Skis for your Fish Trap, Otter or Eskimo Flip style shack

[fin-n-feather]

I got tired of pulling my 2 man Fish Trap loaded full of gear through the snow and it pulling like a small tank. I did some research and I got this idea from a guy on Lake Link and did some of my own modifications to his pics and ideas.  He said the skis worked really well.  Will have to see if they do when we get more snow.  This should work with any of the flip shacks out there.  The skis slide in and out whenever you don't want to use them, and the modifications to the shack add hardly no weight.  Can't wait to try it out!!!!!!!

[esox_magnum]

I added Hifax runners to my Eskimo QFIII and made a huge difference.

[fin-n-feather]

I added Hifax runners to my Eskimo QFIII and made a huge difference.

What are Hifax runners??

[SeaDog1]

Hi Guys!
Yeah! That's the idea!!
Get the sled on skis up off the snow and reduce the area in contact with it.
That's why dog-sleds, sledges, and luge, are made with runners.

[pointersrule]

I bought the Runner Kit for my Yukon...but, I will be pulling it w/ my Sled.....sweet set up you got there....definately the way to go if your pulling by Hand! What kind of Portable is that? I have never seen one w/ the elevated paltform you have there for the seats...or, was that something you modified....do tell.

[fin-n-feather]

I bought the Runner Kit for my Yukon...but, I will be pulling it w/ my Sled.....sweet set up you got there....definately the way to go if your pulling by Hand! What kind of Portable is that? I have never seen one w/ the elevated paltform you have there for the seats...or, was that something you modified....do tell.

This is one of the first Dave Genz 2 man Fish Traps put out by Clam.  It even has the old canvas cover not like the new ones.

[JigAwhopper]

I got plastic runners on my Fish Trap,  but that's mostly to prevent my bottom from wearing through.  I use Turtle wax on the bottom of my sled.  Just take it inside where it is warm and put a lot of that stuff on and let it dry to a crust.  It helps a lot and lasts few trips.  Then I reapply when it gets hard to pull again.

[GAMBELL]

Looks good on ice and small amounts of snow.  I would be worried that it would tip over in deep snow. 

[fin-n-feather]

Looks good on ice and small amounts of snow.  I would be worried that it would tip over in deep snow. 

Yeah, I thought about that too. I need to wait and see how far it sinks into the snow to tell if I need the pipes as tall as they are.  If not I can cut them shorter so it is not so top heavy.  That would be a simple modification with the sawzall.  Thanks for the input!!

[gofish33]

I did the same thing to my Frabill last year.   Mine doesn't sink in to the snow very far, only a couple inches. It'll be easy to cut down the conduit if you find it's too long.


gofish33

[Buck762]

When you flip the cover tho...It won't sit right??? Post a pic of the shanty with the cover up.  I like the idea, and I got an old set of skiis in the attic

[Buck762]

Oh, Ha! nevermind. U pop the skiis off! I like the idea, how long is the pipeing?

[John_Boy]

Perhaps if the ski's don't work you could  try replacing them with some conduit for runners .
I've seen that done in the past and guys say it pulls very very easily . Other then that it looks
like an awesome setup .
                                                                    John

[fin-n-feather]

Oh, Ha! nevermind. U pop the skiis off! I like the idea, how long is the pipeing?

I bought 2 three foot 1/2 inch sections of pipe and cut them in half.  This way you have the threaded ends on each piece to thread into the flanges on the skis.  Gonna see how far it will sink in the snow fully loaded then cut the pipes down to lower it's center of gravity.

[ice ohio]

I really like your idea. What did you use to connect at the sled? Can you show a close up picture of the mounts? Does the piping just slip into the fittings on the sled or do you have to screw them in?  Also did you mount the fittings completely through the skis?

I have been thinking about the same idea. I think i will move my sled up to give me space on the skis to put in a handle in the rear of the skis to push the sled instead of pulling the sled. I would think it could help me from slipping on the ice and possible giving me leverage in loading the sled into the truck when I am by myself. I will post my pictures.

Thanks for posting your pictures.

Thanks

David

Westerville, Ohio

[fin-n-feather]

I really like your idea. What did you use to connect at the sled? Can you show a close up picture of the mounts? Does the piping just slip into the fittings on the sled or do you have to screw them in?  Also did you mount the fittings completely through the skis?

I have been thinking about the same idea. I think i will move my sled up to give me space on the skis to put in a handle in the rear of the skis to push the sled instead of pulling the sled. I would think it could help me from slipping on the ice and possible giving me leverage in loading the sled into the truck when I am by myself. I will post my pictures.

Thanks for posting your pictures.

Thanks

David

Westerville, Ohio

Dave, I think it is called sprinkler piping, it's dark grey in color.  I enclosed a picture of the left over piece of the pvc piping after I cut the ends off.  I bought 2, 1"x12" long pieces threaded on each end.  I bought the end caps that screw on.  I then screwed a cap on, held it up to the sled and then measured how long to cut it.  On my sled it was about 5" with the cap screwed on.  I attached it with c-clamps and put a 1/4" board on the back for support.  I had to add washers to the bottom c-clamps to make the pvc tube plumb so the metal pipe slides in straight.  The pipes attached to the skis just slide in and out of the pvc so when you get where you want to fish you can just slide the skis out to use your shack.  The flanges that mount to the skis-I used 3/4" inch screws- the back of the skis are thick enough so the screws did not go all the way through, the front ones did so I just ground them down flush with my Dremmel.  Hope I answered your questions.  If you have any more let me know.

[ice ohio]

Fin And Feather,

Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures and post them. I went to the hardware store and picked up the stuff i needed. I will post mine when it is finished.

Thanks,

David

[fin-n-feather]

Hey no problem man!!!!  Glad I could help!!!  I like your idea of pushing instead of pulling.  I'll have to see how this works, then I just might have to try pushing instead of pulling.   f-n-f

[fin-n-feather]

Got my Fishtrap out yesterday on it's maiden voyage to try out it's new skis.  "WOW"  what a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It pulled like nothing.  I had it loaded with my power auger,tip ups, minnow bucket full of water, Big Buddy heater, Vexilar and extra cylinder.  We had a good 8" of snow on the ice and it pulled unbelievably easy.  Not tippy from side to side or nothing.  I even tried a tip from ice ohio and tried pushing it instead of pulling it.  That even worked better than pulling (thanks ice ohio-dave).  I thought about lowering it before but am going to leave it as is, this way it's high enough for when I want to push it.  f-n-f

[jdisci]

Great idea! I have the exact same shanty(about 12yrs.old),Or at least I think I do? Where do you live again? . Are there any parts of the bolts sticking through the bottom of the skis or did you grind them down?

[Fish_Tko]

How difficult was it to remove the skis once you got to your spot? Seems like you would have to tip it quite a ways over to pull the second ski off? First one you pull off and sit one side of the shanty down on snow, and that would leave your shanty at a 45* angle? Do you have to fully unload your shanty to take the skis off if you are by yourself?

[fin-n-feather]

Great idea! I have the exact same shanty(about 12yrs.old),Or at least I think I do? Where do you live again? . Are there any parts of the bolts sticking through the bottom of the skis or did you grind them down?

The screws on the back flanges did not go through, but the front ones did.  I just ground them down with my Dremmel. f-n-f

[fin-n-feather]

How difficult was it to remove the skis once you got to your spot? Seems like you would have to tip it quite a ways over to pull the second ski off? First one you pull off and sit one side of the shanty down on snow, and that would leave your shanty at a 45* angle? Do you have to fully unload your shanty to take the skis off if you are by yourself?

The skis slide out real easy.  You don't have to tip the sled that much to get them to slide out.  All I really took out of the sled was the auger, minnows and tip ups because I was going to use them.  Then when I was done setting up the tipups I got back to the shack and took the skis off.  Worked really slick!  f-n-f

[Mainedog]

Well?  Did you catch any fish??

Nice sled idea too.

MD

[fin-n-feather]

Well?  Did you catch any fish??

Nice sled idea too.

MD

Yeah I caught some perch and a short walleye.  Nice shorthair, is it yours?  I have one also, going on 14 years old.  This was the first year I didn't take her hunting.  f-n-f

[fin-n-feather]

Now you need to fabricate some kind of folding push bar on the back so you don't have to bend over so far when pushing. Maybe attach something to the back legs that extends up to waist level or so. Just a thought.

Yeah I thought about that too.  It might be in the works yet this year.

[Turkeyhunter10ga]

i'm going to give this a try, last winter i made one out of conduit that i never had a chance to try out. A week or so ago a neighbor was throwing out some water skis, adult pairs , 1 kids pair and a single so i snatched them all up. can use a pr for my boat anyway. But thought about doing this project and grabbed all of them for the possible trial and error process. Have already taken the foot bindings and rudder off the single, then split it in 2 right down the middle making 2 from the one.

[a1professionalgu]

this design is very similar to what we came up with last year.used 2 pieces of 1/2 thick teflon my buddy got us from work.you'll love how it goes though deep snow.ours is heavy enough to ride down hills in.post pics soon.tight lines to all.

[scmuskies]

Yeah I thought about that too.  It might be in the works yet this year.

Rig up something to use the spud bar as your push rod.

[WHITETAIL111]

Those will probably be great on ice, but get 10-20" of soft/crusty snow and it might be tough to pull?  No?  Ingenuitive though?