My DIY milk crate combo kayak cart and gear holder

Wanted to share my cart/rod holder design now that the kinks have been ironed out and it's been proven with some use. This site has convinced me not to use scupper hole style carts because of the potential to generate hull cracks, and I wanted to eliminate the need to carry a cart back to the car/retrieve it from the car before/after launches and landings. Got the tires cheap from Harbor Freight, used a threaded rod for the axel, got a bolt set to hold the wheels on, and used black PVC/plumbing pipe with pool noodles to create the rod holders and a seat that the bottom hull of the kayak rests in. It took a little practice to get good at sliding the thing under the yak with a cam strap already on there for ease of slipping it around the hull and tightening it. The height of the wheels is tailored to the height of the sides of the yak so they rest in neutral fashion with the bottom of the cart squarely on the floor of the back deck. I even padded the bottom. The first time I used it, I was a little awkward strapping it on when I was tired at the end of the day, and I broke off one of the side tubes that acts as a cradle for the bottom hull. All it really needed was a couple more zip ties to make it more robust and a bit less user error. I'm feeling pretty confident in it now for both hauling the yak and holding rods/nets and such. I do need to be careful not to strap it on backwards or else it will want to come loose on surfaces like sand that don't let the wheels roll as easily. A bucket fits in to hold bait and keep caught fish from dripping their juices into the ocean.

Very inventive!  Love seeing the ingenuity of DIY stuff.  Making it a dual function device is pretty cool!  I will say that Hobies are at least re-enforced and specifically designed for (their) scupper carts.  But most of them are not, and the scuppers are really a weak point as the two halves of a mold join.  I didn't know they updated the steering lines to be solid either, what yak is that?

It’s a Passport. The solid steering works well, but the manually deployed rudder is a little annoying to manually deploy with your paddle if you forget to deploy it as you’re getting in the water.

The rudder system on the passport is the 2nd most annoying thing about that boat.  You can put the rudder down with a paddle, but it'd only be easy for a contortionist.  You cannot pick it up, though, you just have to plan on dragging it when you land.  The most annoying thing is the seat.  If you scoot forward on the seat to access the bow, the plastic tab holding in the rear bar of the seat bends enough that the seat pops free.  I have trouble recommending the passport to others because of these... but the price is decent, I guess.

love the ponies!