Portable pulling sled

[gonfishn]

Hi fellow FM'ers! I have a Canvas craft Northlander fish house. I was wondering if anyone has come up with a good way to pull one with an ATV. Just bought the ATV last spring and was thinking about building some kind of frame/sled for the portable. Thanks!

[NAGORSKI]

I have the same house. It's 6x8 and fits right next to my 4 wheeler on my snowmobile trailer. So when I get to the landing I pull off the A.T.V. and hook up the trailer to the A.T.V. and put all my stuff on the trailer and off I go. So if you wanna use an A.T.V. there will be anough ice for the trailer also. The only problem is if there is too much snow, but that hasn't been a problem lately!

[Eric Wettschreck]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these houses. Do yous guys like them???

[NAGORSKI]

They aren't as "portable" as a flip over sled type but they have a wood floor,which is nice,6x8 is plenty of room for 2 guys and you can get an insulated canvas which I saw at the show, it looked pretty nice. But you have to either use a snowmobile trailer pulled by a 4 wheeler or build a sled for it to pull it around they are a little heavy. I can lift 1 end and set it on the trailer then lift the other end and slide it on. I like mine cuz I got it cheap from a guy at work and has a lot of room.

[JohnMickish]

I'll post a picture of my portable pulling sled. It's pretty slick and cost me about $20 to build. Try to have it up by this weekend.

[crappace]

I had an 8x8 for two seasons. We (my girlfriend and I) stayed in it a few nights on Red and had moisture issues. Moisture from us and the propane heaters would condense on the ceiling, freeze, warm up and drip when the sun hit it. We slept on a big cot and got dripped on. Since I weigh more than her, the water congregated under my hip. I woke up cold and wet and she was fine. We needed a small furnace plus a sunflower to keep it warm enough, it was very cold outside. Limits of crappies made it all betterļ It sounds like the insulated canvas will help that.

During the day it was fine for three guys and four was tight but doable. I attached a one inch thick piece of webbing all the way round the base where the canvas meets the wood and never had a problem with it wanting to pull out. The staples went through the webbing, then the canvas, then the wood.

After sleeping in it a few trips I got the go ahead to get a wheeled house and got rid of the 8x8.

[NAGORSKI]

Can you tell me more about this webbing? Do you have any pics? I don't want to change the subject too much but there really hasn't been any talk about modifications to suitcase houses. I use that reflective bubble insulation to reflect heat off the roof from my buddy heater, and light from my l.e.d. rope lights and it works pretty well.

[crappace]

The house went down the road after I got the wheeled house so pics are not an option, sorry. I would compare the webbing to a duffle bag handle. 3/4 to 1 inch nylon webbing at Jo Anne fabrics. My buddy did it on another house he built so I did the same. The theory was, the tent fabric would not want to rip through staples as easily if it had that tough webbing distributing the load.

Back to the Subject. My girlfriends Grandpa had a Mankato Tent and Awning suitcase shack that I bought. He built a rack and set of skis for it that works awesome. Two angle irons fit into slots at the tip and tail of the skis the perfect width apart. The house sits on the angle irons and is boxed in by the skis. If its three by five folded up the irons were 3'1" with down pointing tabs. The skis were 6' long and made of wood. Those dimensions aren’t right on but close.

[NAGORSKI]

O.K. got ya, thanks. I have also heard of guys building a sled with big old wooden water ski's like you are talking about, sounds like the way to go.

[JohnMickish]

Sorry it took awhile but here are some pics of mine. I used cross country skis ($10, Unique thrift store, St. Paul) and some 2X4's. I used X country skis over downhill or waterski's because of the lower drag of the narrower ski. Pulling my portable (Eskimo QFII) with all my junk (over 100 lbs total) the skis work great if the snow is deep. If it's hard I can't really tell much of a difference between the two.

[toughguy]

Thanks for a great idea. I was thinking of picking up a large plastic sled this year to carry the auger, lp tank, bait, shovel, etc, etc, etc. The one I was looking at runs well over $100. I think I'll take your idea, put a bottom and sides on it and put all that dump in there. I can also put all types of attachments on it to keep everything in its place organized and strapped down. And now I've got a project for the weekend. You gotta love this site!!!

[tonyjor]

I have something similar for pulling my suitcase out but instead of actual skis the 2x4's are cut in a ski shape and I screwed some 1/4" fiberglass strips to the bottoms of them. Throw a little wax on and it's twice as slick. I need to put some sort of railing on it to keep the portable from shifting when I pull it over drifts and down hills and such.

[JohnMickish]

I forgot to mention that I have some eyelets screwed into the sides and I run bungee cords across it to hold my junk down. It works pretty slick.

[nluchau]

mnfishinguy,

I was inspired by your portable sled. I just spent a couple hours this morning building mine. My parents are avid garage salers so I had them look for some old water ski's for sale. They picked a pair up for 3 dollars and then I spent a few dollars on hardware and created this.

It sort of wobbles but I'm trying to figure out how to fix that. Any ideas? I will be adding a rope too.

[nluchau]

For some reason I cannot post via photobucket. I have in the past ok but not sure why I cant anymore.

Here are the links to my new sled

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/(Contact Us Please)/mini-DSC02426.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/(Contact Us Please)/mini-DSC02425.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/(Contact Us Please)/mini-DSC02424.jpg

[nluchau]

For crying out loud. Now I am out of ideas how to post the pictures. FM hates me.

[Paul Waldowski]

FM doesn't hate you. It's photobucket. For whatever reaon there software doesn't seem to be compatible with ours

[nluchau]

Paul

Thanks for clearing that up. Do you know of any off hand that work with FM?

Thanks

[nluchau]

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/(Contact Us Please)/2.jpg

See where it says (Contact Us Please). This is what is suppose to be in that place. n-l-u-c-h-a-u remove the hyphens.

I believe FM is causing this problem and not photobucket.

Paul can you help. Why isn't my handle being accepted?

I can type n-luchau but I cant remove the hyphen and type (Contact Us Please).

HELP

[Paul Waldowski]

Not sure. Give me some time to get it fixed. You can e-mail me the pictures for now and I can put them up for you.

[nluchau]

I e-mailed you Paul. Thanks

[Paul Waldowski]

Here are the pictures of the sled:

[Cheeser]

I also have an 8x8 northlander. I used to have one of these sleds (and it worked really well) but it only served one purpose - hauling the house. I found that I had to 'stack' the rest of my equipment on top, and it only took one time losing something half way across the lake to come up with a different solution.

I bought a used large Otter sled, and I put all of my stuff in the tub, then I lay the fishhouse on top. I bought 4 - D-Rings and 2 ratchet straps at Menards (~$15), attached the D-rings to the sides of the tub, and strap the house tight to the top. This keeps snow out of the tub, and I haven't lost a thing since!!!

To keep the canvas from pulling out, I bought some right-angle aluminum strips and nailed them on over the canvas. Not one problem.

I am contemplating selling my 8x8 and going to an Otterskin from Canvascraft. I really like their canvas - their were many times last year I didn't even have to start my heater, the sun kept it nice and toasty in there. I'm looking forward to the Portable Get-Together next Saturday. I'll probably decide what I'm going to do after that

--Mark

[JohnMickish]

Nice looking sled! I would say to fix the "wobbly" condition replace the 2X2 cross boards and use 2X4's with two screws on each side or rig up an "X" brace to keep the sides away from each other.

[nluchau]

mnfishinguy

What I did yesterday was this. Instead of the 2x2's on top of the 2x4's I put them in between the 2x4's. It sure helped. I also may put a piece of plywood on top and screw it in. This for sure will stop the wobble.

Thanks again for the sled idea.

Nick