Pontoon Boat Wheels?

[forgiven]

Any of you put wheels on your pontoon boats to wheel 'em down to the water when you can't back your rig down?

Or do you drag your 'toon down to the water then pack the troller, battery & etc down separately?

It seems it would be nice to rig the boat up and wheel it all down pretty much ready to go. []

I'm betting some of you have "MacGyvered" up some things that work well. Care to share?
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[flygoddess]

For my big pontoon, I usually have help carrying it down, but the other boats I carry myself. I have pulled my pontoon, but the ground has got to be smooth like grass. No sand or gravel.
And then I pack the battery and motor down. Also on the pontoon with help, we put everything on the boat except battery and haul it all at once.
I have walk some great distances for the battery...no big deal to me.

There should be some in the Archives about wheels. One used a wagon, one used a golf bag cart...one with PVC. Type in tube wheels in search.
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[northernbassin]

my toon has a wheel you can fold up and down. I have not tried it out yet at the launch. but I have in my back yard. it is a little tipsy to say the least. I am afraid of dumping my gear with it .
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[idahopanfish]

I am trying to come up with a system thatr would slide on and off at the motor mount and the use the foot rest like the handles on a wheel barrel, still in the designing stages.
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[forgiven]

Here is the link to the discussion you are talking about I think: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=434133"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=434133[/url]

There are some good ideas!
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[Bassamatic]

I bought one of these kayak carts that has quick release wheels and folds up. I had to "hose clamp" two 48" PVC tubes across the top of it since my H3 is so wide that the tubes on each side were rubbing the wheels. Now it works great! I used it for the first time yesterday and now up and down the big hill leading to Upper Otay is NO PROBLEM!! Once folded the cart lays nicely behind the seat on the H3 with the wheels tucked underneath. I was able to load ALL my gear on the H3 after I strapped it to the cart with 4 bungee cords (I drilled holes in the ends of the PVC tubes to attach the bungees to). Total cost for everything was approximately $75.00. I know I could have built something much cheaper IF I had had the time. I have a couple of old golf carts that I could have modified and a light weight hand truck with pneumatic wheels that also could possible have been reconfigured to work, but I really wanted something with bicycle type removeable wheels so I could take the cart with me on the water and not have to leave it on shore where it could be permanently "borrowed" by someone. Hope this helps you out a little.
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[pontoonman]

Hi, I'm new to this forum but have been toying with pontoons form many years. I've developed a number of different wheel arrangements over the years. My present state of the art system uses the smallest dock wheel in a metal yoke pivoted on the rear support strut of my pontoon. Dock wheels are a lot cheaper thru amazon $17 than the wheeleze products and have all the advantages. So it is basically a "wheelbarrow" arrangement that weighs less than 4 # and swings up out of the water behind my seat where I latch it with a small chain. Much lighter system than any two wheel arrangement. Handles tall grass and rought and narrow terrain much better than 2 wheels.

Hope this helps.

Pon

[quote forgiven]Any of you put wheels on your pontoon boats to wheel 'em down to the water when you can't back your rig down?

Or do you drag your 'toon down to the water then pack the troller, battery & etc down separately?

It seems it would be nice to rig the boat up and wheel it all down pretty much ready to go. []

I'm betting some of you have "MacGyvered" up some things that work well. Care to share?[/quote]
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[forgiven]

[quote pontoonman]Hi, I'm new to this forum but have been toying with pontoons form many years. I've developed a number of different wheel arrangements over the years. My present state of the art system uses the smallest dock wheel in a metal yoke pivoted on the rear support strut of my pontoon. Dock wheels are a lot cheaper thru amazon $17 than the wheeleze products and have all the advantages. So it is basically a "wheelbarrow" arrangement that weighs less than 4 # and swings up out of the water behind my seat where I latch it with a small chain. Much lighter system than any two wheel arrangement. Handles tall grass and rought and narrow terrain much better than 2 wheels.

Hope this helps.

Pon

[quote forgiven]Any of you put wheels on your pontoon boats to wheel 'em down to the water when you can't back your rig down?

Or do you drag your 'toon down to the water then pack the troller, battery & etc down separately?

It seems it would be nice to rig the boat up and wheel it all down pretty much ready to go. []

I'm betting some of you have "MacGyvered" up some things that work well. Care to share?[/quote][/quote]

Sounds cool. Do you have a picture you could post?
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[pontoonman]

Don't have pictures and don't know how to post at this point but will eventually get to it. If you want to know what it looks like the closest thing is this:

[url "http://www.oregonfishing.com/detail.aspx?ID=172"]http://www.oregonfishing.com/detail.aspx?ID=172[/url]

Look at the 2nd wheel priced at $159. The differences are that it uses a much WIDER wheel which is easier to balance, is half the weight, the yoke is from a toy ATV, and there is a hinge at the rear strut which allows the wheel to swing up behind the seat and attach to it. A quick snap cable extends from the front strut to the yoke fork for keeping the wheel to the ground for rolling, and is unsnapped when the wheel is swung up and attached behind the seat.

Pon
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[forgiven]

I think I have an idea of what you did [:/] but it would be cool to see some pix. I'll keep watching for them.

The most simple way to post pix is to just copy and paste them right into the text window when you post.[]
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[flygoddess]

Pon, if all else fails, post them and I can resize them for you.
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[pontoonman]

Ok, it may take a couple of days to get some pictures. In the meantime here are some references to the wheels:


[url "http://www.wheeleez.com/beachwheelsPVC.php#scw"]http://www.wheeleez.com/beachwheelsPVC.php#scw[/url]

[url "http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Made-Products-Replacement-Wheel/dp/B000MUTFQI#moreAboutThisProduct"]http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Made-Products-Replacement-Wheel/dp/B000MUTFQI#moreAboutThisProduct[/url]

I see that amazon has raised their prices from what I paid.

Pon










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[forgiven]

Where did you buy the cart?
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[Bassamatic]

I bought my cart InStep CC450 Kayak Cart on Ebay with Free Shipping for $65.00. There are cheaper carts for sale on Ebay BUT I wanted the quick removal bicycle type wheels.

I will try to get a picture of my entire rig when I go fishing this Saturday.
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[forgiven]

Dude! You should change your handle to "MacGyver"![cool]

Clever set up for the wheel. It that a custom homemade frame?
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[mdtolic]

That wheel is a great find.

The behind the seat thing won't work for me though. I want to go with the foot rests as handles rout, but still haven't been able to get anything going.
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[pontoonman]

Thanks, I enjoy tinkering like that. I went with this dock wheel because it is wider, cheaper, lighter and can be deflated almost flat for a carry on pack since it has no hub like the wheeleze. No rock or weed interference with an axle, which was my previous design pictured. The jolts are softer (built to take sudden shock at docks) when I clear 6" rocks (higher than the landscape timber in the picture) and I can lift the whole pontoon and carry easily over distances of 50' or so if necessary. It floats if I lose it overboard. It is self inflating because of its thick, semi rigid material when left alone and self deflating if overpressured. Don't think small punctures would affect anything. May not work with really heavy boats unless you have a way to repressure because it is built to slowly leak over 20 minutes like that, yet still supports 40 # relaxed after rolling without compression stress. I didn't like the thinner wheel commercial models which have clearance issues, are harder to balance, heavier, hard to store on board even when disassembled and have corrosion issues for the bearings and metal parts.

The frame was propped up for the picture because I had been working on it and it wasn't attached to the pontoons. It is a homemade universal fit to any pontoons. I am improving on my previous design for even lighter travel packaging.

[quote forgiven]Dude! You should change your handle to "MacGyver"![cool]

Clever set up for the wheel. It that a custom homemade frame?[/quote]

[flygoddess]

Is that a frame you built? It looks like just a couple of bars with some sort of end holding them together. Plus I like that is doesn't curve down between the toons like most, but how do you keep the toons stable (keep them from rolling in or out.
I have a FLAT frame also, but there is a bar underneath to attach the toon to so it can roll in or out.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I have been tinkering with different "tube carts" over the years. One of the designs I recently made from a couple of cheap pneumatic tires from Harbor Freight would work well for a toon, if you made it sturdy enough.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The design relies on a simple supportive frame of PVC or stronger material, to support both sides and to provide an axle for the wheels. I inserted 1/2" bar stock through the PVC for the wheels to turn on. You can drill and cotter pin the ends of the bar stock to secure the axle.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[inline "PNEUMATIC FRONT.jpg"]

[inline "PNEUMATIC TIRES.jpg"]
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[pontoonman]

This message and thread should be of help, Peter.

Pon

[quote pontoonman]Ok, it may take a couple of days to get some pictures. In the meantime here are some references to the wheels:


[url "http://www.wheeleez.com/beachwheelsPVC.php#scw"]http://www.wheeleez.com/beachwheelsPVC.php#scw[/url]

[url "http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Made-Products-Replacement-Wheel/dp/B000MUTFQI#moreAboutThisProduct"]http://www.amazon.com/...moreAboutThisProduct[/url]

I see that amazon has raised their prices from what I paid.

Pon

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[.IMG][url "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/FlyGoddess/Boat%20and%20Motor/101_1561.jpg[/IMG]"]http://i44.photobucket.com/...r/101_1561.jpg[/IMG][/url]

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[.IMG][url "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/FlyGoddess/Boat%20and%20Motor/mail.jpg[/IMG][/quote]"]http://i44.photobucket.com/...l.jpg[/IMG][/quote][/url]
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