I'm looking for some great ideas to modify the good ol' jet sled this year. I always have all of my gear in the sled, with the shelter on top, blah.. blah.. you all know the drill. Anyway, I really hate my rod set up. I wouldn't mind installing some mounts on the inner walls or something on the outside to hold them. I usually have 4 poles heading out with me, so something that would hold that many (i.e. 2 on each side?).
Also, anyone else did any mods to their jet sled or sled in general to pass along??? This hard water wait is killing me!
F4F
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After trying several setups I purchased an ice fishing rod bag at Sportsman’s a few years back. It was designed to hold several rod, a main middle section and two side pockets. I can place 4 rods easy and if I try I can get two more in. I then place one of the cheap folding chairs in each side pocket. I then use bungee cord to strap this to my sled.
How's this for light weight comfort.
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You can find the rest of the photo's I posted concerning this upgrade on the Ice Fishing forum...
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This may be just a little off topic, but I've often noticed many anglers taking 4+ ice fishing rods/reels out onto the ice with them. I've never found a need for more than one myself. Am I missing something? What's the purpose of having so many rods?
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Well, haveing more rods rigged and ready to go saves you from interupting your fishing with rerigging in the event of equipment failure or a break off. You can be back in the action in seconds and then fix the problem with the other set-up at your leisure. Plus, you can have rods that are set up with different presentation rigs or for different species should they be encountered. The same applies for soft water fishing.
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Nice to be able to loan to a fishing buddy should he/she need to borrow one, or if you are misfortunate enough to break some equipment of have a fish take a rod down the hole. I take a few extra and while fishing one I will often be tieing something new on a second rod to try. I can quickly reel one up and drop the other one down without having to spend time not fishing while I am rigging.
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I have 4+ rods for several reasons... [ul] [li]Fish in Wyoming alot - 2 rods up there[/li] [li]Like having an extra rig up or two ready for when it gets really hot. Just pull one out, the other down the hole while you rig up the other one again and it becomes the back up. Do this in Wyoming and it can get crazy if it's hot fishing.[/li] [li]I usually have my boys or buddies with me and the extra rods never hurt[/li][/ul]
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I usually have 3 with me for the above stated reason. For example, you nail a fish just to have him break you off, often times there will be another curious fish or two around wondering what all the fuss is about, so you can hurry and drop another rig down the hole, and you will likely get bit again.
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F4F-
Great question, I've been thinking of tricking out my jet sled jr for this year. I have a few ideas but haven't started anything yet. I want to stick with the junior sled because I already load it too heavy and if I had the full size sled I would certainly take the kitchen sink out. Of most concern is my 2-3 rods that I take out each time and protecting them. The jr sled is not quite as long or wide and therfore not quite as stable and is prone to turning over when going down big hills or when it hits a snowmobile rut. This is especially true if the weight distribution of the 14,000 BTU heater on a 5# tank, bag full of 20 bajillion jigs and smelly jellies, and the manual auger is up too high. So I am going to rig something up so the heavy stuff can be in the bottom of the sled and the lighter stuff (ie rods) can be on top but still protected against tip over. I'll try to get started on it this week and post my results. What did you have in mind for tricking your out?
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I have the medium sled size and my shelter fits perfect on top, etc. You know the drill, anyway, I'm thinking of boxing in the back, long enough for my poles with 2 rod holders on each side, then a "sub box" on the inside that is secure to hold my jig boxes, mealie mini-farm, extra stuff or food. The rods would go on the outside, protected by the gap and extra clothing maybe? Also, the top of the box, would open up on hinges and double as a seat. My heater and fish finder in the front as usual, with my buckets on top of the shelter, power auger through middle, all locked down.
Here is a pic of the idea- still thinking about it though.
Edit: Also, maybe no wood or little wood, I have access to vinyl scraps and might build the "walls" out of them for weight.
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I Like your thinking. I was thinking about boxing in the rear 2/3 of the sled by building a PVC frame out of 1 inch PVC. It would sit about 14 inches high and my bag of fishing goodies and heater would fit inside it. My finder (recently installed in a cooler just like your) would go in front of the box. I would build into the box 3 or 4 tubes that run the full length of the top of the box (front to back) that my rods would slip into fully covering all but the reel and butt end of the rod. A small bungee cord would keep them from sliding out and they would be totally protecting in there just as if they were in a PVC rod case. The top would also then be sturdy enough to bungee the auger to and strap down any other items like extra coats, snowshoes etc. I will prob have one small arm of PVC off of one side as a rod holder to use while fishing as well. Its all in my head at this point but I think it will work. I would like to start on it this week so I'll keep you posted and take some photos as I go. I would like to keep it as light as I can and still be functional. I would like to build it sturdy enough to sit on but it would become too heavy so i just take a light weight camp stool. Let me know what you think about my idea if you can even follow what I am talking about.
What kind of a shelter do you use?
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I like that idea alot, especially the PVC pipe rod holders!! [shocked]
I'll have to steal that one from ya. I think I'm going to move everything to one side for my rods though vs two sides. Keeping it off center, probably 1/3 to 2/3 back there like the pic still but removing one side of rod space. Measuring the sled tonight, just no room in middle.
I'm going to start this week too. I'll keep you posted and try to post some pics.
I just have a Shapell and can't remember the model. It's the model with 2 doors and you can stand up in it with the little "arches" installed. Fits two very good and we even "tarp" off the other side when we have 3 and that works just fine. I wish I had something bigger, but I walk mostly and it was big enough to work, light enough to not kill me! [crazy]
P.S. How did your cooler fish finder rig work out?? Really works slick.
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Wow, you guys are going all out. I've always just started loading stuff in however it fits best into the sled. I'm thinking about changing shelters this year though. Right now my Frabill doubles as a sled and shelter. If I decide to go with the Clam I'm looking at, I'll have to do something similar to fishin4fun's idea where I'll put my shelter on top of a Jet sled, since the Clam won't work well as a sled itself. Does that work out for you pretty well?
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Ok the race is on, who will finish their jet sled mods first
] I'm hoping to get started tonight or tomorrow and just start playing with different PVC designs before glueing the final product together. I'll take pics and get your input before glue is used and maybe we can collectively come up with something pretty crafty.
As far as the cooler for the finder goes it was hard to make many improvements on a almost perfect system. I did however make a few changes. I mounted the female cigarette lighter adapter down lower on the cooler so on the inside it was just above the level of the battery. I am hoping to build a small shelf or platform over the top of the battery so I can store or stack things on top of the battery (on the shelf) without it resting on the battery wires or terminals. I used the cooler that has a center divider built into it. I am going to replace the center devider with something a little more sturdy and put small ledger strips on the front and back walls of the cooler for the shelf to rest on. I'm still working on what to use for the new center divider and ledger strips and shelf but I'll look as my options at Home Depot tonight when I get PVC for the other creation.
I also used a RAM mounting ball on top of the cooler since I was already using a RAM ball and arm to mount the finder on my boat.
I'll take some photos of the cooler set up when I finish the shelf as well.
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[cool][#0000ff]Anybody who has visited the Float Tube board knows that I am always tinkerin' with PVC...trying to come up with "the ultimate rod rack" for my tube. I must have gone through 50 different designs over the years. I just put together a new one, with the idea that it would also serve on my Jet Sled. Here are some pics.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is 19" wide, so it will fit inside. I plan to mount mine in the back, using the two nylon rope loops like I do on my tube. The first and third rod tube just slip down inside the loops and hold pretty securely. Easy in and out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I used 1/2" schedule 40 PVC for the horizontal stabilizer, with plain old Ts and elbows. The vertical holders for the 1" schedule 20 (lighter) tubes are 1/2" to 1" connections, with a 1.5" piece of 1/2" PVC joining them. The whole thing probably costs less than $3 to make, and goes together in less than an hour. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I made my rod tubes 6" apart, but by shortening the connection links you can make them wider or narrower, as you like. I also made my rod tubes so that the reels ride high out of the water on my tube. They can be shorter for ice fishing. Since you don't need to glue those connections, you can have alternate sizes that you can just slip in and out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As always...measure twice and cut once. Oh yeah, fit it all together before gluing just to be sure.[/#0000ff]
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Yes you are the PVC design master. I need a little more protection for my ice rods (can't have them sticking up in the air) because I often times get a little crazy and tip my sled over. I'm thinking about a horizontal rod rack will full tube coverage for the entire length of the rod (they only need to be 30 inches for the ice rods). I'll let you know how it comes out.
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey, I can't be responsible for the crazy driving of others. You might wanna check with BLM to see what he has done to his rig, after a disastrous rollover last year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, I know of one ice nut who snaps his bitty rods in a cushioned gun case, cut to fit his favorite ice guns.[/#0000ff]
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I am thinking of making a rack for my jet-sled, but it would have to lay flat because I like to keep my cover on my sled. If you keep the snow out then that saves on the water and clean up in general.
Windriver
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Do you by any chance still have your photos for this handy mod? Planning to do something similar. Thanks
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Welcome to the site Dpmsrm03. Wow, you went back a long ways to bring this thread up. Here is a link to the original thread and pics on the ice fishing board:
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=225124;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=225124;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread[/url]
WH2
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