Most of us have kayak carts of one sort or another for getting our kayaks from car to water over longer distances. But hauling them along on camping trips can be a pain. Even the ones that disassemble into pieces are sometimes hard to stow away and take up valuable storage space. And most of the time all that’s needed is a little help pulling the boats up a sand bank above the high tide line, through some sucky mud, or across some oyster shells or a bit of lime rock. A Florida CT paddler turned me on to foam rollers as a great tool for these short pulls with a loaded kayak. On our CT section paddles we generally leave the kayak carts in our vehicles at each end of our 5-day trips and use the foam rollers in between.
Making a pair is really easy. All you need is a pool noodle and a length of 1” Schedule 40 PVC pipe. I’m going to describe here how we make them for our v-hulled boats. I’ll add a comment at the end about making them for wider, more flat-bottomed boats like SOTs.
Pool noodles are 48 to 60″ long, so start by cutting the pool noodles so you end up with 2 pieces approximately 24” long. Next cut 2 pieces of 1” PVC pipe approximately 24” long – the same length as your noodle pieces.
Now, smear a little dishwashing liquid around the outside of the PVC pipe so it’s slick and with a twisting motion fit the PVC pipes up inside the pool noodles. It’s ok if a little PVC pipe sticks out at each end or if the pipe is a little bit short. Approximate is good enough, it will work just the same. Be sure to rinse the rollers afterwards to get rid of all the dishwashing liquid before you use them or it will collect dirt.
The foam on the outside gives some cushion and provides some tooth against the hull while the PVC pipe in the middle provides structure so the foam does not collapse and maintains it’s round shape.
Using the rollers works best if you pull at a low angle with a rope (bow painter) from 6 feet or so in front of the boat rather than bending down and pulling forward and up from the bow toggle.
To use the rollers, place one roller under the bow of the boat about a ¼ of the way back and pull. When the stern comes up out of the water place the second roller about ¼ of the way forward of the stern. Now you’re ready to roll!
Pull the boat until the front roller becomes the back roller and the back roller is no longer under the boat. Grab the back roller and place it under the front of the boat and pull again. Continue until the boat is where you want it, above high tide line or at the top of the ramp. Two people working together – one pulling and one placing the noodles – can move a boat quite a distance in a very short time – less time than it takes to unpack and assemble a kayak cart!
We find the pool noodles last about a year before getting flattened, torn up, or sun damaged, but for $2 in 15 minutes you can make a new pair usually using the same PVC pipe.
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If you have a wide, flat-bottomed boat like an SOT, you will have to find the width of the roller that will work with your boat because you will need the entire hull up on the rollers. Place the SOT hull-side up and lay the pool noodle across at the boat’s widest point to get a good noodle length measurement. Since this length will probably be around 30″ to 36” you may need 2 pool noodles to make 2 rollers and they may be harder to stow in your boat.