Pulling Sunfish up from shoreline to beach

Has anyone used a beach roller to “roll” a Sunfish up onto higher ground?
I keep my Sunfish about 60-70 feet from the shoreline. At low tide it’s even more. My back can’t drag it anymore and the trailer tires sink into the sand. The $90 roller would be a low cost alternative to a $500 trailer, if it would be effective and practical. Any experiences? Thanks.

I used the two of the fat $20 fenders on my Laser for a while.

Over time I have seen all sorts of contraptions. I would guess some work well and most dont over the long run (my guess looking them). Try cheap things while searching for a real dolly cheap on marketplace or craigslist. I bought a non-sunfish sailboat with a dolly for $250 and sold the boat for $225 and kept the dolly.

Also a Laser dolly will work. The axle could be moved 8" towards the handle for better balance.

A dolly with beach tires might work?

I know dollies are kind of expensive, but trust me, they're worth their weight in gold. I wouldn't be able to sail without one (I suck at backing up trailers).

Seems I either need a dolly/trailer with big, inflatable tires, (sand can be soft) or try the fender/roll technique first. I’ll post my trial & errors & final solution, if there is one!

We use a dolly with fat tires to launch and collect from our calm bay on Long Island. The land inclines toward the water so its easy to launch. However, pulling boat on dolly up the incline is hard and takes two people. OK, we"re old. But still--its hard! Recently vacationed on a beautiful lake in Maine. The beach boys and girls rigged the boat. I jumped out at the end as they put boat away and boy was that a pleasure.

barnmom said:

The beach boys and girls rigged the boat. I jumped out at the end as they put boat away and boy was that a pleasure.

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Those who like to spend their summer vacations where they can rent a Sunfish might want to write some town or addresses down where their wishes can be accommodated.

L&VW said:

Those who like to spend their summer vacations where they can rent a Sunfish might want to write some town or addresses down where their wishes can be accommodated.

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Don’t get your response. But in case you don’t know Maine has several thousand beautiful lakes for sailing. Our resort provides the hobbies and sunfish for free.

Aere Beach Rollers are an option. From Duckworks: Beach Rollers





Skipper checked out from lifting Sunfish about a decade ago, leaving me to figure it out by myself. I first bought an old dolly with flat tires and to skip to the end of the story we now have 6 Dynamic dollies with tubed tires, each Sunfish or Sailfish or Punt or Pram has its own. If we want friends to go, we don't ask them to carry boats

Here's another possible solution, but you have to lift one end of the boat and maneuver dolly, or roll boat on its side. Wheelez


What we found after building our own dolly and trying to make other products work, was that it was less money in the long run to get the right tool that fit our conditions. This contraption was heavy, broke and rusted out after one season.



What do they do at the Sunfish Masters? Seitech was the big manufacturer at the time, since supplanted by Dynamic.



Full disclosure: We are edealers for Dynamic. If anyone decides to go that route, send us a PM, we can get one to you with free shipping in CONUS.