Making Your Own Ice Sled Runners
Original Post:
http://www.blogsmonroe.com/fishing/?p=271
I touched on this the other day, and then got busy out in the shop getting this project done and getting ready again for another trip to Saginaw Bay tomorrow, so this is the first opportunity to get back into it. Building your own runners for your ice sled, its quick, its easy and if it costs any money at all, it will be about a third of what you will pay for factory runners.
Old water ski’s are the way to go here, in this case really old wooden ones. This old red pair actually didn’t cost anything, for they were found on the side of the road on somebody’s trash day. I removed all the foot hardware, and laid them flat on the bottom of the sled. Next step was to trim the backside to fit with the sled’s length. I absolutely nothing about water ski’s, but these came with their own pair of wooden rudders which I decided to keep. In the picture, I have already reattached them after trimming off the back sections. See how I actually captured the toe of my shoe, really have to work on those picture skills.
Next was drilling the holes, which I had already done before throwing in that cut off section above for the picture. I drilled four holes for the bolts to go in. First I measured a foot from the back, and two more times a foot apart. To get the front done and to fit with the curve of the ski’s, the last hole was only 10 inches apart. The ski’s were exactly 7″ wide, so the center hole went on the 3.5 inch mark.
The next step was just to dress up the ski’s a bit to match with the sled. Instead of having an old red 
pair of water ski’s for runners on a black sled, I wanted to paint them black. Now these are going to get roughed up a bit, so being neat was not going to score any points in this project. Taking a palm sander I took most of the paint off any surfaces that might be in view. Mostly the back side, where the skis turn up and the edges.
During most of the project the pups were out there with me, except for the painting stage and the time it took for 
the paint to dry. Although I really didn’t care if everything came out perfect, I still didn’t want pups running through everything. Still, the process wasn’t without observers. The barn/shop cats came out to check out what all the fuss was about. We have never had cats before, and I totally blame this on my sister-in-law, so their names aren’t the most original. Cali for calico cat, and Alli for alley cat, see I warned you!
Next up was drilling the holes and securing the bolts to the sled. I started at the front when I took to the 
drilling. Slid the bolt through, and repeated the process towards the rear of the sled. Doing it this way helps keep the ski’s lined up and even during the process. The bolts used were the flat anchor types, about an inch and half long. Now a few years down the road, I can just punch them out at some point, and use the same holes in the sled when I replace the ski’s. I used one large washer, then a smaller one and a locking washer before tightening down the 1/2″ nuts. If you have the nylock nuts, that works too.
Just to protect the gear, I used an old remnant of carpet for laying over the exposed bolt ends. Loaded the sled up with my fish cooler, beverage cooler, bait bucket, spud, rods and tip ups and put the cover on to check the fit. Finished project, not only protects your sled from abuse and rough ice, but its something you can do at home for a few nickels and dimes compared to the factory kits.
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