Wilderness Systems Heavy Duty Kayak Cart - for Kayaks and Canoes

My kayak is the Bonafide SS107 sit on top fishing kayak, weighing in at 67 lbs without gear and approaching around 95 - 100 fully loaded (fishfinder battery, seat, poles, rod, pole anchor, tackle box, etc). I initially purchased and used a Malone MPG504 Xpress Scupper-Style Kayak Cart (it broke at the frame during 1/2 mile hike along a trail - cheap aluminum and clearly not up to the weight. This cart is rated at 450 lbs.Assembly: simple half page of visual instructions but it helps if you are a bit of engineer to understand how it goes together properly. You may want to check YouTube for video help. There are only basic set of parts, so it took me about 25 minutes to get it going. Part of the deal is making sure the tubes are aligned to your kayak (mine is tri-hull design, and the support tubes fit perfectly because they are adjustable!). The cart has two levels, high and low. I built mine high but didn't get the impression there was more than a couple of inches between "low" and "high".Sturdiness: The material are well made. Once together, I loaded the kayak by dragging the front end to the front of the cart in the first picture (I saw a video review that showed this - ingenious), then pulled it up and over - the cart settled nicely in the middle of the cart. Next, you take the two cam straps and tie the kayak on. Cam straps are very long so they should cover everything. Note: I'm not a fan of cam straps - I like ratchet types but Wilderness Systems thoughtfully put a heavy piece of leather/cloth to avoid the metal scratching the yak.Performance: simply awesome. While my kayak was not loaded at 67 lbs, maneuvering this was a piece of cake. I took it all over my driveway then over my very thick lawn (small hills). I also liked how the wheels allow you to pivot circularly in place (makes it easy to move in any direction). I just hand tightened the cam straps but that worked out just fine with no slippage. I haven't yet tried a major hike yet, but am I convinced this puppy will do trick nicely. At 200 bucks, it's one of the costliest carts out there but you get what you pay for here. If you intend on any kind of heavy kayak hauling, make the the investment!

I had bought an inexpensive kayak cart that worked fine on packed sand or any hard surface but the hard plastic wheels didn't roll well at all through dry sand. This cart is great. My kayak is much more stable on the cart and the low pressure inflatable tires will roll easily over virtually beach, rocky or sandy. I love it. It was a bit pricey but it works so well and is easy to load and unload that I wish I had bought sooner. I have a friend who bought a similar cart but instead of just dropping the kayak onto the cart and strapping it on, his has two vertical posts that stick up thru the scuppers on the kayak. It's great once it's loaded but getting it onto the posts is a job. If you're going to spend a chunk of money for a cart, I don't think you can beat this one.

It was extremely to assemble. No Directions are needed All you need to do it Look at it and its so easy. It fit my Perception Outlaw 11.5 perfect. The width adjustment is very easy. Just make sure if your Yak is not the same width they you know where you have the width set for for easy loading of your Yak into it. The ONLY thing I wish they had done was possibly install eyelets or something similar to fasten the tie down straps to.It would be much better for the price IF you didn't have to figure where to Tie your straps to it. a Slot or Loop welded on it would be much much better. I actually plan on Mounting a wide eyelet on each side for the straps to go threw instead of having to crawl down under the Yak and tie them to it. I have used it over some pretty rough ground sense getting it and Only drawback Is IF a rock big enough catch's one wheel it will turn over fairly easy or stop rolling on it. Have to MAKE SURE you use the Tie Downs on Rough hard ground to absorb the shock and vibrations. Yes I would purchase again and Yes I did recommend it to some of my Kayaking Friends. It is actually OVERPRICED for what it is BUT It is Very well made with Heavy Metal.

If you have any Old Town Topwater, this is the cart that you want. I tried a few different carts and they were just clumsy and didn't fit properly. It's worth the price.