Ok, guys , it snowed ijn Arkansas and its not expected to get above freezing. Ive called walmart and they have never had any snow sleds. Now the grandkid is excited , so I need to build a sled in the shop at 6 am in the morning. Im thinking of pulling it with a four wheeler very carefully.
How would you throw one together that would slide good ? We never get any snow so Im not sure.
Tim Mooney
Replies
Pull the wheels off your skateboard and rename it a snowboard.
Same with your surfboard - the fins are removable.
Since they don't know what snow is, maybe they'll be thrilled to ride on a large cardboard box or a plastic garbage can lid.
Growing up in CT we all had sleds and later, saucers. When we found a hill in the woods where the sleds bogged down we slid down the path on our backs. (Leather jackets with big furry collars)
How old are the grandkids?
Dad built us "little ones" a chair sled. Used a real child's chair and attached a pair of 1x4's to the legs on each side. Don't remember how or even if he turned up the front ends of those boards. An easy out might be to make a tobogan. Round over the front end of a pair of 2x6's, nail/screw on some thin ply and form it right up the curve. Some spreaders and your good to go.
10, 7, 5, 1 1/2, 1 1/2, 7, 8. I think that all of um. LOL
The one living here is 10. Hes goin bananas right now , so he may not sleep.
Im goin to wreck the skate board. TY
Tim Mooney
Tim
Come on your in Arkansas, you got inner tubes dont ya.
They work great for sleds, also if your going to slide down hill you can use cardboard, the hood off that city vehicle, anything with a flat bottom.
Doug
the hood off that city vehicle
You are funny . Im still crackin up. Mayor would sratch his head over that one > hehehehe
There's this thing called a Krazy Karpet--it's just a thin sheet of flexible UHMW plastic with a couple of handholds cut in the front end so you can pull the front up to make like a toboggan. These things will slide on anything, almost.
In a pinch, try a piece of Tyvek housewrap stapled to a chunk of Tentest big enough to sit on--that'll pad the bum better than the original. Leave the Tyvek long so the kid can pull it up in front.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
I tore up a skate board and its not doin it . Trash can lid did fair . Ill be at the hardware and lumber yard first thing in the morning .
Tim Mooney
Best and probably easiest are innertubes, as someone mentioned above. A few ski areas around here (Laurel Highlands of western PA) actually have hills specifically for tubes. You pay a fee and get a tube for a period of time. Rope tow and everything.
You can buy snow tubes. My kids are on their second ones. Tubes are very fast. So light and slick they glide along the top of the snow. Sleds with runners need hardpack or ice, but tubes will go on almost anything. In fact, with younger kids, be careful of too steep a hill and try to find someplace with a flatter area at the bottom for slowing down.
You might want to take a run or two yourself.
Cool
I hope you enjoy yourself because there are all kinds of fun things you can do on frozen water besides sledding, normally I would be out doing these things but Washington State, which holds the record for lower 48 snowfall, has no snow....I'm starting a website called http://www.thereisnosnowhere.com that will explain how to landscape planters with snowmobiles and build grape arbors with skiis and poles. peace
Cafeteria trays work great. Not that I'd know from experience or anything. ;)
Inner tubes are the best, but an old chunk of cardboard or a scoop shovel turned around backwards (handle facing forward) have worked in a pinch.
dan-o
p.s. it hasn't been above 0 degrees F in days here. TOO COLD to sled!
Art Hill, Forest Park, St. Louis? We Wash U. undergrads knew it well.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Make sure the staples are properly sized .....
On a hill by the harbour
older kids ...
a sheet of cardboard stuck inside a garbage bag ... flat ... we're talking real speed with that one ...
little kids ... big cardboard box ... inside another garbage bag.
A one year old fits nice and tight into a beer case ... and that same beer box fits nicely into a truck tire rut thru the snow ... if the snow's deep enough ... the box will just ride in the rut ... no tipping ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
A lot of things that slide on the snow are made of ployethylene:
ziffy-whomfers, those rolled-up 20x48" plastic peices with a handle cut out, X-C waxless ski bases, all alpine ski bases, Iditarod god sled, etc.
I've even seen some Marmot Mountaineering employees ski 12k on asphalt city streets in SF's Bay to Breakers race two years in a row on Fischer Crown waxless X-C skiis. That's 15 miles on asphalt before the bases started to show through!
So PE is good stuff for sliding around. Buckys' garbage bags on cardboard are also PE.
Ski-landing gear off a Cessna? Or off a C-130 for the whole familiy?
Kayaks! especially the PE ones cause they bounce so nicely. I wouldn't loan my wooden ones, but I would my wife's tupperware boat. Wear helmets!
Life rafts / whitewater rafts.
Garbage can lids.
Old beater skiis bolted to a tricycle/chair/ chaise lounge
And and others have said, be careful out there. We had a wickedly slick snowfall before yesterday morning. 20-year-old male was serving northbound. Crossed over and collided with a car going south. Tina and Bill were medical residents spending a month at my wife's practice. He's seriously injuried. She died. 29, bright, cheerful, about to become a doctor. I'm eating leftovers from the Xmas office party that lasted longer than she did. It's stupid little things that remind me how not right this is.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
If you want a regular traditional wood sled with runners, the best approach is probably to shape runners out of roughly 1" full dimension wood (something strong, that won't easily split) and then attach some sort of wear strip/slide to the bottom. The slide can be metal, plastic, or a strip of hard, flexible wood. In some cases the runner wood may be durable/smooth enough that it doesn't need this strip. Wax the runners (melt a candle with a hot air gun, blow torch, or veneer iron) to keep them from sticking.
But as others have said, just about anything with a reasonably smooth bottom will work (as a toboggan of sorts) -- cardboard, plastic political lawn signs, a garbage can lid with the handle removed, etc. I've seen hoods of cars used, but probably dangerous due to the exposed edges.
If you will be towing this over rough terrain you need something a little more substantial than cardboard. Inner tubes work, but you should add some sort of hand hold. Sometimes it works out to cut a piece of plywood to fit the "average" radius of the tube and fasten that on, so that folks don't fall through.
One could probably fashion a relatively standard toboggan out of plywood with some sort of curved-up front made from, eg, a piece of plastic garbage can, reenforced somehow.
By the way, runner sled vs toboggan depends on the amount and nature of the snow. If the snow is deeper than the runner depth then you need a toboggan. If the snow turns to ice pretty quickly when compacted, then a runner sled is better.
I know it may be too late if you needed to know by this morning. But I thought I'd run through the different things I've used over the years in the snow.
Inner tubes have been mentioned. I think a 9.00/20 tube is good for 2 or 3 people. Adults can sit in them and hold smaller kids on their laps. A small car tire tube might be better for one kid at a time.
I think our first "sled" was a sheet of corrugated tin off an old barn roof. The front edge was bent up and a loop of baling wire went through a couple of holes in the front corners. This works surprisingly well. Especially in deep snow.
The hood off a car goes downhill well. But it's often too heavy to get back *UP* the danged hill. If you're pulling them that might not be a bad option.
That's all I can think of at the moment. The only other suggestion I would make is don't over-structure their time in the snow. They'll find things they want to do/try on their own. Give them some space and see what happens.
And don't forget the camera....
Thanks every one . Ive enjoyed the thread.
Boss, it the holidays , its winter , kids are visiting and we are mostly men here. I think this is a good thread for a lot of us , so I dont think its too late to keep it going as others read. Ive picked up some good ideas. Im opting for an innertube behind a four wheeler. A king size garbage lid is sliding down the hill as we speak and has worked so far the best. We must have a tow machine and sled for it, for grandpaw to get in on it. The other kids will be here tomorrow.
Im gonna take a look at that police car hood in my drive way <G>
Tim Mooney
Plastic cafeteria trays work pretty well, once things are packed down...
Plastic kiddie pools.
Also, inflatibles for watersports work for wintersports.
Tim,
Please be careful towing them, if you do.
Some yahoo around here killed his own kid or his best friend or something towing him behind an ATV.
He was whipping them like one might do to a water skier from a boat.
Seems a tree got in the way of the fun. Very tragic.
Enjoy the g kids!
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
I din't read the whole thread yet..but, some mexicali's I worked with had a large time with some radiused 2x10's and alum flashiing..sorta a toboggin...really slid well, till the they wrapped around a mailbox when they were bein pulled by a PU.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.