During this coming off-season, I’m planning on building a Smitty sled. I ran into a few times this year where the ice wasn’t thick enough for vehicle/ATV travel and with some deeper snow, pulling a 2-man Otter was a killer.
We have some spring neighborhood rummage sales coming up, so I’m going to see if I can find an old pair of ski’s. Question I have is this… for those that have a smitty sled, which works better… Cross Country ski’s or Traditional / Alpine ski’s.
Downhill skis are an advantage in the deeper snow.
The wider shovel on the tip of the dh ski and the wider waist helps float the sled really well.
These skis are 185cm in length and the waist is 90mm and they have worked great.
would an old set of water skiis be too wide? You could cut the back fin down a bit and it would help keep it tracking straight.
If you can find an old pair of Down Hill FAT skis. For skiing power out west. they work great. They are quite a bit wider than regular down hill skis. They look like this pic.
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would an old set of water skiis be too wide? You could cut the back fin down a bit and it would help keep it tracking straight.
Yes, water ski’s are to wide. Defeats the purpose to slide more easily across the snow.
I would lean towards downhill skis also, but all I had available to me were x-country skis and they didn’t have any issues keeping my sled up out the snow with 6″ of travel this past weekend.
So in thinking about the design, to keep the weight down I’m planning on using aluminum tubes, angles and piping. It’ll be constructed so the the top frame setup could be dismantled with the use of hitch pins or thumb nuts and bolts.
But in thinking about the frame, do you find it better to attach a pull rope to the front of the ski’s, or use the one I have attached to the Otter Sled. Seems by hooking a rope to the front of the ski’s, I could have a little better lift up.
If you try to attach the rope to you sled and not the skis you’re going to be pulling down the front of your sled and even could pull the house off the sled when you run into something like and ice ridge.
I attached my rope to the front of the skis by drilling holes in the ski tips and clipping on climbing carabiners… By doing this it is very easy to unclip the rope from my shmitty sled and transfer to my Otter once I get to the spot if I want to just move it a few feet 
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….going to be pulling down the front of your sled and even could pull the house off the sled when you run into something like and ice ridge.
Thanks Will. That’s what I was thinking about… the downward pressure if I pull from the shelter.
Now to find a cheap pair of ski’s on a rummage.
Check out your local Salvation Army Store, or, Church Store, like Wise Penny in Red Wing. I have seen skis in both places in RW, from $5-$20, if you can’t locate any at a garage sale. And, if you are looking for one of those, check out the 100 mile Garage Sale in the RW, Lake City area in May. Unbelievable cache of fishing goodies at all kinds of prices.
Good idea Ed. I’ll have to check out our Good Samaritan, Salvation Army as well as our Savers store. Wouldn’t be surprised if I could find a pair at one of those.
I’m going to build a Smitty sled for my Otter medium sled. What length of skis would you recommend that I use?
Thanks,
Al
Don’t over think it and look at any secondhand stores or like the others stated above I made mine just a little wider then my frabill sled on the inside of the skis so I could just flip it over in the bed of my truck and slide my sled right inside it under my bed cover with my tailgate shut
Free to a good home. Dirty, but perfect for your smitty sled. Pick up in Crystal, MN. PM me if you want to claim them.
Good luck with them, Al! Post pictures when you are done with the sled.
I was inspired by this page and built my first Smitty Sled with bucket inserts and compartments based on my gear.
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<hr>….going to be pulling down the front of your sled and even could pull the house off the sled when you run into something like and ice ridge.
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Thanks Will. That’s what I was thinking about… the downward pressure if I pull from the shelter.</font><font class=”post”>Now to find a cheap pair of ski’s on a rummage.</font>
You might have better luck at a resale store. We have one close to our house and they seem to always have 2 or 3 sets of old ski’s. That’s where I picked up mine and my brother-in-laws for our Smittys
goodwill always seems to have old cheap skis. ive got 3 pair from there now
Welcome Mike.
Nice job on the Smitty. 10X easier to pull than a regular sled.
I recently updated mine and fastened the tow rope to the structure itself. It seems to help pulling and is stronger than the ski tips.
Wow, ressurecting an oldie here. I forgot I gave those skis away 6.5 years ago. 
I was inspired by this page and built my first Smitty Sled with bucket inserts and compartments based on my gear.
What is the function of the large cat in picture #2? He looks put out that there is no compartment for him.
Grouse
Thanks! During this pandemic things are kinda slow so I tried to make it look nice, even though half the wood was scrap. We’ll see how well it works as soon as more ice builds up on Minnetonka!
What is the function of the large cat in picture #2?
The cat does the pulling, duh.
The cat does the pulling, duh.
Man, you think social media would light up if you posted a pic of the cat in a harness hooked up to the smitty sled? There’d be some hate…
An alternative, while not ideal, is a couple 2x4s. I went about building a sled last season and couldn’t find a pair of skis in time. I cut the boards to length, cut a bevel in the end, and waxed the bottoms. Then attached eye bolts to the tops for the tow rope. Not perfect but worked better than anticipated.
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