PVC Fishing Cart Project Plan

After many requests, many revisions and a short PVC plan hiatus, we’ve finally released our much anticipated plan on how to make a PVC Fishing Cart.

One of the more common built-from-PVC projects, a PVC Fishing Cart can fulfill many roles, as a PVC beach cart, a garden cart or to carry bait, tackle and drinks to your local pier or lake. Its designed to hold coolers, tackle boxes, beach chairs and the like, which can be rolled around with ease. The handle can be folded back into itself so that the entire cart can be easily transported in the back of an SUV or large-trunked car. Open-ended PVC Crosses and 4-Way Tees provide holes where fishing rod handles can be inserted vertically.

Assembly

The Cage

The ‘cage’ of the cart is essentially a rectangular basket that is assembled using horizontal 1-1/4 in. PVC pipes on the front, connected by PVC Tees and 3-Way Elbow fittings, and vertical pipes on the sides, with corresponding pipes on the bottom of the cage. The sides connect together using 4-Way PVC Tees and standard PVC Tees. The PVC fittings at the far top end of the cage have intentionally been left with their upper sockets open at the top to allow storage of fishing poles, or small yard tools should the application for the cart need to change.

The front of the cart has two legs that hold the cart upright when not being pulled. These can be changed in height, should you want to use bigger, or smaller wheels (more on that below).

The Handle

The handle of the cart is made from two (2) PVC Slip Tees, which are left un-cemented to allow it to rotate up and down. This is helpful, especially if you want to store the cart. Many PVC carts don't have this option, making them difficult to put in a vehicle, due to the long handle jutting out from the main cart. 

The Axle

Since this is our first foray into a PVC plan using wheels along an axle rather than casters, we’ll be posting a separate blog post later with an in-depth look at using axles in PVC projects, however the implementation is rather simple for this project. The axle consists of four (4) components (detailed in the PVC plan):

• (A) steel 3/8” rod, cut to length
• (B) Steel or Nylon Spacers
• (C) Replacement Mower Wheels
• (D) Axle Cap Nuts

Caster Fitting Inserts act as an ‘axle support’ for the steel rod (A) that is inserted through them. Once inserted, a spacer (B) is placed over over the each end of the rod to bring the rods up the same diameter as the wheel (C) hub hole, which is slipped over the rod/spacer combo Finally, hammer-on style, axle cap nuts (D) are hammered into place over the ends of the steel rods to keep everything in place.

Options

As with all of our PVC plans, each one can be customized to your applications. Some ideas for customization include:

Wheel Size - Since every application is different, you may need to use different wheels for you project. If using a wider or thinner wheel be sure to increase or decrease the length of the steel rod if the hub length is different than 1.75 inches. Also, if you are using larger or smaller diameter wheels, you may need to adjust the front legs to be longer/shorter than needed, to keep the cage level.

Plug-In Add Ons - You can make a simple table that plugs right into the top of the PVC fishing cart by using a couple of 1-1/4 in. Table Caps, some pipe and a piece of plywood. This can be inserted removed, as needed to clean fish, or to place bait an other items on top of, using the same socket ports intended to hold the fishing rods.