Smitty Sled, Hope this makes things easier!

I've retired the last one. The new one is in the works when I get some time. Gonna be like smittys new creation on ice shanty dot com with wheels.

Dave.

Didn't see this last year.
Thanks for bringing it out of the archives. I think I will be making one of those this year

looking forward to seeing that, adding wheels is something id love to do when there is no snow on the road it sucks to have to drag the skiis over the pavement

I just notched them out Harold, Used a skill saw and chisel because that's all I had available. I also drilled a hole down the middle to receive the bolts that I put through the ends of the 2x4 cross members. These help keep things tight & square.

Thx,

I have about the same wood butchery skills as you have then. I guess I was hoping for a slicker way of doing it.

Lol, hey Harold I didn't say I didn't have the skills I just didn't have the tools. I framed homes for nearly 10 yrs in NS went to trade school for 2 yrs and had enough hrs logged to write a journeyman ticket. Left all my tools in NS so I have no tools here in my Miss. apt.

Stand your 2x8's together or tack together with a couple nails. Use a piece of 2x4 to mark the slot size and depth. Set you skill saw to the proper depth of the slot and then make several cuts from one side of the slot to the other. Then it is just an easy chisel to knock out the wedges left.
Make sure you leave the pencil lines on the wood. Cut inside each line, better to ensure the fit it tight then have too much play in the cross pieces.

Hey Greg,

I was contemplating making the width 36" wide but after putting the sled on top I decided 30" was plenty. If I had used 2x10 I would have made it wider for better stability but 30" seemed fine for the 2x8.

Craig,

At 30" it's still wider than my old one at 26".

Here's my dilemma ( but not yours, I assume):

On occasion I have pulled the sled along a narrower track made by, I assume, those Clam type plastic sleds. So I end up with 1 ski in the track and 1 on the unbroken snow---a bit more prone to tipping over that way. I use a couple of Rubbermaid containers whereas you are using a Clam type sled as a container. So in that situation you can just use your Clam on it's own. I'd like to make it narrow enough to fit in that type of track should I encounter them. OTOH, I'd like to make it wider for stability.

What to do, what to do.....................hmmmm!?

Looks just like mine design except you used downhill skis. It will be like night and day when you start pulling it.

I have another one still to build (yes, I bring to much gear!), that one will be on x-country skis so I will be able to see if there is much difference.

Cool, would like to know the results.

If that website has the letters O F and C in it, you might be right!

A fairly simple question----do you make the holes in the support that's attached to the skis much bigger than the bolt dia? I have now made mine( pix to follow) but I'm having trouble getting the bolts line up with and go down into the holes. There is a certain amount of 'slop' in fitting the X-beams into the supports. IMO, there needs to be so that it's readily assembled once you take it from the vehicle. That 'slop' seems to make lining up the bolts a bit of a prob. The dilemma is that if I make them too big the whole assembly will be too loose fitting.

I think I'll need to label the beams 'back' and 'front' as well as 'right' on the end that goes right anyway.

Ya I had the same problem. I remedied this by putting two pieces of wood on the cross supports that fit snuggly against the ski supports. By doing this, you don't even need the bolts. I found it was much sturdier this way also. I can send a pic if you want to see it

Though about that before I built both mine. I ended up putting 2 bolts on each end(8 total) . Marked every end LF RF LR RR.

Ive read too much about people's smittys basically collapsing, tried to minimize the risk


If possible just make the hole Dia a C hair bigger or if too late use shims