Handy trolley for small craft

Press, 28 November 1979, Page 23

Handy trolley for small craft

, Small boats can be easily manhandled from the water’s edge across soft sand and mud with a new British trolley called the Trolley-Ball (pictured). The secret is in the inflatable ball wheels that provide a larger ground contact than ordinary boat trolley wheels, giving more traction on soft ground and stability in strong cross winds. The problem of aligning a submerged trolley with the

hull when recovering the boat from the water is also simplified: the Trol-ley-Ball floats and will slide under the boat’s hull. The ball wheels are fitted with low-pressure automotive valves and can be inflated with a car foot pump. The makers claim that a puncture can be repaired in the wheels using only a cigarette lighter. This is done by. melting the polyethjlene on either side of the hole in the ball

until a “weld” has formed. The trolley can then be back in use within minutes. Rot-free terylene webbing cradle-straps forward and midships follow the contours of hulls of any shape avoiding local stressing. The bow strap holds the bows clear of the ground when at rest and can be adjusted to accommodate shallow bows beneath a front cushion or deeper bows that rest

against the cushion. The wide low-slung tubularsteel frame is designed to avoid contact with the hull and also to provide support points when at rest. The Trolley-Ball comes in three lengths: 3.35 m, 4.27 m, and a 5.49 m version that will carry craft up to a weight of 318 kg. The trolley weighs only 12.7 kg and is supplied in five parts for home assembly.