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�.need a good freight sled for trapping, hunting, camping, or just plain traveling via snow machine?

I have two good sleds recently completed and ready to put to use.



This one's up for sale. I've had it listed locally (Fairbanks right now) for $1250. Presently I am offering it for $1125 until December 24. (I will deliver it as far as 50 highway miles to anyone here who wants it.) I'd be willing to bring it south to Anchorage or similar points to the south - highway- if anyone is interested, for full price ($1250).

These are good sleds; traditional in many respects with various tweaks that I've learned over the past three decades using them on our rugged (brutal) coastal trails. I build just like I run them.

This sleds utilizes solid 1" UHMW for the bend (since the only hickory I have found locally is kiln dried and doesn't bend worth a darn, and it makes the weak point in the runner a strong point.)



This nine-foot sled utilizes hand fitted mortise and tenon joints, 38 in total, for strength and flexibility.



Stantions (legs) and runner are lashed and tied using treated round braid nylon with welded chain link and grade 8 bolts, neither of which can be opened, bent, or broken.



A welded steel tow hitch is attached vie grade 8 hardware. This tow hitch has a swiveling pintle-type solid 1" tow bar.



Carbide skegs are inletted into the plastic (1/2" UHMW) runner slides. These provide superior tracking on hard, icy trails while creating minimal drag under typical conditions.



The price might seem a bit 'rich' to some, but I took no shortcuts and it is actually quite modest considering the details. I know that the present trend seems to be toward the use of toboggan-type sleds which seem relatively cheap and easy to own. The truth is that a sled on runners is a much better sled for traveling purposes, easier to pull, better on gas, and much kinder to the load.

I would have absolutely no qualms about keeping and running this sled, but I presently have three similar sleds which are between 4 and 21 years old. (I don't need anymore right now.) If any of you Alaska boys need one like this, hit me up and we can talk details.

That is a dandy for sure, if I was in need I'd buy it! The carbide skegs are a great idea,,

Very noice.

I used ordinary steel skegs over 20 years ago, even before carbide skegs were standard on most snowmachines. Those were just bolted through the plastic runner slides back then. The longer studs of many of the skegs used on today's typically plastic snowmachine skis make it possible to bolt the skeg very solidly through the wood runner. It takes more time and fiddling around than the simpler methods often used, but they are so superior (and long-lasting) that it seems very worth it to me. There is some irony in trying to market these practical sleds in a populated area like Fairbanks. One might think that people 'use' their machines in these populated places. Such, however, does not seem to be the case, as the practical value of a good raised-bed sled seem to be lost on the masses. I'm glad I'm only invested in two of them so far.

I would imagine it would be easier to sell the sled with a chintzy tow hitch and lacking the added $100 cost of carbide skegs. (Then I'd probably get complaints that the tow bar bent and won't swivel, or that the sled skidded sideways and broke out several legs�.and "can you fix them?")

Snowmachine builders have caught on to what their machines are subject to, get used for, and are capable of. It's pretty obvious that most of the commercial sled makers haven't caught on however. (I was talking to a local Otter Sled dealer - where it gets -40�- who told me that they haven't had problems with Otter Sleds getting broken��What? That says something about how they're getting used methinks.)