• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

kayak wheels

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

divedog

New Member
Jul 21, 2002
37
3
0
i have a cobra sit on top kayak and i need wheels for rugged northern california...rock, sand, steep trails. there are many products out there and i would like insight from others as to the best product out there. i want a high quality product that works...thanks all.
 
canine cart

Divedog,
I can't make any suggestions, but like my Cobra Tourer and wouldn't mind finding a decent cart for long transports. I'll be interested in the responses - thanks for posting.
 
another No Cal guy??

yeah, and thanks for all the cards and calls, Chris! :t

I'm up here too DDog and use a board a lot. The best set of wheels I've found is to have a buddy on the other end.:D Seriously, I've tried most makes and have made my own with a fiberglass cradle and mountain bike wheels, but the ground where I go is either too rocky or too sandy, or too, well you get the picture. If you just go to Stillwater or Ocean Cove you can change the wheels to suit and off you go, but, man what a pain in the rear!

My good amigo and DB member here, Fred has a set that Monterey Bay Kayaks sells and it works well for him, though the times he uses it alone are few, as I'm at the front with the two noses or at the back with the tails in hand... You'd think that it'd be a no brainer to adapt a wheelbarrow design to this usage, but after all is said and done, I just lob the thing over on my shouldar and grunt. (and I know I'm going to be sorry for making that admission around here...:hmm )
 
-heard the grunting behind me, so I ran

gee, I really owe you an apology sven; I really should have returned all your calls, cards, emails, . . . that wasn't you who sent flowers, was it? . . . the grunt had me confused.;)
 
I have Tsunami X-3 Trident sit-on-top Kayak made with Kevlar, and I will sell it with a cart. It is 24’ long and 29” wide at the widest point. I also have two graphite bent handle paddles. Cost me over $4,500. Will make you a great deal. Check out a new one at http://www.tsunamikayaks.com. Very well built and lighting fast. Mine is white. It’s really about a 2 ½ person kayak. You can put a child or a small adult in the front, but for serious offshore use, it’s a 2-man kayak with storage in front.

I used to live on a canal. Now it just sits under cover in my back yard.
Don
 
Carries 2.5, but

How many does it take to get it off the car top? -Looks like a 3-man job. Is thing over 7 meters long?
 
Your correct, it is a beast, but its not without reason. The optimum length of single kayak is around 17 to 19’ feet. As a kayak gets longer, it is sits higher in the water, due to a greater area to displace the water. As it gets longer, it also has greater drag. This is why there is an optimal length. One factor weighs against the other.

Most all double kayaks are not long enough for optimum efficiency due to the extra weight of the 2nd person. They are usually in the 19 to 21 foot range. The increased power provided by the extra person makes up for the decrease in efficiency due to it sitting to low in the water. Having it 24 feet, makes it sit a little higher, and therefore faster.

Yes it is longer than 7 meters. 7.38 to be exact. It weights about 120 lbs so two people is no problem for car top loading. It can be a challenge for one person, but I have managed it a few times.

Like all high performance kayaks it tips easy and you have to develop balance. The balance part comes fast. I have taken it through high surf and out to oilrigs from 1½ to 4 miles before.

To get on it from the water you have to put a hand on each side rail and evenly distribute your weight as you push up and swing your legs and butt on it. This basically means you have to be able to do a bar dip. This shouldn’t be a problem for most freedivers and I have seen in shape women do it before too. I have held it in the water and allowed women to craw on to it. Once they were on I would then mount. (okay, I expect some one to make joke about this!)

I have put two children and two adults on it several times, inshore, and had a lot of fun, so it kind of doubles as a family boat and a offshore boat. The one thing you don’t want to do is take someone who has never kayaked before offshore. It doesn’t matter how much balance you have if they have none they will tip you over. I literally drug a guy the last mile coming in who totally lost his balance and confidence. Confidence is a big part of balance and when it goes, so does balance. It is possible to teach someone how to kayak and get the balance needed for offshore, quickly, if you do it in protected waters.
Don
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadowkiller
Don, we would love to discuss your X-3 Trident. We have 2 18ft solos that we brought to the Island, but when we have freediving guests we have no boat for them. Plus we have been wanting a 2 person boat, when we are both diving or hunting it just seems that it would be easier to manage than two boats.
We have found that wheels even here in the Bahamas are minimally useful. But here we are able to trailer our boats with our 4 wheel drive to even the remote beachs.
 

Attachments

  • 736851-r1-4a.jpg
    736851-r1-4a.jpg
    17.1 KB · Views: 476
  • Like
Reactions: jimdoe2you
I need to get a scanner for photos

I made a canoe out of kevlar and resin when I was 16 for backpacking and canoeing. When I started taking the boat out in open waters I removed the inner rubrail then glued and rescrewed a dry zipper in place to accept a bi-laminant skirt. Then came the out rigger, skeg and leeboards because I wanted to sail rig the tiny 11'6" lol craft. I have revised the skirt so many times and there are so many zippers that this craft can be used in any way imaginable. The major advantage is the netting on the outrigger spars. This enables me to paddle/sail to the dive site then don my wetsuit just before I enter and dof it upon exit. The mast and boom are two piece I take them down and stow them to reduce windage. I can sail to my site and paddle more quickly than most kayaks I have seen, because I have two very small dicplacement hulls that are spread wide to give stability. The primary hull alone without skirting weighs only 15 pounds. When I was younger and sillier I hit it with a sledge hammer for a demo to my friends and it just bounced fifteen sustaining no damage and only scratching the gelcoat. I have trailered this canoe, all rigging, camping and freedive gear through the San Juan Islands behind my bike using a BOB rack yoke attached between the bow of the canoe and the rear spindle of the bike. The stern of the boat has a wheel attachment that gets things rolling. Everything(all rigging and all gear) fits nicely inside the canoe and is easy going underway. At the dive site I use the yoke as the handles for a wheel barrow style set up. That is it, almost eight years later and it is finally done, I hope. :confused:
 
Re: Take a look to Kayakdiving.com

Originally posted by projas
This is a very infomarmative site.
http://www.kayakdiving.com/
Regards,
Patricio

I agree. I've sent questions to the authors of the site and they are very responsive and helpful. I also bought their books on solo and tandem sit-on-top kayaking - very much pitched for the beginner, but if you are just gettign started kayaking, I give them very high marks.
 
thanks icarus, i went by monterey bay kayaks and checked out their wheels. i also did some internet research. rolleez has some really nice yellow wheels...not cheap but the best i could find. the wheels easily pop off the axel by pulling a pin. the whole thing then stows easily inside the hull of the kayak...convenient when you don't want to leave them on the beach or tote them back to the truck. these are large wide wheels that work well on sand. with proper balance it is very easy to move, even with all the gear on top. the cradle fits the kayak well. thanks all.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT