Just got done hauling our shanties to the lake for sturgeon spearing season. One of the old shacks is getting pretty rough, and it may be time to replace. I've been contemplating building a lightweight skid house like yours.
How does that style tow in different conditions? Glare ice vs deep snow? Slush?
They tow great if you build them correctly.
Runners have to be single pieces of plastic (no splices). And the end profiles have to be rounded not mitered.
Always tow with two sleds one behind the other. Three if conditions are terrible. Even though the big skandics can move the shack alone, it's hard on the belt and clutches and trans. Multiple sleds helps you get accross bad spots (glare ice or slush).
I tow with slings, so you have to talk to the other guy pulling because it takes a long, long time for the shack to stop. If you're pulling and one guy just stops, then everything piles up into a train wreck.
On lightweight small shacks I go minimum 16" wide, and on heavy shacks I go 24" wide. The 24s need 3 pieces of wood so the plywood and plastic only span 12" not the full 24"
Skin the underside of the floor joists with the same plastic so when you're up to the joists in slob you don't see as much drag.
I use the 1/4" x 100' rolls of sani-liner. I think it's HDPE. It's made for farmers to line the areas where cattle walk, to keep them from wearing out the walls they rub against.
Don't extend the runners past the walls, (no porches) as it just gives a place for slush and snow to collect.
On glare ice I use my atv with little tires chained up with V-bar diamond pattern chains. The snowmobiles often can't even move because the carbides stick in the ice. I sometimes put ski skins under the carbides to get around this. You won't be able to steer, but you will be able to move...
