homemade cat trax

I do not want to have to spent all that money on cat trax, considering that they cost as much as my boat did. i am thinking about just making some. The only problem so far is wheels. I read that some people were using 55 gallon drums as wheels. I think this will work, i did some looking around and found out that I could find some drums at local car washes, they get there soap in them and don't care if any one takes them (this is at supper suds where i was told this). I am trying to do this as inexpensive as possible. I need to make some cradles for the hulls.

let me no what you think and if you have ever had any success in making your own cat trax.

I am completely open for suggestions.

There has been lots of discussion about homemade cat trax snoop around this site you will find it.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

I could envision running some pipe through the center of the drum, sleeved with some PVC pipe on both ends for hulls to ride on. Perhaps even using some wood to reinforce the ends of the drum where the pipe goes thru.

Classic case of function over form, but for less than fifty bucks it should work. Just might be a little tough to roll if the sand is sugary.

This is like the exact same plan i have


I'm am trying to fine something strong that can be used as an axle, this should be as light as possible and should hold all the weight of the boat and not bend.

Thin wall 1 ½ pipe such as a cheep 8’ fence post should be plenty strong enough.

thanks i will look in to that

well I got two 30 gallon drums and now I'm off to Home Depot

ok i hace a question... cuz i wanna do this same thing
ive seen a couple of these on the beach in canada

one was a large 55gal drum. single drum in the center with axel running thru the middle
the other was two smaller (maybe 20gal) drums set up more like the cat trax with two "wheels" and the axel thru the middle

which one do you think would work better? The single drum or the two much smaller drums design. tthe single drum may roll easier cuz its so much bigger but the two wheeled version may be more stable? hmmmmmmm....

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1971 H16 (sail #1768)

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thanks for all the help!

There's a set of the barrel wheels that someone can just have here on the beach. They're blue, with a galvy pipe, just take em.

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this is what i came up with so far









i would try one 55 gallon, but if you could get two 55 gallon drums and cut them in half and then push them in on each other than that would probably work good