On 5/12/2016 4:37 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Last year I got rid of my windsurfing gear and got something called a
"Hobie Adventure Island": basically a kayak with outriggers optimized
for sailing.

About 220# beach-ready.

Hobie sells a set of beach wheels that work fairly well:

But the holes they mount into are so far back that the nose becomes
about a 50# lift. Not un-doable by any means, but it's not what I
would call easy on the back - and it has it's problems when a slope has
to be negotiated and something closer to the boat's balance point would
be a beeeeeg improvement.

How about some pipe fitted into the intended holes -- but, swept forward
(to the balance point) to a cross member on which the beach wheels are
actually mounted?

A risk, here, is the stresses that would be placed on the "holes" would
differ from what they were designed to expect. I assume this would
crack some bit of plastic (?)

To that end, I've been fooling around with a frame that holds the boat,
slides on-and-off the trailer, and has beach wheels mounted on it, but
it is flying in the face of the KISS principle and it seems like
embracing the existing wheels is the sensible thing to do.

That being the case, I started off thinking about a pack wheel/game cart
(as in https://youtu.be/4-gt-VF0zEI?list=PL76069A6D971DF3F9) but, once
again, I think I am going overboard on the complexity - not to mention
the price

The Bottom Line: Can anybody think of something off-the-shelf that
could function as a "Nose Wheel" for this thing?

To be clear, you're thinking of making a tricycle out of the thing?

Can you leave the existing wheels "plugged into" the holes (that
are too far astern). Then, make a fork that clips onto the
cross member of those wheels and extends forward to a point at which
a "pivoting wheel" is mounted.

I.e., the fork is triangular in shape (like an old wooden "crutch").
At the tip, a pivoting beach wheel is mounted facing downwards.
On the *top* surface of that point, a carpetted pad insulates the
fork from the underside of the boat. (The boat *rests* on this
tip of the fork with the pivot wheel beneath).

On level surfaces, the boat sits "flat" on the trike and is
pulled along (perhaps a rope that straddles the boat at the
front wheel and connects to that wheel -- this allows you
to tug on the wheel and, indirectly, the rear wheels as well
as holding the wheel *up* against the underside of the
boat).

If you lift the front of the boat, the wheel can come up with
it turning the boat+wheels into a sort of handtruck (dolly)
that you are dragging along behind you.

You might be able to experiment with SCH 40 PVC as a cheap frame
(for this "fork"). Or, EMT (or even RMC)

Idea for wheel pivot:
https://ldvbeachservice.com/ldv-assets/uploads/2015/02/Beach-Wheel-Chair-Rentals-Destin-300x200.jpg

Could you also use a (wide) "ski" in the front?