Hand Carrying a H18 - no wings

8 foot long plywood about a foot or two wide and make a trail with 4-6 pieces and push the trailer down the path. Work smarter, not harder 🙂

if you have any sailing buddies might not hurt to ask to borrow their beach wheels though.. (especially if your trip is a week or less)

Bring a mate and just shove the boat through the sand? Or make some beach wheels out of lumber ( a ladder type frame works well) and cheap wheel-barrow wheels?

Doing anything in soft sand, except partying is a real PITA. Once way back when I flew floats for a living we arrive at a high Arctic exploration camp, only to find the monkeys who cached the fuel (during the winter, on skis) had dropped it in muskeg a good 100 yds from any access point.
We scrounged all the dimensinal lumber at the camp & laid it out like narrow gauge rails, then rolled the 50 gal drums along it dubbed the K-Tel Road Project.
A variation of the theme would work for you. Bring 4 eight foot 2x4s, lay them perpindicular to the hulls & slide the cat along them. You only need two pieces under tha cat at any one time. It will slide very easily, a couple of you push, the other become Egyptians, moving the pieces from the rear & placing them in front as you proceed. If the sand is relatively level & not to soft you can get away with pieces only 3-4' long. You could cut 8 footers into 3, & just have the guys pick up & lay down as you push it. If the sand is very soft, you may have to substitute 2x6 to get better floatation. Total cost, less than $20. As said borrow wheels if you can, but i used that method to move my cat several hundred feet the first time I assembled it.

Edited by Edchris177 on May 23, 2011 - 08:16 AM.

Pulling my h16 through the sand last summer wasn't too bad. Except for the wear and on the hulls. It was just me my 63 year old dad and my fat a$$ brother. The brother decided he wanted to sail as well and he got seasick. 😆

Beach wheels are by far the best investment in my boat I have ever made. I also was a little put off by the price so I kept my eye open and ended buying a pair that I knew were in bad shape for $30. These were the old style and the tires were shot. I ended up replacing the almost everything except the bearing and the axel. It cost me about $280 bucks.

I suggest you watch real closely for when they come on sale used and snatch some up for as cheap as you can. Anything under $350 is bargain if they are in usable condition and need nothing replaced. If they need something go to www.floridasailcraft.com and price what you need before you buy and you can decide if it is is still a deal.

There are only 2-3 times a year that I really have to have them as well but I find myself using them all the time. Sometimes it is easier to just drop the boat the wheels and head for the beach than to wait in line to launch at the ramp.

I would recommend taking the mast off each night and carrying the boat as empty as possible across the sand. Minus sails, rudder, boards, mast, it would be much easier to carry with 4 guys. The other 2 guys could carry the other parts. Putting the mast up should just take 5 minutes once to the water. You could try sliding/rolling the boat across the beach too, but anyway you move it the lighter it is the better. I would rather make a second trip with the other crap, then try to wrestle the boat with everything on it.

even without a spars and foils. your talking 300lbs. uggggg i wouldnt carry that..

i have seen people make wheels out of pvc tubes and boat bumpers on the end (look like pugal sticks). they carry 2 or 3 sets and keep moving the back set.. in front as they roll the boat around.

This works on rocky beaches in the pacific .. no idea how well it works in sand...

with that many buddies there must be a 4x4 to dump it on the beach or if thats not allowed balance it well on the road trailer tie it down and push the whole rig down is easy but coming back will need all your mates and a few beers!

When I raced a Hobie 18 I was thinking of quitting because "sailing hurt my back". Then I figured out that lifting H18s hurt my back and I made a rule, "I won't help unless there will be six guys". Better after that. Dunno if that helps. This was carrying across the beach and onto a trailer usually.

Go to Home Depot, buy 10' 3/8" I.D. black or clear plastic tubing and 50' 1/4 rope. Cut tubing into 9" pieces. Drill 5/16" pairs of holes about 5" apart in gunwale lip (at about a 45 degree angle). Pairs should be about 2' apart. Use an old license plate or other thin metal under the gunwale when drilling so you don't drill thru hull. When finished, weave i/4" line thru the holes & tubing and now you have not only footloops for trapeze security, but 4-5 hand holes on each side of boat for carrying gang (6 for H-18). All my Prindles have these on them. Pete

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have 6 younger willing guys to help move the beast. Last year I was lucky enough to find a set of wheels to rent for the week ($50). They are no doubt great - I just cant lay the 450 out for once a year use and 4 kids still feeding off the teat!

I think I may try 4-6 of these to use as handles positioned under the lip. One per guy.

http://www.hardwarestore.com/pop-print/larger-image.aspx?prodNo=34319

Honestly, even if you only need them 2-3 times a year, they are still so worth it. I bit the bullet last year even though I store my cat on a wooden deck mast up all year. Just being able to get the boat on and off the trailor and into the water without killing myself or the boat makes the cost pretty much justified in my mind. A 2-4 man job turned into a 1 man job without even over exerting myself.

Cat Tracks are one of those tools that do one thing so well that its just not worth considering anything else for the job. Besides if you can rent them out for $50 a week for the rest of the summer...

Dave, my PM function won't work for some reason on this netbook. Did you manage to get those two measurements?
Thanks

Hi Ed,

If the post above was for me I did not get the measurements.

David

Nope that was for me. I will get the measurements this weekend, just heading out right now. I will be back on Sunday.