I’ve posted the last couple of times about depression, letting go of a dream of having an observatory in my backyard, and bargaining with myself to replace it with other options. I can find better ways to let go, find alternative locations to view, and even consider a custom storage option for the backyard. However, in the meantime, I need to find a better way to transport my gear from the garage to the backyard and in a smaller number of trips.

I looked into some hand cart ideas, mostly dolly-like tools, and while they would transport a couple of the accessories boxes, they would do very little for my table, chair and actual tripod, let alone the scope itself. In addition, many of them have small wheels, some of them even just casters. None of them are particularly good at getting a large volume of gear to the back yard, down a rocky/gravel side path and potentially across a bumpy lawn. I looked at a few garden wagons, but they don’t hold much.

And then I found Gorilla Carts. These things are relatively magnificent. Amazon has one of the models that will carry a 400 lb load, and the prize isn’t outrageous. $182. It’s a bit short, and a bit narrow, but I could maybe make it work. The big feature are the wheels. 10″ pneumatic ones that can handle the terrain fine. My fear is I would have to make two trips which kind of defeats the purpose. Better than what I have now, sure, but I have a better idea. I’ll come back to that.

Another one on Amazon is Gorilla’s big model, with a payload capacity of 1400 lbs.

At 54″ long (an extra 20″) and 34″ wide (an extra 16″), it would easily hold everything I need to move, which gets me down to a single trip from garage to backyard. The price is steeper, $450, but you get a a lot more strength AND bigger tires for navigating the terrain. The weight also goes up of the actual trailer — the first is about 30 lbs; the big guy comes in just over 100 lbs all by itself.

I would prefer a push handle rather than a pull handle, but I might be able to rig something up. Or give myself a better way to pull it. Regardless, it’s certainly viable. I’m a little nervous about the 34″ width as the back gate just barely handles a 3′ clearance, and the side path is only about 39″ in a few places (there are things that jut out), but it is doable.

But my real “brainchild”, so to speak, was the idea that perhaps I could create a small parking berth in my garage, park the wagon IN it, and thus leave all my stuff in the wagon. No loading and unloading in the garage, except for things that need to be charged or dried out over night. I would still need to enclose it to keep dust and stuff out, but I could rig that myself. I don’t have great craftsman skills, as I mentioned earlier, but it has to be functional, not pretty. Functional I can do.

I’ve reached out to the American company, mainly as I confess the 1400 lb version is NOT the one I want. There is another model slightly smaller (1200 lb payload) and another possible one (1000 lb payload), but I can’t seem to find a reliable Canadian distributor. Lowes carries some of them, but there are a bunch of reviews of people ordering it and getting a Lowes-brand knock off instead that dies within a month or two. Particularly on the low-end ones.

But if I have to go for the big wagon, so be it. I can deal.

And besides, it can be fun playing with wagons, right? Just don’t tell my wife I’m going to completely gut major parts of the garage to find room for it.