The weather here in Provo has been beautiful.  In fact, it has been so beautiful that I am starting to believe that maybe I will be able to get out on the water sooner rather than later.  With that in mind I decided that instead of painting the mouse boat today (more on that in another article), I would build a new boat cart.

My last cart barely lasted the season.  I designed it around car topping it on my wife’s Kia Sedona, and  the wheels I chose were way too small.

Like always the solution had to be inexpensive.  It also had to be able to be made with a minimal amount of tools and skill.  This is what I came up with.

Basically, I just cut a 2×4 down to size and put wheels on the ends.  Then I simply lashed the board to the boat with one of the racheting tie downs from Harbor Freight.  The boat already has handles.  I just use those.

When I first started designing this cart I started by looking for an axle that reached all the way across the boat.  It quickly became apparent that a full axle was going to cost more than I wanted to spend.  So instead this is what I built.

Lowes had galvanized 1/2″ x 10″ anchors for $0.97 (I needed 2). and the pipe anchors were $0.63 for four (I used 6).  I already had the PEX pipe (I used it for the handles on the boat and some other stuff), 8 feet of PEX pipe cost me about a dollar.  I got the wheels from Harbor Freight.  They cost $4.99 each.

I dragged the cart around my neighborhood.  My neighbors are used to my oddities.  The board didn’t slip even when I flipped the boat on its side (yes, I put it on a little crooked and it stayed that way).  Once I verified that the cart was actually going to work I enlisted the help of some “boat models” to help show it off.

My old cart only worked with the boat upside down.  The new cart can be used either upside down or right side up.  Right side up it also doubles as a wheel barrow.  This is a big deal as I have to drag all of my boat stuff about a quarter of a mile to the place I normally launch.