Hi - Looking for windsurfing trolley recommendations.
Thanks !

How will you be using it? Pulling by hand? By bike? Does it have to fold up for putting in a vehicle? How much gear do you want to be able to carry?

I've used an old 2-seat kid's bike trailer because I need to haul small/high-wind gear by bike 1km to the beach after driving to the parking area. It folds up nice and the wheels have quick release. Only mods were removing seats and extending the mounting arm. Found it cheap on Craigslist.

Skateboard.

Back in the 90s when I started windsurfing I was too young to drive a car so I made a trolley out of an old pram that was in the basement.

Fast Forward to present day and during our first covid lockdown, we were allowed out of our house for exercise so long as we didn't drive a car. So I made a trolley/trailer out of my kids pram/buggy with the intent of isolating myself in the water! It was not to be though as the lockdown rules changed and watersports were not allowed.

Once the lockdown finished, I did make use of the new trolley which helped get to a windsurf location that was 5km from the carpark.

A local windsurfer made a video of it. Intro to the trolley is here (if the link works). The video time should be approx 9mins in.
?t=600

For use of slalom gear on the trolley you can goto 29mins into the video

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gilihilli said..
Hi - Looking for windsurfing trolley recommendations.
Thanks !

Me too, they just closed a beach access around here and the walk is way too long on foot ...

This is a screen grab to give a quick idea of what it looked like.

Trolly design most FNQ windsurfers used to get their gear from the wharf to the rigging area.Just slip your board between the cross bars, sails etc on top and away you go, different wheels to suit aplication I guess. Doesn't look flash but very simple and worked a treat.


A quick glimpse @ 01:15 of trolly in action

Unifiber makes an interesting trolley www.unifiber.net/windsurf-gear/accessories/beach-cart-5825d17f362e6615c44ec8bb and it's possible to use it with a bike

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srtgumbee said..
Back in the 90s when I started windsurfing I was too young to drive a car so I made a trolley out of an old pram that was in the basement.

Fast Forward to present day and during our first covid lockdown, we were allowed out of our house for exercise so long as we didn't drive a car. So I made a trolley/trailer out of my kids pram/buggy with the intent of isolating myself in the water! It was not to be though as the lockdown rules changed and watersports were not allowed.

Once the lockdown finished, I did make use of the new trolley which helped get to a windsurf location that was 5km from the carpark.

A local windsurfer made a video of it. Intro to the trolley is here (if the link works). The video time should be approx 9mins in.

?t=600

For use of slalom gear on the trolley you can goto 29mins into the video

Great video

Firiebob is onto it, doesn't need to anywhere near as hard as many people make it.


(1)
Pair of BMX bike forks with wheels, weld a bar across the top. Done.

(2)
Old style golf buggy that is basically an inverted vee with an axle at the apex.
Done.

Its that easy.

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Mark _australia said..
Firiebob is onto it, doesn't need to anywhere near as hard as many people make it.


(1)
Pair of BMX bike forks with wheels, weld a bar across the top. Done.

(2)
Old style golf buggy that is basically an inverted vee with an axle at the apex.
Done.

Its that easy.

Welding is hard ... if you don't do how to do it. But 5 cm PVC pipes will do ... bit tricky to put the wheels on but a hole in the PVC for the wheels axle should work well enough ...

you can use u-bolts to attach steel
doesnt have to be pretty

The hard bit is none of those ^^ ...

The type of wheels you use, depends on the type of ground you need to travel over and the distance you travel. Sand tends to need wide flat plastic wheels. Rugged ground needs rubber wide wheels. Roadway/path should use narrow rubber. If you have to travel any serious distance, the size of the wheel will matter.

=> the hard bit is deciding which style to use, or just make all types.

Made this in 1986 to tow behind my pushy. Had a pvc attachmnt i clipped around mast n seat pole. Trawler bin for all da stuff. Originally had 20inch tuffs as wheels, runnin these small inflatables atm.


Currently back in the shed waiting for its next deployment...

this is my super dodgy Bunnings special effort. Made in about 20mins for a Lake Walyungup mission which looked like happening, then didn't then did (sort of). A couple of 90deg angle brackets screwed to treated pipe and some Bunnings wheels is all. Was low profile (not wide) as many hard core spots in WA are through bush. The thin wheels area great in bush but really crap in mud...which was Walyungup. In hindsight I would put protectors over the uprights as weird gust managed to skewer my sail on them..anyone that really cares can see the video of buggy and sail death in action at the video below sails dies on buggy at timestamp 1:45 (I bought this sail from the slow one 2 days earlier). Buggy did however rescue other sailors gear (twice) with a 2km walk in on sand. (however could have done with a lot wider wheel base for that). One project in the many is making an adjustable width wheel base buggy and or double/tank wheels for mud. So few sailing days that justify this means its way back in the queue of stuff to do.

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firiebob said..
Trolly design most FNQ windsurfers used to get their gear from the wharf to the rigging area.Just slip your board between the cross bars, sails etc on top and away you go, different wheels to suit aplication I guess. Doesn't look flash but very simple and worked a treat.


A quick glimpse @ 01:15 of trolly in action

That is piss elegant. It deserves a prize.

Another relatively simple solution is to buy a canoe trolly, just a couple of wheels with an ally frame that you can strap a board onto.

We've done a couple of carts for transporting fully rigged sails to the beach (pull cart 200m and the bike cart 800m).
The pull cart (Cartzilla Mark I) could take 2-3 sails and 2 boards and the bike cart (Cartzilla Mark II) 2 sails & 2 boards.
It's so convenient to have fully rigged sails ready to go (I'm pretty lazy).
Joe
(PS avoiding crosswinds on the way to the beach is highly recommended!)

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Mark _australia said..
you can use u-bolts to attach steel
doesnt have to be pretty

I was going to build one but then I found the good search keyword: "canoe dolly" brings up dozens in the US $50-80 range. For example at amazon www.amazon.com/canoe-dolly/s?k=canoe+dolly

I use my Yedo Cart, which was made for transporting kayaks see below, to cart all my gear to the beach. Just put it under the midsection of the upside down board in a Dakine board bag and strap it on, and load everything else on top. Use handle on board bag to pull it.

I have to walk around 400m from my house across sand at low tide to get to the launching spot. Not so bad for slalom and speed gear (take it all rigged in one go), but when foiling I'll take the board out and then come back for the rig.

This thread inspired me to try and make a trolley to take all the foiling kit out in one go (and rig out there). Haven't actually tried it yet, but it is ready to go!

Started with a trolley from Bunnings that I already had and used the arms from a broken boom for the 'handle':


A few U-bolts to lock in place:


A bit of padding and a small box cable-tied in for a few bits and pieces

One rope at the back threaded through a pool noodle to keep the board in place, with another rope off that to keep the boom, mast and sail in place:

Tried the trolley out the other day and it worked, but a bit wobbly over bumpy terrain. A trip to Bunnings and it now has wider axles, racks and straps!