Hobie scupper cart - worth it?

[baynovice]

It's an excellent idea. It looks very functional. However, the permanence of the attachment to the boat never appealed to me -- drilling and adding weight to the kayak. Plus I wondered if it would weaken kayak hulls where they were not built to be stressed. I imagine Native added reinforcement to the hulls with standard installations.

I’ve been looking at the Native Slayer Propel Max and they offer the Sidekick option, which looks like they OEM Boonedox, for just over $200. The ability to slip in and lock the wheels without having to unload and flip the kayak seems awful appealing. As far as wear on the hull, I would feel better buying as a “factory” option so they would be responsible for any issues due to the wheel system.


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[dsaavedra]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I was away camping all weekend and was very happy to see this productive discussion.

It sounds like the Hobie scupper cart is the way to go. Just need to decide which one. The standard could support the Outback, the heavy duty definitely would, and the beach wheels sound like they have their perks and drawbacks. I don't do a lot of soft launches but it would be nice to have the option.

I hadn't even thought of putting the cart in while the kayak is still floating to eliminate the need to tip it over. That's a really smart idea. My question is - how much clearance do you need under the kayak to do this? I.e. how deep of water do I need to be standing in to do this? In the summer when it's shorts and Crocs weather this won't be an issue, but in the colder months I usually wear rubber knee boots when launching/landing and would hate for that to be a limiting factor.

I've also seen a "hack" where you run bungees through the scuppers, attached to the cart, position the cart just right and then lift the stern. The bungees pull the cart right into the scuppers and you're ready to roll. But honestly, this looks like more of a pain in the ass to set up and get working than just taking the milk crate out and tipping the damn kayak.

Regarding Boonedox, the convenience of deployment is certainly attractive, but drilling into the top of the hull definitely does not appeal to me. I've also heard horror stories of those things cracking hulls because that part of the hull is just not designed to have the entire weight of the kayak hanging from it. The new Slayer Propel Max does have a "Boonedox" as a standard add-on, but this one is mounted on the gear tracks behind the seat - no drilling required. I'd imagine the gear tracks do a good job at distributing the load, and Native probably (hopefully) did a little extra engineering on this part of the hull to reinforce it since they designed and offer the Boonedox with the kayak. It's a shame Hobie hasn't built this into the kayaks the way Native has.

[Mark]

Dave,

Your knee boots will allow you to wade into water sufficiently deep to load your Hobie onto its scupper cart.

I wear dry pants in cold water and can wade as deep as my waist if need be. But I'm usually in water well below my knees when I tilt my boat to insert the scupper cart. I back the boat far enough into the water so that the bow does not grind into the sandy beach or a hard surface ramp as I lift and tilt. Remember you have a grip on the boat as you lift it. So the full weight of the boat is actually not on the water during this process. I lift the boat with my left arm and insert the cart with my right which is my dominant arm. After you do it a few times, it will take you only a few seconds.

Another reason I like to insert the cart on the water is to rinse as much sand and mud off of it before lifting it to the roof of my van or sliding it into my truck bed. When the cart is in place under the hull and boat is floating I bounce it up and down a few times by the bow to allow the water to rinse off grime. As long as I keep the bow off of the ground on my trip to my vehicle, the hull remains free of potentially abrasive sand and mud.

[dsaavedra]

Dave,

Your knee boots will allow you to wade into water sufficiently deep to load your Hobie onto its scupper cart.

I wear dry pants in cold water and can wade as deep as my waist if need be. But I'm usually in water well below my knees when I tilt my boat to insert the scupper cart. I back the boat far enough into the water so that the bow does not grind into the sandy beach or a hard surface ramp as I lift and tilt. Remember you have a grip on the boat as you lift it. So the full weight of the boat is actually not on the water during this process. I lift the boat with my left arm and insert the cart with my right which is my dominant arm. After you do it a few times, it will take you only a few seconds.

Another reason I like to insert the cart on the water is to rinse as much sand and mud off of it before lifting it to the roof of my van or sliding it into my truck bed. When the cart is in place under the hull and boat is floating I bounce it up and down a few times by the bow to allow the water to rinse off grime. As long as I keep the bow off of the ground on my trip to my vehicle, the hull remains free of potentially abrasive sand and mud.

Perfect, thanks Mark. I think this is the way I will go when I finally commit to getting the Outback!

[whenican]

Get the Hobie HD scupper cart. You will thank yourself. I am now looking for beach tires so I can utilize beaches.

[mjkeith13]

One thing I looked into this weekend was trying to find smaller non/less-buoyant wheels that I could swap out with the larger beach wheels on my larger trax 2 scupper cart. The trax 2 scupper cart is designed to fit only wheels with a 6.5" width on a 1/2" axel. There is only 1 cotter pin location on each end of the axel unlike the standard scupper cart that has 2 cotter pin locations on each side to allow both standard and heavy duty wheels. I could not find cheap wheels that do not float that fit the Trax 2 axel. Could possibly use a narrower wheel on each side with shaft collars.

[dsaavedra]

One thing I looked into this weekend was trying to find smaller non/less-buoyant wheels that I could swap out with the larger beach wheels on my larger trax 2 scupper cart. The trax 2 scupper cart is designed to fit only wheels with a 6.5" width on a 1/2" axel. There is only 1 cotter pin location on each end of the axel unlike the standard scupper cart that has 2 cotter pin locations on each side to allow both standard and heavy duty wheels. I could not find cheap wheels that do not float that fit the Trax 2 axel. Could possibly use a narrower wheel on each side with shaft collars.

Did you ever resolve this? I've heard (maybe on this forum) of people filling their trax beach wheels partly with water to make them less buoyant.

[mjkeith13]

I got lucky - the heavy wheels on my 21 year old push mower fit perfectly. Though I just realized this last month and have yet to test but should work.


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[Hangout]

When I bought my 2018 outback salesman at shop highly recommended the scupper cart. So I bought one with beach tires. I used once and never used it again. I am not talking if it worth it. Actually, it works great to pull my kayak with all of my gears loaded for more than 100yard to the beach. What I realized was that I have to unload all of my gears, flip my kayak to take off the cart from scupper holes. I am not sure if this is only my problem. Since then, I switched to a C-tug with no problem.

[ronaultmtd]

Having had both the Hobie plug in carts...the HD with solid rubber tires and Beach wheels...There is no perfect cart...the HD allows me to launch and recover with a loaded kayak, but in soft sand it is not a good pull...works great on hard surfaces...not interested in the permanent ugly ones that you drill holes in your kayak to attach that stay on your kayak forever...

[Huntrava]

I use the Hobie HD Cart with beach wheels, and it's the best cart I own by far. Lightweight, good welds on the stainless steel body, and very sturdy.

That said, if I were doing it all over, I'd probably go with the Boonedox solution. With the wheels flipped up, it appears to leave more deck space available compared to the scupper cart. Also, it looks like the wheel-base is lower and wider, which matters a lot when you're hauling over uneven terrain. So far my PA-12 has never fallen over sideways, but it could easily happen with the Hobie HD cart.

Once you have the technique figured out, installing the scupper cart in the water is pretty straightforward, but it can still be difficult. Another bonus for Boonedox users.