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Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck) *PIC*
By:Matt Jakubek
Date: 7/24/2013, 7:48 am
In Response To: Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck) (JohnAbercrombie)

Matt:
Beautiful job on the boat (and clever wheels/trailer as well).
Congrats!

Did you pull the boat+wheels with a bike or car?

I'd also like details of your deck fittings, please.

I had to get to a place 12Km from the workshop so I needed something for the bike (don't have a car). It might look fancy but to be honest it's far away from perfect:
- plywood is too flexible for 26" wheels while cycling, the thing might be stable but wobbles considerably. it's also quite heavy.
- I made a plywood hitch for the bike and connected to the kayak tip with a cord. A stiff connection would be a lot more comfortable as it reduces swinging.

My original Idea was to use an aluminium tube with foam pad stuck on and a wheel on each end of the tube. Unfortunately I was unable to find a long threaded rod with the same thread count to replace the two axles of the wheels.
However I also noted that a slightly lower centre of gravity and maybe some simple kind of suspension would improve overall performance considerably. I'll have to ponder over this a little moreā€¦

Messages In This Thread

Launching: Night Heron (high deck) *PIC*
Matt Jakubek -- 7/22/2013, 9:26 am
Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck)
Malcolm Schweizer -- 7/22/2013, 11:26 am
Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck)
JohnAbercrombie -- 7/22/2013, 12:44 pm
Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck) *PIC*
Matt Jakubek -- 7/24/2013, 7:48 am
Re: Launching: Night Heron (high deck)
Bill Hamm -- 7/23/2013, 1:54 am