Joe Liener, here with his ducker, GREEN BRIAR, used his roller cart to get his boats to and from the water.
Ben Fuller
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I tried the 2″ ABS pipe option a long while ago as rollers for my row boat of approximately 150 lbs, but unless the surface was really smooth they didn’t work all that well and were noisy and bouncy on dirt and tend to twist out of alignment so not roll the boat where i wanted it go.I switched to using a 2′ long air-filled 6 inch diameter flexible plastic boat fender about 3 or 4 years ago and it works great and rolls smoothly even on gravel (somewhat like but not likely as rough of surfaces as the big inflatable air bags that were reviewed here in Small Boats Monthly a while back.) The fender will flex around the keel, as well as indent if it encounters smaller rocks and other unevenness along the path and roll over them, usually while remaining square to the direction of travel, etc., but obviously not to the same degree as those big air rollers. It’s also something I can easily take with me in the boat/ vehicle anytime and anywhere I go and usually easily pull the boat well clear of the shore line or launch my boat without having to back my vehicle right to the waterline. This is important if there is any kind of breeze or chop at the launch… it lets you load up the basic safety gear etc you always need…. then go park your vehicle, then come back and complete the rest of the prep—oars into the oar locks ready to row—on dry land. Then I launch, grab the fender, toss it into the bow before it floats away, and then hop in and row away all in one go.
But watch how much of a load you place or have in your hull when using any sort of rollers. I was fully loaded with camping gear and grounded out on a shallow sandy beach about 20 yards from the actual shoreline in my old boat. This was on a camping trip two summers ago. The fender got me to the actual shoreline but the load generated more flex than the epoxy-glued plywood lap joint between my flat bottom board and the garboard strake liked. I heard a minor cracking sound at the time but didn’t think much of it, but sure enough it had sprung a fairly good leak. Thankfully it wasn’t much at all unless I was fully loaded and thankfully even then I could still manage it with just a minute or so of sponge bailing every half hour or so, so the rest of the trip wasn’t a write-off.
Launching or recovering, I place the fender at the end I want to move the boat towards, then lift the other end so both ends are clear and push the boat ahead. Once the other end becomes the heavy end, then i move to that end and lift and pull from there if I need to go farther.
I am looking to find some longer ones so it’s easier to see whether i’ve positioned it exactly square to the direction I’m trying to move the boat. Two might be better if I had to move things longer distances, but one is working fine for me so far at my typical launch sites. I have a proper cart for around home or if I’ve got a long portage.