How to Build a Kayak Hauler

A kayak hauler, or cart, lets you wheel your kayak around rather than carry it over the shoulder. While carrying a kayak for short distances is not particularly difficult, a kayak cart is convenient for longer distances. In addition, with a kayak cart, a kayaker can fill the boat with gear, supplies and luggage and use it as a makeshift suitcase. Kayak carts are cheap and simple to make.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 2-inch PVC unthreaded plugs
  • 4 2-inch PVC tees
  • PVC primer
  • PVC glue
  • 10-foot by 2-inch diameter PVC pipe
  • Tape measure
  • Saw
  • Drill
  • 1/4-inch bit
  • 2-foot 6-inch, 1/4-inch diameter axle
  • 1/4-inch axle spacers
  • Thermoplastic rubber wheels with 1/4-inch axle holes
  • 1/4-inch axle caps
  • Hammer
  • 4 2-inch PVC elbows
  • 2 6-foot straps with cams
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Swab primer and glue on one arm of two of the PVC tees. Swab the legs of both PVC plugs. Slide the plugs into the tees' arms. Hold the plugs in position for 10 seconds while the glue cures.

    • 2

      Cut a 2-foot length of pipe. Primer and glue each end of the pipe. Do the same to the other two arms of the plugged tees. Slide the tees over the ends of the pipe. Twist the tees until the legs are parallel with one another. To assure parallel, lay the pipe on a flat surface. Twist the tees until both legs touch the surface.

    • 3

      Drill 1/4-inch holes in the radii of the two plugs. Slide the 1/4-inch axle into one plug, through the 2-foot pipe, and out of the hole of the opposing plug. Slide a spacer over each end of the axle, then a wheel over each. Pound an axle cap over each end of the axle.

    • 4

      Cut two 1-foot lengths of pipe. Primer and glue both legs of the wheeled tees and one end of each of the pipes. Slide the pipes into the legs of the tees. Primer and glue the legs of two more tees. Slide the tees over the ends of the two 1-foot pipes. Twist the tees until the arms are parallel. The holes of the arms of the tees do not face one another. The arms of the tees constitute two separate but parallel lines.

    • 5

      Cut four 1-foot lengths of PVC pipe. Primer and glue one end of each, then all four arm holes of the two tees. Slide a pipe in each arm of both tees. Primer and glue the ends of each of the four pipes and one hole in each of the four elbows. Slide the elbows over the ends of the pipes. Twist the correlating elbows -- those on the ends of the two pipes that are on the same side of the two tees -- until the holes in the elbows face one another. Do the same with the elbows on the pipes on the other side of the tees.

    • 6

      Cut two 2-foot lengths of pipe. Primer and glue the holes of the four elbows as well as both ends of each pipe. Slide a pipe between the first pair of elbows facing one another and the second pipe in between the second pair. The effect is a pair of wheels and an axle attached to two risers that support a rectangle.

    • 7

      Rest the kayak on the rectangle. Wrap the two straps around the top of the kayak, down under the rectangle -- one at each end -- and back up to the top of the kayak. Cinch the kayak down with the cams.