-up pricing etc.

We lug our TI around quite a bit, my opinion is the best cart is the HD cart (with the addidional platform hobie recommends). We just slip the cart in and out in waste deep water and put it upside down in the rear scupper holes.
A fully rigged TI with the AMA's on is too heavy for me to pull around no matter what cart I have, so why bother trying (IMO). However if I remove the AMA's and carry them separately, the TI kayak is no more difficult to pull around than our old Oasis was. Even sand beaches (but not our really soft white beaches, I have to use our trax 2 cart for those).
Works for us and the HD cart stores nicely on the boat (no different from any other Hobie kayak).
Just our opinion
FE

Ah OK, well that's interesting. Maybe I will try the HD cart then and the recommended add-on and see how I get on with that. Not planning on going to any fine white sandy beaches with it any time soon so it should do in the interim.

I see your in Georgia, we spent a couple weeks this summer at lake Hartwell and put in at a couple places, we were car topping and had to get the boat down then trek it a hundred feet or so down embankments and trails to get to the water over a bunch of rocks and hard packed red clay/sand. We assembled the boat by the car, put the seats in, AKA bars, sails, mirage drives and such just piled in the boat. We then walked the hull down to the water, then separately carried the AMA's and my Honda outboards down to the water. We removed the scupper cart and placed it upside down in the rear scupper holes. We just left the boat on the beach every night for the duration next to our campsite and went out a couple times each day (lake hartwell is 45 miles long, we explored a 1/4 of it at best. Next year we plan to take scuba tanks along and plan to sail the 20 miles or so to the dam and scuba dive (we didn't bring tanks and gear along this trip (who knew lol), first time there. We had an absolute blast.
We did a similar trip to Elijah Clark state park near Augusta a couple years back, the shore lines are almost identical.
Next year we are hoping to explore lake Jocassee, and lake Keowee all further north. I hear there are cool waterfalls on lake Jocassee. Of course all these lakes are huge and a big reason we have the massive sail sets and twin outboards on our TI is so we can easily cover 50-60 miles a day, all without taking away any of the cool things the TI's can do (aka kayaking, paddling small rivers, mangroves, and even running mild rapids. Our TI is now our only family boat and we often have too many people on board (only in safe areas). Truly the jack of all trades SUV boat that you can use for anything imaginable. We have had it out 7 miles out in open ocean scuba diving coral reefs off key west, then a couple days later quietly kayaking in kayak mode the springs on the Santa fe river (fl). Then a week or so later running rapids on the Huron river near Ann Arbor MI, (true story). Actually we now have a couple hundred thousand road miles with our Hobies on the roof dropping in any body of water we have found along the way, definately it's the Hobie life for us, all with the HD scupper cart. Lol we have worn out three Yukon Denali's, and are on our third TI now.
Your gonna have fun
FE