# Beach Cart Building Question



## TitusV

Ive been thinking about building a beach cart. I know, I know, I should just suck it up and buy a Fish-n-mate Jr. But, I was thinking I could build one out of 1.5-2" diameter PVC piping. I think SCH 40 would be strong and light enough. Basically I would try to imitate the fish-n-mate design with the pvc pipe. I'm thinking the pvc version would weigh about the same if not a bit lighter.

Now for the tires. I read on the board (by using that search feature everyone talks about) that the roleez wheels are the way to go. But $100 bucks for one wheel! Thats F'n rediculous. They almost cost as much as the wheels on my F150. Anyways there has to be other pneumatic tire options out there. Any comments? Is the pvc option viable?


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## Railroader

A man carrying a cat by the tail is learning a lesson he can learn no other way....opcorn:  

Just go on and do it right, one time, and be done with it.


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## Digger

The Roleez are made for that Niche market which is what makes them expensive. My suggestion would be to hit places that carry wheels and find the lightest and widest you can. You will be surprised at how heavy they can be. And note how several member converted their Fishmate carts to the Roleez.


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## Digger

Railroader said:


> A man carrying a cat by the tail is learning a lesson he can learn no other way....opcorn:
> 
> Just go on and do it right, one time, and be done with it.



So true So true. But remember there will always be the man trying to carry that cat. And see who gets skinned.


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## notso

TitusV said:


> But $100 bucks for one wheel! Thats F'n rediculous. They almost cost as much as the wheels on my F150.



You can get the smaller dia rolleez wheels alot cheaper than that. they have cosmetic blems on their site for $20 - $40 each (22 & 30 cm size).
I think I've heard that the 30 cm wheels still work pretty well. 
Otherwise start looking @ places like tractor supply for riding mower wheels & tires........


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## dsurf

*Roleez Wheels*



notso said:


> You can get the smaller dia rolleez wheels alot cheaper than that. they have cosmetic blems on their site for $20 - $40 each (22 & 30 cm size).
> I think I've heard that the 30 cm wheels still work pretty well.
> Otherwise start looking @ places like tractor supply for riding mower wheels & tires........



Mower wheels and tires will NOT do the job. I added Roleez 30cm tires to my cart and it went from an almost unmanagable surf cart to state of the art surf cart....I can push it almost anywhere and for long distances.........Roleez wheels are superb for traversing sand of variable depths....


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## BubbaBlue

Railroader said:


> A man carrying a cat by the tail is learning a lesson he can learn no other way....opcorn:
> 
> Just go on and do it right, one time, and be done with it.


Yup. Been there done that.  

Never did the PVC route (though I thought about it a bit), but I tried lots of other things. Nothing worked very well on both the pier and the sand. 

Like RR said, you gotta build something before you put out the bucks. (I did, and I hauled the different versions to the dump last year. )

If you're going to be using it a lot on the sand, here's whatcha need. 










Good luck.
.


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## bigphil

Seems to me the PVC will be kinda heavy and maybe a bit flimsy. This coming from a guy that can't, probably wont, pony up for the $200 fish mate and is always in search of an inexpensive alternative.

Good luck with your quest.

:fishing: on


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## terpfan

you can get tractor wheels from lowes at westview mall. i made a motorized cart using tractor tires from there.


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## BubbaBlue

Way cool cart terpfan.  
Looks too new still. Needs some bluefish blood stains on it to give it some character. 

Do those tires flatten out at low pressure so they ride on top of the sand? For muscle pulled carts, it makes a difference.

I tried different kinds of tires and never found anything that worked as well as the Roleez. If these work and the price is right, you may have a winner there.
.


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## surfchunker

*How About*

Wheel Barrel wheels .... ?


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## LiteTackleChamp

best bet, and the cheapest one is to go to one of the closeout hardware places, i always see this one on 95 but forget the name, i got a pair of those big tires for 5.99
ill try to find the name and post back


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## fishbait

Try Harbor Freight Tools. They carry a variety of wheels for cheap.


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## Sea2aeS

get the surfmate. 

And as far as the roll eze wheels, do I need a new axle shaft for my surfmate, or will the 30cm's clear the axle it came with fine?


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## TitusV

Terpfan, that is a great idea. I live 2 minutes from westview mall. What are the size of your tires (width and height) and how do they do in soft sand? What sort of battery do you run the motor off, and where are you attaching it? Also, about the fish-n-mate, I dont like how it has just one handle to pull. I like the wheel barrel type with two handles, similar to terpfan's cart. 

Now as far as strength goes, I dont see me hauling over 100lbs in which case i think th epvc is strongth enough. I would like to know what size pipe the Fish-n-mate uses for comparison. There are similar beach carts shown on the roleez website that are completely made out of pvc.


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## BubbaBlue

Like I mentioned above, the difference between "easy" and a "pain-in-the-back" is whether or not the tire flattens out on the bottom. If a wide tire is rounded on the bottom and you're pulling weight on soft sand, you'll just dig wide trenches. Been there.

There has to be a flat area on the tire bottom so that it "floats" on top of the sand.

Fish'n'Mates and their knock-offs are pretty cool, but just about any kind of cart will work ok as long as you have tires that will work in the sand.

If you are not wanting to spend big bucks for the whole set up, spend more on the tires, not the cart. 
.


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## TitusV

Yeah, I understand Bubba. Terpfan's tires seem to be at least 7" wide and flat. I am trying to do this all for around 70-80 bucks with about 40 of it being dedicated to the tires. PVC will be cheap plus I can get some for free from my Dad who tends to collect it. Plus I can paint it the Raven's colors once I'm done. Then it will be a collectors item and everyone will be begging me for Fish-n-mate custom paint job.


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## Green Cart

*Listen to BubbaBlue and Me*











If you would research Pier and Surf threads, you would have noticed many comments made by both BubbaBlue and me. Basically, it was a trail and error for both of us. I have modified my green cart 6 or 7 times before I was satisfied.

You could also go to the St. Augustine forum and find weird looking wheels made from plastic buckets (my apologies to this inventor)


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## BubbaBlue

TitusV said:


> Yeah, I understand Bubba. Terpfan's tires seem to be at least 7" wide and flat. I am trying to do this all for around 70-80 bucks with about 40 of it being dedicated to the tires. PVC will be cheap plus I can get some for free from my Dad who tends to collect it. Plus I can paint it the Raven's colors once I'm done. Then it will be a collectors item and everyone will be begging me for Fish-n-mate custom paint job.


 

Be sure to let us know how it all works out. 

Might want to pick up some bandaids... those cats can get pretty nasty when they're hanging upside down.  
.


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## TitusV

I had done some research and seen your cart. My question was whether people had made any carts out of pvc and if there was a general opinion of whether the material would work and if there were any alternatives to roleez wheels. Since I see that roleez has a pvc cart on their website it looks like a viable material. I figure its worth giving it a shot. I like building things anyway.

Im gunna try and draw up my idea in AutoCAD at work today while I pretend like im working.


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## Digger

I understand cost all to well. But look at the weight and width of the wheel. Stay away from metal wheels because of the weight. The Plastic bucket may be an option.


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## HuskyMD

1/2 " bushing or 1" bushing on 30" wheels? Do you have to replace the axle? If so, with what?


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## narfpoit

The PVC will work, I saw one in a bait shop down around Carolina Beach. I think it was 1.5" schedule 40. The thing is they had it sitting right next to a fishnmate sr. Same size carts and the PVC weighed twice as much and there was a lot of flex in it without haveing anything in it yet, and by the time you add up all of those fittings you will probably be over a hundred dollars. Anyway if I was going to make one now I would probably go with something like Greencart has since he has already taken the trouble to do all the trial and error for you.


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## screamendrag

Heres mine...built out of PVC...make sure you get big wheels though, they are expensive but there worth it 










slap some bigger wheels on it and ur set


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## TitusV

Yea you might be right about the price of all the fittings. I will have to add them up. I figure if I can make it for under 90 bucks I'll give it a shot. I was a little worried about the flex so my designs are based off of 2 inch diameter sch 40. The next thing on my agenda is to make a materials list and try and price out some tires similar to what Terpfan is using, if not then I will go with the roleez costmetic ones that are 25 each. I'm gunna try to attach a pic of my design so far. The dimensions are in inches.


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## Mark G

TitusV said:


> Ive been thinking about building a beach cart. I know, I know, I should just suck it up and buy a Fish-n-mate Jr. But, I was thinking I could build one out of 1.5-2" diameter PVC piping. I think SCH 40 would be strong and light enough. Basically I would try to imitate the fish-n-mate design with the pvc pipe. I'm thinking the pvc version would weigh about the same if not a bit lighter.
> 
> Now for the tires. I read on the board (by using that search feature everyone talks about) that the roleez wheels are the way to go. But $100 bucks for one wheel! Thats F'n rediculous. They almost cost as much as the wheels on my F150. Anyways there has to be other pneumatic tire options out there. Any comments? Is the pvc option viable?



Schedule 40 is very strong and VERY HEAVY, I am in the process of building a turtle trap (duaghters school project) and I bought 4" schedule 40 pvc (4" because it needs to float) Even a small (2 foot) section of this stuff is incredible heavy- aluminum has to be light years lighter- which makes a big difference when trying to pull something over sand- save yourself the headache- buy the fishmate or consider some lighter material at the very least.

I realize there is a big difference between 4" and 2" pvc, but go lift some at the local store and You'll see what I mean. Schedule 40 is also fairly expensive, I have over $125.00 in this project already. ( and it doesn't have wheels


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## TitusV

The pvc pipe i plan on using is the one that is readily available at home depot or lowes. Not really sure if it is SCH 40 or not. I know it is not thicker than SCH 40. I'm thinking the cart would weigh about 25-30 pounds. My other option would be to make a frame out of wood but I think the wood would be heavier than the pvc. As for using aluminum, I did not consider it since it would be difficult to obtain and it is expensive (because I wouldnt buy it in bulk).

So far it seems that I would need 28 Tees and 10 90 degree bends. The number of fittings might make it pricey. Hopefully I can find some place that will sell them for about 1-1.50 each. Oh and in case anyone asks, I shaded the fittings in my drawing to make it easier to count.


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## Sea2aeS

so nobody answered, do i need a custom axle, or will the 30cm roll ez wheels fit on my surfmate sr axles it came with?


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## BubbaBlue

Sea2aeS said:


> so nobody answered, do i need a custom axle, or will the 30cm roll ez wheels fit on my surfmate sr axles it came with?


Don't know what the surfmate axle is. My FishnMate axle is 5/8" and the Roleez are 1". I used the original diameter axle and used nylon bushing material to make up the difference. You will need to get another axle anyways because of the width of the Roleez. I made up two, one for the original wheels and one for the Roleez, changing back to the original for pier fishing.
.


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## F I LetsGoFishin

*Dual wheels*

Always be of the poorer bunch I made a dolly out of pvc and for the tires I just used 2 std. pnumatics on each side which gives me the width but not the specialized bearings that come with the rolleze. It works well as long as I ballance the load and do not have to go up hill very far, but then again even the rolleze tend to get heavier there. my typical run down the beach is rarely more than 250 yards so for now it suites me. can carry 3 rods ,18qt. cooler, tackle bag, bucket withe castnet, sandspikes and flea rake. which is a heck of a lot more than I could backpack. being new here I do not know how to post a picture yet but when I figure it out I will


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## hoagiexj

i was thinkin about putting other wheels on my fish n mate.....has anyone ever tried the big wheels tires or power wheels tires?


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## Sea2aeS

my mistake bubba, its a fishnmate.... so I need a larger diameter, wider axle for the roll eze, and keep the one ive got for when i hit the pier?


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## terpfan

TitusV said:


> Terpfan, that is a great idea. I live 2 minutes from westview mall. What are the size of your tires (width and height) and how do they do in soft sand? What sort of battery do you run the motor off, and where are you attaching it? Also, about the fish-n-mate, I dont like how it has just one handle to pull. I like the wheel barrel type with two handles, similar to terpfan's cart.


my tires are huge. 20" diameter with 8" width. my cart is close to 100lbs by itself. it's close to 200lbs when loaded. with the help with the motor, it has no problems going over a sand dunes of AI. however it is hard to manuever on hard surface. i only use this cart for beach only. i thought about buying a fish n mate for the pier, but with coolers with wheels and retractable handle are sufficient for piers.


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## BubbaBlue

Sea2aeS said:


> my mistake bubba, its a fishnmate.... so I need a larger diameter, wider axle for the roll eze, and keep the one ive got for when i hit the pier?


I kept the original "diameter" axle so I wouldn't have to figure out a new way to mount it to the cart. The Roleez are significantly wider than the original wheels so the new axle has to be wider. I used shaft collars to secure them.

If you ever become a supporter, I will point you to a thread on the supporter forum where I gave detailed instructions and a parts list.
.


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## BubbaBlue

hoagiexj said:


> ...has anyone ever tried the big wheels tires or power wheels tires?


Yup... version #3 of my past attempts. Big Wheels tires. 

It dug very nice trenches... and its living at the dump now.  
.


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## Charlie2

*Surf Cart*

Get one of those hand carts with pneumatic wheels.

You air down the wheels when on sand. Pump the tires back up when transversing hard surfaces.

Bolt a short extension on the bottom lip so you can haul a cooler, tackle boz, chair, whatever. Bolt some sections of PVC to the crosspiece to act as rodholders.

Cost? I think about $20.


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## Sea Level

*PVC Surf Cart*

TitusV,

I have a PVC surf cart that I have been using for four years or more. It is light as a feather, transports 4 rod & reel setups, a medium cooler, a 5 gallon bucket, 4 sand spikes and a flea rake. You could put all your terminal tackle in the bucket, but I elect to carry that gear in a backpack to keep it well organized. It glides over any sand on its Rolleeze wheels and easily goes up and down steps with gear aboard.

I'm technically challenged when it comes to uploading any pictures, but you can see the cart on the Florida Surf fishing board (www.floridasurffishing.net). On the search function type in "Jeff Rafter Surf Cart". That will take you to a thread started by someone about carts. Barty b uploaded a picture of my cart on 2 August 05. There are other pictures on that site of the cart, but I am at a loss to find them -- perhaps Barty, Toejam or Rockhopper could help.

Go to www.h2opipesports.com to see the cart as sold. I added the Rolleze wheels, because you hafta if you want it to glide over the sand.

Hope this helps.


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## toejam

Sea Level said:


> TitusV,
> 
> I have a PVC surf cart that I have been using for four years or more. It is light as a feather, transports 4 rod & reel setups, a medium cooler, a 5 gallon bucket, 4 sand spikes and a flea rake. You could put all your terminal tackle in the bucket, but I elect to carry that gear in a backpack to keep it well organized. It glides over any sand on its Rolleeze wheels and easily goes up and down steps with gear aboard.
> 
> I'm technically challenged when it comes to uploading any pictures, but you can see the cart on the Florida Surf fishing board (www.floridasurffishing.net). On the search function type in "Jeff Rafter Surf Cart". That will take you to a thread started by someone about carts. Barty b uploaded a picture of my cart on 2 August 05. There are other pictures on that site of the cart, but I am at a loss to find them -- perhaps Barty, Toejam or Rockhopper could help.
> 
> Go to www.h2opipesports.com to see the cart as sold. I added the Rolleze wheels, because you hafta if you want it to glide over the sand.
> 
> Hope this helps.


Jeffs cart,,,,,,,


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## nomadfl

TitusV said:


> Ive been thinking about building a beach cart. I know, I know, I should just suck it up and buy a Fish-n-mate Jr. But, I was thinking I could build one out of 1.5-2" diameter PVC piping. I think SCH 40 would be strong and light enough. Basically I would try to imitate the fish-n-mate design with the pvc pipe. I'm thinking the pvc version would weigh about the same if not a bit lighter.
> 
> Now for the tires. I read on the board (by using that search feature everyone talks about) that the roleez wheels are the way to go. But $100 bucks for one wheel! Thats F'n rediculous. They almost cost as much as the wheels on my F150. Anyways there has to be other pneumatic tire options out there. Any comments? Is the pvc option viable?


I am going to add my thoughts to this post. Where are you going to be using the cart....walkovers? with stairs?, without stairs?... or piers? ...straight from your vehicle to the beach? ...no stairs, or walk overs. What type of vehicle you are going to be carrying the cart in???, does it have to be broken down for travelling.

I know from my experience from the Panama City Beach area, where we have have narrow wooden walkovers, and narrow stairs, I have to carry my cart in my Toyota Sienna, so then I have to be able to take the wheels off for stowing 

When carrying my gear to the beach, I have to stand my rods and sandspikes vertically to negotiate past people and down the stairs. Because I drive a long distance to spend the winter in Florida 1250 miles, I have to have a compact cart, one, that I can remove the axle, and I also have it that, it separates into two parts for storing in the van. It started out as a 2 wheel truck (200 lbs,) I also picked up a couple of blemished old style Roleez 11" wheels for less then $30.00 each, and added them.

I have made up a cart, pictures are available ...but seeing you are talking about a PVC cart ...I won't post them. Sometimes you have to look outside what is actually available and think ... what do I actually need ...and what do I want.


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## Lip Ripper

TitusV said:


> The pvc pipe i plan on using is the one that is readily available at home depot or lowes. Not really sure if it is SCH 40 or not. I know it is not thicker than SCH 40. I'm thinking the cart would weigh about 25-30 pounds. My other option would be to make a frame out of wood but I think the wood would be heavier than the pvc. As for using aluminum, I did not consider it since it would be difficult to obtain and it is expensive (because I wouldnt buy it in bulk).
> 
> So far it seems that I would need 28 Tees and 10 90 degree bends. The number of fittings might make it pricey. Hopefully I can find some place that will sell them for about 1-1.50 each. Oh and in case anyone asks, I shaded the fittings in my drawing to make it easier to count.


if you go the pvc route, dont forget that the pipe with the red lettering is sc-40 pressure. pressure rated pipe is very expensive and very heavy. if you go to a plumbing store(like VAMAC) you can ask for sc-40 foam core. its about 1-3 the price and 1/3 the weight.
when it comes to the fittings to put it all together, be sure to use pressure fittings! they are about 1/2in deeper and hold way better.


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## junkmansj

Titus; here is a link for PVC Furniture Fittings

http://www.pvcplans.com/pvc-suppliers.htm


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## Fisheadgib

Sea2aeS said:


> so nobody answered, do i need a custom axle, or will the 30cm roll ez wheels fit on my surfmate sr axles it came with?


When I put the roll ez tires on my wifes cart, I had to replace the axle. It was only a few bucks for the aluminum bar stock from a machine shop and the same U bolts worked.


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## TitusV

Hehe, thanks for all the suggestions guys. But, I gave in and bought a fishin mate. Also got a 4x4 nissan titan since the time I started this thread. Mostly use the cart for pier fishing now.


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## fyremanjef

Sea2aeS said:


> get the surfmate.
> 
> And as far as the roll eze wheels, do I need a new axle shaft for my surfmate, or will the 30cm's clear the axle it came with fine?


I think the rolleze wheel site has wheels that now come with a new axle... espcially for the fishingmate carts


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