Pulk for this winter 2018

[Moondog55]

It will be the same plastic Paris Expedition sled I've been using for a while but for this year i will be making the pull attachments a lot stronger
In line with the build recommended in "The Pulk Book"
I will need to make a new harness too
This is something I can do while waiting for the surgery to heal as I'll be working at bench height and no major weight lifting is involved.
First job tho is to go outside and clean off the work table

[Moondog55]

One of the things at the top of my needs list is how to stop the tail "wagging the dog" when using a sled train of 2 or more sleds in tandem/tripled.
If anybody has any ideas on this please let me know

[Moondog55]

Working with plastic and aluminium is relatively quick
Some pix of the progress so far
Skegs on both sleds etc

Attachments

IMG_0262.JPG (111.74 KiB) Viewed 17999 times

Small sled will bring up the rear with low weight items

IMG_0260.JPG (149.98 KiB) Viewed 17999 times

A single skeg in the centre Might work may not

IMG_0264.JPG (111.06 KiB) Viewed 17999 times

Rope around the edges so stuff can get tied down tight

IMG_0267.JPG (112.62 KiB) Viewed 17999 times

[Moondog55]

The orange sled is twice the capacity and goes first
Twin skegs to the rear, it is 25mm channel simply because that is what I had; left-over from another non-bushwalking job, it is bench edge
The other bits were from my collection of bits, actually came out of my old truck, bench seat pivots More than strong enough.
Reinforcing is 25 * 3mm aluminium, salvaged from an old cheap travel pack, 6mm stainless steel bolts Nylock nuts on the important connection

Attachments

IMG_0269.JPG (122.47 KiB) Viewed 17998 times

IMG_0270.JPG (120.46 KiB) Viewed 17998 times

Skeg

IMG_0272.JPG (108.6 KiB) Viewed 17998 times

Screws are tight to the base but gear will be protected by using an old CCF pad also

IMG_0275.JPG (86.78 KiB) Viewed 17998 times

[Moondog55]

This is what I have come up with .
I will use a maillon at the orange end to join two rods at the pivot and small snap links at the green end to join the rods to the eyebolts. A simple triangular hitch. I may need to use some shock absorders but I can use bungy cord for that

Attachments

IMG_0279.JPG (119.83 KiB) Viewed 17982 times

IMG_0280.JPG (153.15 KiB) Viewed 17982 times

[Moondog55]

Well it looks like the triangulated pulling bar idea will work, as an extra tho I have put small eye-bolts at the back corners of the orange pulk and I am running very strong shock-cord from Right rear to Right front and Left rear to Left front hoping to take out some of the bounce and slack.
I added the corner ye-bolts back because if the centre mounted pull isn't as stable as I need I can still go corner to corner in the "X" fashion
I made some new pulling rods from longer 13mm FG tent pole sections, I'll pack the Easton arrows as spares

[Moondog55]

I got the towing arrangement to my satisfaction but I won't know if it works for sure until June or July
The shock absorbers will need to be cut exactly to size and from very strong shock cord which I will need to buy

Attachments

Seems to be about right

IMG_0337.JPG (124.74 KiB) Viewed 17860 times

IMG_0339.JPG (136.64 KiB) Viewed 17860 times

IMG_0338.JPG (141.49 KiB) Viewed 17860 times

IMG_0340.JPG (155.67 KiB) Viewed 17860 times

Relative sizes of the two sleds

IMG_0341.JPG (149.48 KiB) Viewed 17860 times

[Moondog55]

Another question?
I could not.cannot find pulling poles that I consider strong enough at the length I need. Is a steel sleeve and epoxy strong enough to make the join on its own or do I need to overwrap and epoxy the outside as well? I had 3 FG garden stakes here I cut one in half so I can make 2 decent length pulling poles.
Next question? What is the best method of fitting 8mm bolts or actually 8mm joining nuts to a 12mm shaft??? Anybody here have a thin wire MIG welder or know somebody who does tiny jobs

[Moondog55]

Well I just finished making the pulling poles I scrapped a few old FG tent pole sections and used the half inch joining sleeves on those.
Only just finished sewing up a new harness as well. Typically I have left some very important jobs til the last week of preparations and packing
I ground down 4 of the 8mm threaded rod joiners to fit inside the half inch tubing and simply used epoxy resin; hoping that it will cope with the stresses
Connections to the pulk itself and the harness are 8mm stainless steel eye-bolts held in position with lock nuts and blue Loctite
I haven't used welded eye bolts so I hope they hold.
Pictures in the next post

[Warin]

I'd be putting some paint marks on the threads .. so you can tell if the nut has rotated on the bolt.
Put it so any friction won't wipe it off.
Makes doing an inspection on the trail easier and quicker.

If the bungees over stretch they will fail .. best to have a fail safe rope over the top of them.

[Moondog55]

Bungies are for stuff needed on the go, the other "stuff" will be in a tank or huge duffle and well tied down. You only make this mistake once and I have already. Paint mark is an excellent idea