Do-it-yourself trolley/dolly/cart/trailer for a kayak or canoe for $40

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I live fairly close to a river and I recently bought myself a Pelican Kayak from Canadian Tire

However, the kayak weighs 30 lbs.  Granted, that's not terribly heavy, but carrying it on your shoulders for 10-15 minutes down the street and through traffic is a bit cumbersome.
I could ask my wife to carry one end, but she's not always available.

So I shopped around for a trolley to pull it on. The cheapest one I found was $80 before tax and the most expensive one was $150 (also before tax).  Both were from Canadian Tire (ok, I didn't shop around that much)

Anyways, I was unwilling to spend that kind of money for what was basically a metal frame with wheels.  So I went the "do it yourself" route.

While I was at Canadian Tire, griping about the cost of the trolleys, I looked around.  I ended up buying the following:

4 feet of rigid 1/2 inch PVC tubing		about $7 for 4 feet
4 white 1/2 inch PVC T-joints		about $2 each
2 white 1/2 inch PVC end caps		about $1 each
2 wheels		about $9 each
4 feet of 1/2 pipe insulation		less than $1

It all came to a total of about $40 CDN

I took it all home and assembled it like this:

The metal hardware I already had.  They are 1/4 inch bolts with eyes on the end, left over from some other project I was working on.  They fit perfectly through the wheels.

I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in each end cap and squeezed the nut inside the T joint.  Everything tightened up nicely.

You'll notice the cross piece is bowing slightly due to the weight of the kayak.
And my first failed attempt at transporting my kayak caused everything to fall apart.

I found I had to re-enforce the joints.  I drilled holes through the joints and inserted nails to prevent the joints from coming apart.  My trip to the water involves walking down a side walk and each joint rattle the boat and the trolley pretty badly.

I also included a ratcheting strap to hold the kayak in place as well as to provide structural re-enforcement to the cross piece.

Notice that the cross piece is much straighter.  And riding over the joints in the sidewalk is much easier and involves less rattling.

As a bonus, the trolley is small and light-weight enough that I can strap it to the back of my kayak when I go out, so I don't have to leave it unattended on the shore.

Check out a video of me using it here:  https://youtu.be/9gqfc3OP3wc

Enjoy!

Check out my YouTube channel:  
 www.youtube.com/KedarWarriner