Does anyone have a good link or source for the smooth plastic you should use for the bottom of a long BW sled? What dimensions of the sled do you recommend?

I have used an ice fishing sled for many years that works fine unless you are trudging through deep snow. Since the sled happens to be wider than my snowshoe track by about 4 inches it tends to plow and pull hard. Time to build something more efficient!

I picked up a sheet of UHMWPE from Nott co. in Arden Hills Mn(northern suburb of StPaul)about a year ago. Size 4 x 10 by 1/4 thick and had them rip it down to 15 in widths for about $200 total. Then shared it with 2 other board members. Tapered it to 13 in back and 13in front at the top of the curl. Used walnut for the cross bars and used stainless steel screws. Used climber rope fro REI for the lines. Take a good look at Black River sleds, they used to sell a complete kit for a good price. They use a different PE than the UHMW (still good not as slick and pliable as UHMWPE).
CB

Thanks for the tip! Did you just walk right into the plant and ask for a sheet of UHMWPE? Any shots of your toboggan for us?

No I called first and had them cut it etc before I picked it up at the will-call desk, in back. They had an invoice etc, so I payed there.
Sorry no photos.
CB

One last question then, are you happy with the 15" width or would you change that?

I bought a 12' blank from Black River Sleds this past fall($75) and have recently finished it. It was a lot of fun to build and the HDPE is great stuff to work with and to shape. (I have no experience with UHMWPE, but I have also read that it is a little slicker) It will get its first use this weekend.

It is also 15" at the widest point and tapers to 13". My dad and I built the stove to fit inside that 13" space on the tail of the toboggan. All of my duffel bags fit nicely within that 15" space. Milk crates are smaller as well.

I'll get some pics up after this weekend.

15" is the way to go, not too wide not too narrow.
CB

Sweet! Looking forward to the pix. I did put a call into Nott Co. for the sheet...waiting for Bob to call me back on that. Do you have a part number or description for the order. They seemed confused when I said UHMWPE.

Now for the underside. How do you attach to the wood so your bolts don't stick out too much? The 1/4 inch material doesn't provide a lot of space for countersinking. Do you use any adhesive?

Super warm weekend for all sorts of outdoor games. Time to take on the 4 kids in snowball fight!

No adhesive as it wont stick to the sheet stock. Use screws, 4 or 5 per cross member, thats how BR does it. There is enough to countersink there. Interesting BOB was confused as thye sell LOTS of this for conveyor systems, it is VERY SLICK.
Just go to the Black River site and look at the pictures.
Remember screws not bolts,stainless not galvanized.
FWIW the kit price is very/was reasonable, when you consider it has everything you need AND instructions.
CB


Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethelene(UHMWPE)

as oppose to

High Density Polyethelene(HDPE)

Sobi-did you wind up buying some UHMWPE and if so do you want to sell a blank (not sure if they made you buy a whole sheet and then ripped it for you?)? I have been contemplating building a boggan. FWIW I am in south Minneapolis.

tg

Not yet, but having others interested will help. I talking with Scott who quoted me $216 bucks a sheet. I hear some Doug guy is the expert so I was going to call him to see if he has some partials or slightly damaged. If you decide to get a piece, do you want enough for one sled/toboggan?

sobi-yeah i would like one 15" wide blank-either 10 or 12' would be fine.

I bought a black river sled last year AND LOVE IT. Customer service was great and I could not be happier.

Hopefully you can find someone to go in with you on the materials (since it sounds like you really want to build your own). If you can't, I'd say get a black river sled. Cost would probably be cheaper after you get all the materials you need.

If you do make one, post some pics, good luck!

George-I was kinda thinking the same thing.

Probably true and I would buy theirs except I have a different design in mind. Did you guys watch the little video on the MN Volunteer site? There is a long sled with sides on there that I like. I would like to build more of a cargo sled than the toboggan. This way all the misc gear stays put easier. I plan on something around 18" in width and 8 feet in length. I will still let you know guys know if I can get a good deal. Should be calling today.

Sobi, I'm no expert on sleds, but I wonder if 18" will be too wide to fit in your snowshoe path. Picture the wide sled always a little tilted because one side is in the track and the other is out. Something to think about at least.

On the other hand, you can always trim 3" off next year if you don't like the way it works. :)

I will have to double check. My current sled is 28". Talk about plowing snow!! A lot of the cargo sleds come standard at 22". They seem to pull easy enough. We need more snow to test. Darn heat ruined the nice snow pack we had in the woods. Now its like an ice rink out there. Back to the girth, I just don't want to go so narrow that the sled tips. Or so long that I can stow in the 8 foot trailer. If it works out this contraption will be for the BW, for the local lakes, and for family sled night.

quote Cedarboy: "I picked up a sheet of UHMWPE from Nott co. in Arden Hills Mn(northern suburb of StPaul)about a year ago. Size 4 x 10 by 1/4 thick and had them rip it down to 15 in widths for about $200 total. Then shared it with 2 other board members. Tapered it to 13 in back and 13in front at the top of the curl. Used walnut for the cross bars and used stainless steel screws. Used climber rope fro REI for the lines. Take a good look at Black River sleds, they used to sell a complete kit for a good price. They use a different PE than the UHMW (still good not as slick and pliable as UHMWPE).
CB"

Cedarboy,
Do you have a link or phone # for this company?

No link I just looked them up. Northeast corner of 35W and 694 in Arden Hills.
CB

Black River Sled

Videos of Black River sled construction among other BWCA stuff.

butthead

I think he was asking about Nott Company...651-415-3400.
CB

quote Cedarboy: "I think he was asking about Nott Company...651-415-3400.
CB"

I was.
Thanks Cedarboy

Think I'm gonna give it a try and put one together.

TB

TB -

If you need someone to split a sheet of plastic, let me know. My wife and I going to start hot-tenting, and we'll need to build toboggans. So we might be interested

Schollmeier- I have two black 3/16" X 15" X 120" toboggan blanks available if you are interested.

Let me know.

CC

quote CanoeCountry: "Schollmeier- I have two black 3/16" X 15" X 120" toboggan blanks available if you are interested.


Let me know.


CC"

How much? Might be interested in both.

Shoot me an e-mail with your phone number and i will give you a call.

CC

sent

We went with vinyl covered aluminum rather than plastic. We used pvc pipes for the harness connection in order to prevent being run over on the downhill portions. The PVC pipes have carabiner clips that we use to attach to a small pack. The sleds have plenty of capacity...the reason for the pack is to keep your hands free and evenly distribute the weight between your hips and your shoulders.

Ordered a 4x10 sheet of UV resistant UHMWPE. Had 3 blanks, sold one to a friend, made toboggans out of the other 2. Even though the advantages are negligible, I still made them in the coffin shape. Used walnut cross pieces with stainless steel screws. Even had dicecupmaker do his usual top notch job on the leather work for the shoulder harness. Thought it turned out pretty nice. Now to wait for snow....

quote TuscaroraBorealis: "


Ordered a 4x10 sheet of UV resistant UHMWPE. Had 3 blanks, sold one to a friend, made tobaggons out of the other 2. Even though the advantages are negligible, I still made them in the coffin shape. Used walnut cross pieces with stainless steel screws. Even had dicecupmaker do his usual top notch job on the leather work for the shoulder harness. Thought it turned out pretty nice. Now to wait for snow...."

lol love the decal!

Nice work TB! That leather work is amazing, how does he do that?

The toboggans first test run.

Sooooo cute!! Love the way you have that chair strapped in. Many, many memories of towing kids in sleds here too.

What a gift that snow storm was.

Anyone have any of that plastic laying around that you would like to get rid of??

This past march in Lindbergh State Park skiing.

Seeley Plastic in Duluth, that is where I used to get all of my plastic for building dog sleds and making new runners.

Seelye Plastic

quote TuscaroraBorealis: "






Ordered a 4x10 sheet of UV resistant UHMWPE. Had 3 blanks, sold one to a friend, made tobaggons out of the other 2. Even though the advantages are negligible, I still made them in the coffin shape. Used walnut cross pieces with stainless steel screws. Even had dicecupmaker do his usual top notch job on the leather work for the shoulder harness. Thought it turned out pretty nice. Now to wait for snow...."

Nice Cobra Knot you got there.
I am curious about your harness system. Rope I see, are you thinking of going to poles eventually or sticking with rope? And how do you belt in? With that leather strap wrapped around the waist and the rope attached to that? Also am I seeing it correctly, but did you taper the front one of the sled and is that the coffin shape you mentioned? What is the advantage of that shape?
Thanks much. I am in the process of researching my own sled so I am asking a bunch of questiones. Oh, and how long is yer sled?

Thanks again

Minnesotian,

For now I'm just using rope but, perhaps at some point, I may use some crisscrossed PVC pipes to prevent the sled running me over on downhill sections. For the most part I travel on lakes (flat surfaces) so this isn't a huge concern. On steep sections I'll actually walk behind the sled or have someone help.

I put the leather strap over one shoulder & pull that way. Obviously it could be used as a waist strap too. (See photo)


I did cut my toboggan in a coffin shape. It was a 10 foot blank. These are approximations of the dimensions I used: the front curl to the first cross piece used up 2 feet, I left the next 2 feet at the original width, then tapered off 1 inch on both sides all the way to the back. I researched this quite extensively myself, & the consensus was - that the advantages are very negligible. (Not worth the work it takes) But, I did it anyways just to be a little creative.

My lashing system is (to me) quite handy. But, is sorta complicated to explain without photo aids etc.

Gotta say...this is AWESOME!!! Thanks for all the insights...