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.