Launching wheels DIY

mike13401 · 02 August 2008, 08:34

Hi
Call me mean although I prefer thrifty,but has anyone made their own launching wheels?
I am sorry but I just cant see how they justify the ridiculous prices charged for these items.

After all its two wheels £5 at local market and some metal tubing (and of course some knowledge or inspiration).

So if anyone has any drawings or ideas I would like to give it a try.

ATB
Mike

SnappingTurtle · 02 August 2008, 11:44

I am with you on this one. I think the market is bending us all over the table with their prices.

I don't mind them making a profit, but it does have it's limits.

PeterM · 02 August 2008, 12:07

I made some for my first sib which were always bolted in the down position . Top spedd was not an issue with 3.5 hp ! And they were quite small size & only for my road/ tarmac to cover the 100yards to my local slip . Got fed up & bought the fold up 'pelican' type - much better till they snapped ( i ended up with them on an 310 avonwith 10hp on it !

My DIY ones worked but no way as good as 'proper' ones - spend the cash on rreal ones - worth everypenny ( but shop around & haggle anyway ! )

mike13401 · 02 August 2008, 12:35

Thanks for quick replies.

I am pretty good with engineering projects and TBH I have heard loads of stories of the £100+ one snapping in use.

It is a question of two things. Design and materials. As I said the materials would cost next to nothing and I mean the stuff that would be more than adequate strengthwise.

So back to the question about design before I go to my local chandler and check them out.

As to worth it ,yes if you are not able to do this type of fabrication then maybe they are but to me its a rip off.

Anyone been successful with theirs.

codprawn · 02 August 2008, 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike13401

Hi
Call me mean although I prefer thrifty,but has anyone made their own launching wheels?
I am sorry but I just cant see how they justify the ridiculous prices charged for these items.

After all its two wheels £5 at local market and some metal tubing (and of course some knowledge or inspiration).

So if anyone has any drawings or ideas I would like to give it a try.

ATB
Mike

I suspect the wheels would cost you more than a fiver!!!

They are pretty large diameter and have rubber tyres not the vinyl type that some of the cheaper wheels have.

Shop around and you will get the wheels for about £95 - by the time you have messed around and bought the 316 stainless etc it isn't worth the hassle. Unless of course you intend to build a better product.

You mention them snapping but I think that's probably the smaller cheaper ones or people who are overloading them.

Mine are great - the only drawback with them is the amount of buoyancy in the tyres - it makes it very difficult to lower them and lock down before coming in.

prairie tuber · 02 August 2008, 12:59

This may be a little different from what you are looking for,, but I am looking at fabricating a launching/portaging wheel-cart system that can be quickly taken apart which straps under my hull between the hijacker tubes. The idea being to get the wheels directly under the center of mass of the boat and motor. My SIB weighs about 160 kg, and the motor about another 80 kg. With a length of 4.7m, a pair of wheels attached directly to the transom would make the system extremely nose heavy and awkward to use.

What I am planning is to run 2 sets of nylon webbing) straps from the back of the cart up and around the transom (with a quick pull buckle to adjust their lenght and tension), 2 more sets of straps from the front of the cart to the bow, and on from the sides of the cart around the top of the sponsons (the pictures show 2 sets of side straps, but 1 set should be sufficient).

Here is what I have in mind; The first 4 picures are a view from the front starting with a 3/4" round solid aluminum rod that has a piece of square aluminum tubing around it's mid section (I have a pair of turf tires with nylon rims with 3/4" hub holes).

prairie tuber · 02 August 2008, 13:02

The next pictures show a top view of the platform that the bottom of the hull would rest on.

mike13401 · 02 August 2008, 13:05

If you are paying £95 for the wheels alone then you seriously need to shop around.

On the local market there is a chap who has loads of different wheels obviously surplus stocks from somewhere. I bought a pair of 8" wheels for £5.

Alternatively these are IMO a bit small but you get the idea
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/160-mm-Castor-...6.c0.m14.l1318

Or IMO a bit too big but a lot cheaper than £95

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-of-15-Lau...742.m153.l1262

Still find it hard to justify £100+

SnappingTurtle · 02 August 2008, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

I suspect the wheels would cost you more than a fiver!!!

They are pretty large diameter and have rubber tyres not the vinyl type that some of the cheaper wheels have.

Shop around and you will get the wheels for about £95 - by the time you have messed around and bought the 316 stainless etc it isn't worth the hassle. Unless of course you intend to build a better product.

You mention them snapping but I think that's probably the smaller cheaper ones or people who are overloading them.

Mine are great - the only drawback with them is the amount of buoyancy in the tyres - it makes it very difficult to lower them and lock down before coming in.

I guess I could find tires and wheels for £95, but they are available in about twenty different variations at the DIY store around the corner for considerably less.

The prices for these wheels in Germany are about 5 Euros a piece ( I just bought two for my other boats trailer), another 10 Euros for aluminum, and about 5 Euros for Stainless Steel Bolts.

My total retail cost for materials, 25 Euros!

If you are not capable of doing such work yourself, don't have the time, or just don't like to work with your hands, I understand. I have a neighbor who calls an electrician, if a light bulb burns out. No joke.

For those that enjoy doing such small projects themselves, go for it. We are not talking about “Rocket Science” here.

mike13401 · 02 August 2008, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

This may be a little different from what you are looking for,, but I am looking at fabricating a launching/portaging wheel-cart system that can be quickly taken apart which straps under my hull between the hijacker tubes. The idea being to get the wheels directly under the center of mass of the boat and motor. My SIB weighs about 160 kg, and the motor about another 80 kg. With a length of 4.7m, a pair of wheels attached directly to the transom would make the system extremely nose heavy and awkward to use.

What I am planning is to run 2 sets of nylon webbing) straps from the back of the cart up and around the transom (with a quick pull buckle to adjust their lenght and tension), 2 more sets of straps from the front of the cart to the bow, and on from the sides of the cart around the top of the sponsons (the pictures show 2 sets of side straps, but 1 set should be sufficient).

Here is what I have in mind; The first 4 picures are a view from the front starting with a 3/4" round solid aluminum rod that has a piece of square aluminum tubing around it's mid section (I have a pair of turf tires with nylon rims with 3/4" hub holes).

Its a good system for a large boat ,it should work well.

I only have a 380 with an aerodeck so it only weighs 43k so it would probably be a bit heavy duty for my needs. On a light boat I dont think attachment to the transom would be a problem.

Good luck and let me know if it works
ATB
Mike

m chappelow · 02 August 2008, 13:11

i have made a few basic folding launching tollys using barrow wheels and conduit and a set of transom wheels though i have not finished them off yet ,with the transom wheels i am lucky as a small engineering firm that makes mortury and body handling equipment is over my back garden wall and as it happens they use marine grade stainless square tubing and the off cuts are about 35 cm long as well as that they use lots of small wheels so for the cost price i can get every thing i need ,though i am in the process of building another folding launch trolly when i can find the time and motivation ,i have a decent road trailer but its a one off and i dont like getting the wheel bearings wet as i tow fairly long distances so will use the trolly for recovering the boat when by myself. as a matter of intrest the owner of the engineering firm says that it would cost him about £15 to make the transom wheels ie steel ,cutting , drilling ,jigging and welding axels on and plastic end caps,i asked him if he would go into production but they have more work than they can handle as there are only 3 workers there .

prairie tuber · 02 August 2008, 13:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

I suspect the wheels would cost you more than a fiver!!!

They are pretty large diameter and have rubber tyres not the vinyl type that some of the cheaper wheels have.

Shop around and you will get the wheels for about £95 - by the time you have messed around and bought the 316 stainless etc it isn't worth the hassle. Unless of course you intend to build a better product.

I hate to admit it when codders is correct about something, but he is definitely correct here. It is unlikely that once you have purchased the materials and factor in the cost of your time that there will be any money saved. It will be more in the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

For me, there isn't anything like what I need that is readily available on th market, so I have to make it myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Mine are great - the only drawback with them is the amount of buoyancy in the tyres - it makes it very difficult to lower them and lock down before coming in.

This is something that I've also though a fair bit about. The the strap system that I plan to use, I am hoping the I can slide the cart under the hull from fron to back by pulling on the aft straps, then hooking them around the transom and tightening them.

mike13401 · 02 August 2008, 14:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

I hate to admit it when codders is correct about something, but he is definitely correct here. It is unlikely that once you have purchased the materials and factor in the cost of your time that there will be any money saved. It will be more in the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

Ok if I was paying the ludicrous price of £95 for two wheels but I did not,would not and need not pay that.

I can pick up offcut steel tube or stainless for next to nothing. And even if not stainless I could replace them every couple of years because they would have cost so little.

I am sorry I cannot see how this would not save me money.
It would be a hobby project and I do not feel the need to put a value on every second of my time,I gave that up years ago along with the need to earn money every minute of the day.
Now I get by saving a few quid and enjoying my life.

I am sure that the costings for materials and labour on these cost the manufacturers less than £20 so why do they retail at around £140.
Mike

m chappelow · 02 August 2008, 15:12

i suppose you could write or stamp MARINE on it and charge what you want

SnappingTurtle · 03 August 2008, 00:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

I hate to admit it when codders is correct about something, but he is definitely correct here. It is unlikely that once you have purchased the materials and factor in the cost of your time that there will be any money saved. It will be more in the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

For me, there isn't anything like what I need that is readily available on th market, so I have to make it myself.

This is something that I've also though a fair bit about. The the strap system that I plan to use, I am hoping the I can slide the cart under the hull from fron to back by pulling on the aft straps, then hooking them around the transom and tightening them.

I really don't understand just what type of wheels you guys are looking at.

I can buy German TUF tested automotive aluminum wheel and tire packages here, speed rated for 240kmh for less than that.

Are you sure you guys don't work for a company, that sells these wheel packages for boats, you say we can't make?

I bought rims with bearings, intertubes and real rubber, not plastic, and they may not be tractor sized but they have a diameter lager than that of a frisbee. They did not cost £95, they cost 5 Euros a piece.

Easyrider · 03 August 2008, 01:57

I may be of help here- as ive fabricated my own launch wheels myself for about £30-unfortunately i dont have any pictures of them, but i'll try to explain the best i can- best wheels are the plastic wheelbarrow ones which fit onto a 25mm axle- http://www.northerntooluk.com/produc...partno=121014E , smaller ones dig into the beach too much . you'll need some 30mm lenghts of box section steel(2 lenghts of about 2.5ft long -maybe longer depending on the depth of your transom)-mild steel is fine as long as you pour hammerite through it.
Youll need to drill a hole near the base of the transom each side and fit a M8 bolt through which has a nut allready wound on till its got a gap of about 3mm from the head of the bolt-this is what the leg will slot up onto and is permanently left on the boat-so iwould reccommend them being stainless.
At the base of the box section weld on a length of 25mm tube to accept the wheel and bush it out so the wheel doesnt rub against the box section leg, next cut a 30mm length of box section and trim one of the sides off so that you have a U shaped piece, notch out each side of the U piece so that it will have a 9mm wide notch - this piece needs to be welded onto the leg about mid way up on the same side the wheel is on-it is the piece that slots UP onto the 8mm bolt thats on the lower transom. drill a 9mm hole in the top of the leg , slot the leg up onto the lower bolt and then mark and drill a 9mm hole in the top part of the transom that corresponds with the 9mm in the top of the leg. Weld a M8 nut to the inside of the hole in the top of the leg, get a M8 bolt that long enough to go through the transom and into the bolt on the leg-weld a small piece of bent bar to the head of the bolt so its like a crank screw so its easy to do up by hand. Do the same for the other side and there you have it , make sure that the dimensions are exactly the same for each leg so each one will fit on either side of the boat- a pair of launch wheels that you slot on securely when you want them and come off easily by undoing the crank screw once launched + theyll never snap!

Prarie Tuber---Ive just finished making a launch trolley for my Surfcat which slots straight onto my road trailer-its similar to this(which i found after i built it

) http://www.cantrailers.com/specialzapcattrailer.htm -i launch my boat on a pebbly beach so i fitted 2 wheels each side - if you use a solid slipway the wheels in your diagram will be fine.

prairie tuber · 03 August 2008, 04:09

Thanks for the info Easyrider. Obviously there is a fair bit of labour involved and having your own welding equipment and skills are critical to keeping the costs down. I have previously fabricated a set of lauching wheels for an 11' foot zodiac and they held up for 1 return useage across a .75 km portage trail before they were trash. From that I learned what would have been necessary to make them more durable and decided it was worth purchasing a quality set. To be fair, that portage trail, as short as it was, had some pretty substantial boulders in the middle of it's path.

I should have mentioned that the turf tires I'll be using are balloon flotation tires that are about 20" diameter and about 9" wide. I also want the tubing components to come completely apart so I can stow them compactly in a bag and take them in the boat with me for crossing back country trails (a small chain saw would also be handy for widening those trails).

monktonlad · 03 August 2008, 22:13

Hi everyone,

I made my own transom wheels as I for one thought they were a bit costly and I have a limited amount of money that I can spend on all things boating and fishing.
I have an Avon rover 3-10 with an evinrude 6hp outboard, although when my brother isn't using it, a mercury 9.9hp (both 2 stroke).

I started by buying a pair of wheels and tyres from that well known auction site for about £12 I think. I then looked around my workshop to see what I had laying about in the way of materials suitable for the job.

I found an old ladder roof hook that used to clamp to the rungs to make an ordinary ladder into a roof one. This is made of 1" square section aluminium. It was no longer used as it tied up the ordinary ladder, plus I obtained a proper one in my last job

Next I found some aluminium channel that was just the right size (I don't seem to throw anything away) and kind of guessed some measurements and set about cutting it all to size.

The next problem was to make a stub axle to fit to the leg. I used a couple of M16 stainless bolts, washers and nuts for this but needed a big washer to stop everything touching the leg. This was made by using a 63mm hole saw and cutting two holes in a bit of 6mm ally plate. I then drilled a 16mm hole in the center and bingo, two washers. I then needed to make a bush for the bolts to fit the hole in the center of the wheels. This was made from some blue water pipe.

The aluminium channel was clamped to the transom, drilled and bolted with some M8 stainless bolts with some sikaflex being put into the holes first. I let the sikaflex go off a while before tightening it all up..
I used M10 bolts for the center one plus M8 bolts for the pins to hold the wheels up or down.
I changed the bolts for a couple of stainless pins attached to the transom with plastic covered wire trace (learned the lesson by dropping too many in the water) but have since bought some 9mm drop nose pins.

I have used these wheels for ages and they have been brilliant. Total cost under 20 quid, mainly as I had loads of bits laying around and was able to put my brain into gear for once.

I have since developed a different plan of action for the sib.

Every time I went out, I had to deflate it all, pack it in the car, then once home inflate it again to wash it all down, before letting it dry and packing it away again.
I decided to make a trailer for it!

The quick version of this story is I bought a 14ft sailing dinghy with combo trailer (good old ebay) for £59. Chucked dinghy in the barn, cut trailer up, welded bits on, made bunks etc, bit of paint and now I can leave it all inflated and ready to go at a moments notice. It even has a support for the outboard. I left the channel that was for the transom wheels and have a light board that clips into that (made from the rest of the old ladder hook).

I know the last bit is slightly off topic but that's how everything has evolved so far.

Malcolm.

codprawn · 03 August 2008, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike13401

If you are paying £95 for the wheels alone then you seriously need to shop around.

On the local market there is a chap who has loads of different wheels obviously surplus stocks from somewhere. I bought a pair of 8" wheels for £5.

Alternatively these are IMO a bit small but you get the idea
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/160-mm-Castor-...6.c0.m14.l1318

Or IMO a bit too big but a lot cheaper than £95

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-of-15-Lau...742.m153.l1262

Still find it hard to justify £100+

Everyone seems to have missed the pont COMPLETELY!!! i meant the proper launching wheels!!!

Not just the tyres!!!!!!!!!

Monkton lad has done a good job though!!!

mike13401 · 03 August 2008, 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Everyone seems to have missed the pont COMPLETELY!!! i meant the proper launching wheels!!!

Not just the tyres!!!!!!!!!

Monkton lad has done a good job though!!!

With the utmost respect to you.
Every example I have cited is for complete wheels and not just tyres,in fact I am mystified as to where you got that idea.

In short my market purchased wheels are complete with tyres and ready to go as are the Ebay items listed.

I think you may have missed the point here.
Point being whilst we own boats we are not all in a position to spend unneccesary cash on our hobby I personally come from a family where make do and mend was imperative to our survival.
We were poor and I dont mean we didnt have the money for the latest playstation.
Most of the things I have made over the years have turned out to be better , stronger or nicer looking than the mass produced stuff at a fraction of the cost.

Mike