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Board Caddy Contest
By Scott | June 4, 2009
Wide style boards like the Prodigy are not so easy to carry and I have a good 75 yard walk from the parking lot to the water at my favorite spot. After a long afternoon of windsurfing with wet straps and some head winds that Prodigy is a real beast to carry across a hot sandy beach. The last couple seasons there has been a contest between us local Prodigy windsurfers in Toledo to build the best Prodigy board caddy. Beach chairs, golf caddy carts, baby buggies and only God knows what else has been transformed into a windsurfer cart. From what I have observed most of the creations have serious design problems. I myself have made three different carts which all failed when tested in real world conditions. A board caddy cart needs to have several qualities.
- Not require a machine shop to build.
- Be constructed of off the shelf inexpensive parts.
- Be lightweight to carry and small so it takes minimal space up in the car.
- Have enough wheel volume so wheels can roll in loose sand.
- Be quick to mount and unmount on the board.
- Not damage the board by leaving marks or dents.
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There are probably more board cart qualities I could list like a matching paint job but I think you get the picture. The good news is I’ve finally come up with a design that covers I think all the bases. After several uses I’ll know it if works everywhere all the time but so far so good. It’s simply a 2×4, with 1/2 thin wall conduit, a 3/8″ axle and plastic wheels from the Tyco toy company you can get online. Also there are retaining clip washers that keep the axle from sliding out of the conduit. A quick release pin on the axle end let’s me take the wheels on and off on one side. Then you just slide the 2×4 through the straps. Yes I know what you are thinking, yes I had to let the straps out a bit but version two will solve that by cutting the wood down a 1/2 inch .. er maybe 3/4 .. or I could just get bigger booties.
U The Hottie & the Nottie release pdate 06/21/2009: after using it a several times I found it’s working great and I didn’t need to leave the straps out on my own Prodigy. I had originally tried it on one of my lesson boards which I don’t use myself. I wear Tega water shoes that are well padded in front and thus I have the straps openings set real big. I found the 2×4 wood slides through just fine on my setup and with the snug fit it stays in place. Obviously if you have straps set small you could trim the 2×4 wood to fit. The only issue I didn’t think of was for pre 2006 Prodigies that have no EVA deck foam this setup won’t work unless some padding is added. I haven’t tried the caddy on an older Prodigy but likely it could scratch or possibly dent an unpadded deck.
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Topics: BAF | 2 Comments »
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:01 PM
I love the simplicity of that design!
I sail at West Dennis Beach MA during the summer. Have to schlepp my Prodigy over the dunes on a long and very narrow board walk.
To make this easier, I built a lightweight 2-wheeled cart out of 2″ ABS drainage pipe, joined with standard pipe fittings and plumbers’ glue.
Very easy to cut and glue together. The axle is a theaded bar with plain nuts and washers holding a couple of 6″ inflatable garden cart wheels (good on sand). All bought from Home Depot for around $35. Rustproof and light. It’s a simple square top with two triangles connecting the axle to the top.
The advantage is I can strap on the board, sails, boom, box of tack , and mast (used as the pulling handle) and take everything down in one go.
Disadvantage of my design is that it does not fold flat.
Perhaps you could replace your wood bar and metal conduit with a length of 2″ or 2.5″ ABS pipe. Cap the ends of the ABS pipe and drill holes in the caps to slide the axle through. (The hardware dept of Home depot sells self-lubricating nylon bushings that will help the axle turn easily and resist the abrasion caused by sand.)
Good sailing!.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:45 PM
I would think the wood 2×4 works better and because it has a big flat surface contact with the foam deck and also tight to the sides of the straps. Thus it is not moving around at all when I roll the board. I sprayed a little WD40 in the metal conduit ends for lubrication. That’s a good idea to fit in some plastic bushings or bearings. It does roll just fine as is.