Best sled for deep snow and slush

[Whitefish Slayer]

Summit 146 800 etec.. I pulled boggan full of gear last spring 15 KMs in 12" of slush.. Never missed a beat..

[tswoboda]

I like the otter sleds. I have the medium sled and it pulls really good.

C'mon man

[tswoboda]

Any mountain sled is going to be the best bet in extreme snow and slush conditions.  The long track with big paddles and the power to to turn that track will get you through anything.  The problem is you can't keep them cool in low snow conditions or slow moving through trails and portages.  Other negatives to a mountain sled is there isn't much storage on them or a way to add storage and no 2 up seats.  That's why we look to utility sleds.

[Mainedog]

These work well for me.

[Fisherman 1]

Yup, pogo stik suspension Skidoos would be my choice too.

[backwoodswalker]

I have a tundra, My wife has a Cheyenne. Buddy has a bravo. These 3 are the best in their class. Weight is a killer in slush as none of these have the power to "power out" of it. I have never seen my wifes Cheyenne stuck as she weighs half of what I weigh. Yes I have had my tundra stuck in both slush and late winter "sugar snow"  Slush is bugger to get out of. Lots of work involved. Snow is pretty easy. Put on your snowshoes and tamp a trail down with a ramp to machine and give her the berries and you get back on top. Unfortionately you never see a tundra for sale at a realistic price. Cheyennes are gone now and bravos seem to be gone too. Save up your money and watch for older tundra 2 with reverse and take care of it and you will be happy.  Steve

[350 Mag]

What is touring speed of the Tundra 550F?  Max speed?  and how do they do in deep powder breaking trail? 

[Mainedog]

30-40mph (which is plenty fast for me). My Polaris 550 was faster, but my Polaris wouldn't pull as much, and it was always get stuck.

Deep power/breaking trail--that's what these are built for.

MD

[gamefisher]

The more I use the Polaris Transport I bought for my daughter in Feb., the more I am impressed at it's versatility.  It has a removable 2nd seat, with it off it will hold my packbasket, a small bait bucket and a small cooler perfectly.  I recently added the Digger auger mount to the rear bumper.  Sunday morning I fished completely self contained, no dog sled, SLICK!   In the afternoon, came home, unloaded, and put the second set back in so my son and I could go for a ride.  It's only a 340 but snappy enough for kids and utility purposes.  The big advantage I see over the tundra is the full m-12 suspension and 42.5 ski stance, 8" plastic.  Sled still only weighs 460.  137" 1.25 track, push button reverse, very pleased so far.  Hard to find sled, not made a lot of years from my understanding. 

[tundra redneck]

I've had my fair share of run-ins with slush over the years, from growing up in northern Ontario, and the last few snowy seasons out here in central Alberta, and this is my opinion. The best way to avoid getting stuck in the slush is to not tow a sleigh, they create a ton of drag and that's what usually kills your momentum. Right now I use a Tundra with the 277cc engine to tow my fish trap, or a trailboggan with gear. If I have either of them hooked to the back, and I run into slush, it's game over. With me just wearing a backpack with some rods, and my auger on my rack, it'll got through up to about 12" of slush, as long as I have enough momentum when I hit it.

My next sled is going to be a long track mountain sled, with a rack to hold my auger, and a few places to tie on my flasher, a tackle box and a rod case. I'm also going to look into a small hub-style shelter that can be strapped to the sled somewhere.

My favorite method for getting un-stuck in the slush is to pack a big pad right beside the sled. Lift the machine up onto this pad, and clear the track out so it doesn't freeze. Pack a nice long run way in front of the sled, and use that to get moving again. It's not pretty, but it's got me mobile again, plenty of times.





Here, I turned the sled around in it's tracks, and tried riding back out. Right next to the fish trap, you can see where I packed the pad and runway down with my boots.



We used a similar method here. Once the sled was back up to speed, I looped back through a couple times close to the sleighs. Once the initial path was broken, I was able to hook onto the sleds individually and dragged them back to shore. My 89 tundra loves that stuff, I got the 10"wide ski skins and it gone  through 2feet of slush no problem, it kinda looks like a jet ski