Gravity Driven Wintertime Personnel Carrier – Steerable Sled Instructable

Being from farther North, my wife is offended that Virginia inhabitants are unfamiliar with sledding hill etiquette and we often have to dodge the doofuses walking up the center of the sledding hill. So this year after our last cheapo plastic sled bit the dust I decided that we needed something we could steer.

I grew up with the old metal runner sleds that didn’t steer all that well and they only worked on hardpack snow or ice so we didn’t go that route.

Doing some searching turned up what looked like a novel idea: The "Mountainboy Slalom Sled"

Man slalom looks weird typed.

Anyhow, I liked the idea. But since I am loathe to maintain wood if I can help it and I have a small property yard of useful items ** or as my wife calls it: crap ** I decided plastic was a better alternative.

A 55 gal drum earmarked to make armor for my sons gave its life so that we may risk our own; by throwing ourselves headfirst down snowy hills.

Supplies

- Either thick plastic sheet or a barrel. Plywood sanded really smooth would honestly work fine but bending the curves to keep it from catching the snow would be more difficult. The barrels natural curve took care of this for me. Also it was free.

- 5/8’’-3/4’’ ply for the “frame”

- Hardwood or HDPE for runners

- Stainless hardware – ¼’’ bolts, 5/16 bolt and T nut

- Threaded inserts or screws, I guess - if you still club your wife outside your cave

Step 1: Off With Its Head

Instead of measuring with a tape it was easier to draw dotted lines around the barrel with a sharpie and a 4’’ stick. I was just taking the top and bottom off at this point anyway, figured I would fine tune the shape later. A jig saw works great for plastic barrels

Step 2: Flattening the Curve

Once the top and bottom are gone (and saved for a future project) Use a straight edge to strike a line up the middle and cut the barrel “tube” up one side.

It’s surprisingly bendy and you can roll it flat with a little force.

Step 3: Giving It Some Backbone

Keeping it flat is another thing though.

I thought of heating it up and trying to get it to take a set to this shape but it was below freezing and I figured I didn’t have enough heat to come close. So, I cut some plywood for a frame to keep the plastic flat. The piece i cut was about 18'' x 40'' and 3/4'' exterior ply because that's what i had.

In retrospect it is likely both too thick and too wide (so too heavy) but it works for V1.0. I think you could honeycomb/skeletonize the ply and take a good portion of the wood out while retaining most of the rigidity, but again… V1.0.

Step 4: Running on Ice

If you are running on hard packed snow or ice you cannot beat thin runners for speed. I wanted that benefit but I didn’t want to rely on the runners 100% like the old metal sleds did. So for softer snow the barrel plastic bottom got sanded nice and smooth up to 220 grit and then waxed with some car wax I had laying around.

I had some nice ¾’’ HDPE stock from some practice swords I made a couple years ago and it looked perfect for runners. Cut 2 pieces 1’’x3/4’’ x 48’’ pieces and set them aside. Hardwood would likely work fine but I had these “in stock” and man they are slick.

Step 5: Plain Old Screws Are for Cavemen

I guess you could have just screwed some ¼’’ screws through the ply, through the barrel and into the runners from the top but since this was V1.0 I wanted it to be able to be disassembled easily in case I needed to cannibalize the parts or mod it. So I used threaded inserts into the runners, this keeps the bottom nice and slick with no fasteners poking into the snow.

Plus, it made me feel sophisticated.

Step 6: Control Freak

Until this point you just have a straight line sled that, while it is likely incredibly durable, it is no better at steering than the $20 target sled it replaced.

In order to steer this you need a pivot and front section. I figured about a 2/3 to 1/3 back to front ratio made sense.

I don’t have a particular reason for it other than the Slalom one looked about that ratio and I assumed they had tried other options. But maybe they didn’t... anyhow it seems to work.

The front portion is built just like the back and pivots on a T nut (the only hardware on the bottom) that is hammered into the HDPE barrel so it sits flush with the plastic and doesn’t dig into the snow at all.

The “handlebar” needed to be elevated somewhat so we used a bunch of washers but a small section of pipe or plywood would have worked just as well, this was just easier.

Step 7: Trial Run – the Only Time We Wished We Lived on a Mountain

We don’t have any really steep hills on our property but the yard is at least sloped, so don't judge the speed off this tiny hill. You can see my 6yr old dodging his crashed pedal car and blinding me after jumping on my back when I was giving it a go - but we still steered to keep from eating fence boards. We all jumped on and gave it a try.

I have to say, the steering is far more responsive than I expected…to the point if you steer to the stop it will toss everyone right off the sled. But if you have a slow hand it works great.

I am really hoping for some more snow to give this sled a real test at some of the local hills.

Unfortunately, as Virginia often does, we have gone through all 4 seasons in the past 2 weeks and now it’s 65 degrees in Feb. Here’s hoping for some good Feb and March snows though!

And to all the other Northerners who live in Virginia…

when it comes to uneducated sledders, if you can’t teach them: steer around them.