No more wading around a stuck machine in the slush!
This has been my little project for the last couple of weeks. I wanted the ultimate ice machine that could carry a train load of gear and yet get through the nasty slush, deep wet snow and have a chance of skipping open water if things got that bad. So I have a 81′ Artic Cat Panther that came from the factory sporting a 17 1/2″ wide track that has a foot print 52″ long on a ultra light machine. Come to find out Artic only produced four or five machines with this oversized track as test units for deep snow, the problem was in those days they couldn’t produce enough power to keep up with the rest of the sleds and still turn all that rubber. Not enough power? Well stuff in a 500cc motor and mods generating more power then this light weight machine needs, right. 
Now build a auger rack off the front and a basket in back big enough to fit a five gallon bucket or propane tank in. Not to mention with the rack extending back and higher I can lift this machine up 3′ with one arm if it does go down in the slush. Put a GPS mount on the handlbars and a mount that locks the flasher down behind the windshield. Now when I am looking for a specific spot on the spot I dont’ even have to get off the sled. Squirt a little water on the ice, drop the transducer and take look then idle up to the next spot to check. BIG PLUS is the fricken huge windsheild and hood, nice and warm.
Now I had a machine that will chew up the nasty stuff but what to do to make the portable stay on top, pull smooth at high speeds, and take the wear of getting drug all over? The answer came as a product called UHMW polyethylene ( the stuff they make poly snowplows out of) This stuff is wicked slippery, very wear resistant and stays flexable without breaking in sub-zero temps. All I had to do was cut a 1/4″ thick piece six feet long with a point in the front. The flexability allows the poly to bend upward creating the attack angle of the sled and making for a nice shock asorbing hitch when stopping. I then welded up two high carbon steel skegs or runners for crossing highways and tracking on bare ice. I ran those all the way back and formed them into another basket for gear and a hitch. Now I can pull a second portable off the back. Four bolts welded to this skeg system and the portable is mounted, take four nuts off and it is back to original size for hauling in the pickup.
I took it out today in the snow drifts and tried to get stuck or destroyed, no deal. Although I got some odd looks pulling a portable around a bean field crashing into snow drifts along the road miles from any lake. 
So what else can you guys think of to make this creature even more fishemen friendly? Yes I have to much time on my hands.
