Portage Pal...from carts to trailers...

Hart Designs began manufacturing Portage Pal carts in 1998.  Founder Dave Hart patented the design for a simple cart for canoes that was self-stowing.  When paddling the cart would swing up onto the back deck of the canoe and when portaging this cart would swing under and mount rigidly against the keel at the stearn of the boat.  The simple design made manufacturing easy and therefore the costs were kept low enough to be competitive in the canoe/kayak cart market.  A database of 2400 retail stores was developed by getting the dealer lists for all the main canoe and kayak manufacturers.  Brochures were sent out followed by sales calls...and Portage Pal was in business.

Almost instantly the buyers were looking for additional products.  Hart Designs created a cart for kayaks, a cart for sit-on-top kayaks as well a a kit that would allow a person to tow a kayak or a canoe behind a bicycle.

As with all new products, a major part of the development is testing.  All Hart Design products were extensively tested before being released to the market.  Quick delivery and rugged design helped in customer satisfaction and Hart Designs products quickly made it to the shelves of hundreds of sporting goods retail stores.

Carts only were sold for a couple years, but then the buyer for Galyans(now part of Dick's Sports) said he liked the cart designs designs and asked if Hart Designs could develop an inexpensive trailer that could be drop-shipped via UPS.

A unique suspension and a telescoping tongue were criteria found lacking in canoe/kayak trailers currently available.  The newly designed suspension included coil springs for a soft ride and the telescoping tongue allowed the trailer to carry boats 8 feet to 21 feet in length.  Since these were to be sold as a kit and would be shipped via UPS, packaging was a key consideration throughout the design process.  With final design established, the trailer then underwent intensive testing and passed with flying colors.

Therefore, in 2000 Hart Designs began manufacturing canoe and kayak trailers.   Two models were available.  The T-1000 was a very lightweight trailer with extendable tongue and no suspension.  A single canoe or a single kayak mounted right side up on the trailer.  Over the next 5 years 1000 of these were sold.

The second version, the T-2000 had the galvanized telescoping tongue but included a patent pending coil spring suspension designed to carry 300 lbs.  The suspensions worked so well that the boats merely'floated' on the trailer as towed down the road.  Whether carrying one boat or 3 or 4 the suspension was very protective of the boat.  1000 of these were sold as well.  In the end both the T-1000 and the T-2000 trailers would be sold with the coil spring suspension.

Waterpillar....start to finish...

So it begins...........

The Waterpillar began in 2001 as a sketch on the back of a napkin at Hart Designs, a company manufacturing Portage Pal canoe and kayak trailers and carts. One Waterpillar was built by the owner for his children and was used on Lake Minnetonka for the summer. There was no intention of producing these at that time since the Portage Pal trailer business was growing. To get a name for the new product, an 18 x 18 photo was displayed at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City where Portage Pal trailers have a booth annually. A contest was conducted for a name for this unusual craft and out of 155 entries one was chosen. Waterpillar finally had a name!

Shortly thereafter, due to unintended circumstances, the Waterpillar would not remain undeveloped. Soon it showed up in Popular Mechanics Magazine, on the cover of the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog (Sky Mall) and in their show window on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and on the WGN Morning show in Chicago, and suddenly Hart Designs had orders for a product that was at best a prototype. 

What had been just a good idea for another Water Toy now became another product that needed to be developed.  The overwhelming interest in the Waterpillar has never changed.  For beach rentals there have been no new products other than kayaks for twenty years and it appeared that the Waterpillar would fill this void. 

It has been said that start-up companies take twice as long as anticipated and cost twice as much as anticipated. In the case of Waterpillar it took 4 times as long as expected and cost 4 times as much money as expected to create a product and develop a market for this new product…..but create a cool product and develop and international market they did!

 Now it was time to develop the product and production facilities and to develop a network of domestic and international dealers.

The wheels underwent numerous changes to defeat vandalism and hold up to the rigors of rental businesses and camp usage on both fresh water and sea water. 
The drive mechanisms went through rigorous testing and changes to ensure almost absolutely no maintenance.  This is required even in the most corrosive sand and salt conditions of ocean beach rentals (since the vendors expect no almost no maintenance). 
 A water cannon that shoots 50 feet at a rate of 60 times per minute was also added to each..

MTV  showcased Waterpillars on two of their shows, 'Parental Control' and 'Exposed'.

As changes were made additional beach time was required to test the modifications.  Since it was assumed that the US would be only a small portion of the market,  the product had to be 'absolutely bullet proof since Waterpillar, Inc. would not be able to service them and spare parts would take some time to ship.  A few were shipped prematurely to various parts of the world including the UAE,  England and Germany, but for the most part they were delivered only within the US until Spring of 2010 so any changes that needed to be made could be incorporated into existing units without exhorbitant shipping charges.

In 2010 , all parts of the Waterpillar had been tested and retested and Waterpillar, Inc. began taking orders from outside the US and began actively  pursuing sales from summer camps within the US.  New aluminum cast wheel molds were purchased and production of wheels was simplified and quality improved.   Waterpillar, Inc. is in compliance with European regulations and has a CE Mark.

Waterpillars were shown and orders taken at the EAS show in Amsterdam, IAAPA show in Vegas, and the Tri-State camping show in Jersey City.  Shipping was streamlined and the manufacturing facilities are being upgraded to allow Waterpillar to begin marketing world-wide.  Inroads have been made into camps, beach resorts, and resort operations in Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as  Australia, Berlin , and U.K.  Potential dealers have contacted Waterpillar from every single country in South America.

Motorized versions have been requested from Berlin, UK, and Phoenix dealers and we have just now been testing a motorized land verion and a motorized water version. . The motor unit will be sold separately and all Waterpillars shipped will be outfitted to accept the power unit.

To see land and water versions in action, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=v87pHoS2kBU

For MTV videos and videos on rough and calm water and on ice go to http://www.waterpillar.net/