The Cost of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Fishing Cart
DIY PVC Fishing Cart Cost
After looking around online for a fishing cart, you're probably thinking that it would be much less expensive to go build one on your own. We went out on a mission to build our own surf cart for our upcoming product and we wanted to share the actual cost to build the PVC fishing cart.
This article will focus on the true cost to go build your own fishing cart from a real life experience. It will specifically focus on the materials related to the surf cart and not the related tools that would be needed to build the fishing cart. In this example, we thought we would utilize PVC, because its generally the least expensive material that can be utilized to build a fishing or pier cart.
Before we start, here are a few important points on the fishing cart we built:
- The pvc fishing cart has 16 rod holders, umbrella holders, fishing net holders, etc. (For this example we will only use 10 4-way crosses or 10 rod holders)
- This surf cart we built includes nice beach balloon tires (In this example we are using very basic tires from Harbor Freight)
- The fishing cart sits on a 3/4" aluminum axle
- There are several pieces on the cart that would not be needed if we didn't need it to fold up (Those are excluded from the counts below)
Let's layout all the materials (and costs) you will need for a basic PVC fishing cart:
| Item | QTY | Cost Per | Total Item Cost |
| 1-1/4" PVC | 5 | $5.51 per 10' | $27.55 |
| 1-1/4" Tee | 20 | $2.58 | $51.60 |
| 1-1/4" Elbow | 12 | $1.14 | $13.68 |
| 1-1/4" 4-Way Cross | 10 | $3.35 | $33.50 |
| PVC Cleaner | 1 | $6.30 | $6.30 |
| PVC Glue | 1 | $10.00 | $10.00 |
| Round Wire Lock Pins | 4 | $2.98 | $11.92 |
| Aluminum Axle | 1 | $15.00 | $15.00 |
| Axle Pins | 2 | $.50 | $1.00 |
| Axle Washers / Spacers | 2 | $2 | $4.00 |
| Basic Tires | 2 | $15.00 | $30.00 |
| $204.55 |
As you can see, a basic PVC fishing cart is going to cost around $205 in material costs alone. Keep in mind:
- The cart price above is for standard schedule 40 PVC. It does not include UV protected furniture grade PVC which is much more expensive.
- The tires included on this cart are very basic. Balloon beach tires would cost around $50/ea. or another $70.
- This does not include the time it takes to design and assemble the cart. It seems simple enough until you're in the garage for a few days. :)
- The pricing for the fishing cart above does not include any folding mechanisms.
Keep this in mind the next time you see the prices on fishing carts in the market. We at BeachFishingCarts.com hope to bring you a state-of-the-art PVC Fishing Cart that will be furniture grade, will fold, and will be very price competitive. We hope to hear your comments below.
- Brian Gannuscio
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