Smitty Sled

We got a ton of snow here in Northwest Indiana.  I enjoy the snow, for the most part, although it makes walking through it tough, much less pulling along a bunch of ice fishing gear.

As I was heading out to fish Loomis Lake, I spotted Josh pulling a Smitty Sled and heading in.

I had already made up my mind that I needed one of these, but I was still working on the details in my head. I admired how the risers were grooved on his sled.

Later that day, I picked me up a set of second hand cross county skis.

The next day, Garrett volunteered to give me a hand making the sled.  I had thoughts of skipping the cross boards altogether and letting my grooved sled keep the spacing.  Had this idea been incorporated, I would have been sorry; it would not have been durable enough over rough snow/ice. 

The cross boards were secured, even though I favored the grove technique.  However, my thoughts to grove the risers led to sled height issues that I had yet to resolve.

The other sled issue I wanted to overcome was to somehow make it more portable.  That is to say, it needed to be able to fit in my Trailblazer along with all my gear and a bunch of kids.

Garrett had a cool idea of using nails in drilled holes, as pins on the cross boards, that way they could be easily taken apart.  The trouble was, this method lacked tautness and would not keep rigid.

 The cross boards were screwed down tight and it was ready to roll glide.

The next day, at Loomis Lake, the sled loaded down with all our gear, glided along very well. 

Then today, I was ready to head back to a lake, but had to many kids and not enough room.  I thought the sled could ride over there heads, but that didn't work out as well as I had imagined.

So, I made a few modifications.

Instead of grooving out the risers, I just added some pieces to create the groove, that way I didn't have to sacrifice any height.

Glenn was in severe pain from a labral tear in his hip, yet still managed to loosen a star bit for me while laying on the sofa.  :)

I knew he was really hurting, because usually curiosity would get the best of him when he heard the sounds of me using power tools. 

Well, it may not be the prettiest, but I did get em tacked down nice and tight.

The eye bolts are so I can easily bungee the shanty to the sled.

Taaaadaa!  The sled fit together perfectly.  In fact, it fit so snugly that I opted to not use any pins on the cross boards.  I may still decide to add those later, who knows.

The modifications made the sled a bit more narrow, which I like, and should also help make it easier to maneuver.

I loaded my ice laden shanty and a bucket full of gear on the sled to see how it was to pull around.  It was good!

Next, it was time for Trailblazer Tetris.

The slats popped right off, and I stuck the skis and slats in the back-- YAY, it fits well.

Tip:  Don't wear tights while operating a saw-- this sawdust may never come out of these: