Crow Horse

Almost everything worth anything is leashed on my yak. This does present a potential problem if I were to turtle. I could get tangled up with the leashes. In that event, I do have a blunt tip dive knife on my PFD's shoulder strap so I can cut myself free.

I haven't but one of my fishing buddies has and did so on a small pond we fish that was really calm. He's used to his Predator and I assume he moved around in the smaller sit in yak he was using at the time in the same manner he would if he was in the Predator. I was fishing the opposite end of the pond when I heard a tremendous splash and I knew instantly that it wasn't a large cow crushing a top water lure. I released my anchor and high tailed over to him. The launch site is the only place where one can beach and he was not able to get back into his yak, so we towed him back to the launch site. It took 2 yaks to tow him back and it was a struggle to make that trip. He lost some small items and was lucky to recover most everything else. Honestly, I think he was more embarrassed than anything else. I don't believe he's used that smaller yak since then. His wife was with us and I think she got a kick out of his unplanned swim.

Yea, the shipping is ridiculous but it's cheaper than driving to Portland. I like these slides because they allow for changes in length without a lot of extra work. Funny on the timing. I just received my order for them today. I'm always using hardware like this and finally had order 10 just to have on hand for future projects. Love the flotation tires on your cart!

I use these Stainless 1" 3 Bar Slide to secure the straps to the cart. It's semi permanent, adjustable, and they work really well.

I'd be remiss if I did not mention that Suspenz has awesome customer service. After I had assembled mine I notices a defect with the frame. I sent an email with photos of the defect to their customer service and I received a reply less than 20 minutes later. Their response: "Thanks for bringing this to our attention. First off, we want to apologize for the defective frame. I have passed this along to my team, which handles return inspections, and informed my QA team. We will send you a new frame; you don't need to send the old frame out. I will have my QA team thoroughly inspect the frame and test it before we ship it out to you." Less than an hour later I received the tracking number for the replacement frame. Kudos to Suspenz and their customer service! It's rare that one receives such quick responses. Their products are high quality and do come with a premium price tag but it should be noted that they back their products. Obviously I was pleased but I was probably more shocked as to how fast the problem was resolved. This is how legitimate customer issues should be resolved but often aren't.

I got into kayak fishing 10 years ago and it's been a learning journey continuing to present time. My kayak has gone through quite a few variations as my needs changed or I learned about better products or better methods. When I first started out it became painfully apparent that a cart was needed to get to different launch sites. I'm not a big fan of carrying when I could roll. My first cart was one I found at a yard sale. I believe it was a Seattle Sports cart and somewhat small. I purchased a different cart on Amazon for cheap so that both my wife and I had some wheels under our yaks. The first thing I learned was that pretty much every budget yak cart straps are horrible. Replacing them is a must. As our needs changed as we settled in to fishing one particular pond which had a difficult trail that led to the launch site. It had exposed gnarly root systems across it as well as large rocks and ruts. With the carts in their present state the trail was doable but it was a struggle. I had to make some changes. The first thing changed was the wheels. They weren't cutting it as they were too small for the access trail. I replaced the wheels with larger ones that I got from work for free but they required the hub section to be cut shorter and different bearings to match the cart's axle (20mm). Once everything was fitted correctly, I powder coated the wheels (free). I made some other tweaks as the cart did collapse when being loaded from time to time. I made brackets to lock it open and some adjustments to the straps to allow the components to park in the proper positions. The new larger wheels made the trail a lot more manageable but there was one penalty. The larger wheels made the cart extremely heavy, too heavy to stow in a yak. I opted to hide them in the woods and lock them to a tree, just to keep honest people honest. Change is inevitable and I found another yak, larger and heavier than my original one. My cart with all the bells and whistles wasn't going to cut it and I pulled the trigger on a Suspenz All Terrain Super Duty cart. I'm really happy with this cart and I'm still learning about it's nuances and adding some tweaks to suit my taste. Nothing major to do but my nature is to never leave something alone. I did add a webbing cradle, made the bunk pins truly captive and changed the straps. The straps might not have been necessary to change but I really love the RollerCam straps. They are the bee's knees of cam straps. I've learned a great deal with making all the changes and it's been fun. The driving force is to make life easy. I'd rather fish hard than have to work hard just to get there. It's my energy conservation program.

I wish there was a tire engineer here to chime in. My thoughts are these. Determining the correct air pressure is more complicated than just setting it at max pressure. A large part of it is relative to the total load that the tires will support and keep within the design parameters of the tire. Heat build up, tire wear, and "ride" play important roles in making this determination. As with most things in life, this is more complicated than it appears at face level. Whatever that "sweet spot" pressure is, it's safer to opt for a higher pressure (but not exceed the manufacturers max psi rating) at the expense of "ride" and tire wear. Tire wear might not be an important consideration because most tires age out long before tread wear warrants replacement. Finding that "sweet spot" psi is not so clear cut. There are many methods to find it: puddle method, chalk method and even using a non contact thermometer. I believe they will all give us important pieces of the puzzle but might not paint the entire picture. Determine that sweet spot pressure for your trailer tires is probably more complicated than most folks want to dip their beak in to. Set it and forget it and we're good to go. For many, that works for them. I'm plagued with the personality defect of having to know more and thinking things to death, much to the chagrin of my wife (and sometimes myself). One benefit of torturing myself by chasing my tail is that I do learn more about a particular subject. Now I'll return to wondering what would happen if feathers tickled birds, how do you know when you're out of invisible ink, or if you;re driving at the speed of light and you turn your lights on, what happens? I need to know.......

It's not so inconsequential when you consider the investment riding on those tiny tires....😀

Some manufacturers have a load/pressure chart for tire pressure. Others state to inflate to the max pressure indicated on the sidewall. I suspect that they take the easy route trying to avoid any liability issues. Max pressure of a tire that is not at max load will bounce down the road and tire wear will most probably be uneven. Overinflated tires tend to crown causing the center of the tire to wear faster than the outsides. This is more prevalent with bias ply tires. Radials tend to be less susceptible to crowning. It gets quite confusing. I would contact the trailer manufacturer and the tire manufacturer to see what they recommend.

I can never say to myself "this is my last cast for the day" and truly mean it. It's more like a suggestion or a consideration than a declaration. Heaven forbid I get a hit and then all bets are off. Time wise, with discipline, it might be as little as 15-20 minutes and with the slightest hint of my lure being appealing, I could be there another hour or two and reluctantly will have to remove myself from the water. I'm like a junkie craving a fix, until sensibilities prevail. How long does it take for you to make your last cast?

@A-Jay With some modifications....... I love fishing. I want to be out doing it. I have decent equipment. A decent kayak. Nothing crazy. I do keep up with the latest fads and trends. I do not go out with the intent of breaking my PB. (I go out to enjoy the experience and do the best that I can do and learn something) I keep track of how many I’ve caught. I don't measure bigger bass. (I don't measure any bass now) I am thankful for the liquid slice of heaven that I'm on. I want to catch some fish, have a good time and come home safe!

Kenda tires?

I doubt it will have any impact on mileage. The ride of the trailer will improve (or should) but that's difficult to determine while driving.

Only if the stars and planets align perfectly. Otherwise, it's a flip of the coin. Fishing barbless makes it less likely, but I'll keep trying.....

I have 2 GoPros rolling and sometimes a third for underwater shots. I have a YouTube channel only for my own enjoyment and so that I can share the video with family and friends. I don't narrate as it would be too distracting. I video the entire day. I like reviewing the videos especially after the season wraps up. I learn a lot from watching my well documented mistakes.

I checked with the manufacturer (Malone) and they recommend 35-40psi with a max of 65psi (although the tires state max. pressure of 60psi).

There is the liability factor and I'm sure manufacturers would not risk tire failures by advocating lower than max pressures for the sake of a softer ride. I'm sure there is a sweet spot relative to load where it will provide maximum tire life, ride comfort and safety, not necessarily in that order.

I'm still not convinced that (in my case) running at max psi is the prudent thing to do. Certainly with a much heavier load will warrant higher pressures. A bias ply tire will crown when inflated to higher pressures relative to load. I really don't think it's so cut and dry as AI suggests. Case in point. Most if not all vehicle manufacturers dictate pressures lower than max load pressure. One key difference to note is the difference between bias ply and radial tires.

I would consider using some aluminum to cover it all and pop rivet it down.

I'll try to make this brief. My kayak trailer tires are B load range, and rated at max load of 590#s (ea.) at 60psi. Estimating liberally, the 2 kayaks weigh a max of 120#s and the trailer weighs 175#s for a total weight of 295#s. With a total weight capacity of 1180#s, the load is 25% of the max capacity. With that in mind, running 60 psi would be overinflated relative to the load. I run 40psi as a happy medium. Is my thinking correct? If I ran 60psi my thought is that the trailer would be literally bouncing down the road after it hit some bumps. My truck tires are rated at a max load at 50psi. I run 32psi for maximum tire service life and ride comfort. Wouldn't it be similar with trailer tires?

For bolt & screw holes, you can use plastic hole plugs (Amazon). They yield a clean appearance that probably would look more professional than using JB Weld. For larger holes, I would cut a slightly larger piece of aluminum to cover the hole and maybe rivet it in place. Hard to say what would work best without seeing the holes that need to be covered? Any pictures?

A great many people do very poor risk/benefit assessments. Einstein was correct in stating that human stupidity is infinite........

X2. A good hand paddle is worth it's weight in gold. It makes corrections very easy, stows nicely and it floats. I even used it as my primary propulsion once when I managed to leave my paddle at home and wasn't going to lose fishing time to get it. Lesson learned.

Just picked up my new ride yesterday. It'll be a while before I set it up to accept the camera booms, FF, and rod holders. I got a smokin' deal on this Old Town Vapor 12XT Angler. It's used and needs a little TLC, but I'm very happy with this purchase. It was $200 well spent.

Thanks. I'll try the DeoxIT. Placed an order and my fingers are crossed.