Homemade Beach Cart
A simple homemade beach cart can be built by swiping some design ideas from homemade kayak carts, used to roll kayaks from a truck to the beach. The cart is lightweight, you can strap most anything to it and it uses either wide wheels or narrow, large diameter wheels to negotiate the deep sand commonly found on beaches. Assembling the cart requires no special tools or skills. Here's how it works.
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Things You'll Need
- 20 feet, 1-inch schedule 40 PVC pipe
- 6 1-inch schedule 40 PVC T-Joints
- 2 1-inch 90 degree schedule 40 PVC elbows
- PVC cement
- PVC cleaner
- Hacksaw
- 2 wheels and 36 inch axle (wide and low or tall and narrow)
- 4 1-inch schedule 40 PVC caps
- Zip ties
- Carpet scraps
Instructions
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Assembling the Cart
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1
Cut 3 pieces of 1 inch PVC--two 3-inch and 1 18-inch. Clean the ends of the pieces and the insides of two T's with PVC cleaner. Paint with PVC cement. Connect the 3 pieces in a straight line with the two one inch T's so that the long piece is at the center, the short pieces are at the ends and the open ends of both T's will be turned straight up. This is the axle assembly. If you have a pre-made axle and wheel assembly that's a different length, simply adjust the length of the 18 inch pieces to fit the axle you have.
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2
Cut two 15-inch pipes and cement them into the open ends of the T's in the first assembly you just made. Glue two more T's to the top of the vertical pipes so that the two straight through ends face upward and the 90-degree openings face each other.
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3
Cut an 18-inch piece of pipe and cement it between the two T's atop the pipes. Cut two 4-inch pipe pieces and cement them to the top of the T's at the top or the vertical pipes. Glue two T's on top of these pieces so the base of the T faces down and the straight through open ends are perpendicular to the axle assembly and will face front to back when the cradle is attached.
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4
Cut two one foot long pieces of one inch PVC pipe. Glue them to the top T openings, both facing forward toward what will be the front of the cart. Cement caps on both. Cut two 4 foot long pipes and cement them to the opposite ends of the top T's facing rearward.
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5
Cement the two 90-degree elbows to the ends of the 4-foot pipes with the open ends facing each other. Cut an 18-inch piece of PVC and cement it between the elbows to create a handle for the cart.
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6
Wrap the pipes that form the top cradle with carpet strips or split a foam swim noodle and wrap it over the pipe. Use zip ties to attach the padding or foam noodles.
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7
Cement 2 PVC pipe caps to the ends of the axle shaft. Drill a hole in the ends of the caps the exact diameter of the axle you are using. Thread the axle through the axle assembly so it extends beyond the caps. Thread large flat washers between the axle caps and the wheels. Attach the wheels and bolt them and secure them in place with lock washers or cotter pins. Your cart is ready to go. Simply strap your canoe, kayak or cooler to the top of the cart with bungee cords and roll it down to the beach.
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References
- Photo Credit beach image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
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picture ok
