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Discussion about making bushwalking-related equipment.
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made a new pulk harness

Sun 10 Apr, 2011 4:48 pm

I'd been reading the "Pulk Book" online and when I examined my sled yesterday the parachute buckles had rusted and the webbing was showing its age.
I went thru my stock of stuff and fabricated a new towing harness.
IMG_2991.JPG
IMG_2991.JPG (185.55 KiB) Viewed 13110 times
Attachments
IMG_2990.JPG
pulk harness
IMG_2990.JPG (174.27 KiB) Viewed 13110 times
IMG_2992.JPG
IMG_2992.JPG (177.1 KiB) Viewed 13110 times

Re: made a new pulk harness

Sun 10 Apr, 2011 6:12 pm

I like the yellow on orange on blue! Neat bit of work there. Looking forward to the snow now?

Re: made a new pulk harness

Sun 10 Apr, 2011 7:52 pm

Looking forward to winter very much, thank-you for the compliment, I had a lot of fun making it

Re: made a new pulk harness

Sun 10 Apr, 2011 11:24 pm

Your stitches look impossbile for hand work no? What kind of machine are you running?

Re: made a new pulk harness

Mon 11 Apr, 2011 7:25 am

Just a small Elna, it struggles tho when there are more than 3 layers of webbing that heavy

Re: made a new pulk harness

Mon 11 Apr, 2011 5:35 pm

I just went to the pulk site and they now reckon leg loops are worth while. I cleaned the sled and the whole thing is showing stress fractures in the gelcoat so this may turn into a complete rebuild of the pulk and cover as well.
Now to find my stash of parachute buckles and my use up last 5 meters of parachute harness webbing

Re: made a new pulk harness

Mon 11 Apr, 2011 7:13 pm

The dangers of doing one small job. It just an avalanch from there! :)

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 8:10 am

Some time ago a mate of mine and myself made an harness out of the hipbelt of an Osprey pack.
We tried the shoulder pull as well but that did not work. Eventually found that having the cross pole attachment loops just behind the iliac bone worked best for us,
(about the outermost yellow one in your version)
I don't have a close up of the harness but this is the finished product.
Sand trials in Port Melbourne
Image

the real thing (Paris sled , $40 from REI, minor mods) in action in Alaska . About 50 kg all up. (5kg of fuel, plus 20 kg of food, 21 days )

Image
Franco

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 9:41 am

Nice Franco; if I don't find the shoulder attachments work I'll not use them, I have noticed that some Antarctic sleds use them but others just use a waist belt.

having used a plain waist belt before i know I need the extra shoulder straps, my pulk is about the same size as that paris sled, but quite a bit heavier ( old technology ) if I had the skills I'd make a mould and rebuild in epoxy Kevlar matrix making the pulk just a little bit longer.
Did you fit angle to the bottom of the paris sled to improve tracking?? and did you fit a brake?? I am thinking off adding both.

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 11:35 am

this is the sled , the Paris not our toy sled for sand trials... :
http://www.rei.com/product/609482
There are tracks at the bottom of the sled, some add metal runners too.
I have seen many very elaborate designs but we wanted something really simple , so we avoided adding metal bits , just used climbing rope,knots carabiners and PVC tubes .
We drilled the holes and put the pulling part together in about 30 minutes.
It was intended for a hike along the Skwentna river and thereabout, so mostly flat . (it is the area where the Iditarod race is run)
For the steep downhill bits we figured out that he (Yair) could let the sled down in front of him, sort of belay style.
(Yair used to rock climb and still does some ice climbing)
The system worked well.
Franco

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 12:47 pm

Looking at your photo reminded me that I have a huge duffel in the cupboard ( another $5- op-shop find ) So I am modifying that to fit my pulk, mine already has fixed aluminium bars for pulling so I'll stick with that system.
I just have to epoxy the stainless steel eye-bolts into the tubes now and find a couple of old crabs as the attachment, and as this duffel-bag is an extremely cheap unit I'll double up on the waterproofing with some silicon just like I did my Megamid.
Will 4 side release buckles be strong enough to hold it in or should I use some extra cordage as well??

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/8510/img2996v.jpg

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 1:32 pm

moondog 55
Your sled looks about right to me.
The pack that Yair used is a duffel bag (Osprey Transporter 75(?)) the shape and smooth surface of a duffel makes them (in my view) an easy way to replicate the custom made canopies of the pro made versions.
Your webbing looks right (pretty much the same as ours) as long as you can pull it down taut.
Maybe it is a bit high , just depends on the terrain you will walk on .
Yair kept the food bag separate because there are bears and wolves there although the main danger were the moose (that is the plural)
They are really big and very stupid.
Franco
BTW, I am not an expert at all here, just something I tinker with.
Yair does some crazy stuff so I like to come up with gear that works for him.

Re: made a new pulk harness

Tue 12 Apr, 2011 1:58 pm

That is a 140 liter bag, and I will add the tie down points in line with the webbing , while I'm at it i will make a small detachable cover, I have some scraps here.
reversible Oz-cam / white and another in dayglo?? and I think I have a canoe drum somewhere if I need to keep some stuff absolutely dry
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