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Self-Propelled Boat Mover
Northern Saskatchewan is paradise for fishermen. There are lakes everywhere and often not even a single cabin in sight. Many of the lakes are close together but it's a chore getting boats from one lake to another. So unless you like fishing from a canoe, you need to load up onto a trailer and drive from one place to
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Self-Propelled Boat Mover FARM HOME recreation 24-3-13 Northern Saskatchewan is paradise for fishermen. There are lakes everywhere and often not even a single cabin in sight. Many of the lakes are close together but it's a chore getting boats from one lake to another. So unless you like fishing from a canoe, you need to load up onto a trailer and drive from one place to another. The problem is that in the most undeveloped areas, there might not be a place to launch a boat.
Harvey Nielsen, Melfort, Sask., solved the problem by building a self-propelled boat mover that'll handle up to a 14-ft. boat.
"It works very well to move a boat from one lake to another along a narrow path through the brush. I walk along holding the handle to steer it while the rig follows behind me. When we get to the lake, we just load the boat mover into the boat. In first gear, it has lots of power to get up steep hills and over lake banks," says Nielsen.
The 3-wheel rig was built from an old stripped-down Deere riding mower and is powered by the mower's 3 1/2-hp 2-cycle engine with a 3-speed transmission that also has reverse. The motor, transmission and gas tank are mounted on a single rail down the center of the machine. The two driven wheels are up front. To keep the weight down, Nielsen put a single caster wheel on back. The rig is fitted with boat controls mounted on the handle off a push lawn mower. One control is used to operate the clutch and the other to shift gears.
Two padded carrying bars extend up above the rail to hold the boat.
"It's only about 30 in. wide so it can be used along any walking path through the bush," says Nielsen. "I mounted a steel plate under the aluminum transmission in order to keep rocks from damaging it. It weighs about 100 lbs. so two men can easily lift it into a boat. We set it in the front part of the boat. I usually go fishing with three friends so when we set it inside a 12-ft. boat it gets a little crowded. However, when it's in a 14-ft. boat there's plenty of room for us. Once we get to where we want to go fishing, we put our boat mover on the shore."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harvey Nielsen, Box 1032, Melfort, Sask. S0E 1A0 Canada (ph 306 752-9253).
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