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This is a steerable sledge for hard-packed snow made out of plumbing parts. We recently had several inches of snow in Southern England, and as usual, everything ground to a halt. I know some of you are used to a regular several FEET of snow and everything goes on as normal, but we do things differently here, OK. We have several good sledging hills around, and I decided to make a fast steerable sledge to take advantage of the conditions.
We have a couple of the cheap plastic sledges which are pretty fast, but not at all steerable and break easily. I wanted a sledge which was strong, steerable and fast. I chose the waste pipe to give a minimal contact area on hard snow but a larger area as the snow deepens. The tube is also slightly flexible to allow bending for the steering.
UPDATE - This sledge works best in hard-packed snow. To make it work in deeper snow, follow BugsyandSpike's suggestion below and put a 2" x 1" piece of wood (with accordingly longer bolts) between the platform and the tube to give it better ground clearance. (There's a few other worthwhile mods in that comment too.)
It has been mentioned that PVC gets brittle and can splinter in the cold. I've given my sledge some pretty rough treatment in a couple of degrees below with no ill effects, but it's one to be aware of.
We have a couple of the cheap plastic sledges which are pretty fast, but not at all steerable and break easily. I wanted a sledge which was strong, steerable and fast. I chose the waste pipe to give a minimal contact area on hard snow but a larger area as the snow deepens. The tube is also slightly flexible to allow bending for the steering.
UPDATE - This sledge works best in hard-packed snow. To make it work in deeper snow, follow BugsyandSpike's suggestion below and put a 2" x 1" piece of wood (with accordingly longer bolts) between the platform and the tube to give it better ground clearance. (There's a few other worthwhile mods in that comment too.)
It has been mentioned that PVC gets brittle and can splinter in the cold. I've given my sledge some pretty rough treatment in a couple of degrees below with no ill effects, but it's one to be aware of.
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Signing UpStep 1Parts and Tools Required
The sledge is made out of a sheet of 12mm ply, a 3 metre length of 40mm plumbing waste pipe, 2 x 45 degree pipe couplers, 2 x equal tees, 2 x end pieces, a bag of 12mm bolts with square nuts (greenhouse bolts) and a pot of pipe adhesive. Best to get these from trade suppliers (e.g. Screwfix) rather than the big DIY shops (B&Q for example) as they are MUCH cheaper.
The tools and other materials you will need are a drill, a saw, a large screwdriver, a wooden or metal rod and some duct tape.
I've used metric units here, but if you're using Imperial measurements, the cut size of the ply is 34" by 20.5" x 3/8" thick". The 40mm pipe diameter is just over 1.5", but I think you use 2" in the U.S. As a rule of thumb, 25mm = 1", 1' = 305mm, 1 metre = 39". There are 10mm in a 1cm, and 100cm in a 1metre.
The tools and other materials you will need are a drill, a saw, a large screwdriver, a wooden or metal rod and some duct tape.
I've used metric units here, but if you're using Imperial measurements, the cut size of the ply is 34" by 20.5" x 3/8" thick". The 40mm pipe diameter is just over 1.5", but I think you use 2" in the U.S. As a rule of thumb, 25mm = 1", 1' = 305mm, 1 metre = 39". There are 10mm in a 1cm, and 100cm in a 1metre.
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Global warming....?
L
It only took a couple of hours to make and is now the sledge of choice in our family. steerable, fast and stable. top stuff.
We made a few mods...
a) added some 2x1" wood between the runners and the platform to increase the clearance.
b) sanded off the protruding edges at the pipe joints to make the pipes into continuously smooth runners. don't do this all the way round as it will weaken the joint, just the bit which contacts the ground.
c) waxed the pipes. it really does make it go faster.
d) changed the dimensions just a bit.
e) final thing which isn't shown on the picture, i added 45degree pipe couplers to the pipes at the back to stop the back edge scraping when going over bumps. not forgetting to sand the joint smooth.
I'd totally agree with you on the mods. I had ours out yesterday and it does tend to throw up a LOT of snow on the driver on anything but shallow snow. I put in a 2nd deflector to try and stop it, but it will slow down as snow builds up in front.
Increasing the clearance between the runners and the deck is something I'll do next. It works best on hard packed snow, so the more people sledging, the better it gets #;¬)
Exactly how does it steer? Not that there's gonna be anymore snow until next year.
AndyGadget: This is a nice, simple design, quite elegant for being built of common, cheap materials. The only modification I think would help - if the sledge is to last without rotting - is to prime/seal the plywood board with several heavy coats and coat the PVC connectors and wood screws with silicon (silicone) glue or caulk, to seal any moisture that could rot the wood and rip fittings apart. How well would you say this would stand up to heavy use? In my area, kids burn through the flimsy plastic sledges they sell around here.