I kayak alone most of the time. My paddling friends have different schedules, different commitments, and different ideas about what constitutes a reasonable distance to paddle before breakfast. Paddling alone is fine — I prefer it for early morning sessions when I want to think rather than talk — but it creates a practical problem that paddling with a group doesn’t: there’s nobody to help carry the kayak from the car to the water.
My kayak weighs about 25 kilograms. The distance from the car park to the water at my usual launch site is about 80 metres across a mix of sand, gravel, and grass. Dragging a 25kg kayak across that distance alone, twice per session, was doing things to my lower back that my physiotherapist was not pleased about. The C-Tug Sandtrakz kayak cart is what ended that problem.
The Problem With Dragging
Dragging a kayak is the default solution for solo paddlers who don’t have a cart, and it works after a fashion — the kayak gets from the car to the water, which is the objective. The problems are the damage it does to the hull over time, the effort it requires on anything other than a perfectly smooth surface, and the strain it puts on the back and shoulders when you’re pulling a heavy object across uneven ground.
I’d been dragging my kayak for two seasons. The hull had developed some surface scratches that didn’t affect performance but were aesthetically unpleasant. My lower back had developed a persistent ache on launch days that my physiotherapist had identified as consistent with repeated heavy lifting and dragging. Something needed to change.
Why I Chose the C-Tug Sandtrakz
The C-Tug Sandtrakz Kayak Cart is specifically designed for the conditions I was dealing with. The Sandtrakz wheels are wide, puncture-free sand wheels — the same design principle as fat-tyre bikes, where a wider contact area distributes the load and prevents the wheel from sinking into soft surfaces. On sand, standard narrow wheels sink and require significant effort to push or pull. The Sandtrakz wheels roll across sand, gravel, and grass with minimal resistance.
The puncture-free design was important to me. I’d read about kayak carts with pneumatic tyres that work well until they get a puncture at a remote launch site, at which point you’re back to dragging. The Sandtrakz wheels are solid foam — they can’t puncture, they don’t need inflating, and they perform consistently regardless of conditions.
The C-Tug brand has a strong reputation among sea kayakers and touring paddlers — it’s the cart that comes up repeatedly in paddling forums when people ask for recommendations, and the Sandtrakz variant is specifically recommended for beach and mixed-terrain launches.
The First Launch
I assembled the cart in the car park — it takes about two minutes, no tools required — and strapped my kayak to it using the included straps. The kayak sat securely on the cart’s cradle arms, balanced at the point just behind the cockpit that distributes the weight evenly. I then pulled the cart across the 80 metres of sand and gravel to the water’s edge.
The difference was immediate and significant. The Sandtrakz wheels rolled across the sand without sinking. The gravel section, which had been the most difficult part of the drag, was straightforward with the cart. The whole journey from car to water took about three minutes and required no more effort than pulling a wheeled suitcase through an airport. My back was fine. My hull was undamaged. I was at the water’s edge with energy to spare for the paddle.
Storage During the Paddle
The C-Tug folds down to a compact size — the wheels detach and the frame collapses — and fits inside the kayak’s cockpit or rear hatch during the paddle. This was the feature I’d been most uncertain about before buying: I didn’t want to leave an expensive cart on the beach while I was on the water, and I didn’t want to carry it separately. The folded cart fits in my cockpit with room to spare, which means it comes with me on the water and is ready for the return journey.
The return journey — carrying the kayak back to the car after a paddle when you’re tired — is where the cart makes the biggest difference. Dragging a kayak when you’re fatigued after two hours on the water is significantly harder than dragging it when you’re fresh. With the cart, the return journey is the same as the outward one: three minutes, minimal effort, no back strain.
New Launch Sites
The cart has also opened up launch sites I’d previously avoided because the carry from the car park was too difficult to manage alone. There’s a beach about twenty minutes from my usual site that has a longer carry across soft sand — probably 150 metres — that I’d written off as impractical for solo launching. With the Sandtrakz cart it’s straightforward. I’ve launched there three times this season and it’s become one of my favourite spots.
That expansion of accessible launch sites is the benefit I hadn’t anticipated when I bought the cart. I’d bought it to solve the back pain problem. The back pain is solved, but the bigger change is that I’m paddling in more places and enjoying the sport more as a result.
Where to Find It
The C-Tug Sandtrakz Kayak Cart is available in the Kayak Accessories collection, within the broader Boating & Rafting, Boating & Water Sports and Outdoor Recreation ranges.
If you paddle alone and you’ve been dragging your kayak, I’d strongly suggest getting a cart before your back tells you to. The C-Tug Sandtrakz is the one I’d recommend for mixed-terrain launches — the sand wheels work on surfaces that standard wheels don’t, the puncture-free design means it’s reliable in remote locations, and the fold-down size means it travels with you rather than staying on the beach. One season in and I’m paddling more, hurting less, and launching in places I’d previously written off. That’s a better outcome than I’d expected from a kayak trolley.
— Ben Calloway, solo paddler, former back pain sufferer, and now the person at the launch site who gets asked where he got his cart from by every other solo kayaker he meets
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