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PostPosted: December 1st, 2004, 10:56 am 
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Joined: April 10th, 2003, 7:55 pm
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Location: Paudash
I'm outfitting a group for a winter camp, and I don't have the time to make a ski-sled, or to bend spruce or ash to make a wood toboggan.

I want to buy a ten footer by one foot or 14 inches, tapered at the end (or I can do it with a shave).

Who sells these?

BTW Canadian tire has some, I know, but they are two wide and not long enough. And they are stapled together, terrible.

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PostPosted: December 1st, 2004, 1:30 pm 
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Re the Canadian Tire Wooden toboggans.
I have several of these that I use for winter camping. The width is ok for pulling behind my and my buddies snowshoe tracks. I'll check but I thought that my toboggans were only about 14 inches wide. (5 slats at just under 3 inches each) ) If the one you have in mind is really that wide, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes with a saw to cut the crossbracing and have one longitudinal slats drop off. In a hurry last year I used a bunch of ss screws to beef up the staples. It worked quite well for two trips. About 10 minutes work

As far as length goes 10 foot might be a little long unless your not planing on making any turns. I found that 6 feet is about right. If you need longer what about using a smaller second one attached at the back with a swivel (trailer style).
btw, thats 6 foot of flat not including the curve and with that I get all my gear including wood stove on board.
cheers, Ted


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 Post subject: toboggans
PostPosted: December 1st, 2004, 2:04 pm 
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Joined: April 6th, 2002, 7:00 pm
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Location: Lake 'Cooch
I found a coupla US companies online - Camden toboggans,Maine, and Northern Toboggan and Sled, Minnesota. Both have 10 ' toboggans. $$ could be an issue...another 'online -shopping -search' led to totalwoodprodcts.com - ( 8 ' for 250 $ )Hope this helps, I searched for only products that looked quality or claimed 'no staples :)


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PostPosted: December 2nd, 2004, 6:37 am 
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Joined: August 15th, 2004, 10:00 am
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Location: St. Thomas,Ont
If you apply a small amount of paste floor wax to your toboggan it will
be lightening fast. and much easier to pull.


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PostPosted: December 2nd, 2004, 8:54 am 
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Location: Paudash
Paste floor wax? How does it last, lots of times the parafin wax flakes off. sometimes I use glide zone wax for the bottom. Does this stuff work better? I'll have to try it.

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PostPosted: December 2nd, 2004, 5:03 pm 
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Location: St. Thomas,Ont
I'm not sure how long it will last but we used to be the fastest sleds on the hill when we were kids. I would think it should last a while as it stands up to
traffic on your floor. just make sure to put a couple of good coats on.


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PostPosted: December 2nd, 2004, 6:00 pm 
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Joined: August 19th, 2001, 7:00 pm
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Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada
You should seal the bottom with pine tar first, just like a wood ski. Otherwise it will soak up water in a thaw and then it will not slide.

If there is stupid paint on the bottom of the wood toboggan, take a belt sander and grind it off. Sand smooth.

Then apply pine tar (from your local ski shop). Apply it thin. Then put a blow torch to it so it bubbles and soaks in. Wipe up the excess when it is hot. Careful to not start a fire because the pine tar will ignite a bit. Little flames but just be careful. Very important to wipe up the excess. DO OUTSIDE!!! It stinks! Bring into warmer area for drying. It never does fully dry - it always feels a little tacky.

Then hot wax with glide wax and iron like a wood ski. You have to do it a few times and scrape off the wax each time, because it will pull up the excess pine tar and make the wax brown. The thinner you originally applied the tar, the less hassle there is with getting rid of excess. (I learned the hard way - put too much pine tar on). Eventually the wax will look clear, which means you have the excess pine tar off. Big work to start off, but once sealed, your base is ready for years. The pine tar also works as a base binder for your glide wax. Bring a block of glide wax or paraffin on the trip for rubbing into the spots where the wax wears off.


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