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My Homemade Bike towed Canoe Trailer

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by CarolinaJim, Jan 12, 2008.

  1. CarolinaJim

    CarolinaJim New Member

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    Who needs a Prius...just kidding.:) In my old life as Suburban600 (RIP: mort due to terminal whatismypasswordnolongerhavethatemailaddress) I talked about posting picture of my bicycle canoe trailer.

    If you are a canoe or kayak person you may want to visit the link below to see detailed pictures of my bicycle canoe trailer.

    Bicycle_Canoe_Trailer
     
    #1 CarolinaJim, Jan 12, 2008
  2. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    That's a cool setup. What's the furthest you've towed the canoe?
     
    #2 tripp, Jan 13, 2008
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I do the same sort of thing, but for walking. We are so close to the water that a bicycle wouldn't really help, plus the hill in front of our house would make it tough. I used to use a small canoe dolly that sat under the canoe like yours, but finally fabricated a light welded metal cart with bicycle wheels. We use it for our 17' canoe, our 10' Walker Bay dingy that we use as a tender for our sailboat, and our 12' Shellback sailing dingy. I made it free standing, as I always had to fuss with a dolly that goes underneath. Those aren't bad when you have someone to help you, but tough to get aligned when you are by yourself.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Jan 13, 2008
  4. CarolinaJim

    CarolinaJim New Member

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    Each boat bottom brings unique problems.

    To launch my scanoe I chock the dolly wheels a slide the canoe in the water. I reverse the operation for putting the dolly on the trailer.

    The flat bottom and runners align easily with the dolly runners (2x4's). Launching and trailering the fully loaded scanoe is not a problem. I keep the tongue attached for a hand hold. It's an easy one man operation.

    Tripp the furthest I've taken the rig so far is 1.3 miles. You should see the looks on peoples faces when I am sitting at the stop light waiting to go down the hill to the park where I launch the canoe.
     
    #4 CarolinaJim, Jan 13, 2008
  5. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    Excellent.
     
    #5 tripp, Jan 13, 2008
  6. thegarrison

    thegarrison The Garrison

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    Let me know if you ever come up with a design that can be pulled by the Prius. I need to pull my ?115 lb, 17 ft Old Town Discovery Sport about 2 miles from the camp to the launch. The problem is the steep hill to get back home. (Plus the fact that I am out of shape and overweight!) I have to figure something out, cause my daughter wants to fish every weekend we are in ME and the reason we bought the Prius is to save on gas during the 270 mile trip up north we take each weekend! HELP
     
    #6 thegarrison, Jan 21, 2008
  7. CarolinaJim

    CarolinaJim New Member

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    Hey Garrison,
    Saw you probably got the answer in the other forums. If I can pull a canoe weighing about the same as yours with my bike I can't see the prius having any problem. I saw one guy had a jon boat hooked up, others with really fancy looking trailers for luggage/surfboards/bikes etc so, should be no problem.

    Around here there is limited access to the water for boat/trailer combos. So, the bike canoe trailer opens up a lot of options that would not otherwise be available.

    As for outa shape and overweight, a doctor once wrote in my record...well fed. Growing up in a farm community I kinda was expecting a blue ribbon!

    Anyway, pedaling down to the river about 1.5 miles, thrashing about a bit with the paddle and then uphill on the way back does a little to keep me out of the grand champion category.
     
    #7 CarolinaJim, Jan 25, 2008
  8. CarolinaJim

    CarolinaJim New Member

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    Now that I've figured out how to post a picture. Here is a picture of the BCT combo. Details can be found at the link.
     

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    #8 CarolinaJim, Jan 28, 2008
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