Otter cabin vs lodge on smitty sled

[KRATOCT]

My girlfriend got me the Otter x-over Lodge flip over for Christmas this year. Love the unit but it sure is big…at least the sled. My biggest concern is pulling by hand earlier season and with the ever changing conditions here in northern lower MI, there may be plenty of times that the snow machine isn’t an option. 

 

I’ve done a lot of reading about pulling this and the cabin and can’t quite get the right answer. I currently haven’t the lodge unboxed and considering downgrading to the cabin. I like the height of the lodge and the sled is great to fill gear but the sled may cause more issues when pulling. I’ll get the Hyfax and pull behind the snow machine when possible but 30-50% of the time will be by hand. And I’ll be by myself 60ish% of the time (she says she’ll go a lot but that’s never usually the case and my buddies will bring their own). I can load the sled no problem by myself without gear and the sled fits in the bed of my pickup tailgate closed. I would have to take some bigger items out to load it if it was full of gear. Unlike many other posts I’ve been reading, I 100% plan on building a smitty sled right from the get go to get some clearance over the snow and hopefully pull easier. 

 

My questions/concerns are…

How much easier will the unit pull with the smitty sled? This will make surface area on snow covered ice EQUAL between the two (lodge vs cabin) versus the much larger surface area of the lodge sled.

How much is the weight difference going to be noticed? Since both will be on smitty sleds, there is only 25lbs difference between the lodge and cabin. 

I’ve never had a flip over and never had to unload the gear to load the sled, it was always manageable. How big of a pain is this? (it will probably have to happen to some extent with either since they are only 25lbs difference; either will have a cover)

I have a couple buddies that have their own gear but may be up to tagging along if a nice big shanty was available. This would just reduce the amount of solo trips. There may also be some times where we have 3 people in the shack. I just want to make the smartest choice. Not looking to buy a shanty for someone else’s needs (other than the gf) so want what’s best for me (and her when she goes). Looking for opinions and advice since I have 2 days to decide. 

 

Thanks

 

[BobT]

I previously had a Clam 5600 and it was sloped enough on the ends that I had no trouble pulling it through snow with my ATV. I now have a Clam 6800 and it is to square and  not designed to pull through snow so I built my own makeshift Smitty sled.

 

When I was researching sleds for ideas to build my own I noticed that nearly every photo of a Smitty sled showed an otter type sled sitting on it. Are those flip overs with the otter sled that hard to pull through the snow? I've never used one so I don't know but it would seem that they should be relatively easy to pull by design. 

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[Wanderer]

43 minutes ago, BobT said:

 

When I was researching sleds for ideas to build my own I noticed that nearly every photo of a Smitty sled showed an otter type sled sitting on it. Are those flip overs with the otter sled that hard to pull through the snow? I've never used one so I don't know but it would seem that they should be relatively easy to pull by design. 

'

Looks like we missed the OP’s 2 day deadline!  But to answer your question Bob, yeah the Otter flip overs aren’t the best for hand dragging.  Otters were built heavy duty for pulling behind machines.  The “canvas” and tubs are heavier/thicker.

 

The tubs have a higher and more angled nose on them too so they don’t plow snow as much as other brands.
 

At least with a smitty sled you’re only having snow resistance on the two skis that can be waxed and should have enough clearance to plow the least amount of snow.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Wanderer