04 February 2013

Project Pelican 45 Toboggan Part One

 Time for a new project. This project starts with a stock Pelican Snow Trek 45 toboggan. Recently purchased from a local Canadian Tire store, for about $24, on sale of course. Full price around $40.

The toboggan measures approximately 20" wide by 45" long by 8" tall. Inside dimensions are of course, smaller. Material: Plastic.
 This toboggan is the right size for one person's camping gear. Winter is the time to pull your gear instead of packing it on your back. 

The challenge is, the pull cord on this toboggan is a little on the weanie side. We need to beef it up.
 Off to the local Peavey Mart store to get some hardware. Eye bolt and ring assembly 3/8" x 2 1/2" ($2.69), 2x 1/4"x2" carriage bolts + washers + nuts, sold by the pound ($0.51). Hardware = $3.20 + GST. The plywood was scraps I had in the shed. The outside piece is 5/8" plywood 4" x 6.5" and the inside piece is 3/8 plywood 4" x 5.75".

So, for the first part of this project we are still under $30.
 To prepare the plywood, I drew a centre line put a 3/8" hole at the centre and then put a 1/4" hole 2" above and below the 3/8" hole.

Then I transferred the hole placements to the toboggan.

Note: It is probably best to a fix one bolt and then drill the remaining holes through the toboggan and the inside piece of plywood. I had to drill a second bottom hole through the inside piece of plywood because the holes did not align properly for the bottom carriage bolt to go through. Ooops. My bad. 

Next insert the bolts and snug the plywood together.
It may take more than one tightening to get the plywood tight enough to get the washers on. I was only able to get the small flat washer on the eye bolt on the inside. I still have the large flat washer and lock washer. If in the future the eye bolt needs to be re-tightened I may develop more space and will use the other washers in the future.

Speaking of the future, this toboggan now needs a fabric cover and a harness. I will be making the traces out of 1" tubular webbing, mil-spec with a breaking strength around 2500 lbs. 

Colours to be determined. Red and blue 1" tubular webbing shown in the last pic. 

This modification will not likely be silent, as there is metal on metal contact with the pull ring and the eye bolt, but I was not making a tactical toboggan anyways. 

One of my suppliers sells a 420 denier pack cloth in white and I think that is what the cover will be made from. 

I will try to upload part two in a couple of weeks once I have built the cover. Then I will attach the cover to the toboggan. It will be laced on. Then this toboggan will be ready for a trip to the field.

Until next time.......keep your gear covered!!!

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3 comments:

  1. mountainman09 June, 2014 17:52

    Giri,

    Given the requirements of a project like the one described above, what kind of prices are we talking about??

    MM.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown18 February, 2017 12:28

    Hey Andrew,

    I made one earlier this year for a winter camping trip. Have a few adjustments to make, but it works great! Cost me less than I thought, and I got most of the bits and pieces at Lowes or Home Depot. Hope yours works out great too!

    MJ

    ReplyDelete
  3. mountainman19 February, 2017 14:57

    Mike,

    I actually built two. One for me and one for my boy. These toboggans are going strong as they enter their 4th season. Very happy with them. If I build another it will be on a Pelican 72" toboggan, so if I am ever caught in really nasty weather I can dump the contents of the toboggan and set up my bivy bag with winter sleeping bags inside the toboggan. Of course, I would fashion a deadman type anchor so the wind would not blow me away. Winter camping can be fun......

    Andrew.

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