El Cheapo Home Built Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP)Trolley.

 

First Prototype!

The sup's are 10 and 11 foot long and are a handful to carry anymore then 50 metres max. If there is a breeze you get blown all over the place and it can be a real challenge to keep control.

The logical solution was a trolley of some kind similar to the one we have for the kayak. The challenge with that trolley is the wheels are not suitable for towing behind a push bike on the road. So it was decided that bicycle wheels would be the go. We had a childs bicycle that was surplus to needs so the front wheel and forks and rear wheel and rear stays were cut from the frame and used.

 Rear wheel and rear stays attached to alloy frame.

Front wheel and forks attached to alloy caravan step.

I had a piece of alloy that was once some type of caravan step so this was used as the frame to support the wheels. 25mm x 25mm alloy angle was used to make the carrying frame longer.

40mm high pressure PVC pipe that is used in spas was fastened down the centre of the trolley to stiffen it up and as an attachment point for the towing frame which was also manufactured from the same PVC pipe. The trolley had to be able to be easily taken apart for transportation so various screw together PVC fittings were used to make it a two piece structure. PVC pipe was also used as cross bars to support the stand up paddle boards.

A 40mm PVC Tee piece with the upright lengthened was slipped over the seat post. This allowed the unit to pivot when going around corners. The PVC fittings slipped over the long end of the Tee and was fastened by a  pin and chain through drilled holes in the fittings to the PVC towing pole. This was to allow a quick connect/disconnect of the trolley from the bicycle.

The trolley attached to the bicycle. Because tow pole was flexing I was a little concerned about the carrying capacity of the PVC so I dismantled it from the trailer and the bicycle, leaned it against the block retaining wall in the background and stood on it!! I only weigh 65 kg but I couldn't break it so 20kg of sup's wasn't going to break it.

Spanner aboard Prototype 1 loaded with two sups and paddles attached to the bicycle. The tow pole flexes and touches the front of the bottom board so foam will be used to prevent damage to the boards as will also be used on the cross bars. The boards are held on with occy straps.