Need opinions on kayak cart wheels

I built my own cart which I like and now it's time to get some better wheels.

I'm going with the Wheelez/Roleze wheels, but I'm not sure what size would be best. I have a 1" axle so I can get a variety of wheels from Wheeleze.
 
I'm looking at the 30 cm (11.7" X 7.0" tread width) which is what comes on the standard size Wheeleze kayak cart, or the heavy duty 42 cm size (16.5" X 7.9" tread width). The 30 cm size has a very shallow tread, and the 42 cm is absolutely smooth.

My opinion is that the bigger wheel should make the thing easier to pull over any and all terrain including soft sand.  and if there's any sliding across sand versus actual rolling then the smooth one would be best as well.

However I have found that what seems intutitive to me is not always true.

I asked (by email) the guys at Wheeleez and their answer wasn't immediately helpful. May try them again.  

Since everyone seems so happy with their standard Wheeleez carts I thought about scraping mine and just getting one of theirs, but you know how us do it yourselfers are.

So I'm asking for any and all advice and opinions.  

Thanks
dale

I have a standard cart and you can just barely get the wheels in a tarpon 160 hatch. fit into a scupper pro hatch a little more easily. my wheels are not smooth, but I would not say they have any kind of directional tread either. they roll over everything. I don't know that they are the 30cm size, but whatever size comes on the standard kayak wheeleze cart is what you should get so you can stick them in your kayak rather than take them back to your truck, or try to hide them, etc.

the wheeleze carts themselves are kind of complex and effete looking. it works fine but I wonder when I won't be able to unfold it or something.

I also have a non-folding cart with regular inflateable wheels and I use that a lot still. it will not go through sand, but is somewhat simpler to deal with and probably more durable. I save the wheeleze for harder trips.

I do kind of wish for a simple non-folding cart that could take the wheeleze wheels. sounds like that might be what you made.

I'm not sure of the metric sizes, Dale, but I have both the hard (black rubber with tread) wheels on one cart and the big gray sand wheels (smooth and puffy) on a second cart.  The sand wheels are awesome for all terrain - especially (obviously) the sand.  The hard wheels are good for the river trails, but the sand wheels would work there too, so I probably would've just bought the sand wheels if I'd known. 

Roleez hasn't made things easy - it makes fun things a little easier to accomplish.  Love 'em.   

Short video:

IMHO= the BIG Softies are the only ones for rough terrain like sand, cobble, stairs and uneven surfaces....the smaller wheels will come to a dead-STOP in soft sand or any gopher sized hole....then it will tip over to that side and you'll be picking up your stuff, resetting the wheels and cursing all the while.
I've never seen a stuck or side-dumped kayak that had the Big ones.

I've had both and the BigSmooth ones are just that!

amen to fishhunter!  Big and Soft baby that's the way to go!

Go Puffy!
The Polyurethane wheels are better...

the smaller wheels will come to a dead-STOP in soft sand or any gopher sized hole....then it will tip over to that side and you'll be picking up your stuff, resetting the wheels and cursing all the while.

Man, if they had an emoticon that could express that frustration they'd never sell another RollEz. I think last time I did that I was throwing sh*t in the air...  SERENITY NOW!!!! And then I got some WheelEz...

Z

I've got two of the"original" carts & echo Abkings opinion. I really want to rebuild my older cart with a new axle & the big soft sand wheels (with bearings). $ will tell if & when I get to this

Just a little note on the collapsing cart-tipping yak problem. After a lot of rugged trail walks to the beach I have come to the conclusion that you really have to use dual straps on the folding carts-one strap per horizontal bar. I saw several folks at Elk last year using the one strap setup on the folding carts & the carts all toppled over once or twice, or folded up after hitting a rock or snag on the trail. Anchoring the cart with a second strap will prevent this.

I prefer to have the cart strapped on solid, then getting it up on one wheel is actually possible without losing the whole thing sideways.

Thanks to all for the opinions, I went with the 30cm wheel that is smooth, (polyurethane with 1" axle and bearing) not the 30cm one that has a light tread pattern and is listed as PVC with a bushing.

I would liked to have gotten the 42 cm wheel but at some point size does matter and they were just too big to lug around.

As for straps, my cart fits in the scupper holes of a cobra explorer (my second yak) and a cobra maurader (3rd yak), so it is limited in it's use, but i haven't suffered any of the problems you get when trying to lash one down with straps.

again thanks for all you input

dale

Dale I would strongly suggest that you not use the scupper mount cart on a Maurauder! I put a hole in my scupper with a bungee, when I examined it with a light it was almost see through. On a lot of kayaks the scuppers are the weakest areas due to the manufacturing process.

I finally checked back on this post asking for wheel advice and I see your warning about Maurader scupper holes.  I looked at mine and sure enough there are spots in that area that are paper thin.
I'll have to make some modification there. 

Thanks for the warning.

dale

Those Roleez/wheeleze carts are pretty tough, I drove over mine, and it took some muscle to get it back in shape, and after I got the axles in line, it worked fine.
I go with two straps unless it's smooth pavement, and then I can just turn the yak turtle, rinse the sand off, and flip it back on its wheels.  I did replace the locking pins with some big hairpin looking things, because I kept losing the little flip-over pins with the rings.  Their carts are expensive, but after two tries building my own, and hundreds of uses, the real thing is worth the money.