Homemade Dogsled (kicksled)

by Magal Deutsch in Outside > Snow

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Homemade Dogsled (kicksled)

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Hi everyone! So my story begins two months ago, I have an Alaskan Malamute and we really love to do some dry land mushing, but I decided that I want to try some sledding with my dog, since the average time in my country that it is snowing is two weeks I decided to build and save some money instead of buying an original dogsled which is very expensive! So I bought a second hand cross country skis in really cheap price, 2 wooden strips of 2.5 m long and 3cm width, more three strips of 1.2 m/ 4 cm,
Countersink screws, bolts with spring rings, rubber carpet (for breaks), one wooden poll to create the Handelbar.

Building the Handlebars Mounts,

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I took two metal angles,measured from the front edge of the skies 52cm, connect each with two countersink screws 5/20mm
Glued with Epoxy for extra strength and waited 24h.

Attaching the Handlebars

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24h and the glued dried,
I drilled on each of the 1.2 m wooden strips one hole at the bottom about 3 cm from the bottom and inserted screw to attach it to the metal mount.
Than I measured 50 cm between the skies and sawed 52 cm wooden poll which I glued and drills two screws on each side

Finishing the Handlebars and Connecting the Front Mounts.

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I sawed a 52cm wooden strip from the 3rd strip and glued it between the handlebars at a height of 40cm, drilled two screws on each side.
Afterwards I glued on the front two wooden cubes of 10 cm each at the distance of 43 cm from the mounts, gave it 24h to dry and then put two countersink screws to connect it to the skies.
Then I sawed two wooden strips of 53 cm from 50 cm hight of the handles and prepared for creating the front triangles

The Front Triangles

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On the front cubes I installed two metal angles (it is important to attach the part both to the wooden cube and the ski!), than I took a wooden strip of 45 cm and attached it on one side to the handle just above the end of the mount and the other side to the front mount.
the oblique strip I attached together with horizontal to the front mount so I could get triangular shape.

Strengthening the Sled

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After constructing the triangles I connected a strip of 52cm between the obliques, and two strips in T shape between the horizontals.
To the front strip (between the obliques I tied two short strips to reinforce the front strip.

Connecting the The Dog Leashes!

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I took 4 m 8' roap and tied the knots in 3 different places: so it will be easier for the sled to resist the tension and to stand against breaking...
The next step will be few modifications to strengthen the sled, two short wooden strip tied obliquely to the front horizontal strip.
Important- if your dog pulling the sled you should use anti shock leash in order to prevent injuries to your dog...

Adding the Breaks

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Better to show it than write it ☺ have fun!

Corrections of Mistakes

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So after a really weird story that I became famous after local news reporter saw me sledding with my dog it became extremely viral and I had to sled 10 times to show it to the cameras... I broke the handlebar and the leash kept going under the skis so I replaced the thin wooden poll that was used for the handle by thick plastic tube of one meter length which is hard enough but also flex enough to make a kink and half square shape...
Tight it to the handlebars and drilled two screws on each side.
At the front I added brush border by binding plastic tube thinner than the handle and I created a rope web to put bags and stuff there.
Wherever you can tight with strings the connections of the sled parts to add more strength...