Wondering how important the hyfax runner kit is for the otter shacks. I plan to pull it with a 4 wheeler, but dont plan to use it very often. I would say one long weekend a year up north and then a 3 or 4 trips around home to farm ponds or small lakes. Most times I will be using my one man to fish from. I bought the shack assembled and have heard it is a real PITA to put the hyfax on after the shack is assembled.
I would put hyfax on any sled – its not worth wearing through the sled when the alternative is so easy and cheap
Me too.
I would put hyfax on any sled – its not worth wearing through the sled when the alternative is so easy and cheap
That’s what EVERYONE says… for as often as I’ve heard this, I must be the only person who disagrees.
I pull my sled a lot! I have a sled that is usually loaded with gear and is over 10 yrs old with no signs of wearing through. I pull it a few hundred yards down gravel roads and in parking lots, but doing that from time to time won’t hurt it. If you plan to run a mile down a tar road then yes get the hyfax. Under normal use there’s no reason you would ever need Hyfax.
If you are concerned, it is better, cheaper, and at this point, probably easier to build a Smitty sled. You can get it off the ice, and it will pull easier. My biggest problem has been refrozen slush, which is like a cheese grater. The wheelers churn trenches in the slush, it refreezes, and when you hit those whipped up ice teeth, they punch a hole in your sled. Hyfax offers some protection, but not as much, and makes it heavier, and you have all those bolt ends in your tub which can catch your gear.
I bought a used Otter shack that had clearly been pulled by a machine on gravel/tar a few times. It had some pretty good abrasions on it. The depth on the abrasions was about 1/4 of the way into the plastic on the sled. I don’t think it was heavily used shack, either. The rest of the shack was in A1 shape.
I’d recommend Hyfax on a well-used sled that’s being pulled behind a machine. If it’s hand-pulled, there’s no need at all. Something else will break on the shack, or it’ll get sold, before the sled gets worn down.
I like to mount downhill skis directly to the bottoms of my hand-pulled one-man shacks, and I pull those behind a wheeler, too.
Yes you want to put the Hyfax kit on any and all sled that you pull with snowmobile 4×4 or any atv. It really does not take long to wear down the bottom of a sled of any kind pulling them across the ice and snow.
You won’t regret the Hyfax’s. Might as well put them on.
Yes you want to put the Hyfax kit on any and all sled that you pull with snowmobile 4×4 or any atv. It really does not take long to wear down the bottom of a sled of any kind pulling them across the ice and snow.
I assumed all of these responses. So what am I missing? I fish hard and abuse my gear yet… no issues.
There’s not one person in my fishing circle that uses Hyfax and not one person has come close to wearing out a sled?
I’m just really curious at this point. I’ve pulled my sleds to Canada and back across jagged ice, over a 40 mile round trip. 100’s and 100’s of miles and the sled shows nearly no wear.
You guys are free to do as you wish but it’d be nice if you could support your opinions. Any pictures of worn out sleds from normal use?
I used to know the VP for Otter he told me he’d replace any sled that was worn out. He said being it would never happen from normal use all you had to do was tell him how you actually wrecked the sled and he’d give you a new one.
I assumed all of these responses. So what am I missing? I fish hard and abuse my gear yet… no issues.
I was surprised by all of the responses as well. I’ve beat up on mine pretty good and still looks good. That is using it for fishing, hunting and general yard stuff.
DT
You won’t regret the Hyfax’s. Might as well put them on.
What about after you catch one on a branch and it rips it off your sled?
Again do what you wish but I really feel like fear is making you guys put these on and not facts…
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I just installed on new unit . Don’t understand why it would be hard to do on an assembled unit . Just put it upside down on saw horse or leave it on the floor, drill and put screws in . If you follow the instructions and use the correct size drill bits the screws bite and hold firmly . The nuts can be put on from the inside with out having the screws spinning after the sled is right side up .
With your usage, it probably isn’t worth putting it on, really. I use it on my Otter sleds. It’s maybe not totally necessary but every time I pull my shack down my expanded metal trailer gate it leaves shavings of hyfax. Same if I have to pull down a blacktop of gravel road or boat landing for a bit.
And it is possible to wear a shack out. I bought a Fishtrap Guide in high school, and wore holes in the bottom of it. I was actually very careful to not pull that shack over blacktop because I didn’t have runners on it. And for almost that entire time I had no atv. So I wore through that tub pulling by hand. Impressive huh? With that said, it did take almost 10 years to do it, but that was a lot of miles covered on foot.
If the shack was a newer tough sled like an Otter or some of the other tough sleds with thick bottoms, I don’t know if you could wear one out through dragging by hand or occasional towing with an atv unless a lot of your towing was on gravel or blacktop.
For your purposes, probably not worth the $60. You can spend $120 every 15 years to replace the tub if you ever wear it out.
I have a VERY old (purple) Otter and I pull mine everywhere I go. I know it is at least 20 years old and I bought it used. I pull over and through everything and I have some scratches but nothing worn through. Maybe worth it if it pulls easier???
I did not put hyfax on my 1 man. There’s 2 spots almost completely worn through. I don’t think hyfax would’ve prevented the wear and tear I’m seeing. Mine gets drug down rip rapped shorelines, through gravel, through woods and over logs as I fish the river and probably drag it over more miles of islands than I do ice on many outings. 99% of anglers don’t drag their shack in these settings. If you pull your sled by hand and generally fish traditional accesses like most, I’d save my money and energy by building a cheap smitty sled and skip the hyfax.
I assumed all of these responses. So what am I missing? I fish hard and abuse my gear yet… no issues.
There’s not one person in my fishing circle that uses Hyfax and not one person has come close to wearing out a sled?
I’m just really curious at this point. I’ve pulled my sleds to Canada and back across jagged ice, over a 40 mile round trip. 100’s and 100’s of miles and the sled shows nearly no wear.
You guys are free to do as you wish but it’d be nice if you could support your opinions. Any pictures of worn out sleds from normal use?
I used to know the VP for Otter he told me he’d replace any sled that was worn out. He said being it would never happen from normal use all you had to do was tell him how you actually wrecked the sled and he’d give you a new one.
Sorry no pictures, but I have an otter sled with the canvas craft otterskin shelter on it from 2003 that has holes worn in the bottom. I think what actually happened is the the plastic wore thin and then it got little cracks, but either way you could definitely see through the bottom of the sled and it let water and snow through. I installed hyfax after that and it’s been fine ever since. I honestly have no idea how, when, or why it happened but the holes in the bottom of the sled are definitely there, even if I don’t have pictures to prove it.
I definitely see what you’re saying though and I think a sled bottom could last literally forever if only pulling on lake ice and snow as there just isn’t enough friction to wear the plastic away. I also think you can wear through the bottom relatively quickly pulling behind a wheeler on bare pavement.
I have the last year of the Otter XT900 and wore out my hyfax in Jan of last year (2019). I attribute it to multiple yearly trips to lake Winnipeg and across lake of the woods.
Worn-out-hyfax.jpg
I have the last year of the Otter XT900 and wore out my hyfax in Jan of last year (2019). I attribute it to multiple yearly trips to lake Winnipeg and across lake of the woods.
I have 3 buddies that have burned through the bottom of their sleds. One was heading from wheelers to garden when it happened unknown to him. The sled filled with snow which broke his hitch. The sled flipped multiple times destroying lots of his gear.
The second did it pulling down small amounts of gravel. Filled with mud and wrecked some of his gear.
The third just burned holes fishing locally.
Just dragging the sled around my driveway on the concrete rips the hifax up.
It really isn’t that hard to put on with a heat gun.
Cheap insurance
if i remember correctly otter hyfax is hdpe and not uhmw plastic like most other hyfax kits – uhmw lasts much longer. Either way it saves the sled from wear. Sleds are hdpe
Again do what you wish but I really feel like fear is making you guys put these on and not facts…
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Call Otter and order the one that got damaged?
I put cross country skis on the bottom of mine after I burned holes through the corners of my flip over 
I had a old clam flip over and I took the mechanism from a old Lazy boy chair, mounted it the bottom of the sled and attached some ski’s. Pull the handle back which raised the whole thing up about a foot. It pulled great!
I put them on every flipover, since replacing a flipover shack tub is a lot of work and a lot of $$$.
I have an Otter medium sled that I pull with a wheeler in the summer, winter, deer hunting, firewood, gravel, blacktop, grass, snow, ice, etc etc. No hyfax and it shows no signs of wearing through. I have been using it this way for 6 years. Sled was $80, so at the price of hyfax kits I will continue to abuse that sled and eventually buy another one if and when I burn holes in it.
I put them on every flipover, since replacing a flipover shack tub is a lot of work and a lot of $$$.
I have an Otter medium sled that I pull with a wheeler in the summer, winter, deer hunting, firewood, gravel, blacktop, grass, snow, ice, etc etc. No hyfax and it shows no signs of wearing through. I have been using it this way for 6 years. Sled was $80, so at the price of hyfax kits I will continue to abuse that sled and eventually buy another one if and when I burn holes in it.
Interesting, I have a smaller sized Otter I use for the same purposes – an all year all purpose sled. I haven’t put hyfax on that either. It’s got scratches and gouges but nothing like it’s wearing through. I guess I never thought of the why, but it makes sense to just replace the sled if needed vs swapping out all the shack hardware down the road.
I also do figure my ice shacks get towed at high rates of speed, sometimes down longer blacktop roads at landings than I would like, and over miles and miles of distance. My little hunting and hauling otter sled gets drug down some logging roads and yards, but moving slower and overall many fewer miles covered.
But yes, when considering the $50 or $60 Hyfax kit, one needs to consider expected life of sled/Hyfax based on use, and then hassle of replacing runners vs whole sled.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>KYLE P ERICKSON wrote:</div>
I put them on every flipover, since replacing a flipover shack tub is a lot of work and a lot of $$$.I have an Otter medium sled that I pull with a wheeler in the summer, winter, deer hunting, firewood, gravel, blacktop, grass, snow, ice, etc etc. No hyfax and it shows no signs of wearing through. I have been using it this way for 6 years. Sled was $80, so at the price of hyfax kits I will continue to abuse that sled and eventually buy another one if and when I burn holes in it.
Interesting, I have a smaller sized Otter I use for the same purposes – an all year all purpose sled. I haven’t put hyfax on that either. It’s got scratches and gouges but nothing like it’s wearing through. I guess I never thought of the why, but it makes sense to just replace the sled if needed vs swapping out all the shack hardware down the road.
I also do figure my ice shacks get towed at high rates of speed, sometimes down longer blacktop roads at landings than I would like, and over miles and miles of distance. My little hunting and hauling otter sled gets drug down some logging roads and yards, but moving slower and overall many fewer miles covered.
But yes, when considering the $50 or $60 Hyfax kit, one needs to consider expected life of sled/Hyfax based on use, and then hassle of replacing runners vs whole sled.
Agree with you on this. I tow my flipover further distances than I do my basic sled. I also think the added weight of the flipover shelter + gear vs. just gear plays a part on wear. I’m just not seeing the wear I expected on the sled.
I will say that pulling the shack up into a trailer that has a grated type tailgate really chews up the hyfax. I’ve taken some meat off of mine doing that a few times so not I usually lift it onto the trailer from the side rather than pulling it up the tailgate.
I agree that putting them on certain sleds may increase longevity . I bought a used Eskimo flipmo 2 from a friend never had them on not drug down gravel or tar . Well I always thought the sled was thin compared to my otter brand sled. It now has 2 holes in the bottom of the of the sled I put a runner kit on this week and siliconed the holes . I think it depends on the sled if they are totally necessary to have. Just my 2 cents
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