Skis for portable shack

[MasterGophHunter]

I have a little suitcase style portable ice house and it is kind of heavy. Does anyone have anyone have any ideas of how I could carry it out on the ice? I would like to have some sort of skis that I could attach and remove easily but also durable enough to pull through snow and handle the weight. I guess if everything else fails I could just throw it onto a sled.

-MGH-

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I would get an Otter sled that your house would fit into. That way you will also have plenty of room for your ice auger and other fishing gear. The Otter sled also makes pulling your gear around in deeper snow MUCH easier then skis ever will.

I have tried both and the sled is the way to go!

Better yet, if you can swing it, get an Otter fishhouse and sled.

Good Fishing!

Cliff

[rodbuilder]

I have a 6x8 portable that is too heavy to carry. Last year, i went to play it again sports, bought a $5 pair of down hill skis and screwed them onto the bottom of a light pallet. now, I lay my house on top of the pallet, load my other dump on top of that and start walking. It is still pretty tough to pull though when the snow gets too deep. But usually, early in the year, its mostly just ice with a inch or less of snow...works great then!

Good luck!

[hanson]

That is a little bit of a dilemma and one that I've been thinking about a little bit.

My dad has a 4'x8' suitcase style house that is in great shape and works fine for his use. I like to get him out on the ice early and usually travel by snowmobile so dragging the 4'x8' behind the sled isn't exactly the best option.

Last winter I picked up a magnum Otter sled, you could probably get by with a smaller one also. My idea was to put 2 eyebolts on each side of the sled and carry the suitcase house on top of the sled secured to the eyebolts with ratcheting straps. Your auger and other gear would then be able to be carried inside the Otter sled.

I've since decided to buy the Otter Lodge house to go on the sled so it doesn't look like my idea will be put to use this winter. In theory, I think it would have worked great.

[rod bender]

Mastergophhunter - I had a suit case style shack, Frabil XL speedshack that I made a sled for. I bought two downhill skiis at a garage sale or Goodwill store, secured 3 4x4x4 blocks on to them. One in the front, one in the middle and one in the rear. Drill 1" holes on the inside-top of the blocks. Put a piece of 1" conduit that is 4-6" wider than your widest part of your shack, from the rear block of one ski to the rear block of the other ski. Do that to all three pairs of blocks. Secure the conduit in the block with a screw from the top of the block through the conduit. Now the shack will float through the snow and the sled will fit over the shack while being transported. It works very slick. Also drill holes in the front toe of the skis to thread a rope for pulling. Be careful when pulling down hill, you'll get ran over.

[IceBound]

I too had used some old skis that I got from a ski shop in Colorado. They did work great as long as there wasn't much snow, but then a light bulb came on and I made a sled out of PCV with a plywood top. This worked great for about 2 years hauling all of my gear and 6 x 8 suitcase portable. I do not know if the PC got fragile from age or the cold weather, but one night pulling it over an ice heave it shattered. I had to carry all the items from there to the truck, cussing the whole way. I have since made a frame for the sled out of 2 x 4's and the legs are about 12 inches long. This sled can handle a lot of weight and pulls really easy, even through deep snow. I have outpulled by hand everyone that I have fished with using Otters and Fishtraps. The dimensions of the top of the sled are 4 feet by 5 feet. I suppose the total cost was around $25 to make.

[GRAND DAD]

Well I just bulit a new one this year and I just went to the threft store in new hope and they have ton's of cross country ski's from 3 to 5 dollars and am putting them on tonight they work great last year for early ice I could pull the one I had all over the place

[MasterGophHunter]

Wow, thanks for all the responses. I didn't take too long to get a response. I'm getting a lot of ideas now and hopefully will be able to throw something together this weekend. Any more advice would be appreciated.

Keep your stick on the ice!

-MGH-

[Smokey]

I also made a "sled" to haul my 6x8 suitcase style house with. I used an old set of wooden water skis, because that's what I had sitting in the garage. It worked great until the snow got deep, then it got tough to pull. (I pull it by hand) This fall I rebuilt the sled so that it has more "ground" clearance. I would say that if you are going to build a runner-style sled, go for at least a foot of clearance, slush is heavy.

[SPIN DRY]

I had a Frabil XL speed shack, and the best skis I found that worked, were water skis, they ride on top of the snow better. Good luck

[18 inch Crappie]

If you want something really cool, my dad made a sled for a friend of mine who has an clam5600 and wanted to pull it behind his 4 wheeler. He took an otter type sled from sportsman in coon rapids and he is a welder on the side. Made a rack that bolted on the seld to set his house on,then added a rack on the front to hold 2 5 gal buckets and a rack to put his auger on. Then made a tow bar to hook to his 4 wheeler.

[Fergus Mor McErc]

Call around to junk or scrap yards and see if you can find a junk 'pull behind the snowmobile' thing. I'm not sure what they're called, kids usually ride in them behind their parents snowmobile. You just need the base frame with the attached skis. I use one and it works great. It pulls really easily, handles deep snow with no problem and is sturdy enough to take any weight I might want to pile on.

[MasterGophHunter]

I picked up some really nice downhill skis at goodwill last weekend. At first they charged me $15 a piece then I went back I told them that I ski with two skis and then they only charged $15 for the pair. They are going to work real slick too. The don't have any boot things on them and they are light weight. Next step is building the actual sled and waiting for the ice to come.

-MGH-

[Valv]

I built a sled from old skis once, and worked very well.

One hint I want to give is to keep it high from ground.

Add 10" to 14" spacing from skis to actual sled, so there is enough clearance to go through snow, otherwise it will drag continuously.

Advantage of ski is they track straight even when pulling with snowmobile or 4 wheeler.

You can also wax the bottom to make them slide easier.

[GoodToGo]

My "sleigh" is made from an old bed frame and cross country skis. I attached 2x4s on edge to the skis after trimming htem to shape, then bolted the frame legs to the 2x4s. The frame is adjustable for width. It works good, and is very lightweight, although best on ice or when there is 8" of snow or less. Downhill skis would probably be better, but I didn't have any.

[Ryan_V]

when I had a suitcase style, I went to play it again sports and got a used $10 pair of skis and built a sled up from them. I made it a good foot of the ground and it worked very well on ice and snow, both deep and shallow. I had about $12 into it. Now it sits in my garage because I sold my suitcase style!!

[Big Johnson]

Icebound, take some advice from an old plumber. If you build another plastic pipe sled, try the black ABS pipe instead. It's much more shatter resistant than PVC. You'll feel it when you work with it. It's "softer" feeling than PVC.