Ok, successfully planted the hobie 16 on the beach. now my dilemma is that i have to make several trips to carry the sails, cat trax and cooler down to the beach. i know, i should not be complaining about that.

i was wondering if anyone had experience with a fishing type cart/dolly or some method i could carry my sails/cat tracks and small cloth cooler down to the beach in one trip.

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Kenneth Purdy
Hobie 16
Nacra 5.2 (2)
Banshee
First Coast, Florida
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I don't have any experience with storing on a public beach but I always thought that if I did I would store my sails and accessories in a sail tube or sail box on the ground. I imagined burying some concrete or rail road ties deep enough under the sand and then locking everything up to those. Might be a little excessive but no one would steal your stuff.

The cat trax could be chained up to that as well.

I've found that with mast up storage, there will be tradeoffs of security and extra maintenance required for the convenience of having your boat easily ready to go.

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-Zach
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You could also use the cat trax as a modified cart to roll your stuff. Make your own or buy a t-handle for your cat trax and then make some sort of removable basket.

http://www.murrays.com/mm…_Code=C-TP&Store_Code=MS

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-Zach
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We leave the wheels on the beach and have never had a problem. I bought two of those bike chains that are like thick cables covered in plastic. It is supposed to be very hard to cut with bolt cutters, but I have never tested.

I bury a spare trailer tire about 3-4 feet down and run the cable through the ccenter and through the eye on the end. I use that to tie the boat down and I run the other end around the beam and lock it to itself with the coil wrapped around the axle on the wheels. Make sure to wrap the one on the axle so that the wheels can't slip through the loop. You have to make the wheels difficult to take apart on the beach by running bolts through the ends and then peening the end of the bolt so that you can't take the nut off. If someone can take them apart easily, they'll take them, but if you make it hard, chances are that they'll move on.

I also had custom covers make for the wheels to cover them to protect from UV damage. The covers are really just sacks made of tan sunbrella that sinch around each tire/cradle. It also adds a little bit of a camo effect to them.

I usually have a long walk to the boat, so I bought an internal frame back pack that holds all my gear and tools. I carry the sails on one shoulder and a small cooler in the other hand, so I'm balanced. One trip, done.

I use a garden cart I got from Home Depot. It's got 4 pneumatic tires that I deflate halfway so it moves over soft sand. It carries all my stuff, and the sails just drape over the top. It's steel, so it will rust. I don't really care what it looks like, I just oil the crap out of the hubs.

It works OK, but I like Zach's idea of doing something with the cat trax handle. I've got one, and I never use it.
Hmmmmm....

How much slope do you have? You could make a cart with wide tires that can roll down the hill and if it is a good slope to get up after a hard day sailing you can buy a nice electric winch to mount up by the house that can pull it back in for you. :) Or better yet just buy an old 4 wheeler.

I have a know a who has an old Suzuki Samarai that is unlicensed that he only use to go from house to beach to put boats in or out. Not sure he needs it much now as the water level has increased greatly the last 2 seasons. The beach used to be quite a ways away.

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
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