row2k Features
Coach Tricks
Rowing Hack: The Gas Cart
September 1, 2022
John FX Flynn

The Gas Cart in action at PNRA-Mercer

We've brought you the Boat Cart, the Oar Cart, and even the Shoe Cart, but as any good assistant coach will tell you, the heaviest daily lift at most boathouses comes in plastic orange gas can form.

So, here is a hack for your back, coach: The Gas Cart.

Yep, with what may be the most welcome application in our sport of the wheel since the sliding seat, the Gas Cart can take all of that straining, splashing, and awkward duck-walking as you lean to one side out of getting your next six gallons of gas where it needs it to go to--well--go.

This version of the Gas Cart is trademarked by the PNRA-Mercer folks, but we wager they'll let you borrow the idea, even if your gas carry is not nearly as long as Mercer's 6-bay-plus-an-erg-room portage from the gas locker in the PNRA bay to the main dock launch.

The 1st two-thirds of the Mercer Gas Walk, starting from the open, PNRA bay...
The 1st two-thirds of the Mercer Gas Walk, starting from the open, PNRA bay...

The Mercer Gas Cart comes straight outta necessity: the running joke amongst some coaches is that the walk from the gas locker at Mercer to the launch you need--which is always on the far end of the dock somehow--may well be the longest gas carry in rowing.

When you add in the number of days per year when Kris Grudt and his staff need to set up every launch at once for regattas, NSRs, Trials, and even the occasional National Team Media Day, you can see where the Mercer Gas Cart quickly becomes a godsend.

Now, the Gas Cart does lack the pure desperate ingenuity of the GMWR Gas Carrier 1.0, but it sure gets things rolling at Mercer most days--even if the trip back is a bit uphill.

Does your boathouse have a slick solution for getting the gas delivered and the launches ready to go? If so, share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

If you have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion, then please send it to us, and we will feature your idea in a future column.

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