This page is dedicated to collecting resources, ideas, and project examples for portable devices to assist small craft in entering and leaving the water. I'm excluding from this category dedicated trailers designed for highway use, and permanently mounted devices designed to be used in a fixed location (e.g. lifts or fixed rollers).

• Ultimate Engineering

  • Microships IO and Europa, from technomads Steve Roberts and Natasha Clarke: "Integrated Platforms for Open-Ended Technomadic Adventure". Truly Amazing, and definitely ultimate engineering!

• Homemade Arrangements
  • Bolger Brick Wheels: David Routh's clever system for cartop assist and transport

  • Weekend Skiff Centerboard Trunk Dolly: Bruce Simonson extended the gunwales aft on his Weekend Skiff to make "wheelbarrow handles", constructing a small dolly to insert in the centerboard trunk.

  • Garth Battista : came up with this variant on the centerboard trunk dolly for his Bolger Gypsy.

  • Frank Ellinghaus describes how to build an inexpensive small dolly out of a handtruck!
  • David Beede built a version of Dave Carnell's inexpensive, simple dolly
  • Strap-on Road Wheels: Drew Schumann describes a system of temporarily strapping wheels to the bottom of small buildings that might work for small craft.
  • Garvey design with built-in front wheel: apparently Thomas Firth Jones has one of these in "Boats to Go" (thanks to Richard Barnes for pointing this out)
  • Wheelie Willie:A traditional garvey (jonboat), cross-planked and caulked, with front wheel, from an old magazine, rescued by David Beede, and spied by David Routh.
  • "Sleeper" , somewhat like a Bolger Brick with decks, but includes a wheel arrangement

  • and, of course, my latest attempt at amphibious boats: my wheeled Phil Bolger Sneakeasy. At 27 feet she needs bow wheels too....the design is still evolving!

  • Wheelbarrow tires ( but their steel hubs won't last long in salt water)
  • Rollers (complete with Chinese fire drill to rotate them from stern to bow):
    • inflatable rollers (fenders work for this)
    • PVC pipe sections
    • smooth rounded beach logs
• Commercial Wheels and Dollies
  • Happy's makes great lightweight, plastic-hubbed, pneumatic beaching wheel systems, also some interesting-looking dollies. I've used their wheels on two different inflatables - well engineered stuff!
  • Seitech sells an extensive line of boat dollies, but also components, including plastic-hubbed pneumatic wheels with Delrin needle bearings!
  • Porta-Dolly - A dolly by the Porta-Bote folding boat people
  • Estran Dollies for Inflatables ; also see Estran site
  • Sunfish Dolly (also shorter Optimist Pram version), from PVC pipe with solid rubber tires on plastic rims
• Hard surfaces only: unconventional motion for boats and other loads
  • Pontoon Boat "Roller Skates" demonstrate the concept of platform casters for moving boats (hard surfaces only).
  • My simple low-tech "Needle Bearing" Trailer Mover is a cheap quick way to move a trailer sideways on hard surfaces.
• Manufactured amphibious boat ideas
  •   Campaboat, an Australian wheeled, folding trailer/boat (sleuthed out by David Routh)

  •   Bass Baby,complete with molded-in cupholders (apparently a necessary feature for pursuing bass, even in an 8 foot boat? oh well..)
  •   Amphibious Terra Marina Houseboat, a 1962 model being restored by Mike Hancock in Idaho. Innovative trailer-houseboat dual purpose combination.

Please drop me a note if you have other ideas or examples of wheeled or other devices for easily moving small to medium sized boats in and out of water.

My other amphibious vehicle resource pages (cars and hovercraft):

• Amphibious cars and roadworthy vehicles - a little off the topic, but interesting!
• Fan/Skirt Amphibious vehicles (Hovercraft etc.) - OK, no wheels, but they ARE amphibious!

Contact:  Fritz Funk (fritzf@alaska.net)