ATV skis

[Yooper77]

The deep snow is keeping me from my favorite fishing spot. I have an Arctic Cat 500 TRV with Duro Powergrips and the snow is just too much, I'm bottoming out. I was thinking of taking some cheap kids snowboards 8"x4' and strapping them to the front wheels. Maybe they would keep the front end up and the 26x10x12s in the back could push them through the snow. I know they make skis and conversions, but if I'm going to drop $$$, I might as well get a beat up old ice fishing snowmobile. The same goes for skis for trailer wheels kinda pricey. Any (constructive) thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[WIhoundguy]

I don't think two snowboards would take the abuse that a 5 or 6 hundred pound wheeler plus rider would dish out. Also, snowboards are designed for turning on edge, so there would be no runner to aide in turning. I could only imagine what hitting an ice chunk at 30 mph would do to a snowboard.

I tried to make my own skis for a few years and never found a good solution, so I went ahead and bought front skis and back tracks this fall. I don't miss having to clean carbs on my sled.

[WYIfish]

Down hill skis would fit the bill EXCEPT  for the weight, my arctic cat 650 weights 800 + dry weight.   For a few hundred bucks you can get a good used snowmobile and that would fix the deep snow problems.  Then you could go trail riding too.  Even with global warming, it isn't likely the UP is going to run out of snow any year soon.

[Reel trouble]

If your much of a fabricator i dont think it would be a hard build, some tubing and some uhmw and you could build a ski. you could look for some old snowmobile skis as some of the early yamaha 4 stokes weigh close to what your wheeler does and only ride on a 7 inch ski.  I would remove the front wheels and make a bracket in the bolt pattern of your hubs and bolt to a set of snowmobile skis.
 But here is some ideas

[Yooper77]

I picked up some used steel snowmobile skis today and will try modifying them in the next couple days. I think that I will keep the tires on, since I need the ATV to plow my driveway way to often this winter. It is going to involve some cutting and possible some welding. I'll probably use a strap over top of the tire to hold it in place.