My Homemade $15 Sled! AKA The "Smitty Sled"

[Chris338378]

The skis I got are right around 6' plus or minus an inch or two.  Most of the weight will be in the back when I load the jet sled I always put my auger head and heavy stuff in the back of the sled.  I'm still kickin around the idea of making the cross pieces wider that way I can have my auger on the outside of the sled and buy back some room in the sled so the stuff in there isn't so crammed.  I don't remember who did it but someone made the cross pieces wider and made up a bracket so the auger rested in it along the sled. 

[Spider1]

Chris, I've seen that done and tried it myself. The problem I've seen with mounting an auger on the side like that is that it makes the sled side heavy. It can tend to lean to that side when in deep snow and when going over those big humps of snow and crud on the edges of the ice and when going up or down steep embankments. You really want the heavy weight stuff more or less centered between the skis. Just food for thought.

[Uncle Al]

Chris, instead of making the cross pieces wider, I put a piece of plywood over the cross pieces that was big enough to match the tub of the clam pro I intended to pull on the smitty.  The plywood can be cut longer than the smitty, or the smitty made longer than what you intend to haul, experiment with what you have before taking it out on the ice and finding out it's not going to work. Good Luck with your build.

[3300]

you could off set the weight on top of the skies by making long crossbars so the sled lays over one side and not centered over the skies and find out how far to do that by figuring out how heavy your auger is and your sled full of stuff. just make it adjustable would be the best thing. if you make your crossbars too long, you can always trim them later.
also, you can attach the risers to the crossbars any where you want them so it can be a very wide base or narrow or some where in between. i would stay away from the narrow stance.
this means you can make multiple holes in the cross bars and keep the pins in the risers. then you can customize the weight load at any time. the other way would be to make several crossbars to work with how you want to load up the skies. no one said you can only have one set.

i use eye bolts that screw in the crossbars like lag bolts and then i use motorcycle straps to cinch it all down for travel. some use bungee's, but i want to make sure it can't slip.

[SirCranksalot]

I tried multiple holes in X pieces. The trouble I found that the bolts fit a lot better in the first set of holes than in the others because the hole in the x piece is drilled at the same time as the hole in the riser, so everything lines up. If the next set of holes are on a slightly different angle it's a struggle to get the bolts in. Could make the holes a bit bigger, I guess, but too big and you'll get slop.

[Chris338378]

Thanks for the input guys.  Here's some things I've figured out so far.  I'm pretty sure that my sled would counter the auger weight because I'll just load the heavy stuff to the side opposite of the auger.  The places I fish I don't have to go though any brush so that's not going to be an issue.  I'm going to make it on the wider side.  My initial idea is I'm going to make it just wide enough for the base of my sled, which is a Jet Sled XL, and my auger head.  I'm trying to figure out how I want to make the bracket for the auger.  I'm thinking about modifying the set up cweaver used on his sled.  I'm thinking about moving the ski on the sled side in some, maybe 3 or 4 inches or so from the end of the cross piece that way the sled helps balance the load better with the auger on.  What do you guys think?  I don't want to make a solid top because I want to be able to break down the sled for transport and storage.

Here's a link to cweaver's build, it's near the bottom of the page:

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=103927.1320

[SirCranksalot]

I'm thinking about moving the ski on the sled side in some, maybe 3 or 4 inches or so from the end of the cross piece that way the sled helps balance the load better with the auger on.
0

The sled will be more stable if the auger sits in between the skiis. I'm puzzled as to why you would make it more narrow, given that you don't need to go thru any woods/brush.

[RussC]

This has probably been answered already but, typically how wide are you guys making your smitty's? My tub measures 33" across. Is 36"s wide enough? It will just be pulled by hand across the snow/ice.

[rdhammah]

I make mine the same width of the sled. tie down tight and no sliding sideways.

[Chris338378]

RussC, I don't think you'll have any issues going 3 inches wider.

[Uncle Al]

I built one wider than what I was going to put on it, and didn't like it.  I had put big eye screws on the outside of each of the risers to anchor the rachet straps that I was going to use to hold my shanty onto the smitty, and didn't like the way the straps were angled back to the eye screws, I had made the cross bars longer, so I just cut them off even with the risers and liked it better. just my 2 cents.

[RussC]

Excellent, thank you for the quick replies.

Russ C

[Pikespearingmtpburg]

I need to make one!!

[smitty0312]

I need to make one!!

I can answer any questions you may have Pike. Tight lines

[Chris338378]

Smitty, how far in from the end and from the start of the upward arch do you like to have your risers?  My skis are 78 1/2" from end to the tip, including measuring the arch upward to the tip, and the sled I'm putting on it is the Jet Sled XL, which is 66" long.  The reason I'm asking is because I know the skis bow upward where the bindings were and someone suggested making sure the weight is centered over this bowed up area which will have the rear riser, unless I use three of them per ski, pretty far in from the end of the ski, roughly around the middle of the ski. 

[smitty0312]

The front tip of the front risers are 12-13" back from where the curve of the ski tip starts to bend. Great question. Thank You!

[Chris338378]

Will that push down the upward arch where the bindings were or doesn't it matter if that upward arch is up or down?

[Uncle Al]

I don't think it matters where you put the risers, make the sled to fit whatever you're going to put on it.

[smitty0312]

Try to keep the weight slightly back from center....it will help keep the ski tips up.....tight lines

[RussC]

Not sure if anyone else has done this or not but. I just made my first smitty sled and decided to use carabiner’s to hook the pull rope to the ski’s. I figured that it would be dual purpose with easy on / off of the rope to the ski’s, as well the rope could then quickly be used as a rescue tool if needed.

Russ C

[Rugburn]

 I've seen plenty of designs in this thread that use the clips, but I like your dual purpose thinking! Never heard of planning this rope to double as a quick life saving device. Bravo! 

[lefty2053]

Good idea.

[smitty0312]

Not sure if anyone else has done this or not but. I just made my first smitty sled and decided to use carabiner’s to hook the pull rope to the ski’s. I figured that it would be dual purpose with easy on / off of the rope to the ski’s, as well the rope could then quickly be used as a rescue tool if needed.

Russ C

Great Idea Russ! Tight Lines!

[Jim F]

Built my second Smitty sled this week for the new house
















All I need now is ice 

[SKIFFLAKEJIMMY]

EXCELLENT Craftsmanship. NEAT NEAT NEAT!!!

[tbern]

Very nice, Jim!!!

[Ice Scratcher]

Wow, great job on that Jim!

<°)))>{

[Jim F]

Pretty amazing what  a guy can do with a welder and a lathe
and a old wire shelf that was laying around.
Only thing I had to buy was the PVC for the rod toter 

[00tjwrangler]

 So I just picked  up a  viking 300  a suit case shanty. I already have a sled built.  I am looking to see what I can  do so I can put this on  the sled. To pull

[smitty0312]

Built my second Smitty sled this week for the new house
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All I need now is ice 

Very Very nice!!