Building Kids Ski Pulk

I'm looking into building a Pulk to pull the little one behind on our tours this winter. There is a lot of info out there on how to build a sled but very little on how to set up the sled for kids and not gear.

Looking for ideas from folks who may have done it in the past. I expect I should put in some sort of rollcage and harness to hold her in. BUt are there ideas for building that and maybe comvering it with a waterproof enclosure? What about a transparent snow shield to keep snow from hitting her in the face?

Thanks!

How big a weasel are you talking about?
I would think a car-seat bolted in would work well.
Goggles would likely work better than windshield.
I am guessing this will be a low speed activity in mostly fair weather. I would think tree skiing with a sled full of kid on a deep powder day is not what you are thinking of.

She's 19 months now and is pretty light. I'd like to build it so I can use it for a few more years - Ie. put her in when she gets tired of skiing by herself.

I intend to use it mostly for nordic type tours - XCD type stuff with a few turns on lower angle stuff. Not on anything steep or heavily treed.

We would want to go into the powder for touring and maybe on groomed trails (tracks) at times.

The goggles are a must do but I'm thinking of some type of wind/snow break so its nice and cosy for her.

I'm a cheapskate and tried building one myself but in retrospect I think I (and the kid) would have been better off with a storebought. Consider that there is a good used market for these things. You could buy new and recoup a fair amount by reselling. Or you could buy used and then sell and as long as you kept it in good shape could probably get basically a free rental. That's mainly why I wish I had just bought one.

The enclosure is the hardest problem to solve DIY and one of the more important ones to get right for a comfortable kid. The next hardest problem is general stability; tipping over is sometimes fun the first time but soon gets old. Finally there is controlling downhill speed, although this problem is shared by gearsleds too.

I rented one of these in the methow: KinderShuttle and it gets my vote, particularly because of the quality of enclosure and the good control you get from the belt and rigid trace system (with three adjustable modes - single double and cross).

I think the one thing I might still try and tinker with is setting it up with some sawed off thrift store ski runners for underneath instead of just dragging the flat base. The flat base is fine with hard snow conditions, and crucial if you want to go off trail. But very nonefficient in either new snow or warmed up snow on groomed tracks, which is what I ended up doing mostly. If you did this you'd want to put the skis on some sort of independent frame, and then when you want to use the frame just strap it (tight) to the sled body. Ideally the frame and skis would have some adjustment modes both horizontally and vertically. Maybe salvage 4 of the threaded adjustment parts from office chairs. It turns out that the set tracks for nordic style have quite a bit of variation in spacing tween tracks, and depth. You could use the runners out of the track if you could set it low so that the runners don't put the CG too high and make it tippy. But you'd then need to be adjustable to use in-track in order to not grind the track sides and or drag the bottom anyways because the track is deep. Being in-track is pretty nice, is easier to get in a rhythm.

I built one for my kids and used it a fair amount. I think with a little ingenuity you can build in lots of nice features.

If I can find a picture I will post it, but I gave the pulk away earlier this year.

I used a plastic basin style sled that can be purchased in many places. Chose one that is wide enough and long enough to suit your needs. Also defer to ones that use fairly thick plastic. Mine had two molded depressions running lengthwise that served to add strength and, I think, were supposed to act like runners. In any case I added runner/blades on the bottom by bolting aluminum L bar to the bottom of those depression/runners. Aluminum is nice because it is lightweight and can easily be formed. For instance it was easy to taper the front of the runner and I was also able to drill shallow countersinks into the metal using a forstner bit, which is a wood bit. The bolt heads had very broad and low profile heads and did not impede movement through the snow.

The runner bolts extended into the sled and were long enough to pass through supporting blocks and into the seat posts. I made my seat simply using PVC pipes and angled connectors. That was the frame, but you can then attach whatever padding to the seat and seatbelts with webbing and fastex fasteners that can be had at REI or wherever.

I also made a cover which was easy to do and real nice. Think of the hoops used to hold up many tents. I bought small plastic tubing (white polypropylene, used for water pipes I think) that was about 1/4 or 1/3 inch O.D. with a narrow bore. These hoops were sized by length and simply slid onto small bolts that where attached to the side rim of the sled (these rims were molded flat with a horizontal face) with a short threaded extension that extended up. The hoops slide into a canopy and the canopy was secured with snaps riveted onto the canopy and the side of the sled. A lot like a tent. In retrospect I think I would have used hooks and small bungee to do that job, but the snaps worked well and held the hoops in place under tension.

For the harness, etc. I bought some real old XC ski poles sized for a giant. These fiberglass poles where modified by adding attaching rope to the basket end (basket removed) with epoxy and then over that a rubber water hose was added over that. The attachment was drilled and pinned so it was bombproof. It is hard to explain in words, sorry. The attachment point to the sled amounted to glued and nested PVC pipe (for strength) that traversed the front of the sled and extended out the side walls of the sled. The center of the pipe assembly had a hole in it. The extended part of the pipe was sized to allow the rope to be pushed into the pipe all the way to the hole in the center inside the sled. Once done, the two ends of the ropes from each pole were tied. This meant that even if the pipe or anything else broke, it would not lose its attachment to the sled. Also the rubber hose end on the pole (about a foot or so long) fit snugly over the PVC pipe on the outside of the sled. In truth this hose attachment never let loose, it was the primary attachment with the rope as a backup. The best part of the rubber hose is that it served as a shock absorber so that each kick glide sequence did not cause a large jerk on the kid in the sled. I used a harness that I got at REI. It was a leftover harness they had from a modular backpack system they sold at the time. Cheap!

I added a front cover and a clear vinyl windshield.

The pole attachment system allowed me to do fairly long kick and glide trips with my kid, who often fell asleep for most of the trip. the runners helped in reducing sideslip and are integrally a part of the seat attachment.

This pulk, as all others was not perfect. They can tip in soft snow and you have to get used to moving in them. Unless you plan on going crazy with a kid in the pulk, I would skip the roll bar. First of all it will do nothing in soft snow. Unless you build a cage it will do little to prevent impact from objects like branches etc. And in some cases may make the sled more difficult to deal with if it rolls. Just make the seat back higher than your child's head. When I have had the sled tip over, it usually meant that my kids would get a face full of snow (when I didn't use the wind shield) and they cry for a few seconds but hey that' life! But if the harness system is robust enough, it can be a blast even going downhill. I have done the black trails with my daughter at the Stevens Touring center. The kids love that.

I gave you these details with the hope that you would pick up from some of the ideas and come up with even better ways to get a nice pulk. I was able to put mine together in just a few hours total, not counting the time for scavenging stuff.

Good luck,
Alan

I am currently working on building one for our 11 month old. Mine is progressing along the lines of Big snow's, but I used an old pair of tele skis for the runners. I screwed a piece of laminate flooring into the sled and through to the skis to stiffen the whole thing up. I plan on bolting some 1/2" pvc to the ski tips and attaching them to a waist harness of some sort. For the child seat, I'm thinking a modified plastic laundry basket, maybe with a single pvc "roll bar" that he could stand up and hold on to when he gets tired of sitting or lying down. I'm trying to keep the weight down and I'm hoping to use it for both track and off piste use.