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Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 May 2016, 20:54
by laneends
Hows the expansion foam holding up to wear and tear?

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 May 2016, 20:56
by 4liters
Given the state of my set of wheels I might make something similar. The wheels seem easy enough to make, any idea how to make an axle sturdy enough for 50kg of kayak and gear?

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 May 2016, 21:28
by shane
4liters wrote:Given the state of my set of wheels I might make something similar. The wheels seem easy enough to make, any idea how to make an axle sturdy enough for 50kg of kayak and gear?
You can just buy gal steel rod and that will be easily strong enough at a diameter that just fits through the wheels. Rinse off and it should last a while. For my axle I bought a length of 316SS and have used that so it'll last a very long time. A fixed axle with the wheels spinning around it still rolls OK.

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 May 2016, 21:34
by shane
laneends wrote:Hows the expansion foam holding up to wear and tear?
I used contact glue in a can to secure mine, single sided but ideally should use on both sides. I've had some short sections come loose and I just rip them off an tape down. The surface of the foam has held up well but I have noticed the foam compressing over time with the weight of the PA. Compressed foam does not roll over soft sand anywhere near as well as fresh foam. So I've recently taken some off and re-wrapped another couple of layers of new expansion foam over the top, glued and taped. They're now back to new and rolling easily over soft sand. So I think its just something that an occasional bit of maintenance can easily fix. Either add another layer or refresh. The good thing is that the foam is very cheap and easy to put on. Plus they roll over all surfaces very easily, quiet and a smooth ride and never go flat. :thumbsup:

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 29 May 2016, 00:27
by Anthony
My axle is 12mm galvanised threaded rod and it's fine with the weight of the PA. It does flex slightly under the weight but it hasn't caused any issues. The PVC on my car is reinforced with tassie oak dowels which I just realised I didn't mention in my original post. One of the T fittings did come loose but I think that was because I didn't put enough glue on it the first time. When i redid it I put some bolts that run through the fittings, pipe and dowel to help prevent it from coming loose again and it seems to have worked. Other than the the dowel reinforced pipe seems to be fine.

My foam is still in pretty good shape but as shane said the outer layer could just be replaced if needed. All in all I'm very happy with the cart, a few months ago I was chatting with a guy who had the Hobie Trax cart with the big wheels and both seem to work about the same on sand.

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 Jun 2016, 01:23
by Anthony
I lost my cart last week so I made a new one, similar to my first one but I used aluminium tube instead of the dowel reinforced PVC pipe this time. I had everything but the foam and the wheels already but the total cost would be about $60 if you had to go out and buy everything. The construction was pretty straightforward but I took down all the measurements as it should be the same for any other hobie kayak. Although the dowel reinforced PVC pipe cart held up fine but the aluminium one definitely feels more sturdy. It took about an hour to make and can be done with a handful of basic tools. All that is needed is a hacksaw, drill, 19mm spanner and some pliers or vice grips.
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The materials used were:

- 2x 1 meter lengths of 25mm aluminium tube ($12)
- 1 meter of M12 galvanised threaded rod ($10)
- 6x M12 stainless steel nuts ($4.50)
- 6 meter roll of 150mmx10mm expansion joint foam ($17)
- 2x Kmart slider wheels ($16)

Start by cutting two pieces of aluminium tubes at 525mm and two pieces at 270mm. I then used a file to rough out a half circle at either of the smaller lengths and wrapped a piece of the tube in sandpaper to smooth it out so the the horizontal bars mated up with the vertical bars nicely. Be careful when doing this to make sure both ends match up. I then used a 31/64" drill bit (any bit slightly over 12mm will work) to drill a hole 20mm up from the bottom of the longer aluminium tubes the another hole 230mm up from the bottom of either tube and use some sandpaper to clean up any burr. Again be careful to ensure all the holes will align properly. Now use the same drill to ream out the axle holes in the wheels as they are slightly to small for the threaded rod. Cut a 330mm length of the threaded rod for the top cross bar as well as a 590mm length for the bottom cross bar and axle.

Cut the foam into two 3 meter lengths and and use a sharp knife to create a bevel at one end of each piece. The use a contact adhesive to glue the foam down to the wheels making three wraps. Cut the excess off at a bevel at the same point you started so that the wheel remains round. Now all that's left is to assemble everything. Take the longer piece of threaded rod and thread a nut about 150mm down from one end. Then slide one of the longer tubes on then one of the cross bars then the other longer tube and thread another nut on from the other side but don't tighten it down yet. Put the top cross bar in place and slide the shorter length threaded rod into place and thread a nut onto either end and then snug up all the nuts. Put the wheels in place and use the last two nuts to secure them making sure to not over tighten them as you want the wheels to rotate easily. Finally cut some pool noodle down to length and secure it to the cross bar.

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 28 Jun 2016, 16:32
by erik the viking
Great idea Anthony.
The aluminum should make a difference, especially if you have to tip the beast over onto it's side to get the cart in the holes.
At 12.5 mm for your threaded rod, just happens to be the same diameter as a Hobie cart axle.
So, if you drill out the Slider wheels, it will fit.
Tried it. For $16 plus foam cover a bargain. Bazinga.

Note: You must have a Hobie cart with the axle length long enough. Mine is 127mm
The Slider wheel hub length is only 115mm, so there is room to put some extra washers and a bit of pvc tube spacer.
How much are the Wheelez by the way? A bit more than $6?

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 20 Jul 2016, 15:53
by mazman
erik the viking wrote:Great idea Anthony.
The aluminum should make a difference, especially if you have to tip the beast over onto it's side to get the cart in the holes.
At 12.5 mm for your threaded rod, just happens to be the same diameter as a Hobie cart axle.
So, if you drill out the Slider wheels, it will fit.
Tried it. For $16 plus foam cover a bargain. Bazinga.

Note: You must have a Hobie cart with the axle length long enough. Mine is 127mm
The Slider wheel hub length is only 115mm, so there is room to put some extra washers and a bit of pvc tube spacer.
How much are the Wheelez by the way? A bit more than $6?
which cart did you put them on? looking at making some diy beach wheels that can fit on to the heavy duty cart.

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 20 Jul 2016, 19:26
by erik the viking
mazman wrote:
erik the viking wrote:Great idea Anthony.
The aluminum should make a difference, especially if you have to tip the beast over onto it's side to get the cart in the holes.
At 12.5 mm for your threaded rod, just happens to be the same diameter as a Hobie cart axle.
So, if you drill out the Slider wheels, it will fit.
Tried it. For $16 plus foam cover a bargain. Bazinga.

Note: You must have a Hobie cart with the axle length long enough. Mine is 127mm
The Slider wheel hub length is only 115mm, so there is room to put some extra washers and a bit of pvc tube spacer.
How much are the Wheelez by the way? A bit more than $6?
which cart did you put them on? looking at making some diy beach wheels that can fit on to the heavy duty cart.
Hey Alex;

I have the Hobie heavy duty cart for the beach wheelz.
Which ever one that has a axle length 127mm.
Just need to drill out the Slider wheels out with a 13 mm drill bit.
Oh, and put some foam on the top to soften the ride.
If you haven't got one , just make up the one Anthony put up.
You can use the idea of the aluminum tubing or not.

E

Re: DIY Beach Wheels (on the cheap)

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 21:22
by 4liters
Anthony wrote:I ended up having a go at Shane's idea with the expansion joint foam. I couldn't find any green machine wheels but K-mart had some wheels for their own version of the green machine so I went with those instead.
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The wheels measured 16cm wide and 24cm in diameter and can be had for $8 each. The axle hole on the wheels is 11.8mm which is a bit of a pain because it's a odd size so I drilled out the holes with a 31/64" (~12.3mm) drill bit so I could use some M12 threaded rod as the axle. At bunnings I got a roll of 150mm x 10mm x 6m expansion joint foam for $17 along with some 20mm PVC pipe and fittings for the frame of the cart. The 150mm foam is slightly too narrow for the wheels but it works fine. 6 meters was just enough to wrap each wheel 3 times so I'm glad I didn't make any cutting mistakes like I usually do. The total cost for the whole cart was $55.8.
IMG_0025.JPG
The cart works better than I was expecting. I've used it about half a dozen times on soft sand and it rolls over it like it's on pavement. Even steep soft sand hills aren't a problem. The only real issue is that the wheel are quite bulky so there might be issues if you want to store the trolley on the kayak. I just leave take them back to the car once the kayak is next to the water though.
Bump!

I've been spending the evening making something pretty much the same as this but I've realised I'll probably need something inside the bottom section of PVC to support the axle (M12 threaded rod). I tried boring a hole through a chunk of dowel but I either can't get the hole centered, or when I do the wood splits.

Any ideas?