Just one of those things?

This past weekend I attended the Classic Moth Boat Nationals down in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.  I'll do a post about that event after I have a chance to sort through photos and results and after my thighs stop aching.  This post is all about a busted wheel on my Practic boat dolly (launching trolley for the Brits in the audience).  I had previously thought that plastic dolly wheels were damn near unbreakable.  This is not so.

After arriving at the venue Friday afternoon, I put my Europe together and when I returned the next day to launch the boat one of the wheels looked like this:

Yes, I inflated the tire before leaving for the regatta but only to 15 psi!

 Long time readers of this blog may recall an earlier incident wherein I inflated the tires on my launching dolly in February (in chilly Maryland) only to have the inner tube explode down in sunny, hot Gulfport, Florida a day later.  Now, an over pressurized inner tube I can understand but a shredded plastic wheel? This time I was down in North Carolina.  I don't think they have 'gators in Elizabeth City--at least not ones with a taste for plastic wheels.  I gingerly used the dolly and the wheel lasted throughout the weekend.

Here's a pix of the wheel with the tire and tube removed.  Interesting, ain't it?  Still don't understand the mode of failure.  I don't leave my boats or dollies out to bake in the sun all summer so I don't think this is due to UV photo-bleaching of the plastic.

Yes, I've ordered a replacement wheel.  A dolly with only one good wheel isn't that useful.  I initially talked to APS since I live near Annapolis only to learn that they don't stock wheels or parts for Practic brand dollies.  Just Seitech and Dynamic, thank-you very much.  And so to the internet.  I Google searched for Practic dolly wheels and discovered that Zim Sailing up in Rhode Island carries that brand.  I should have the new wheel in time for my next regatta (Chestertown on the 8th of October).  I'm hoping this is a fluke rather than a trend...