vooodooo

I've not seen a man door on the left side of a trailer. Likely 'cause it's not wise to step out into potential traffic on the side of the road.

Closed due to covid is what is on our clubhouse and shitter. ASFAIK club houses "can" be opened but....there is a protocol. Must be manned by a club member. High touch surfaces must be sanitized every 30 mins. Masks mandatory. Contact tracing info must be recorded and kept for 30 days. No more people than can be 2 meter distanced. So I suppose it's possible to enter a clubhouse, if the club can do the above. Sledding will suck if it's really cold, warm clubhouses, shitters and restaurants aren't open. Tip the crap out of any club that takes the extraordinary steps to be open.

Most of a foot so far here

The equinox products are well made. In the arctic (-50C or colder without wind) we'd routinely load them way past stated capacity. We'd pound them over rocks, jagged sea ice, literally they would drop a few feet loaded with 1000 lbs of gear onto rocks. I was very impressed with the quality.

Very nice work on the sled mounted box. It looks like the box on the back of my Skandic. Never tig welded, (mig and stick very well). I send aluminum welding to experts. Better patent that or BRP might steal it as their own.

https://eqnx.biz/product-category/cargo-sleds/

Some of the numbers manufacturers put out for payload and towing capacity are, somewhat suspect, IMO. Ford for example rates the F150s at 1,485 to 2,311 lbs, obviously based on length, trim etc, So it could be that with a sled deck and 2 sleds they are overweight, not to mention quite top heavy, i think allot of the issues would be braking capacity I can understand why people lean towards the 1/2 ton trucks, I had a few and would routinely load them well past legal weights. Once switching to 3/4 tons I could see the skectchyness of what I was doing. There is no comparison to the added ability of the heavier duty 2500, or 3500 frame and brake sizes. I don't think I'd pull the trailers and loads I do with a half ton truck again. With the 2500, long box crew, it's just like a full speed Sunday drive with 8 or 10000 lbs. With my half ton trucks that was a full grip of the wheel and lots of thought into steering, speed, stopping distance.

That 6L is most times connected to a 10,000 lb trailer. It certainly does not have the torque and pulling power of the diesel. You can put your boot into the gasser, it will respond with lots of power, noise and fuel sucking. Two trucks ago was turbo diesel, it pulled stuff way nicer, even with less HP. I just can't justify the extra costs involved with the diesel.

The space shuttle or a cargo ship are the only things that use more fuel than my 6L 2500 HD., long box crew. Pulled the new to me 31 foot bumper pull trailer from Thornbury, to Hepworth. 11000 lbs. Granted, there are lots of long hills, and the truck handles it well, but that bastard ate 40L of gas to go maybe 100km. Not going back to diesels, been bit by the repair expense bug too many times.

This is a butane stove, it will heat anything. Lots of btu's..cook them dogs

Look at the pocket rocket, many of us carry a pocket rocket, an iso/butane canister and a pot. I've got a setup that the canister and pocket rocket fit in an aluminum pot. Takes up very little space, weighs almost nothing. Carry some dogs, buns and condiments and lunch is served! Eaten many a half frozen IMP in the arctic, freezing my balls off in a tent.

Sorry, that flameless action heater don't work worth a darn in the cold. CF IMP's are heated in pressure cookers, on stoves sub zero. If you kept the rat, heater and water in your suit for a while before trying it it's better. Don't drink the water. The box the main meal came in works well to hold it and the heater/water in and sort of insulated. Google pocket rocket stove...way better for a trailside lunch. Cook trailside dogs all the time. Best before dates are really for the cookies, condiments crackers etc. They turn after a few years past. Main meal is good for damn near ever. Try not to let the meal freeze more than once.

LOL That app needs %60 adaptation to be effective and it's got less than %10. Also it's not got access to GPS coordinates. Kinda a joke app but between the 5G covid nutjobs and Qanon whacko's it's not likely any tracking app will have much uptake.

Maybe. Tourism has certainly changed. Every club grooms for tourism. If a member was stuck to their own clubs trails the ride would be awfully short. Hotels are open, same with restaurants and gas stations. Cottages in my area are booked solid. I think that no one really knows what happens when schools reopen, if a second wave shuts everything down again. Everyone is having to wing it and doesn't want to be painted into a corner. I have one recommendation for them. Make a permit come with the app. No paper maps. Make the app fully interactive as it is and keep data logs. That way if there is an outbreak, sledders can be warned in advance and after the fact. Not sure what this will do to our clubhouse activities, it may mean the doors stay locked. Grooming will not change at all IMO, unless permit sales go for a crap.

Maybe contact your district people? We run on one city owned rail trail, one county owned rail trail, one multiple county conservation area authority, multiple trails. All multi use. The local snowmobile clubs do the lions share of maintaining the trails for all users. The ATV club does very little. Some trails we use jointly, the atv's destroy the trail base and make massive ruts. None get repaired and we have problems even setting up a suitable base. Without major snow and multiple passes with the groomer these trails are back wrenching, suspension pounding, 10 kmh, avoid at all cost sections. Without us, the trails would be overgrown and in poor condition, or the government entities would be out of pocket to maintain, without the benefit of tourist dollars. They would be unusable for anyone in the winter, without our groomer maintaining them. Most people understand that, although there are a few users that don't get the link. No snowmobiles equals no groomer, means no walking or skiing. I believe some people I encounter while grooming think this machine is service provided by government.

Same here. I pull wheels and hubs and manually pack the bearings with a bearing packer. Forces the old grease out, new stuff in. Means a new seal every time but it makes for piece of mind. While in there I service the electric brakes. Pressure wash, lube the adjusters. Half a dozen trailers, it is time consuming and dirty.

March 2019 my beloved 06 Mach Z succumbed to the dreaded Rotax 1000 SDI virus at 8000 kms. I did every upgrade the internet had to offer to make her last, to no avail. I had her for about 10 years, never in 20 years with TD have I had a claim on anything. Sport bikes, lots of other sleds. I cancelled the insurance as she was sold to another loving home. Mid summer I found another 06 Mach Z for a really, really good price. Love can override good judgement lol. Waited until November when my snow tractor insurance came due and called TD. Yah, no, we won't insure it..? Whadda ya mean no? I've had the exact same machine insured with you for 10 years without claim? WTF.. Seems they have new underwriters...they won't insure that machine anymore. Someone needs (or not) to tell them 185hp is no longer the level for speed demon status. Went to Co-op..my main insurer for everything else I have. Home, business, vehicles etc...I hand them a pretty fat cheque every year. Shaved a hundred bucks off each sled, problem solved...but I was pretty pissed at the time.

I think this will kick the crap out of sled sales, period. There are going to be many, many people who own snowmobiles now, that may find themselves in a financial position that requires a divestment of toys. Months off work, questionable return to work dates, maybe lost jobs period. Both levels of governments who have not exactly been prudent spenders for 30 or so years, with massive debt loads before this crisis. Both levels of government may have little choice but to borrow, big money to keep the economy moving...and that may not work, only making the situation worse. There will be those that try to take advantage of the less fortunate, and pick the carcass...I will not be one. My wife and I have donated money to the local school breakfast program for years. It's now shut down. There is, instead a table at the front doors of the school, where breakfast type food can be dropped off. Those that need it, take the food. Wife and I are going through the pantry to see what we can leave on the table. Those of us that are more financially secure need to step up for our neighbors who are not. It's going to be a mess.

Over 2 feet of snow in the last 12 hours. Went from not enough to too much in 24 hrs

The law was written to disallow cans because it is too much to ask that a dyno get set up on the side of the trail and get a DB reading under load. At idle, many cans will still be under the noise limit, but under load will be above. I think it's a reasonable law and abide by it. We as sledders, can not afford to alienate land owners and the general public. Was at our clubhouse last week while staking with the Skandic superwide snowtractor. Closed trails btw. Saw a sled parked out front, no new permit, had last year's. Continued on staking, came back to the clubhouse and the owner of the sled was there, with the side panel open..had a can about a third the size of the stock muffler. Seems his battery was fooked, sled was there all night..a local. He had a booster pack, but the battery was so far gone it still did not start. I was going to tell him to pound salt and instigate a trespass to property thing but struck up a conversation instead. The owner of the sled is the nephew of one of our best, most reasonable easy to get along with land owners. Crap. Explained to him that cans close trails. Went home and got my booster pack. Still no start. Towed him and his sled to the garage just up the trail and used a full size battery and cables and it started.. Really hope he gets rid of the can. What would you guys have done?

Who wants you to do 8 hrs max? Some of our routes were 14 hours but the new to us groomer shaves that down to under 10. Twice the HP, better front blade. better more responsive drag. Most of our groomer operators are professional truck drivers, 13 hours is a max day by MTO standards, or farmers that run equipment for any hours needed, sometimes we are both. We are all more than capable of safely operating the groomer for this length of time, and we are all more than man enough to admit when it's time to stop, or make a phone call to swap out a driver if needed. Where does this restriction come from? As for an abstract, I'm very happy to offer mine up. Everyone operating a groomer should have an abstract done at least yearly. I ride my snowmobile around these operators...don't need a questionable cowboy on the trails with a 9 foot wide weapon.

Some sledders stop in stupid places. Stopping on a hill, top or bottom, around a corner is stupid. We all like to stop and regroup..do it in a safe spot..somewhere that riders can see you at a distance.. If you have a break down, get off to the side off the trail if possible. If not, and have others with you, they can place themselves to warn others as to the danger. It ain't rocket appliances. flashing lights, waving hands and arms means something is wrong, slow the frig down.

Me too, can't see it...

That seems a very reasonable and prudent measure by the OFSC and their insurance company. D9 has a health and safety meeting for all groomer operators yearly, before the season starts. It is required that operators have their driver's licence number on file or new operators provide such,.