Burley Travoy: the perfect cruiser’s cart.

Grocery shopping can be a challenge without a car.  It’s not a big deal if we’re only picking up a few things, but buying a large number of items can be a hassle since we have to carry it back.  We get creative when we can.  If we’re at a marina sometimes the local grocery store will have online ordering and delivery available, or there will be a a courtesy car.  We’ve also been known to walk one way and take an Uber back.  But none of those options are available in the Bahamas, and carrying cases of ginger ale and tonic water gets old really fast.

Cruisers we met in Port Washington last year showed us an inexpensive travel cart that they bought at Staples, so we found one when we were in Delaware City.  It was o.k., but the wheels were small and the handle was low, making it not very ergonomically-friendly for 6’4″ Jeff.  Then our friends on M/V Eventide showed us their Burley Travoy when we were hanging out with them one afternoon last November in Carolina Beach.  We immediately recognized that this was the perfect cruiser’s cart.

The Travoy is actually a bike trailer.  It’s only 9.8 pounds but has a 60 pound load capacity.  You can set it up and break it down in literally seconds, and it measures 21″ x 18″ x 8″ when it’s folded so it can fit easily in Pegu Club’s quarter berth (also know as our garage).  It has 12″ wheels and quickly hitches onto a bike, but can just as easily be pulled by hand.

The cost kept us from buying one for quite some time, but then one evening in the Bahamas we told our friends from S/V Lone Star about it and they looked it up online.  They loved it and when they returned to the states they found one on E-Bay.  Then they texted us a week later and told us they had bought a second one on E-Bay, and did we still want one?  A Travoy for about 1/2 the cost of a new one?  Heck yeah!

We’ve now used it several times and it is fantastic.  The larger wheels easily roll over uneven surfaces and curbs.  It holds plenty of groceries (or sodas), and for really large provisioning runs we can also carry some bags.  We even use it when we’re going to the laundromat.  The difference between the Travoy and our Staples cart (which has since been left on the give-away table at a marina) is like night and day.  With its light weight, its easy set-up and break down, its large wheels, and its compact size when its not being used, it truly is the perfect cruiser’s cart.