My smitty, New gear hauler

So last year was the second year I've been ice fishing. Last year I built a simple sled out of an old GT snowracer and a rubbermade tote. It worked. Even got some compliments on it. Didn't cost me a thing. EXCEPT it was too small and I learned that quickly. It had enough room for one persons "stuff" but two was pushing it. The whole time without a pop-up hut or shelter of any kind. So this fall I endeavoured to build a "smitty". here is my progress. These are the materials used (so far).

X-county skis
Plywood scraps
Various other wood scraps
30$ worth of piano hinges and other hard wear.
Robertson screws (always Robertson's if you dont know why you haven't screwed enough. )

I followed mostly standard procedure for attaching the skis except i added a top "rail" made of oak. This allowed me to put two bolts per ski through the rail. These are the guide pins which anchor the box on top.

The box is not very pretty. Because I really didn't want to invest much money so I had to work with what I had. But all said it's 22" wide 16" high and 52" long plus the bait box on the back. Which I put there so i wouldn't have minnow water accidentally spilling all over my gear. It's basically done at this point except for some details, the tow rope, Auger mount, cup holders, internal rod rack, external rod holders, dedicated internal tackle rack, satellite radio, a/c, power windows, seat warmers, rustproofing. You know the usual upgrades. Oh and yeah a coat or two of paint. Thats basically it.

Here is a shot of the skis

Inside with a bit of gear as a capacity test.

The back end with bait bucket holder.

I will update this as I add the final touches.

Nice job it looks good.. Now you just need to add a sail and you can ride that sucker out... Lol

Thanks! I was actually thinking about that, but I'm going to wait until I redneck engineer a way to stop lol. No sense getting blown out into the middle of the lake.

Awesome build, how heavy is it with all your gear?
Should be an easy pull with the skis, and looks like you have more than enough clearance if the ice has snow on it too.
Let us know your colours so we can spot you out there, an have you considered making that a portable hut too?
Seen some homemade builds online that have a pull over style built into their sleds, put some nice seats on that bad boy and you basically have a store bought flip over. Lol

Nice build. 👍 My only concern from experience is being to narrow it may be tippy when off level or caught in a track. The previous one I built was narrow and had this problem. Easy fix if it happens, just widen. But very nice build. Now for the ice.

Dave.

It's pretty heavy....I have a bit of an issue with over-building things lol. I've thought about making a flip over style cover and maybe that will come next year. I will post updates when its all finished up and painted.

I'm a little worried about that too. But it already has a much lower centre of gravity than my old one. Hopefully we get some snow soon so i can "dry" run it in the driveway and make any necessary adjustments.

If I can add here (as a constructive criticism = not a negative comment by any means), most guys use downhill/alpine skis as their base because they "float" and make the sleight easier to pull in deeper snow.

Are the rod holders/frame carried on the bottom of the smitty? If carried/attached under the top/lid, it may save the rods from being damaged or lines from being "nicked" while being towed.

I've seen others that double as a seat/bench on the ice, and even have upright poles attached to hold tarp as a wind break.

Maybe.... An older fellow up north added extra drawers for batter, oil, stove-mount, utensils,.... He cooked what you caught right on the spot. Best ever!

Good luck this season.

P.S. - Ooops. He also had a snow machine to pull it. Next? Let us all know when you're open!

Lookin' good Now all we need is ice. That might be slow in coming; I'd love to be wrong about that

Good Job on the Smitty.

Cool design and I like the minnow bucket setup.

Thanks for sharing...

I have to make one of these sleds.. My gear is way too heavy..

Looks good! Also good when nature calls you know.