I liked this so much we made one ourselves.
It's funny too : )
It's funny too : )
Mike Wood - December 2004
The golf trolley was donated by a friend. Luckily I live in Scotland, where almost everybody plays the dreadful game! The tyres were knackered, which was the only reason he chucked it out - apparently a new set of tyres cost more than the trolley, and, being a Scot, he “retired” it. As you can see, it folds up quite neatly (if you’re putting it in a Volvo), but the possibilities are obvious.
The first cut....
Out with the cutting tools, then, and off with the handle and the bit that reaches to the ground to hold the back of the bag. I was left with the bit in the middle, which consists of 2 folding legs with wheels, the “spine” with a bracket for the legs, a cradle, 2 bracing rods and the mechanism that locks it all together. The tyres were, as you can see, a bit beyond redemption, so they came off as well.
A “whizzpin” holds the whole lot together and won’t fall out. It does have some “flex” however - if you don’t like that, and don’t need to dismantle this part to stow it, you might prefer to bolt it loosely enough to allow it to swivel for easier stowage - a spring washer would help here. Two bits of the discarded handle were crushed in the vise enough to slip over the ends of the V-bracket. These were hammered on tight and wrapped with foam padding. Pipe insulation works well enough. A luggage strap was passed through the whole lot - do this before finally force-fitting the pipes to the bracket. This is the “rear end” or main support “Vee” complete.
These are called "whizzpins" in my business,
although some call them "pip pins" and others "quick release pins"
although some call them "pip pins" and others "quick release pins"
The Whizzpins are an unusual item, but can be sourced from Light Aerospares (www.LightAero.co.uk) but be warned - they ain’t cheap.
Front Cradle.
The front cradle was left almost untouched. I wanted to use wider straps than it was designed for, so widened the slots in the brackets using a Dremel cutter, although a file would do the job - eventually. The webbing cushion strap that runs between the brackets was padded using bits of old closed cell foam sleeping mat, glued on. Similar luggage straps as used on the Vee were passed through the slots. This is the “front end” bracket complete, and serves to prevent the front of the trolley from contacting the hull, as well as steadying the whole trolley fore-and-aft.
The geometry of the original trolley was designed to carry about 25kgs (in my bit of Scotland this equates to 3 clubs, 2 secondhand balls and several cases of McEwans). To avoid the legs doing the splits, I used one of the original straps, taken around and under the ends of the bracing rods and pulled tight.
This makes a flexible “tie-bar” that keeps everything in the right place but doesn’t get in the way when folding.
Essentially, that’s as far as you might want to go. I took things several stages further because the original legs were a little long. This raises the C of G enough to make the trolley/kayak combo a little unstable if moving over steep and/or very rough surfaces/boulders/beach litter/beer cans. You may prefer to shorten the legs by 6” or so, which I did, and is the set-up seen below
This also means cutting the bracing rods and reforming the bend that holds them into the legs. Take care with this, ‘coz if you get the length wrong the wheels won’t be square to the kayak centreline and it’ll be harder to pull (not to mention wearing out the centres of the plastic wheels). I cut the legs off at the “top”, so leaving the holes in the right place for the bracing rods. You will need to drill new holes to reattach the legs to the Support Vee using suitable bolts. I used 2 Whizzpins to hold the legs in position, and those with storage problems might want to keep this arrangement to allow the legs to be quickly removed - tie the pins to something though...
Folding
The rest is just cosmetic really. I gave all the metal a good coat of Hammerite to defend against salt water, and sprayed all the bearing surfaces with WD40. As you can see from the photos, once the wheels are removed the level of “breakdown” that you need to go to will be decided by the size of your hatch.
Mike Wood - December 2004
(Editors note: The "whizzpins" Mike uses (or something similar) are also used by Kari-Tec for their kayak loader - they might be prepared to sell them separately?)
I will put ours on here when they're complete, but looking rather good now.
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