pulling sled thru snow

[Grainbelter]

Question, anyone else have trouble pulling their sled thru the snow? I have a medium otter sled and I realize I'm oughta shape but man it gets tough when the snow gets deep. Anyone have any tricks or secrets to making it easier other than the obvious solution of taking stuff out. Maybe Griswold's magic "kitchen spray" from chistmas vacation? Thanks for any ideas.......

[davesfriend]

I ran into same problem, 200 yards or so, I could not even move anymore. Now I just wait till I can use the wheeler.

[basguy31]

One thing that I was told and tried last year was to lengthen the rope on the sled. I nearly doubled the stock length of the rope on my fishtrap guide and it made it much easier to pull.

[charlie1959]

yes and the snow dosent have to be very deep i have a voiager and try to just take the mininum equiptment but still,got me a wheeler now just waitin for safe ice or safer.tuff to get old

[tipup]

There was a post last year about waxing the sleds. I would do a search and see what you find.

[toughguy]

hyfax helps too. What I did was buy another sled the same size as my port and have a buddy pull that one all full of the gear and I pull the house (or the other way around it doesn;t matter) When I put it all back in my truck I just stack the empty sled under my portable. Works pretty slick.

[blue_healer_guy]

What I do is build a runner sled, 2 pieces of wood versus a whole tub of plastic.

[hhguide]

I would make the Rope longer like others said and then look at spraying stuff on the sled. I haven't experimented with that at all.

[BoxMN]

For my medium Cabin I added hyfax and I think it did help noticably. Not "tons" but I could notice it. I also have a long rope with a big loop in it. I put it around my shoulder or even waist, and it is even big enough loop that two guys can both be "in the loop" and it is much easier.

I also tried to keep the weight in the back of the sled as much as possible, or to try to even it out. That darn Jiffy Model 30 didn't help

[Dusty]

The best thing to do is buy a pair of old ski's and make a light weight sled. Load the house on the sled and it will be much esasier to pull. Not as much friction on the two ski's.

[hydro]

The skiis idea works great! I have used that idea for years. Another trick is a pair of snowshoes. They give traction and take some of the work off of your feet plowing through the snow.

[suprman]

Two ski's definitely makes it easier to pull - in soft snow taller runners also help. I built a two-runner sled for my Clam 5600 and it pulls easier than my one-man scout. I used light pine 1x8's for the runners to get some height so that the shack rides up above most of the loose snow. I screwed 3" wide, 1/4 polyethylene to the bottom of the runners for slip.

I've also used a sled made out of old downhill skis, it didn't get the load up high enough and you ended up plowing a lot of snow with it.

[KLJ]

I ALWAYS TIRED FASTER TRYING TO PULL THE ROPE BY HAND

I SOLVED MY PROBLEM WITH MY SONS OLD BACK PACK THAT HAD A NICE HEAVY LOOP AT THE BOTTOM I NOW SLIP STRAPS OVER BOTH SHOULDERS SNAP ON HOUSE NICE EVEN PULL

MY WHEELER IS LIMITED WITH SO MANY LAKES AROUND HERE THAT THEY DO NOT ALLOW ON

[picksbigwagon]

I use my deer drag harness thing and a longer length of rope. The rope length is long enough so that if the weather is nice I can hole hop, drill more holes, sit and fish and never take the harness off. If I find a good spot, up flips the tarp

[jwhjr]

Longer rope and I put it around my waist to pull it. It helps, but I sure find out how out of shape I am in a hurry the deeper the snow is I also have hyfax runners. It was sure easy to pull by hand last weekend up north, but there was almost no snow or bare ice.

[robert1965]

this is what I do, you pull sled I will buy beer.

[Jim43]

Made this sled a few years back. Works great over deeper snow and on bare ice its like an ice skate. Have added extra bracing

since this photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1001jimk/318875493/sizes/l/in/set-72157594414072309/

[slipperybob]

Also invest in some snow shoes or ice crampons, they'll dramatically improve your footing.

[Jim Almquist]

Jim I made something along the same line for my 8x8 portable fish house except that mine is all aluminum. I would guess that you can pull that baby all over the lake and never tired

[NCLaker]

Made this sled a few years back. Works great over deeper snow and on bare ice its like an ice skate. Have added extra bracing

since this photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1001jimk/318875493/sizes/l/in/set-72157594414072309/

I like this idea Jim ... I have a couple flipovers also and pulling them through deep snow stinks. Do you or anyone else with a similar design have the framing setup so that you can break it down for easy transporting in a vehicle??? I'm looking to build one of these, but am looking for ideas on a design that would allow me to easily take it apart for transport/storage - a tooless assemble/disassemble design for this would be best.

[JimBuck]

This would be one heck of a business opportunity ....I would love one of those sleds Jim. I bet it pulls like the wind. Nice work.

[croixflats]

Thanks Jim43 I was thinking of doing something like that but I wasnt sure how well it would work.

This also helps me to decide on what potable to get. I wanted a canvas craft northlander but I was not sure how to pull it behind the wheeler.

[canoepaddle]

My father made four metal brackets that attached to the skis. Sorry for the bad drawing but they looked like this:

......___

....../...\

...../.....\

__/.......\__

Mounted to the skis with screws or bolts, drilled a hole in the top for the 1x4 oak cross member. 1x4 was sized to fit the fish house and attached to bracket with an eye bolt and wing nut. Easy to take apart for car/truck travel. We would tie ropes crisscross to help keep it square and tie the fish house on between the eye bolts. Also mounted two eye bolts to the two front brackets to attach the pull rope. Worked great. Haven't used them since I started using a four wheeler or snowmobile for fishing.

[Jim43]

Thanks guys, It was more a less one of those on the fly

builds with no real plans other then the fact I wanted it

work better for pulling then the flipover sled itself. Going

to have to take some updated shots to show the upgrades that

make it easier to haul out with the minnow bucket to.

I never thought about making it a break down design since I

just stand it upright against a wall all summer. Spiderweb

collector it is.

I also measured the width of the channels on the bottom of my

Trekker so I could mount 1x2 stringers the sled slides right

into making it easy to get on and off. I also bungie it onto

the sled to keep it from slipping off when going over large

drifts. Plus it makes for a great place to store my auger

while we are fishing.

I rigged up a strap that is 12 ft long for the pull rope and

fixed a double handled strap from an old weight station. It

pulled by myself of when my son helps out over deeper snow.

On bare ice watch out though. Give it a good tug and it run

you over. We often just use the shovel and push it this way.

Regards,

Jim

Found an updated shot

Another shot with my son pulling it back to the trailer

[Jim Almquist]

Pulls so easy even a little kid could do it