Landing-gear style carts: not recommended
No. Top-loaded landing-gear carts have a high hull-damage rate and most manufacturers (including us) exclude that damage from warranty. The YakAttack TowNStow bunk-style cart is the safest option today.
We don't recommend top-loaded landing-gear carts on any kayak — including Cajos. They have a high damage rate, and most manufacturers (us included) exclude hull damage caused by them from warranty. The YakAttack TowNStow bunk-style cart is the safest option on the market today.
What "landing gear" carts actually do
Landing-gear carts (Wilderness Freedom Launcher, Boonedox, Sidekick, and similar) suspend the kayak from the gunwale rather than supporting it from underneath. The cart attaches by clamping or hanging from the top edge of the hull, with wheels that drop down from there.
That sounds convenient — you can install / remove the cart while the kayak is sitting on the ground, and you can leave it on while you're launching. But the load path is the problem.
Why we don't recommend them
When the entire weight of a rigged kayak (boat + gear + drive + battery + cooler) hangs from the gunwales:
- Gunwale stress — repeated load cycles fatigue HDPE around the clamp points. Cracking near the rail line is the most common failure mode.
- Bumps multiply the load — wheel a fully-rigged Cajo down a gravel ramp on a landing-gear cart and each bump is multiplying that load through a few square inches of clamped gunwale.
- Tip risk on uneven ground — high CG above the wheels means the kayak wants to fall sideways on side slopes.
Stress fatigue and cracking from landing-gear carts is the most common warranty rejection we see across the kayak industry. Cajo's warranty excludes hull damage caused by top-loaded carts. So does Hobie's. So does Vibe's. It's industry-wide.
What we DO recommend
- YakAttack TowNStow (bunk-style) — load path goes through the bottom of the hull, on padded bunks, the way the boat is designed to be supported. This is our top recommendation across all Cajo models.
- YakAttack TowNStow Sand Tire version — same cart, sand-friendly tires. The right pick for beach launches.
- Railblaza C-Tug — another safe bunk-style option.
When Cajo's own cart is happening
We don't plan to get into the cart design game ourselves — there are good options already in the market. The TowNStow is what we use.
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