Scupper Cart that converts to Dolly Cart

On the full sized cradles the tubing is not really needed Chris. I have another cart made out of a cut down trailer cradle viewtopic.php?f=73&t=40346 and it works well without the tubing. It will depend on how high your cradle is above the axle. I had to add the tubing to the C-tug cart viewtopic.php?f=73&t=46391 as the height and narrower cart cradle caused rocking of the cart fore/aft when under the hull. The cart cradle is about 6" wide whereas the trailer cradle is about 7" wide. Hobie's dolly cradle doesn't need the tubing but it is much wider again.
If you keep the centre of gravity low on your DIY cart then tubing shouldn't be needed.

That's good, I'm planning for my cart to attach in some yet to be determined way to the rear of the trailer as others have done. Not having the tubes will make it simpler I think.
Thank You
Chris

Oh... I am impressed by those arguments! But, unfortunately, the ship sailed long ago on that one. Sales and engineering made that decision based on a perceived wider use of the boat for fishing and touring.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Hi Stringy, I love a design that allows versatility. I've got a couple of questions.

Are these sand tyres robust enough for use on hard / rough surfaces like concrete tar or gravel? If not, do you use a different cart or swap to a different type of wheel?

In what circumstances do you use the dolly cart vs the scupper cart?

Cheers




Brad

Long Jetty

_________________
Brad K
Papaya Tandem Island - "Dry Reach"
Lengthened Jet Ski trailer
"Kayaking Bob" Spray Skirts
Trampolines

Very interesting cart, I'm sure something like this would support a fully loaded TI across the realy soft white powder soft sand we have here in sarasota.
I'm still a big fan of the tuff foam filled tires, they seem to be easier to pull on hard surfaces and you don't have to fill them with air.
One thing I have not seen anyone try yet, is to add a pair of ski's to their scupper cart (like airplanes in Alaska, with cutouts that the bottom of the tire protrude thru). This way it would work great on hard ground (with the tuff foam filled tires) and would still work across deep soft sand (and snow lol).
Actually in my case since getting my trailer a yr and a half ago, my scupper cart has just sat in the garage. Any more if I can't back up to the water I just unhook the trailer from the car and walk the trailer with the boat on it up to the water. I got the idea watching a bunch of laser 2's (about a hundred of them (we have a lot of really big regattas here)), that's what most of them did was park in the parking lot then walked their boats to the launch (with trailer), it seemed like a good idea. Most TI owners I have seen have the trailex trailer (from Hobie), which appears to be a really high quality lightweight aluminum trailer (way better than my crappy trailer).
Actually I thought about all that when I built my trailer, and designed it so I could break the trailer in half and just use the back half as a launch dolly, ended up being a big waste of time, I never use that feature, I just grab the whole trailer and walk it to the water after watching all the Laser 2 guys do that.
Bob

I have the Trailex trailer with mine. I almost bought / tried to build a dolly, but I too have found the trailer to be light enough the function as a dolly. On a recent Key Largo trip I was able to park along the road, pick the trailer up off the hitch, and walk it down to a spot no power boater could have gotten to.

Brad,
The Wheeleez wheels that Hobie use on their Trax 2 carts are very tough. I haven't had a puncture and have used that 4 wheeled cart on all types of surfaces. The negative with the balloon tyres is that they are harder to pull on firm surfaces due to the drag from the balloon shape. What works so well in sand has a lot more rolling resistance on a hard surface.
If you follow the links in my posts above you will see I have a collection of carts with swappable wheels.

A scupper cart is the simplest to use and the easiest to fit when the hull is on the trailer. However its tricky to re-fit when returning from a days sail. Trying to drop the TI onto it is a recipe for scupper damage. You can collapse an ama and roll the hull onto it's side, but I prefer to use the dolly cart for retrieval as you can just slide it back under the hull in shallow water.
For hard surfaces I prefer the C-Tug, but for sand the balloon wheels are best. Don't believe the C-Tug Sidewinder sand extension advertising hype. They are rubbish in soft sand.
The bigger balloon wheel cart works best in deep sand but those tyres were from an Anaconda cart and are inferior to the Wheeleez. I ruined one on bitumen, so now only use them on sand.