Dinghy Wheeler

[ausaviator]

Thought I'd share these with the "crew."

"Dinghy Wheeler" on Ebay. AUD$75.

Easy enough to fit, do the job nicely. They fold up to level or upright position. (3 positions)

[ausaviator]

Gave them a try today. Best money I've ever spent! Not brilliant on soft sand, but straight up and down the boatramp complete with engine and baggage- very handy. Much easier than tying up somewhere and probably easier to steal :-(

[zeehag]

the best wheels are larger and hold air not hard plastic....the variable pressure capability makes it easier to haul over soft sand.

[jeremiason]

We have been cruising Pacific Mexico and Central America for the last two years... Here tidal ranges are much more extreme than the Caribbean or Florida, routinely causing you to roll your dinghy 20-50 feet up the beach and in some places 1/4 mile.

Cruisers who started with those wheels later found the were worthless in sand and went with the balloon tire models instead.

Those wheels are great for rolling the dinghy around on hard packed soil, docks and cement.

[lateral]

As Zee pointed out tho', careful with the pontoons, or ya wear 'em out rubbing.
Or ya wear your back out.

[CarinaPDX]

My experience mirrors others here: those wheels are too small, and too low. As noted, the tidal ranges on the west coast of Central America require moving dinghies up and down the beach a lot. Small wheels just dig into the sand and cause more drag. Saint Mary's in the Isles of Scilly has significant tides, and the beach has many rocks about 4" (100mm) in diameter, and the wheels shown won't work there either. There are better alternatives that will ride on top of sand and over rough spots.

Greg

[ausaviator]

As per my second post above, not for soft sand! They are great for the purpose for which I purchased them for!

[CarinaPDX]

Agreed. They are commonly used on sailing dinghies at clubs as they enable young folks to launch and retrieve boats themselves.

The point I and others are making is that for a world cruising boat larger dinghy wheels will find application in many places that the smaller wheels won't. Horses for courses...

Greg

[lateral]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

As per my second post above, not for soft sand! They are great for the purpose for which I purchased them for!

+1
I've got them. (3m Nimrod with same motor as yours)

[ausaviator]

Not sure if you saw my outboard post Lateral, I bought that engine 8 months ago for $1850. Then at the Melbourne boat show I saw the "Japanese" version for $1850 for a 15 HP Mercury! Definitely is 15 hp, much larger and quite obviously is 15hp. Confused me as everyone here was saying they are all made in the Tohatsu / Nissan factory, but mine is supposedly made in the US and Japan also makes them.

[CarinaPDX]

A bit of thread drift, but what the hay...

I was told by a Merc distributor that the 4 cycle power heads were from a Japanese company (Yamaha IIRC), although by now Merc may have manufacturing rights to the power head. Still, at least in the US market the outboards are assembled in the US, and I believe the European ones are assembled in Belgium. Tohatsu is known for making the 2-3hp outboards for just about everyone including Merc, but not for the larger outboards. How much did that 15hp weigh? Probably more than I want to be rolling or dragging up a beach...

Greg

[ausaviator]

The 15 looked and felt like a 15 in terms of size and weight. The only blatantly obvious difference between the two of them was that the Japanese one has the gear shifter on the throttle handle, whereas the American one has the gear shifter on the side.

One could feel quite ripped off if the didn't know the difference. The dealer claimed that the US one is FAR FAR superior, but I don't know on what basis.

[lateral]

Just to keep consistently drifting....
Mine is a 15hp Mariner with all the accessories in Mercury boxes & gear shifter on the handle! I sat it beside a Merc & couldn't tell the difference. It is a few years old now & has done about 2hrs running.:-(

[CarinaPDX]

I'm a little out of date re buying outboards, but I think it is still the same: Mercury (and other vendors) have two product lines: sport and commercial. The sport have all the features (shift on handle is a big one for Merc); the commercial are stripped down a bit and are often sold in poorer parts of the world (e.g. Caribbean) at lower prices. The commercial Mercs don't have thermostats (who needs them in the tropics).

[Jim Cate]

Dinghy Wheels! What a great idea... now a thief can use your dink like a wheelbarrow to carry off all the electronics that he's just stripped out of your boat!

(Just kidding... they are a real boon for cruisers who do beach landings a lot)

Cheers,

Jim