Kayak Cart - Hobie Trax 2 Vs. Hobie Trax 2-30

I was looking at the Hobie Trax 2 ($219) Vs. the Hobie Trax 2-30 ($261) on Amazon....I plan on using this on all sorts of terrian but eventually want to get out at Pacific City on the sand. I have a Hobie Outback so the carrying capacity souldn't be an issue for me unless I am forgetting something heavy that I will be carrying with the kayak? (176lbs vs 242lbs). I was more curious about the tires its 24cm vs 30cm. Is the $42 worth paying for an extra 6cm?

I was leaning towards the cheaper unit for the cost savings and its 3lbs lighter. I am new to this whole kayak thing, is there anything else I should be paying attention to? Should I be looking at a different brand altogether? I only want to buy these things once so I am trying to do as much research as I can upfront.

Good timing. Last year I bought the Suspenz cart for my Outback. Total disaster. The cart does not fit the bottom of the Kayak. I tried all sorts of pool noodles and straps, but the minute it hit the sand all hell broke loose and ended up dragging it. Went looking for a solutions and found a ton. Started with https://gearcloud.net/diy-kayak-cart/ and did some hacks to the design and am happy where it came out. Have not taken it on the beach yet but I have pretty high hopes. The other thing I really like is how easy it is to load versus a cart in the scuppers. No tilting, just lift and move it to the side and the yak self settles on the pads.  Couple of pics. Also built it to be easy to completely disassemble if needed. The first pic is how it can be broken down. YOu can get the wheels for $80-90. I probably spent 30 on parts. One other mod I made to most of the designs I found was to NOT use the 5/8 threaded rod that fits the Harbor Freight wheels and used ridged tubing instead. Lighter and easier to make the wheels removable.

The 2-30 wheels are much larger in person compared to the 2's than they look in pictures.  I used to have the 2's for my Outback and now have the 2-30's for my PA.  The 2's were much better than the HD cart in the soft sand, the 2-30's are even better with the extra width.  There are two issues I have with the 2-30's, they are so big they take up a lot of room on the boat if you are bringing them with you, not as bad on the PA but much more so on an Outback.  The other issue is if you try to push them under the boat to put them on while still in the water you can't since they have a lot more air volume in them than the 2's.

That said, there is no way I would be without them if I'm going through anything more than 10-20' of sand to get to the water!

Kevein

The cart looks great, I made one with the same big balloon beach wheels myself last year and it worked great, but I made mine with EMT conduit because I had some short pieces laying around.  However, I would use schedule 80 pvc if you can. It is stronger.  I suggest the biggst ballon wheels you can find.  I have the smaller wheelez balloon wheels and they do nor work well at all in soft sand.  My current cart build I am working on will be electric powered with a remote. I was working on the parts that transfer the power to the wheels tonight. I just got done milling some aluminum plates with my CNC.  A great beach with over a 1/4 mile of sugar sand  between the parking lot and the fish is the mother of invention.

Here is last years unpowered version.