Gearing up for ice fishing

[Austin12345]

Interesting Intresting I got the HT nero auger kit and drill plate and it cuts so fast with the dewalt I would put it up against the pistol bits and k drills.

[fishingstar]

Big difference in a regular cordless drill and a brushless drill with a 9ah battery.

[Austin12345]

Ya definitely the other day found out just how much of a difference. 

[monstermoose78]

With my brushed drill I was getting 30-33 holes through 42 inches of ice a couple years back and that was with the 9 amp batteries. 

[monstermoose78]

That was with A 6 inch auger bit.

[Austin12345]

WOW I am truly surprised with my new Nero auger kit and dewalt compact brush-less hammer drill. It cut like butter I did 10-12 i inches in about 5 second and drilled well over 100 holes on a single 4 amp battery and it still didn't even run out. Great to see every ones thinking on this topic and different auger setups.

[BobT]

Some of you guys might remember the sled I built for my Clam 6800. It has been working great except for a couple things so I thought I'd share a little in case others could benefit. 

 

If you recall, I used 1" PVC pipe to keep it light weight. PVC pipe can be brittle in the cold so be careful not to step on it. If I was to do it again, and I might, I would use at least 2" pipe to give it more durability and still maintain its light weight appeal. I would also make sure to use schedule 80 pipe rather than the thin walled schedule 40. 

 

I also used cross country skis. They have been working okay except for one thing. They are rather thin and yesterday, the front on one of them broke off right about where I drilled through to mount my sled. I have decided to look for either a set of downhill skis or maybe wood skis that would add more durability. Another thought was that it would have been better to use maybe 1/2" wood strip to mount my sled onto the skis so I could place the mounting screws more in the middle of the skis where they are thicker. 

 

One other thing I did later was to encase the tow ropes in 1/2" PVC pipe so it wouldn't slam into my ATV when I slowed or stopped. 

 

Here's a photo of my rig when I first built it. 

 

[fishingstar]

I tried wooden water skies. They had way to much drag so they pulled hard but they stayed on top of the snow good.

[Mike89]

39 minutes ago, fishingstar said:

I tried wooden water skies. They had way to much drag so they pulled hard but they stayed on top of the snow good.

more wax maybe???   or something....

[Wanderer]

46 minutes ago, fishingstar said:

I tried wooden water skies. They had way to much drag so they pulled hard but they stayed on top of the snow good.

I had a sled with wooden water skis too.  Worked pretty good I thought.  Had another with down hill skis but broke the tips on those.

[BobT]

This morning after not finding suitable replacement skis in the local what-not shop, I got the idea to talk to a local welding shop. We cut 2" wide by 6' long pieces of sheet metal and they curved one end to match my existing skis. I screwed those onto the bottom of the skis as new runners. Works great again and now is more durable. I chose to use hot rolled steel instead of stainless to keep the cost down but of course, that will tend to rust. I figure they'll last for many years anyway.