A cheap kayak cart.. why not??

It's 2005, I just bought my first kayak, a Hobie Outback, and needed to get that thing from my car to fishing spots so started looking at kayak carts. I checked on the internet and just about crapped my pants when I saw that most were over $100. A few bars of aluminum and tires for that, I thought. I looked a little more and found a few lightweight (duh!) scupper carts that only ran $50 or so. Without thought I grabbed one, which shall remain nameless, and got down to fishing.

Right away I realized it was a real biotch to get the thing on and off the cart. I had to halfway flip the thing over just to get it seated. It wasn't that bad when I was getting ready and I had an empty yak but when I just got back and was on the beach with a full yak and dead tired, dare I say it sucked. I'd do my best to take as little off my yak and turn it on it's side to get the cart set. I'd always dump something off that'd get smashed or covered in dirt and sand. Who knows how much stuff I lost because of that stupid cart. Then When it came to going over rough terrain it just bogged and with little support and 1/2" of foam between my cart and yak it was a jarring ride.

So then the fateful day came. I arrived at my favorite place to rockfish and got things ready like any other day. Little did I know that the plastic spoked on this crap-o-rama cart were cracking as I loaded up the yak for the 20th time. Seems a 1/8" thick plastic wheel doesn't do a good job of holding up a loaded 85# kayak. I went fishing and had a pretty good day. Tankwell full of fish and beat from the summer heat I got to loading the yak on the cart on a crowded beach. Of course I  dumped something and this time it was my stringer of fish. 10 rockfish fully coated in sand flapping around. So I got to lugging the full yak back to the car. On the way back there was a set of five 3" stairs I had to go up. Not too bad but  the jarring wasn't fun. I had the last of a paved 200 yard stretch left to the car and took a quick breather. I got to pulling when I heard a POP!! SMASH!! I looked back to see my cart severely leaning to one side. I look back and one wheel's spokes had given and had collapsed and stranded me with a loaded heavy yak. I thought about all the crap this cart had given me and how I cheaped out on it. It was beyond repair and even if I could I didn't want the cursed contraption. As my blood came to a boil I used that energy to pull the yak back to the car anyway. The sound of plastic and cheap metal grinding the asphalt behind me beach goers game me the strangest looks. But I could care less. This cart was gonna get my gear back to the car no matter what the sacrifice. This bugger was gonna go down as the lesson of buying cheap crap.

By the time I got to the car I had ground down the wheel to the hub. There was this strange satisfaction at seeing the scraped metal and melted, twisted plastic. Lesson learned..

Z

Zee-that looks like some weird mk 1 Gps antenna.Good story.
T2

I've seen a lot of carts blow, but that's got to be one of the best!!!

-Allen