Suggestions for Portable House Skis

[BobT]

I recently purchased an old Clam 6800 portable fish house. One of the downsides of this series is that they were not really designed to be pulled in deep snow. The shape is too boxy so it will plow snow as it is pulled. I would like to add some kind of skis to the bottom. Anyone have any suggestions where I could find something? Thanks.

[Wanderer]

Pick up some old water skis from a pawn shop or an online sale site.  Water skis will give more lift than down hill skis.

 

Building a smitty sled with the skis would probably be even better.

[rumeye]

How about and old set of downhill snow skis? Thrift store goodwill or something probably find cheap and bolt them on.

[nofishfisherman]

Start hitting the thrift stores in your area.  Pretty common to find a couple pairs sitting in a corner or tossed in a barrel with a bunch of old golf clubs. 

[Big Dave2]

Yeah, any kind of snow skis that you can find for cheap should work. I would also suggest building some sort of sled that you can load the fish house on rather than mounting the skis to the fish house. 

[Big Dave2]

Here's a few examples:

 

https://fishingminnesota.com/forums/topic/207837-who-has-made-a-homemade-sled-for-pulling-gear-out/?_fromLogin=1

[rundrave]

14 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Pick up some old water skis from a pawn shop or an online sale site.  Water skis will give more lift than down hill skis.

 

Building a smitty sled with the skis would probably be even better.

 

I have a smitty sled with snow skis but I have never heard of someone using water skis. I know you will see it debated with downhill snow skis vs xc snow skis but never seen anyone try water skis? I wonder how well they would work?

[nofishfisherman]

I'd agree for something like a 6800 some sort of sled you can place the house on is probably better than attaching directly to the house itself.  I had an old flip over with skis attached to the sled and that worked well but very different design than the 6800.  The down side of the sled is that its more stuff to drag out to the lake and more weight but a little creativity can make it work and might make for an overall better set up for all your gear. 

[Wanderer]

26 minutes ago, rundrave said:

 

I have a smitty sled with snow skis but I have never heard of someone using water skis. I know you will see it debated with downhill snow skis vs xc snow skis but never seen anyone try water skis? I wonder how well they would work?

I had one built with water skis and it did very well.  Light, all wood skis.
 

Keep you cross bracing as high as you can also.  Low cross bracing can plow snow too.

[BobT]

Thanks for the information. One of the issues I have with the 6800 is the hole locations. The sled idea is interesting.

[BobT]

This morning I found a solution. I had an old pair of cross country skis that I haven't used in 25 years. I got some 1" PVC pipe and made a frame and fastened it to the skis similar to the Smitty Sled design.  Slipbobbin's design from that thread link you posted Big Dave2 gave me the idea. Took about 1-1/2 hours to make it.  Very light weight. Tried it out this afternoon and it worked great. 

[Big Dave2]

21 hours ago, BobT said:

This morning I found a solution. I had an old pair of cross country skis that I haven't used in 25 years. I got some 1" PVC pipe and made a frame and fastened it to the skis similar to the Smitty Sled design.  Slipbobbin's design from that thread link you posted Big Dave2 gave me the idea. Took about 1-1/2 hours to make it.  Very light weight. Tried it out this afternoon and it worked great. 

 

Got pics?

[BobT]

Here you go. I used 1" PVC pipe and spaced it so the sled is about 7" up. I would guess the sled weighs no more than maybe 15 pounds and I might be exaggerating a little.

Edited January 24, 2020 by BobT

[Big Dave2]

35 minutes ago, BobT said:

Here you go. I used 1" PVC pipe and spaced it so the sled is about 7" up. I would guess the sled weighs no more than maybe 15 pounds and I might be exaggerating a little.

 

Looks awesome. You could even extend the 4 corner pipes up and include a second deck for all your gear.

 

[BobT]

Something I still need to do is to run the ropes through 1/2" PVC so the sled doesn't slam into my ATV when I slow down. It slides so much easier now.