greg sellentin
Veteran
That's what I like to call her.
Here are some photos of the new VK and the home made equip.
The drags were made for rendering the snow, cutting moguls, and smoothing edge to edge. Not sure how they would do compared to the TiddTech and similar products, but these are pretty standard for sled dog trail grooming.
The packer is made from 2x12's (sides) with a 1" plywood bottom and a 1/8" aluminum plate on the underside. It is 4'W x 8'L. Along the edges on the bottom is 1.5" x 1/8" steel flat stock for tracking with an additional 1/4 x1/4" "skegs" on top of that welded towards the rear to further enhance tracking. When it is filled with snow and 2 railroad ties (buried) it is quite heavy. Have to use a pry bar to break it loose before mounting to the machine. The VK can tow it fine, though. Once it is moving it slides well.
Here are some photos of the new VK and the home made equip.
The drags were made for rendering the snow, cutting moguls, and smoothing edge to edge. Not sure how they would do compared to the TiddTech and similar products, but these are pretty standard for sled dog trail grooming.
The packer is made from 2x12's (sides) with a 1" plywood bottom and a 1/8" aluminum plate on the underside. It is 4'W x 8'L. Along the edges on the bottom is 1.5" x 1/8" steel flat stock for tracking with an additional 1/4 x1/4" "skegs" on top of that welded towards the rear to further enhance tracking. When it is filled with snow and 2 railroad ties (buried) it is quite heavy. Have to use a pry bar to break it loose before mounting to the machine. The VK can tow it fine, though. Once it is moving it slides well.
Attachments
vkrider
Newbie
greg sellentin
Veteran
Question for the trail groomer pros out there:
Funny thing about dog sled racing, you spend most of the time wishing for snow, but sometimes you get too much. Instead of trying to pack a large new snowfall, I would like to plow some of it off the trail instead. Do any of you have experience with an implement that could plow snow off a 4ft wide dog trail?
I know it is kind of an unusual request, but any help would be appreciated. I built a wooden "plow" yesterday to experiment, but it only worked a little bit. I'll post photos of it later.
Funny thing about dog sled racing, you spend most of the time wishing for snow, but sometimes you get too much. Instead of trying to pack a large new snowfall, I would like to plow some of it off the trail instead. Do any of you have experience with an implement that could plow snow off a 4ft wide dog trail?
I know it is kind of an unusual request, but any help would be appreciated. I built a wooden "plow" yesterday to experiment, but it only worked a little bit. I'll post photos of it later.
WANN4STROKE
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 541
- Location
- Anchorage, Ak.
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Viking
2006 ApxMtn-sold
2001 MtnMax-sold
1998 VMAX 500-totalled
Greg,
Did you get any of that storm that flowed thru Anchorage on Monday? I have to make a fuel run up the Yentna and wondering how it might be.
Thxs.
David
Did you get any of that storm that flowed thru Anchorage on Monday? I have to make a fuel run up the Yentna and wondering how it might be.
Thxs.
David
greg sellentin
Veteran
Well I'm 11 miles up Hatcher Pass rd from the Parks Hwy side, so the weather can be very different here from even a few miles down the road. Having said that, we got about 4 inches sunday night into Monday, then another 4" monday night into tuesday. now it is 25F, and the wind is blowing. never a dull weather moment here.
WANN4STROKE
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 541
- Location
- Anchorage, Ak.
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Viking
2006 ApxMtn-sold
2001 MtnMax-sold
1998 VMAX 500-totalled
thxs
greg sellentin
Veteran
air19
Pro
Being able to plow snow off the trail? I haven't heard that type of request before. Here in Vermont and I'm sure in the Midwest, we've been harvesting any snow we get through many tough winters.
Instead of plowing it, have you thought about packing it repeatedly. Sure would build your base that way. Whenever we get dumps of more than 12" I will first run the VK Pro over it a couple of times, then my roller a couple of times, and finally my groomer a couple of times. That's half a dozen times to get it packed down well.
Maybe there is something I'm missing here related to dog sledding. Perhaps you want the groomed trail down much lower and you are really banking the snow on the turns and it helps to dig out the trail to create this effect? Am I close, or why do you really want to remove snow?
Instead of plowing it, have you thought about packing it repeatedly. Sure would build your base that way. Whenever we get dumps of more than 12" I will first run the VK Pro over it a couple of times, then my roller a couple of times, and finally my groomer a couple of times. That's half a dozen times to get it packed down well.
Maybe there is something I'm missing here related to dog sledding. Perhaps you want the groomed trail down much lower and you are really banking the snow on the turns and it helps to dig out the trail to create this effect? Am I close, or why do you really want to remove snow?
greg sellentin
Veteran
Air19,
I'm just trying to achieve the hardest base possible in the least amount of time. We have so much snow it takes a day or two to get the surface back to its firmest after a bunch of snow. I think I'm looking for a firmer trail than for x-c skiing, and definitely firmer than a snowmobile trail. A sprint sled dog trail is best when after your team crosses it, all you can see are toenail marks from the dogs, maybe a faint runner track or paw prints pressed 1/6" into the snow.
The packer I use, see earlier post, is quite heavy and does a good job. Especially if the snow has any moisture in it.
I'm just trying to achieve the hardest base possible in the least amount of time. We have so much snow it takes a day or two to get the surface back to its firmest after a bunch of snow. I think I'm looking for a firmer trail than for x-c skiing, and definitely firmer than a snowmobile trail. A sprint sled dog trail is best when after your team crosses it, all you can see are toenail marks from the dogs, maybe a faint runner track or paw prints pressed 1/6" into the snow.
The packer I use, see earlier post, is quite heavy and does a good job. Especially if the snow has any moisture in it.
air19
Pro
OK you are looking for a really firm trail. In Vermont that would be easy. We get a lot of mixed conditions, like today we started out with 4 hours of sleet and freezing rain. To get your desired conditions, I would have gone out the day before and packed the trails hard, then the freezing rain would have really done the trick after that packing.
But it sounds like you have the opposite problem of to much snow on a regular basis. I have a slightly different method to suggest using a similar plowing technique. Right now you have created a big plow to try and push perhaps 10 inches of snow off the trail at a time. That's a big bite to take and I'm not sure how your plow is going to track through the snow. If there is enough pulling pressure at the center point it might stay straight, but it could also wander all over the place. I would suggest thinking about pushing about 4 inches of snow off at a time instead, and incorporating this plow into your existing compacting drag that has enough mass already to track straight.
Just as an example go up to TiddTech.com and look at the G2 and specifically the snow transfer blades. They are doing just the opposite of what you want. They are bringing snow into the center of the groomer which you want most of the time, since groomers usually push the snow back out. Imagine if those snow transfer blades were angled the other way, like your plow design and they pushed snow out. Now think about creating half a dozen overlapping snow transfer blades that are about six inches high.
Go back to your 4x8 leveling drag and think about putting a rack of these snow transfer blades near the front by attaching them to your drag frame somehow.
Ideally you may want to be able to rotate the angle of these blades so some days when you really want to use the snow you could direct it to the middle also.
But it sounds like you have the opposite problem of to much snow on a regular basis. I have a slightly different method to suggest using a similar plowing technique. Right now you have created a big plow to try and push perhaps 10 inches of snow off the trail at a time. That's a big bite to take and I'm not sure how your plow is going to track through the snow. If there is enough pulling pressure at the center point it might stay straight, but it could also wander all over the place. I would suggest thinking about pushing about 4 inches of snow off at a time instead, and incorporating this plow into your existing compacting drag that has enough mass already to track straight.
Just as an example go up to TiddTech.com and look at the G2 and specifically the snow transfer blades. They are doing just the opposite of what you want. They are bringing snow into the center of the groomer which you want most of the time, since groomers usually push the snow back out. Imagine if those snow transfer blades were angled the other way, like your plow design and they pushed snow out. Now think about creating half a dozen overlapping snow transfer blades that are about six inches high.
Go back to your 4x8 leveling drag and think about putting a rack of these snow transfer blades near the front by attaching them to your drag frame somehow.
Ideally you may want to be able to rotate the angle of these blades so some days when you really want to use the snow you could direct it to the middle also.
greg sellentin
Veteran
Air19,
that is a good idea, but I don't think it would throw snow over the banks like this home made contraption that I built. Not that it works real well either.
Here is a photo of the trail I'm grooming. It was taken when we had very little snow, now we have about 6' on the ground in places, and the banks on the trail are about 2-3' high.
that is a good idea, but I don't think it would throw snow over the banks like this home made contraption that I built. Not that it works real well either.
Here is a photo of the trail I'm grooming. It was taken when we had very little snow, now we have about 6' on the ground in places, and the banks on the trail are about 2-3' high.
