Hobie Cat Forums

My neighbor sold his boat (that I never saw him use) and offered me his beach wheels for free. It is something called a "Cat Walker", a stainless 2" bar and big hard plastic wheels with sleeve bearings. Another friend told me that the hard wheels do not roll well in sand. Any truth to this? I keep my boats on the beach and push them in sand only. Obviously I took them but I've only ever used Cateez and Cat Trax but never anything with hard wheels.

They suck on almost anything but hard, packed sand - or asphalt.

Also very hard on the hulls if they slip out in between them.

Yeah they don't have cradles either. I can see where that would be a problem. Maybe I'll just wait till Spring and put them on Craigslist. Odd that someone would design beachcat wheels that don't work in sand.

I've had a set of hard wheels (Tiger Tracks) for 25 years. At the time I bought them, the extra bucks for the soft tires was too much. They do work in sand, maybe not a good as the soft ones. But certainly better than no wheels at all. For the short length of time the boat is on the round, the hard keel of my 16 has not been damaged.

Try it, you'll like it.

Agreed. We got our first set of beach wheels about 25 years ago and they were the hard wheeled ones. We thought they were awesome. Granted the soft wheels are even better, but anything beats dragging the boat across the beach. I would definitely use them. Also, the straight bar won't damage the 16's hulls. You only need cradles on boats with symmetrical hulls.

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I have for my Hobie 18 (190kg) slip with wheels from small garden tractor approx 140mm width and 400mm diametr. Down to water it goes well but up on beach on sand I need asistance another person...
cat trax wheels are much wider I think. My friend has it for Hurricane 5.9 (approx 190kg) and it goes up on beach very well.

I guess I'll hold onto them although I really hate nylon sleeve bearings. Soft wheels have their own problems anyway. The Cateez hubs get brittle and break and the bar bends easily over any uneven terrain. All of the Catrax I've ever owned eventually needed tubes for leaking tubeless tires.

I have a set of hard wheels from tiger trax. They work great on the sand. Not as good at the lake where there are some big rocks to cross. Overall I don't have any major issue with them. WAY better than dragging.

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Garrett

94' H16 - 100403