My smitty, found my old sketch

Hey troopers....

Got my smitty and stuff outs the shed today and I actually found my sketch too in my laptop bag. Actually I redrew it to add the updated leg support on the fional product.

I have attached it

This is how my smitty works for me.
I drive a smaller car (VW) and it has to fit in there as I don't want to drive the truck, well actually I don't want the bumper bumper (aka my wife) driving my car. It breaks down into four pieces; 2 skis and 2 tops.

The legs are PVC piping and were the most difficult to design a way to attach them to the skis with minimal damage to them and yet stay strong. I cut three pieces* of 1x4 wood. three different lengthsfor each leg, a total of 12.
I then used one of those door knob hole drill things to drill a hole 1 1/4" to match the PCV piping leg so it would fit inside.
I attached the longest to the skis by sinking screws into the bottom and also through the top. The second longest on top of that, a few wood screws, and the shortest on that and a few more screws.
The legs end up sitting in a hole like 3" deep and are very secure, I throw in a few screws horizontally to hold the PVC, and i use some outdoor industrial glue to secure the legs.
I do this four times, where the thinner diameter PVC is the bottom leg to avoid any build up of snow and/or ice.

I use big eye bolts and wing nuts to attache the cross beams. This allows me to loosen one side and slide the cross beams to be parallel to the ski tops so it packs away nice. I actually made my cross beams from some hardwood flooring, thinking it would slide better for my sled, but I doubt it matters, but it looks nice.

i use big brass D-clip type fence clips I found at Princess Auto for like a buck or so for the legs. I drilled holes through the PVC to lock the legs in place.

I also used a couple at these clips at the front to attach my tow rope(s) to. I attached them to the tops and the front of the skis and find when attached to the skis, they pull better.

When I get to the ice, i pull out the four pieces, two skis go down, each top is put on each ski, PVC legs are clipped, cross beams and pull out and eye bolts go in and are tightened.

At this point I am ready to load, I pull out my sled and just use the rope to pull it up on the smitty, and the pop-up goes beside it. I use bungees to secure it by clipping them to the eye bolts. Load my extras, clip on the tow rope (20Ft or so) and this year I have added an actual tow harness instead of a reworked back pack. The long rope and harness/backpack make a HUGE difference.

sketch one

leg close up.

in action last year....

another angle....

This thing changed my ice walking experience, so if anyone is putting one together and has any questions...ask away mates.

great build,I may make another one this year,and may even copy yours

Nice design. I am still toying with how i want to set mine up. Have the skis and have stripped off the hardware, just waiting on inspiration to strike now. This gives some good thought fodder. Cheers.

Nice job AK, you have lots of ground/snow clearance.

That's right Kevin. I remember this pic (which i took)! And the CLAM pop-up hut on the sled is mine!:-)

By the way, can't no wait no more for some more ice fishin' for lakers no more:-)

And the skis are the ones I sold to Kevin.

SDC

looks like I have a weekend project

I'm thinking of building one with the roof racks I took off of an outback that I scrapped. I was wondering what type of screws you used to fasten the skis and if you countersunk them? there doesn't seem to be a lot of meat on the skis I have.

I didnt counter sink them on my first sled and wish i had,hope this helps.

I used some short, heavy duty woodscrews.

i did a few counter sunk screws through the bottom which really dont affect the pull but avoids it scraping really, but also mostly on the top, and SLATHERED IT it cold weather industrial glue.

There is really not much need for strength up and down, it is more the horizontal stress that is the issue. That is why i ended up adding like three extra pieces of wood. The weight of the load keeps it nice and solid on the skis. I actually used three lengths of screws so that they bit into the skis a bit as i added the pieces.

The position of the legs was determined on finding a flat area big enough for the wood. They are probably closer to the front than i would really wanted, but i wanted the wood to sit flat. I bet if i really hauled on it I could pull the skis off.

Also, by drilling holes up the legs, I am able to raise it even higher to become a table if needed.

Keep in mind, the real key is attaching the tow to the skis rather than sled and making the rope attached to a harness/backpack and it is 20FT long.

On the maiden voyage I had one of the legs collapse forward, adding the extra pieces of wood totally resolved that.

i actually ride this thing down the hill at 30th.

That's right Kevin. I remember this pic! And the CLAM pop-up hut on the sled is mine!:-)

By the way, can't no wait no more for some more ice fishin' for lakers no more:-)

YEAH, it was really loaded that day and the snow was deeeeeeeeeeep.

Sounds like fun. Thanks for info Kevin and Nocod. I was also thinking of adding a bungee cord to the rope it may come in handy in case i forget something on top of the hill.