How to make a canoe/kayak cart out of PVC. Supply list and diagram: Makify.com/stuf... Video Responses candyraved: • Homemade Canoe or Kaya... OCALARV: • Video
Thank you for showing this. I've been looking at carts figuring to take the best of all and put it into my creation. This covers everything! I hadn't thought of being able to flip the kayak to transport it. Awesome!
Excellent video and instructions. Much better than the commercial cart/dollies I've seen at Amazon and other retailers. Simple, inexpensive and functional. Nice work!
Built mine last nite and fished Oceanside Harbour this morning. Held all my gear plus a heavy as heck deep cycle marine battery that powers a trolling motor. In public with out practising the battery acting as a counter weight I smoothly negotiated the docks and launched like a pro! Awesome tool!!
I just found this video. I'm in Canada and parts totalled around $70.00. It was still cheaper than the cheapest manufactured dolly and a far superior design. After a little math to calculate the cuts, it only took about 1/2 an hour to build. Thanks again
Bless you for this! I spent 2 years restoring a cedar strip canoe..last week I went and spent $160 Cdn for a cart..went for a maiden voyage 10min and some lowlife stole my cart..I found your video and am so impressed that youwould go to such an effort to help someone like me..now I can forget the slimeball who stole the other one and think about how cool you are..restores my faith..again Bless you!
Oh my gosh - thank you!! You just made canoeing in my own canoe with my young son possible! He isn't much help transporting, portaging, or car-topping as you can imagine. It was proving to be a barrier to getting out on the water as much as I wanted to because I felt I needed to rely on others to help me load, unload, transport or I would sometimes opt to rent waterside (which made me CRAZY since I own a canoe!). I can't thank you enough :)
got it built with the help of the kids. cost 42 dollars with a coupon at harbor frieght. works well on trail works great on paved road. thank you. i have an 14ft alluminum canoe. the heavy canoe probably could have used larger wheels. but gosh the wheels were onlly 4 dollars each and it works . there is a learning curve on strapping technice . i use two staps around carrier to keep it centered and snug to the canoe. the plans work perfect and shopping list is acurate.
Built one--took about an hour. I just ratchet strap my canoe to the cart , then use a tarp strap from the seat support or thwart to the cart and it stays put. This thing is GREAT ! I'm going to share the plans with my son for his Kayak. THANK YOU !
I built one from your plans out of PVC and destroyed it in the first few minutes so instead of quitting I adapted your plans to some 1" square 16 gauge metal tubing I had. After a couple of hours cutting and welding I have a heavy duty yet still light version that does what I wanted with out any flexing.. Thanks for your plans.
Hello! Awesome job. Super simple sturdy design. Just an FYI... If you load the canoe or kayak mid-ship it becomes super easy to lift and maneuver as the cart supports the entire load. Sometimes portages are a mile or more and this makes the task simply walking with the canoe rather than lifting it off the ground and carrying the load. Nice job. I'm going to build one tomorrow. Also for outdoor weather long-term durability I saw another vid where a guy sprayed truck bed liner over the surfaces making them UV proof and a bit stronger. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for posting your canoe cart. I used it as a model to build one for my 100 pound paddle boat. Works great. Because the boat is heavy I used 1 inch pvc pipe and added 1/2 inch pvc pipe internally as re-enforcement. I already had the wheelbarrow wheels, glue, and the 1/2 inch pvc, so I had to buy 2 1 inch pvc pipes, the pvc fittings (about $20), the 5/8 inch metal threaded rod ($20), a couple of 5/8 inch nuts and 5/8 steel spacers (about $5) at Lowe's home improvements. I placed end caps for looks and a threaded T so I can easily attach/dis-attach the pull/push handle. My biggest suggestion is not to glue anything together until you are sure the measurements are right. The one I built is bigger in width because the paddle boat is wider so I had to use my own measurements. The closest cart I could find that MAY work on my paddle boat, I found at LL.Bean for $150. So.... I know this one works for my wide boat and saved me about $100. Following is a link to the photo. Thanks again. Fun project and gave me bragging rights. :) www.clippersolutions.com/pbcart.jpg
Hi There, used your plans and adapted for a kayak works wonderful Instead of parallel top rails, I angled the rails to follow the contour of the hull Fits like a glove Also didn't need the handle I mount my kayak by standing behind the cart with both feet chocking the wheels. Cart is tilted down , with kayak to the side I lift it onto the cart , it levels up and I secure with a bungee. then i can move feet away, Go to the front and away I go !
Anything but very smooth terrain will take the wheels out even with tie down. I tried the build and liked it, but where I go I need something more sturdy and stable. Glad it works for you.
Best canoe cart video because it is VITAL to be able to care canoe with gunwales down in order to be able to load onto a vehicle. Nice to be able to carry right side up for carrying canoe full of gear to put-in, but this solves my problem of getting canoe on car. I USED to be able to just lift it up, but not any more! THANK YOU! Nothing like this on the market.
This is a great design. I built one for my kayak and it is bomb proof - so much more sturdy than the $100+ ones you can buy at a store or on line. Thanks for posting this video.
I looked at many suggested designs and decided on this one. I like the option of carrying the canoe right side up or upside down. I might suggest cutting a slot in the end of the axle to allow a screwdriver to keep axle from turning as lock nut is tightened. I originally had planned to have the dolly located at the middle of canoe when moving which would require a longer axle for my 17' canoe when carrying canoe upside down(a 3' axle would probably do). The advantage of locating dolly in the middle is that weight of canoe is balanced on either end making it easier to tow. With canoe upright dolly is easily located in center. One thing not really explained is that with an upside down positioned canoe relies on contacting the two pipes on either side. A single contact point on each side does not make for a stable support. The demonstration illustrates that stability is provided when the handle at bottom is forced up against the bottom making a three-point contact with the weight of canoe forcing the two supporting pipes toward the other side of a vertical line through the wheels. Probably a complicated way to explain it but the best I can do
I forgot to mention the handle when it flips up against the bottom of canoe when transporting upside down may hit thwarts or seats so positioning is important. I even thought about adding another "T" at the outboard end of single pipes at center, adding short pipes and another elbow and short pipe at ends to make a three-point contact on each side when transporting upside down.
Thanks man, I'll definitely use your design!!! And I'll send you pictures afterwards. You should sell this thing: I'm sure that you can do better than most of the manufacturers because your design is simple, functional, and cheap.
This is by far the best instruction for building a cart. We will adjust the width to fit the kayak and take the wings off for kayak purposes. Off to get parts Btw, the puppy is the best!!!
Just discovered this tutorial...super straightforward and clear. Great quality! Can't wait to try this out. My kayak bottom is scraped up from all the times I've dragged it around the side of the house...
Thanks for the video, and the design! I live right on a river but we're on a steep hill, so it's been a pain to drag the boats up by hand and one of the canoes has a keel, so I didn't like dragging it. I altered your design. We have 2 canoes of different sizes and a kayak. I ran into the same instability issue others did, so built two wheeled frames and interchangeable middle connecter pieces of different sizes to fit the different boats-this allows me to easily strap the frames to the seats and keep the boats from slipping off). I used an 1-1/4" pipe for the middle pieces and the handles from your 1" frames are 24" long, I slide them into the 1-1/4" middle pipe with 2 holes drilled on each for each side secured with locking pins. This way the cart can be easily adjusted for each boat and it can also be broken down for easy storage. There are trees on the hill between here and the house, so instead of doing the same 1-piece 5/8" threaded rod in the front, I broke down a portaging cart we had, repurposed the wheels that had independent pin sets and made a separate section for the front: your (shortened) design on top, with a separate piece of pipe below for the wheels, T-fitting in the middle, and I drilled a hole through the 2 T-fittings and inserted a bolt with some large flat washers between the PVC fittings so there's some (albeit clunky) steering. The T-fitting of the top part (your design) has the handle pointed backwards to be inserted to the middle 1-1/4 piece. The "axle piece" has the handle facing forward so I can hand-pull it or hook it up to a tractor. For that portion, I drilled a put a cap at the end of the handle and drilled a hole and put an eye bolt through it so I can connect it to the tractor pin, or I can carabiner a hand-pulling handle onto it. I finally finished and tested it today and it works. I think the extra torque strain from the hill might cause the front frame to break sooner. However your cheap and easy design, and. Ecause it isn't permanently attached to the back section will allow me to rebuild it and/or alter the design a bit to suit the extra strain. Sorry for the log-winded and poorly explained redesign. You were immensely helpful, though. If you're interested, I'll take some pictures or make a video. But it started raining shortly after I finished today.
This is pretty awesome. I got everything but the wheels from lows for just under $30 That included the 1" PVC pipe and fittings as well as a 3/8" x 3' threaded rod, nuts and bolts, pipe insulation, and pvc ratchet cutter. I got the wheels for about $8 for 2 at harbor freight. Before this project I purchased a dolly at sports authority for around $70 and it was a piece of junk, so I took it back. This PVC dolly will be much sturdier and i like the looks of it much better, and it floats. All for around $38 :)
The way you put it onto your vehicle was smart! Using the wheels to act like a second person almost. Ive been toughing it up the side of my vehicle and I am going to try that method next. I have some el cheapo cart I bought. I should make my own soon.
Finished up my cart today,works great.the only thing I did was make it a little wider and I have 13 inch wheels.would put a pic but not sure how on here.thanks for the video helped me out a lot!
I was looking for a DIY canoe trailer- and this exceeded my expectations! Well done! Love the supply list you provided- adult legos! Haha great project for my 8 year old Son and I. Thanks again!
Thanks for the idea. I made one and it seemed to be working ok, then it broke at one of the t-joints. I blame more my canoe being heavy as hell than anything. It's an older coleman canoe. Built like a tank but also just as heavy. I'll probably modify the design to suit my needs but building a second dolly with the same design and linking them up with the handle t-joint for better stability.
Burning the midnight oil. Just made one. Did not calculate one piece right. It's 4am now, home depot open I think at 6am. Going fishing at 8:30am. My friend is new to fishing and has not got use to getting up earlier. I'm always on the water by 7am. Thanks a lot, can't wait to use it. Going after some crappie today.
Just stumbled onto your video and plans. Great idea and best set of plans I have found so far. I just picked up a 15' Old Town Canoe. this will be perfect to move it around. Thaks.
Love, love, love this design! I'm a short (5' tall), 61 yo woman and I've been looking for a plan that would help me with my 11' kayak. I have little upper body strength so this would also help me load by being able to roll it up to my mini van. Can it be used to help unload? So happy to see this video. In fact, I have some of the materials (wheels, PVC) so all I need is the fittings, threaded rod, washers, nuts and pipe insulation. Your video is so well laid out, explained and demonstrated. I'll take pics when I have it finished. Thank you for sharing your plan. I so very much appreciate it!
This was a great video, thank you. I went out and bought everything and had it built in no time. Only thing I used different was 1/2 inch PVC, just because the kayak is a lot lighter. And it is a lot cheaper than going to Academy sports and buying one for 60 bucks.
I thought your design and presentation was great, too, so I built mine accordingly. Wasn't sure if I needed the wings, so haven't added them yet. But I think carrying it upside down may be best. Thanks!
Made some changes to the design to better fit my sit-on-top kayak, and two small cones on top to better fit the scupper holes and two closed hooks on both sides of the PVC pipe above the tires. This helps to secure it with a bungee both on the water and on land. I'll try to post a video.
Thanks again, for the clear and concise video. I've just completed mine, started out with a few mistakes, still got one that I won't try to fix as I've glued. :-)
So far so good. I had to cut two more 2" joiners cuz my end caps weren't like yours. But it went together. Haven't glued anything yet but it's together. I just hope it holds my tank of a canoe. It's a good 100 pounds.
Nice job you did not say how tall the frame is can you let me know. I find it hard getting the canoe on the dolly I guess I need to make a handle maybe you can send me a video of you doing this task.. I boat by myself and I'm 59 yrs old I'm not as strong as I used to be. Just to let you know I put out riggers on my canoe because I fish in the Hudson River it can be very rough at times. They work very well I will never flip with them oñ thank you for your video it helped me alot
Put it together almost to the letter of your pattern. As soon as I put my canoe on it it fell apart. I know that glue would sturdy it up somewhat but my canoe is aluminum and I think yours would work better with a plastic boat.
Great, simple design. Well done video. How about a piece of rope threaded through the handle end cap (knotted on the inside). Then you could run the canoe and cart right into the water at the ramp and retrieve the cart with the rope once the canoe is floating...
Hi, I made one and it works great and had no problems with your directions mainly because I do this sort of thing for a living (I'm a GC), but for projects such as this and others like it, may I suggest that you supply some sort of "cut list". Instead of just saying it should be 9" wide, 7" high, etc., a cut list allows for the lengths that go into the tee's, etc. For example: the fittings I used, the insert length is 15/16ths (so I rounded off to 1", because it's not that critical) thus, if you want 9" between fittings then you have to cut the tubing to 11". I little diagram at the end of the video of where these pieces go in relation to each other would be helpful. Also, I used the large wheels off of an old lawnmower and as things worked out I didn't need to cut the threaded rod, plus, I used end caps on the exposed ends which not only makes it look neater but it keeps the foam tubing from sliding off. I think mine could beat yours in a race.
Great video, cart looks great. The end caps are not available at Lowes, HD, or Ace in the Denver area, and $6 each on Amazon were a deal breaker for me...back to the drawing board!
If you haven't already figured something else out, I promise you HD carries the 1 inch. Schedule 40 plug (I used a plug rather than the cap because, unless you have a drill press, it's easier to drill a good hole in a plug than a cap that's going to be a little rounded-also I think it just suits this job better). I went in yesterday and made sure. I couldn't find it online or on the app, though, it only shows the threaded. There's probably a mistake in the computer system and they have the same SKU for both. Also, FYI, the employees that work there have no say over the organization of the department. There's a separate team that comes in and seems to do a set up that makes absolutely no sense, and right when we learned where everything is, they'd change it again. The smooth plugs were not only NOT next to the other plugs and caps, they were on a different shelf. If your Denver store doesn't have them find a manager or someone that's been there for a long time and have them call another store and get a store-to-store transfer. It may take a week, but it's free and the plugs will only be about $1. Hope this helps.
The only downside I see is that it doesn't look real stow-able to put in the canoe when you launch. But, I will make a version of it just to use in getting the canoe out of the truck bed and on the ground and putting the canoe away when I get back. I have a foldable cart that I use for pulling the canoe to the put-in, but I will make one of these and paint it black to throw in the truck.
I love it and I enjoy your video making skills. It took me a bit to get the pieces together as Alaska blows in terms of getting things cheap. That being said, I will be making one of these tomorrow (I hope) and I will video it and post it to my channel. The only thing is I wish you would have said what the measurements of each piece is. Wasn't too complicated, but it would have assisted in the process =) Thanks again! P.s. I have the same old style canoe you have, mine is an '82 and red.
This is a great idea and I thought about doing it. I priced out all the items and the cost was $51.49 at Lowe's. And that's using a much lower quality wheel that you showed. I found that I can buy a new one on Amazon or Ebay for less money. A consignment store here in my town actually has one for $50 that I am buying tomorrow. I'll save $ .49. But it is a good project, I just don't see the advantage from a price perspective.
Hardest part is getting the carrier to stay put underneath the canoe and not slip out. If you have any tricks, I'd love to see a video. Bungies and straps aren't helping at all. I'm on my second cart now because the weight of a standard canoe forces the cart to slip out and eventually break after too many tries.
I can’t get the cart to work with my cedar strip canoe turned upside down. The whole unit pivots downward, so that the “handle” is digging into the ground, or it pivots upward and the end of the canoe scrapes the ground. What’s your recommendation?
just buy a couple 16' wheels and some pvc and fitting's ( male and female and two end caps . Also buy a short length of aluminum rod and two pins and washers and a couple bungy cords one long enough to go around the canoe or kayak and one long enough to reach from that bungy to the front of the boat . cut the pvc in two sections that tgether are just wider than the boat . glue the male and female so you can break that piece down . drill holes for the rod in the end caps and epoxy them in the caps with enough for the wheels washers and pins on the outside of the caps and about 6 inches to go into the pvc pieces . drill holes in the rod for the lock pins . fill the pvc with epoxy also and install the caps with the rods epoxied in them . (if you want you can add d ring onto the pvc also to attach the bungy cord . Now just assemble the two half sections tightly slide the wheels on the rods then washers and use the lock pins to hold them on . attach the bungy cord and slip the canoe or kayak inside the loop . then use the second cord to the bow and the cord to keep it from coming off the end . ;) this will auto adjust and you can haul your boat over anything use a bag to store the parts when you hit the water .
Maybe this is a silly question but did you use pipe cement to seal it all together? I just built one ... thanks for the plans they’re awesome ... but in testing it out it isn’t tight enough to stay together, it sort of collapsed. I have several ideas for solutions just wondering what others have tried. Thanks!
Thanks! Great vid. I built based off of your parts list, looks great. However, when in use every single fitting rotates and it very easily collapses. How did you fit the pipes into the couplers? Did you use pvc cement?
Nice cart. I love the fact that I will be able to load my canoe on my Expedition without breaking my back! Can you give specifics of the components and the recommended assembly method? Thanks!
I built one of these today, thanks, you saved me a bunch of time figuring this out. My only problem is finding that pipe insulation, where did you get yours? Once I find that, I'll send you a picture. Thanks again, Jon
Ok, so I followed your instructions and I would say have the same cart. than you for the diagram. I have a big problem though. How in the world do you use the cart with the canoe upside down? for me it only has one point of contact on each side, making it really unstable, it wiggles and falls backward or forward. How do you hold the cart? Can you help me with that? THank you!
