Skid Plate/pad

[Woodland Artisan]

I'm looking for ideas on what to use for a skid plate/pad for a kayak. Already have wheels for it on flat ground but those won't help for rough terrain. I'd like to find a material that I can fit onto the back/underside of the kayak as needed (rather than gluing to the boat) when portaging or pulling way up shoreline. It'll need to be wear resistant (obviously) and somewhat flexible so that it can be rolled up to store in the kayak when not needed.

[Gavin]

Maybe a child's plastic sled? Or pick it up, or drag it.

[Al Agnew]

Hmmm....it needs to be hard enough to be slick, so that it drags easily, but flexible enough to kinda wrap around the back end of the kayak as well as rolling up. Big enough to cover all the part of the kayak that would be coming in contact with the ground.

The first thing that comes to mind is, go to a fabric and sewing store and look for a fabric cutting board. They make them out of various kinds of plastic, and some are more flexible than others, but some of them would be pretty tough and slick enough. They also make them in different sizes. My wife had one that she didn't like because it was too hard, and I salvaged it and used pieces of it for several different projects. Pick out one that you think is the right size, drill holes in the edges so that you can slip bungee cord hooks through them. Wrap it around the back end of the kayak, hooking the bungee cords to whatever you can find on the top of the kayak that will keep it in place. Pick up the front end and start dragging.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think Gavin has the right idea. One of the "tub" style soft plastic sleds would probably work. Something like a short travois might work for you. You could probably build one that would use plastic pipe and would be just long enough to attach and extend. If the pipe bolted to a sling and strap the pipe would be cheap and expendable.

[Woodland Artisan]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I've tried a few of the ideas (sewing mat, snow sled) but, from a suggestion elsewhere, I'm using a section of truck bed liner. It's light, very durable, rolls up and stores within the kayak easily, fairly slick and, best of all, it was free.

Normally, I wouldn't bother with a skid plate like this but I'll be doing a few multi-day (and MULTI-day) trips here in the Ozarks in some really rough places over the next year and don't want to risk the wear and tear.