Chariot Side Fenders! Finally!

So. I did it. I got tired of being sprayed with mud from the rear two wheels of the Chariot. Actually what the breaking point was not me getting muddy but the spray was shooting onto the front cover screen over my son and he was getting muddy too!

I didn't want to spend a lot of money in order to possibly cut and mangle something to end up not working so I went cheap. I also know Thule makes some form of fender for these but I sure wasn't going to spend I believe over $100 on them and they look like they won't give a runner much coverage. My Chariot is old too, not produced by Thule, and may not be compatible anyway since they have made some changes. 

I found a set of mountain bike fenders, front and rear, for a kid's bike on Amazon for £2.32! I ordered two. Shipping from Hong Kong I'd have to wait a couple weeks.

My eyes spotted the two screws that the mounting bracket used to connect to the rear fender. I knew the seat post clamp could be shimmed to fit my needs but the connection to the fender needed to be versatile in case I wanted to use a different fender. Two screws I could connect to nearly anything! 

After a few weeks of waiting they arrived and that night I had a look at them. I disassembled what I could to survey the situation. It looked like I wouldn't need to buy anything else just rearrange what I had. Fortunately they came with shims too for different diameter seat posts. Another nice thing was that some of the adjustments had knurled knobs so they don't really need tools to tighten or loosen. 

First thing I did was look at the length of the bracket, which was too long. I removed the center piece and reconnected everything. The length was now just about right but I'm sure could be shortened, or micro adjusted, if needed by changing the angle from the Chariot. 

right is the original bracket, left I've removed the center piece

This shortend distance and using both of the shims allowed me to connect the fender bracket to the Chariot's "Click n' Store Bracket" (as Thule calls it). The only downside was there wasn't a nice knurled knob connecting to the Chariot, only a screw, so attachment/removal and "field adjustment" would need a screwdriver for now. Maybe add a wing nut later? 

close up of the hardware and changed bracket

Now that I had the bracket figured out, and with the two screws for attaching a fender, I could play with different fender types. Since I had the fenders I decided to use them. I would much prefer a full coverage wrap around fender but I wasn't sure if they'd be torsionally rigid enough with the single bracket holding it. Plus as of now I'd rather not spend the money and have them not work.  

top is the finished rearrangement

I attached the front and rear fenders together for more coverage. Surprisingly all of the original hardware and mounting holes allowed me to rearrange their location and everything was good to go! 

finished! 

And that was basically it! A little dismantling, rearranging, and it all seemed to line up ok! 

attached to Chariot w/ "rear" forward

Now the question was which fender should be front facing? Should I have more coverage forward or back since they don't wrap around? 

"rear" forward

I tried both in the typical muddy conditions here and having more coverage rearward was better, but only slightly. 

"front" forward worked best

Initially I didn't tighten the connection and very bumpy terrain made the fenders rotate a bit but once screwed on tight they were perfect. Since it's a front and rear fender joined there is a "hinge" in the middle allowing me to angle the rear end a bit for better coverage. Also the angle of the fender bracket can fine tune coverage. As mentioned before a wing nut or quick release would be nice for in field adjustments and easy on/off for travel in the car. 

That's essentially it, and it works! Preferred upgrades and thoughts for the future: quick release, full coverage fenders.