Penultimate Pulk Sled

Check out this thread with Dr. Pulk contributing:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=39119

Yeah I saw that thread literally five minutes after I posted up! :P

I've built a couple of pulks before and think that Dr. Pulks attachment system should work great!

Right now I'm in the process of finding a good sled itself. The various sleds typically used (Paris, Jet Sled Jr. ect.) are simply too square in the front and will get hung up on brush / trees here in northern Minnesota where I hike.

What I'm looking for is a nice rounded front sled but so far everything I've found is sold out. :(

As I see it the weak point of this setup is the point of attatchment to the sled.
The point where the rope passes from the sled into the black PVC of the wands is exactly where the rope will wear through and break.

A clear, flexible, plastic tubing needs to cover the rope at this chafing point. The tube can be replaced when it looks nearly worn through.

P.S If the clear tubing is purposely sized longer longer you can carefully nip off above the bad spot, slit it lengthwise & discard the worn section. Then pull the good tubing down from inside the wand and just duct tape the remaing tubing to the rope to hold it in place. I'll bet it would take a good season of pulking, including giving toddlers rides, to wear through the tubing.

But the beauty of the rope is that if it wears out it would be extremely simple to replace. Field repairs on the rope would be way easier than field repairs on a metal eye bolt.

But I agree, some type of protection isn't a bad idea, but I don't know if it is a requirement.

Good thought, Eric. That one went completely unnoticed by me. I just came up from the basement, where my Dremel tool and I rounded off the inside and outside rims of my pulk's PVC pipe (both ends, why not?). That should help postpone rope failure. Thanks!

Mountainsmith made the Ultimate sled/pulk many years ago. Recently the design was taken over and marketed by Kirafu. This sled uses parallel aluminum two-piece poles attached to a substantial waist belt. The poles attach to the front of the sled in a way so that they can only pivot up-and-down (not side to side), and thus if the waist belt is worn properly the sled tracks well behind you. Also the sled bottom has a pair of long runners.

I recall having no problems hauling kids and equipment all over the place with this design. The web site referenced earlier disagrees.

I personally think (this is theory since I haven't tried the rope mounts) that the rigid connections give you more control of the pulk and helps keep the pulk tracking behind you. There is VERY little side to side play. And I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference in weight from the "light" to "heavy" attachment methods. When the pulk is empty, it feels like nothing is being pulled. As far as field replacement, I'm sure the rope is much easier. But the 2 eye bolt attachments on mine are rated to 500 lbs working load each. And those are the weak link but they are attached to straps on my daypack waist strap so there is give there. What would you do to break one? I've crashed with my pulk while skiing fast and the only thing that broke was a rubber O ring I was using at the point my poles crossed. I think breaking the steel eye bolts or ball joints are extremely unlikely. I use a backpack to carry my gear in the pulk. Absolute worst case scenario where I happen to break something? I put my backpack on and ski out, dragging the empty pulk behind me. I think the odds of that actually happening are slim to none. Especially for those not downhill skiing with their pulk. YMMV.

I haven't built one yet…haven't really had the need yet. Many of my friends, though, have used this site…http://www.skipulk.com/ to build theirs. A lot of similarity, so when I'm ready, using a hybrid of both ought to be just about perfect.

When hiking I've used sled systems with both the rope(homemade) and rigid metal(commercial from skipulk.com) connections and truthfully I didn't experience any real difference in how they handled. Each performed the same in keeping the pulk stable and tracking behind me. Both the rope and rigid metal connection systems are equally as strong (rope strength when using 5-7mm climbing cord is around 1,000 lbs after tying knots per strand)

Truth be told I think it all comes down to what system you prefer and how much money and time you have to build your pulk.

Again, keep in mind that I've only used pulk sleds while HIKING.