I bought 2 snow mobiles for ice fishing but am a little chicken about taking them out on the ice. I am afraid of crashing through the ice. Can you all give me some advise and precautions. I think it could be great if I could get past the fear. I am wanting to do strawberry this weekend. Thanks for the help.
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If you bought them used I highly recommend getting a tune up before heading out. Got mine this season and notice my gas line was leaking and with that it end up flooding the carburetor. Luckily I wasn't out on the ice to notice it. Buy some Duraflex ice scratchers if your sled isn't liquid cooling engine. Always try to find the flattest place to get out on the ice they're times this year even I went over a side slope and almost fell off.
South east side of the end of the marina parking lot is your best bet where the boat launch is. If your go to strawberry you shouldn't concerned about any ice conditions it's a good 2-3' thick. When leaving a spot to jump to a new spot slightly apply gas , don't rev it hard or you'll just dig your tracks under the snow to the point you will have to unhook your sled and then move your snowmobile to get some traction back.
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[quote bullelk01]I bought 2 snow mobiles for ice fishing but am a little chicken about taking them out on the ice. I am afraid of crashing through the ice.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]If you haven't already seen the movie 'Grumpy Old Men', rent it and watch it. Pay close attention to all the automobiles on the ice in the fishing scenes. Strawberry has well over 2 feet of ice on it right now and there is absolutely no danger of you 'crashing through the ice.'[/#800000][/font]
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In theory, it is safer to take a snowmobile on the ice than walk. It is all about weight distribution. The more surface area you can spread the weight out on, the better. Do the math, you will be surprised. Even though this is the case, I will not go out on any less than 5 inches of ice with my sled.
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You only need scratchers if your machine is liquid cooled.
If it is air cooled scratchers will not help your engine stay cool.
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As Shane said ice scratchers are good for liquid cooled machines to throw snow on the heat exchangers to keep the motor cool. They also throw snow on the hyfaxs to keep them from getting hot and melting
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[quote wyoguy]They also throw snow on the hyfaxs to keep them from getting hot and melting[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I agree with Gary 100%. If for no other reason, scratchers should be used on ALL snowmobiles when run on the ice with little or no snow, so as to provide for cooling the hyfax runners in your track system.[/#][/font]
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Ice scratchers for sure.
It's no fun when your track melts to the hyfax. And it is not fun to change out the hyfax.
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