Paris Expedition Sled?? - moved from Q&A

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Kevin: check for stress cracks at the front attachment points where the tracer arms attach to the sled. That is where mine failed. The sled cracked at the obvious stress point. I had bought some bailing wire (found at Home Depot as "picture frame hanging wire") before the trip and was able to field repair it (Spencer and GO really know what needs to be in your repair kit!!!). First repair lasted from Wassataquoik Stream leanto to Togue Pond (about 14-15, miles some quite rough). Second field repair lasted to end of trip (another 6-7 miles). That bailing wire was worth it's weight in beer, uh, gold!
 
As Sherp alluded to earlier, I think the problem with the Beast is that the plastic is too brittle. I know we have a few VFTT plastic experts and I don't know much about the technicial differences between types, however there is a clear difference between the types of plastics that are used for the Beast and Paris Expedition sleds. The Beast gets that white look to it. You know what I mean? Some plastics turn white when you bend them...

that being said, I've always backed up the attachment points on my sleds with metal plates (see example on my site - 5th pic down) or that metal strapping that is used to hold pipes and whatnot in place (think metal ribbon with lots of holes running along it).

Whatever you do, it's important to have fixes on hand. Sherp's foresight with the bailing wire saved the sled!

spencer
 
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I would like a little more capacity in these sleds. Has anyone tried cutting two in half and splicing together to make one longer sled?
 
sardog1 said:
Wally's price is high, by a couple bucks. That's all I'm gonna say. ;)
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Well, out of the places I've seen it, REI (not near me), Kittery Trading Post (way far from me), Aubuchon (none near me), the only place that I've seen it local is at Wallyworld. Buying this through the internet is not cost effective due to shipping... And I am not the kind of shopper who wants to spend an hour driving from store to store on a big hunt... Heck, I would call Wally World before bothering to drive there, especially since the Wally World is not in a place I can bike to (on a major highway with no back access).

If anybody has seen it in a nationwide retail store, let me know... would they sell it at a home depot or lowes or true value? Of course, I know not all those stores carry things that other stores do even if it's the same store chain..

Jay
 
$28 A good price

Jay-
$28 from Wally World is a good price. REI sells them at $29. You used to be able to buy them for $22 but then oil prices for plastics went up last year. I just talked to Myron the Paris Sales VP and he expects the price to go up a lot after the first of the year.

I just got my first Beast brand new from Ace Hardware for some classes/demos I am teaching on pulks and noticed that the Beast is Injection Molded while the Paris is vacumn formed from sheet plastic. Creates very different plastics in the end even though they are both HDPE.

The end result is that the Paris is a little thinner in the runners due to its process (FEMALE MOLDED) but the Beast ends up being a more brital plastic and because the process allows for tighter angles - you could have problems with the key angled rims. I have seen some last forever but on the other hand I just heard from an instructor at Northland College that they had 7 out of 11 Beasts break on one trip. All in the same place - where the side rims attach to the top. I would like to believe that the guy bought knock offs since the Beasts are usually reputed to be a lot better than that. Maybe they were...

Another sled to consider is the Jet Jr.Very durable black HDPE- shorter/ wider and deeper than the others. I dont like the front end and shape but I have some customers with light loads who love it.

Good luck on our Northeast snow this year - Couldnt be much worst than MN snow last winter.

Ed B (Pulky Ed)
 
Joining Pulks

Sorry Yardsale - I forgot to comment on your question. I do not know of anyone "welding" two Paris sleds together but I do know that if you do you would want to use a thin plywood or plastic/ aluminum as a floor material to give it some rigidity.

If you check out the links page on my skipulk site you will find one for a British company called Snowsleds.com. The sell an inexpensive sled that I heard they copied from the Paris Big Boggin and because it is not rigid enough they sell boards for the bottom that make it work better.

Good luck on the project. The only way I know of to get a much larger load other than your idea is to:
1. Switch to the Beast,
2. Pull two selds back to back
3. move up to a large Fiberglass pulk or
4. if on logging roads consider the HDPE toboggans that are designed for huge loads. (again links on the skipulk web site)

Ild love to see a picture of your merged sled.... ED B
 
I'm a pretty ultralight packer kind of person, the paris sled should do fine. The WallyWorld that is near me is also right by a SportsAuthority so when I do check it out, I'll compare the prices there...

I hope it gets to snow soon, so I can try it out where I work at lunchtime at the golf course I'm next door too... I'll pack a bunch of rocks or something bulky and ski up the small hills and driving mounds..

Jay
 
Well, stopped by the WalMart and Sports Authority and WalMart doesn't have any sleds out down here so I assume it is probably too early. Sports Authority had snow shoes and some sleds out but no PES there... I might wait til Thanksgiving, I think the snow stuff should be out by then...

Jay
 
Stopped at another Walmart and although I found some sleds out on the shelves, not the Paris one. Talked to the customer service and I could not find the one I found using Google..

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7679262

Now that is made by Paris, but is black and has a different model number.... Is this the same as the orange "960".. The model is "90040"????

confused!

Jay
 
Sno Hauler

Jay -
What you were looking at is the Paris Snow Hauler. It is similar in size and type to the Jet Sled. It is a bit longer, wider and deeper than the Expedition. I think it would plow significantly more snow in front. Ed B

To help I'll include the Paris catalogue URL:
http://eragroup.ca/en/erapro/catalogue/erapro.pdf

Ed B
 
Thanks Ed, looks like Walmart is no longer a source for it....

At least it fell off their website anyway. I ordered it from REI with a local pick up in south Jersey, hopefully it'll arrive on the date it is supposed to (Dec 5th :eek: )....

Meanwhile, on to building the poles...

Jay
 
Jay H said:
Finished my sled!:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslug/SkiPulkSled

Paris expedition sled
10' 3/4" rigid conduit
20" sheetmetal (for crossmember)
3.8" anchor shackle
M-systems hipbelt w/ 1" nylon webbing sewn by campmor repair dept.
U-bolt w/ anchor plate

Jay
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Nice job, Jay. The only suggestion I have is your attachment points to the sled - the u-bolts. That's quite a bit of stress in two small areas. You might consider distributing the stress by taking a single piece of metal, similar to your crossmember, and fiting it on the underside between the two u-bolts. That way the force will be more evenly distributed across the front of the sled, and not just the two points.

And, make sure you have spare hardware and set of handtools to tighten things up on the trail!
 
Thanks, I was thinking of that, I was also thinking of putting another longer piece of metal and making three holes through the plastic rather than 2 from the U-bolt but I like your idea better.

I actually have a section of metal for an adjustable shelf that I can use. It would also allow for attachment of a brake system (piece of rope) if I ever need it. I know I will not need it for baxter but it would work if I ever need to rig up one...

Jay
 
Ok...
I got my Paris expedition this week from Kittery Trading Post, which had it for $27.
http://www.kitterytradingpost.com/product.php/pid/108/sid/895/prodid/3949

They charge $12 extra for oversize shipping so the shipping was going to be around $17 or something like that. They are having free standard shipping (still get charged the $12) for purchases over $30 until today, so I added some small items to bump me over and so I got some food, spatula, and the sled for $42... I have no REIs nearby worth the drive, my Wallmart and Sport's Authority didn't have them - couldn't do much else to get it here.

For poles I used some broken carbon fiber trekking poles in conjunction with old ski poles. Drilled some holes here and there and put bolts with wingnuts for taking it apart.
edit: DO NOT use Carbon Fiber for your poles - read a few posts below

My backpack's harness comes off and has webbing loops on the side, so that works with a carabiner.
For connecting it to the sled I have an eye bolt screwed in and epoxied. Put Ubolts on the sled and put some swiveling clips on those. I'm not crazy about the slop on the connection I chose to the sled, but I do like the quick snapability of it - I could always just skip the extra link and statically connect eye bolts on poles to the Ubolts on the sled. For now I know it works but I'll probably make small adjustments to it - I'm open to suggestions.
Some pics:

Harness connection... for now - not too crazy about it but it works

Poles - 2 sections of a 3 section CF trekking pole and one aluminum ski pole

Connection to sled - snaps on quickly, good forward action. Shifts back when in reverse. A little sloppy, ok, but I could eliminate the middle piece if I wanted

Taken apart for transportation - very easy to do with this configuration

P1000863.jpg


More dangerous than dodging crevasses... dodging dog bombs!! :D
 
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Looks pretty damn good, Doug!

couple of things you might think about:
the webbing loop on your harness won't likely last too long. You need some serious stitching to keep it all from pulling out. don't underestimate the force of the constant pull push the sled will have on your harness attachment point.

also, I can't see what's underneath the u-bolt but you might want a bigger plate where the two ends of the bolt go through the sled.

You have the right idea with the connection to the sled. static is bad for the same reason static climbing ropes are bad...

you'll be really glad you went through the extra effort of getting the Paris Exp. sled. For other folks out there, don't settle for the blue one that looks exactly the same: the plastic is way more brittle and less forgiving, albeit a bit lighter.

it looks like you could use a bit of snow to pull it around on!
 
Thanks spencer!

spencer said:
the webbing loop on your harness won't likely last too long. You need some serious stitching to keep it all from pulling out. don't underestimate the force of the constant pull push the sled will have on your harness attachment point.
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I agree. I think right now I'm grossly underestimating the forces being put on it. I'll have to work on that one. and might just clip the daisy chain on the harness - which at least is not a loose, floppy point and if some stitching were to go I wouldn't have total failure.

spencer said:
also, I can't see what's underneath the u-bolt but you might want a bigger plate where the two ends of the bolt go through the sled.
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Underneath the Ubolt there are just the nuts and big washers-not the best. I probably at least put the plate that's on top on the bottom and possibly get more plates and sandwich the plastic.

spencer said:
it looks like you could use a bit of snow to pull it around on!
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Tell me about it!!!
 
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