Sled modifications

[blue gill hunter]

Hey guys,

I am looking to get a little more organized for the up coming season of ice fishing.  I'm looking for any suggestions for modifying sleds.  I don't have a ATV or Snowmobile, so I just pull a jet sled out onto the ice.  I am considering building a box to set inside the sled to store my rods, camera, vexilar and cutting out holes for buckets and a propane tank and then mount my auger on top.  Since I am doing all of the pulling, I want to keep the weight down though.  Any thoughts or suggestions?  

Thanks

[Xplorer]

Get an ATV or sled??  

 

OK, other than the smart-arse comment, I would advise that before you do any permanent drilling etc on the sled, to check out how it pulls with different weight distributions.  The propane tank (and auger if you're going non-hand) will be the heaviest objects and where they are on the sled will make it pull differently.  You don't want to make it any harder on yourself than it needs to be, and having good weight distribution can make a huge difference.   I've done some walking into BW trout lakes on the ice pulling a pulk/toboggan sled, and I always tried it out at home to find the easiest load positions before I went.  Saved some sweat and back pain.   

[vtx1029]

Look up smitty sled on google. https://www.google.com/search?q=shmitty+sled&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 I made one a couple years ago it they are much easier to pull than a normal sled of the same weight.

[RebelSS]

PVC piping and xc skis. Lotsa mods made with those over the years....many, many sleds with frame, skis, and plastic milk crate containers. 2 x 4's and skis to make a frame to pop that jet sled in. They weigh a few lbs and track and pull great. Infinite combos you can make to your needs if you have an imagination and some forward thinking skills.

Plain jet sleds with interior boxes are like trying to pull a dead cow around. Much better ideas out there. There are even kits out there for just building such that thing.....

[Naturboy]

Skis, down hill skis. Get the tub off the snow. There have been times I wanted to only move 20 yards, I thought I'll just pull the sled without putting the skis under it. Wrong! It's so much easier with skis. With the set up I have it takes less than a minute to put skis on or off. You just pick up one side of the tub and set it on one ski, walk to the other side pick up the tub set it on the other ski and pull.