Hauling Gear for a Beach Tailgate or Cookout

A beach cookout for twelve people is not the same haul as a beach day for four — the gear list roughly doubles, and none of it gets lighter in soft sand.

A beach cookout for a group means more gear than one person can carry in a single trip — coolers full of food and drinks, folding tables, extra chairs, and often a portable grill. Most of that gear also isn't light, which is where soft sand becomes the real obstacle standing between the parking lot and a good afternoon.

Group gear adds up fast

A loaded cooler alone can run 40-60 lbs once it's packed with ice, food, and drinks for a group. Add folding chairs, a table, and a grill, and you're well past what's comfortable to carry by hand across dry sand — even for two people splitting the load, that's several trips back and forth before the first burger goes on the grill.

Built-in mounts for what you're already bringing

The cooler platform, chair mounts, and side hang-points on e-KRT are designed around exactly this kind of load — a cooler, several chairs, and loose gear like a table or umbrella secured in one trip instead of several. Nothing about the mount system assumes a single-person, single-cooler beach day; it holds up just as well for a group setup.

Getting everyone's gear in one pass

With dual 350W motors and a removable 36V 31.5Ah lithium battery, the cart handles the weight of a full group cookout load on soft sand without needing multiple people to push or carry — meaning the person setting up doesn't have to wait for help to arrive before getting started.

Timing the cook around the setup, not the other way around

Anyone who's run a beach cookout knows the grill needs to be lit, coals need time to get hot, and food prep needs a flat, stable surface before guests show up hungry. Cutting the equipment haul from three trips to one buys back real time at the front end of the day — time that goes into actually cooking instead of walking back to the car.

Common mistakes worth avoiding

• Underestimating total group gear weight because no single item feels that heavy on its own
• Loading the grill or coals loose instead of securing them, risking a tip on uneven sand
• Making the food-and-drinks trip separately from the tables-and-chairs trip when both could go in one pass

Quick FAQ

Can it carry a portable grill along with coolers and chairs?

Yes, as long as total weight stays within the cart's capacity — a portable grill alongside a cooler and a stack of chairs is a typical mixed load the mount system is built to handle.

Bottom line

For regular beach get-togethers, cutting the setup from several trips down to one changes how much of the day actually gets spent cooking and relaxing instead of hauling gear back and forth across the sand.

Planning ahead for this specific use case

The common thread across all of these use cases is the same: heavier, more varied gear than a typical solo beach day, moved under some kind of time pressure — a start time, a tide window, a tired group at the end. Planning the gear haul with the same seriousness as the activity itself tends to make the difference between a smooth day and a stressful one.

A short trial run — loading the cart at home with the actual gear you plan to bring — is a low-cost way to catch any surprises (an item that doesn't fit well, a weight distribution issue) before it matters on the actual day.

Is one cart enough for a larger group, or should groups bring more than one?

For very large groups or high gear volume, splitting the load across two carts (or two trips with one cart) is often more practical than overloading a single cart past a comfortable weight.

How much does typical gear weight vary between these use cases?

Considerably — a solo snorkeler's gear is far lighter than a group cookout's full setup. Roughly weighing your specific gear load before the trip is more useful than assuming any general estimate applies.

EKRT LLC, Middletown NY 10940 — ekrtus.com