boat owner

Dinghy wheels on test

Dinghy wheels on test

A

ll these methods worked

well – and your choice will

depend on the type of

boat you wish to transport.

For inflatables with rigid

transoms, the Waveline and

dinghy dolly wheels would work

well and fold up unobtrusively.

However, much also depends on the

type of slipway you’re likely to be

using. Anything hard and the small

wheels do well, but as soon as you

get to soft mud, sand and shingle,

the bigger wheels would be beneficial.

The canoe trolley was a useful option that didn’t require bolting

anything to the boat, and it would work well as long as you’re

not carrying too much weight. And if you’re in the habit of only

moving your tender once or twice a year, then the rollers would

be a good option – but they might not last too long with regular

use over rough ground.

PBO verdict

Waveline

transom wheels

PRICE: £129.95

Max Load: 100kg

Contact: http://www.force4.co.uk

These are a different kettle of fish, comprising 260mm pneumatic tyres

mounted on the end of stainless steel legs. These are longer than the

other Waveline product and the dinghy dolly wheels, allowing you to

move the boat around with the outboard down. When mounting, take

care that the brackets are far enough up the transom to allow the wheels

to fold up clear of the transom. In use, the pneumatic tyres gave us

much-improved performance compared to the other sets of wheels,

tackling gravel and soft sand with ease and giving a much smoother,

quieter ride over hard surfaces, as you’d expect.

The wheels lock up or down by sliding over a cotter pin, with lugs

further up the legs locating in cut-outs. We found that these weren’t a

particularly positive fit, and could jump out while rolling over large lumps.

However, more weight – particularly an engine – would help with this

problem. We also found that their long legs meant that you had to

immerse the boat a long way on a shallow slipway before you could

climb in. They would be better for steep slipways.

Eckla Explorer

260 canoe trolley

PRICE: £89.95

Max load: 100KG

Contact: http://www.eckla.de/en

A further option for occasional boat movements is a canoe/kayak trolley.
This one is designed for large Canadian canoes, and folds up into a
storage bag. It has a kick-down support to help loading the boat onto
it, and uses the same wheels as the transom wheels featured above. It
coped well with all the surfaces we tried it on and, in fact, being able to
balance the boat with the trolley in the centre made it easy to wheel
around. The only issue was the boat slipping forward or back, which
can be countered by lashing it down with a strap.

Inflatable

boat roller

PRICE: £19.95

Max load: 400kg

Contact: http://www.force4.co.uk

Harking back to the days when boats were launched on rolling logs,
these inflatable boat rollers from Trem are a good way to move boats
around occasionally – whether they’re heavy boats being transported up
the beach for a spot of painting, or tenders being conveyed to the water.
This one is made from PVC and can take loads of up to 400kg. Ideally
you’d have at least two and preferably more, so that you can take the
one that pops out under the stern and place it under the bow as the
boat rolls along. We found it a really easy way to move our heavy
inflatable up the beach, and the thick PVC managed to cope with
sharp stones as it rolled over them – although regular use might
cause more damage. These could double up as buoyancy bags
for a rigid dinghy – a useful multi-purpose role?

As you’d expect, small wheels

are less good for soft ground

This canoe trolley could be placed

so the boat was well balanced

A roller or two proved a

useful way to move the

dinghy around

Much longer-legged,

these coped well

with soft surfaces.

INSET However, the legs

could jump out of their locks