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'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.

@Crow Horse  I need your help.  I have a similar cart.  Pics later. 
 

are your cam straps permanently connecting your cart?   I want to attach straps to mine.  Right now I take the longs one I use to secure kayak in my truck and it was not ideal.  More work, I dragged unnecessary beach sand to my truck, etc. 

 

I think I’ll just cut mine down and tie them to the cart.  Unless you came up with something better. 

 

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.

WOW!!!  that is so good.   I'll order some now!! unless you happened to have ordered a 200 pack.  hahah

 

I ordered several since I got absolutely hosed on shipping.  hahah....I can rig up other things.  thanks again for this fantastic idea...not sure why it never came up in my feeble brain before.  I was going to my elderly neighbor to sew hoops...haha..

Oh.  Here is my cart.  I use it strictly for the beach. 
 

4 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

WOW!!!  that is so good.   I'll order some now!! unless you happened to have ordered a 200 pack.  hahah

 

I ordered several since I got absolutely hosed on shipping.  hahah....I can rig up other things.  thanks again for this fantastic idea...not sure why it never came up in my feeble brain before.  I was going to my elderly neighbor to sew hoops...haha..

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!

@Crow Horse  the straps are attached so cleanly!!!  thanks.  

 

I bought new NRS straps and cut up my old dirty ones for cart-duty.   great suggestion, just wanted to make sure I thanked you.  you save me time and money by not trying different variations.  

 

BOOM!

 

 

 

 

30 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

@Crow Horse  the straps are attached so cleanly!!!  thanks.  

 

I bought new NRS straps and cut up my old dirty ones for cart-duty.   great suggestion, just wanted to make sure I thanked you.  you save me time and money by not trying different variations.  

 

BOOM!

 

 

 

 

 

Glad it worked out for you and that you're happy with the results. I went through a number of variations that I wasn't really happy with until I used the 3 bar slides. Now, life is good! Gotta love a clean install. The straps now look like they grew there!

I should have mentioned that to keep the straps in position, I used a small piece of 3/4 rubber hose sliced open and then used cable ties to secure it to the frame. When positioned correctly, They'll keep the straps from sliding down.

Me. I’m thinking zip ties.