I made a simple ladder shaped frame.
It has a rung on each end to hold the ends of the boat and keep it from sliding off the frame.
In the middle is a rung with braces to keep the rectangular shape from becomming a trapezoid.
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When I went to build my brick, I was not sure about the strength of 1/4" plywood.
Standing there in front of stacks plywood at Home Depot, I noticed that 3/8ths sheathing plywood was $8 a sheet, and 1/4" was $12 per sheet. Then I did some very scientific testing -- I picked up a sheet of 1/4 plywood, layed it on top of the lumber cart and it almost bent itself into a circle. Wow, that is flimsy stuff!
I obviously need the 3/8ths, and it will be cheaper too!
After building the sides and then attaching everything together with the bottom, I discovered how heavy my decision was.
Later I did some calculations to discover that 3 sheets of 3/8ths plus the other materials added up to be about 175lbs.
The commonly suggested maximum for a car-topping boat is 90 lbs.
60-70 lbs is better, but a max of 90 is acceptable.
I mulled over this problem for a while. I thought of many contraptions that I could build, I sketched up many possiblities, but in the end settled with a simple solution that works well. My car-topping idea came from a description of an old Sears car-topper system. The Sears system was a vertical pole attached to the bumper of your car. One end of your boat was attached to a ring on the pole. Then that end was elevated to roof top height and locked in place up there. Finally you lift the other end of the boat, and walk it around and set it on top of your car. The principle is to lift only half of the weight of your boat at a time. |
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I made a simple ladder shaped frame.
It has a rung on each end to hold the ends of the boat and keep it from sliding off the frame.
In the middle is a rung with braces to keep the rectangular shape from becomming a trapezoid.
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I mounted "roll over" blocks at each corner of my brick.
These keep the boat from being scratched up, only the blocks get damaged as I roll the boat over onto it's cartopping frame.
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The bottom of my brick has 3 disposable skids.
After they become worn out, I will unscrew them and replace with new ones.
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The frame is longer than the boat.
This makes for a nice place to pick it up and wheel around like a wheel barrow.
The wheels stay on the boat all the time. Being in a brick, I get plenty of attention at the dock. Being in a boat with wheels gets interesting comments like:"Hey, I see you are a novice because you still have the training wheels on!" |
It really is much lighter this way.
This system makes the boat feel like less than half of the weight.
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Once I get the end on top of the car, I pick up the other half and then slide the whole thing forward.
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Tada!
175lbs worth of boat up on top of my car.
Launching my brick is interesting too. I don't have pictures of this, but I wheel it down to the waters edge and then flip it into the water by thrusting the bow into the air. It pivots on the wheels and then lands in the water with a neat whoosh sound. |
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Afterthoughts: Making the mistake of building my boat from lumber that was way too heavy really made me see the possiblities of what could be done. 175lbs is a lot of boat if you build from 1/4" plywood. A June Bug or similar sized boat could become a car-topper. For lots of great boats with wheels, checkout Fritz's Boats with Wheels! page. |
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