hyfax versus skis

I was thinking of putting skies instead of hyfax on my flip over. I was thinking it would ride nicer in the snow with skies.

You are correct. Hyfax basically just takes the wear and tear off of the sled when it’s being dragged across ice and pavement. Won’t do much good in snow.

For the skis to provide any real value you would need to elevate the tub. If you just attach a ski directly to the bottom the tub will still act as a plow.

What makes Smitty sleds work is the fact that the ski has a larger surface area to support weight over a long distance AND it lifts the width of the load being towed above the snow so it can not act as a snowplow.

Hyfax pulling behind ATV
Skis pulling by hand.
You do not need to elevate sled more then 2″ to achieve a smooth ride in any snow depth.
If you keep it low, you can fish with skis attached to your sled too… And pulling it hole to hole will be as much of a breeze as pulling it to your first spot.

And don’t forget to wax your skis to prevent water from freezing to them making a plow

Be careful when elevating your sled when you make a Smitty Sled. If you go too high, the front pole of your flip-over will no longer sit flush with the ice and wind will get under your canvas. You only need about 2″, like ^^^ said.

And even then, all poles angle down to the ice from the sled. I added grommets and 6oz weights to my canvas skirt so the entire skirt is laying on the ice in 30 mph winds…. Takes a grommet about every 8″. Haven’t packed the skirt with snow since doing that cheap mod.

skis all the way. would not do hyfax unless you are routinely pulling it with a snowmobile/4 wheeler on rough surface. old water skis have seen work well.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

And even then, all poles angle down to the ice from the sled. I added grommets and 6oz weights to my canvas skirt so the entire skirt is laying on the ice in 30 mph winds…. Takes a grommet about every 8″. Haven’t packed the skirt with snow since doing that cheap mod.

I really like that idea. I was thinking of making a weighted-skirt modification similar to that.

Do you have any pics of what the weight looks like?

I don’t have pictures and I put the house away last night.

Buy grommets.
Install grommets on bottom of skirt 8″ spacing.
Zip tie 6oz bank sinkers to grommets.
Done.

Heavy duty zip ties will help you from losing a few weights when they freeze into the slush from your holes. However, lighter zip ties also break before any fabric will tear too. Not that this is a big issue. I just run lighter zips since I have 50# of sinkers sitting around

I did however take a picture of the sled that I put under my 1 man.

I run screws through my run into this ski sled… And it is perminently attached for the season.

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