Eskimo Traveler

[Little Brown Dog]

Just a quick note with a  for the customer service at Ardisam.

I pulled my Eskimo Traveler out of storage last week and noticed that one of the end connectors that join the poles had broke.  Called up the customer service Dept. and they are putting a handfull in the mail to me today.

I like the Traveler, plenty of room, good fabric, sets up easy.

[frznFinn]

had the same thing happen to me. I traded shanty's with my dad and had to order a pole that he had lost and noticed one of the clips was broke. We got ours in the mail, but haven't replaced it yet. On ours the ends are crimped to hold the plastic clips....what do you think the easiest way to replace those would be? let me know how easy or hard it was...

[pikie]

I'm thinking of buying one of these myself.  How is it in the wind?  I don't fish out of a shanty much and only need one on those nasty windy days.  My last shack was crap in the wind (cabalas build the floor one).  It looks like its easy to pull and set up. 

Also I was wondering if you are able to carry gear on top of the sled when it is packed up?  Would I be able to get 2 buckets, a hand auger and a small cooler of minnows securely on it?  Sorry for the annoying questions, but cabalas website does a bad job of showing it packed up.

[CrappieGuy]

If I were you I would get the Eskimo one man flip over Quickflip Sport.   I have both of these and the traveler is bad in the wind, if you get out of it you better have it anchored down or it will either tip over or take off across the ice if there is no snow.   I do like the room in it and the quick setup, about 2 minutes,  but the sled is real shallow and a little on the thin side.  The quickflip has enough room for all of your gear and the top can be set in one of 3 postions, all the way over, all the way down, or half way in between as a nice wind break.  It's light and sets up instantly.  Also they do not make a cover for the Traveler so if you pull it behind a snowmobile or 4 wheller it gets covered with snow.   The only thing I don't like about the quickflip is the bench seat, it's covered in a outside carpet type material that hooks get caught in real easy and it's had on the butt.  I'm thinking about covering it with soft vinyl with foam padding under neath or putting on a boat seat.

[pikie]

Thanks for the advice CrappieGuy.  I fish with tipups too, so based on your comment, the Traveler is out for me.  I'd be flying out of there for a flag and there it goes.  I don't mind anchoring it down, but I don't see any good places to connect the anchor.  I've got to get to an actual store that carries them...  I live in the middle of the Adirondacks, and the nearest big store with a selection would be in Plattsburgh NY, over an hr away.  The internet is great, but it doesn't compare to actually seeing the choices in person.

[coboy]

I've had my Eskimo Traveller for three years now and one end broke off a pole and had I  to replace it which wasn't too hard to do.  The bottom is thin and I've
got holes wearing through it.I'll probably put skis on it sometime this year to keep it from wearing through any worse.It absolutely sucks in strong winds
though.I drilled holes through the top flange of the sled and use 6'' hex head log screws and screw into the ice at each corner with a cordless drill.But this
still won't prevent it from collapsing in strong winds as one of the "L" shaped poles popped off and hit me right above the eye.If you could put poles in
diagonally,top to bottom,I think it would help alot.It is easy and quick to set up,and a great size for one person.The price was right also.Seems like this year
has been exceptionally windy and I may look into a Shappell or Clam for next year.This week I almost lost it three times trying to move it when raised up.The
best way is to break it down than move it.But it's a real pain to set it up in strong winds.