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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2019 08:33
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Nobadays, your place sounds nice. I snowmobile the continental divide in Wyoming in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Going to miss being out there this year.
Something with a cab and heater is nice but make sure you have a winch on the back of it. IF you get it stuck you will have it buried!
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2019 09:07
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Sparky.... yep... this one had a winch on front... I'm with you on the winch on the back... I'd rather get out than continue getting in deeper!
Just snapped a picture... gotta dig out the snowmobile and get to packing trail. Might rig up a trail drag, but then again my trail isn't all that bumpy so probably don't need to drag it yet.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2019 10:50
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Yep... 1' of snow. Looking pretty bright out there, sun peaking through but according to NOAA it will be brief clearing then a little more snow and cloudy the rest of the day.
Had to run the generator last night for a bit. Three full days of clouds and snow, I guess that is pretty good, what we had planned for, but... Low battery light was blinking... it starts the warning 2 volts prior to LBCO. Modules were at 43.6vdc, LBCO is 42vdc but experience shows us we use about 1+ volt overnight. So pumped them up to 46vdc and were at 45.0vdc this morning. Right now sitting at 44.4... (running my satellite internet off a dedicated separate system today hoping that can be left live with a camera when we aren't here.) There is a foot of snow on my panels... on the roof, 12/12 pitch so I have to wait for natural shedding.
Trying to decide if I should just kick on the generator and fill the bad boys up, hate to do it but if NOAA is right, we ain't gonna charge today...
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2019 13:34
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it was 82 and partly cloudy yesterday and we just had a front blow in and dropped up to 55 and rain.
That snow looks nice but also a pain, lol
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2019 14:58
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Aklogcabin.... remember what you said about rotating the throttle this morning. We've had a good 12" - 18" out in the open so had to go break trail again, pack it down.
I loosened the throttle and rotated it down so it is under the hand grip... wow what a difference!! Now basically all of my hand is on the grip with my thumb wrapped around the throttle way inward. So basically the heal of my thumb presses the throttle. Gives me a lot more control! Arm is still tired after several trips up and down our mile of road but each trip the trail gets easier to ride.... I gonna get this!
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dixie53
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 12:56
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What about a four wheeler or side by side with tracks? a lot of them have power steering and you could use it year round...
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 17:21
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Dixie53....power steering on anything with tracks would be great. I’m getting better at handling The Beast...if we were doing a lot of just Pleasure riding I would seriously look for something else. We pretty much just run 2 miles round trip to the pickup or 4 miles round trip to the spring. It’s such a great machine it would be hard to part with it!
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 17:24
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The Beast
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2020 19:59
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Well 4 more days at the cabin then time to "stuff" the cats back in their carriers and head back to AZ.... I think my wife and I could do all winter here, with just a few more winter type modifications. The cats would be happy in either CO or AZ, they just don't like to trave!
The 50 gallon water tank we put in the loft for spring water has worked out well. We use this primarily for drinking, coffee and washing hands/rinsing dishes. We have melted snow for toilet flushing and showering up until a week ago.... the area we were digging out to melt snow got pretty low and trashy... no new snow to speak of for several weeks now. So we started hauling water from the spring. It is a pretty easy task but those 7 gallon totes get heavy to move around. We pump from the first floor to the loft to fill the tank but still.... we fill from the spring overflow which is in an icey hole, getting worse.... lifting totes onto the back of the snowmobile and into the sled... then back out and into the cabin.
Next year my wife wants to stay from May through the first of the year. So some changes are in order...
First another tank in the loft, a white 55 gallon barrel. This will be hooked to a Shurflo pump and plumbed both to the toilet and an on-demand hot water heater (I have the heater but didn't get it installed last year ) and another faucet to the sink for hot water off this.... maybe to the shower but that would entail a lot of plumbing.... I don't want to use the existing plumbing that is under the cabin after it is drained, want to keep everything inside.
Second, another 55 gallon barrel in a sled of some sort to go to the spring with. Two trips would fill both the drinking water tank and the flushing/hot water tank. To fill this I'm looking at this 12v submersible pump that can run off the snowmobile... just leave the machine running (I think that would work? ).
Still have to get the second small solar system working... need a couple more panels and at least 200ah of usable battery (so two 6v 230ah FLA batteries is what I'm looking at... too cold for lithium) this will run the satellite internet and security camera full time when we are there or not.
Other than that pretty well in good shape... aside from needing to spray foam insulate under the floors and do a little sealing here and there where the builder didn't seal the logs well enough. Have enjoyed our month+ here and accomplished what we wanted to get done... mainly burning all the slash.
Good times!
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FishHog
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 08:33
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Quoting: Nobadays To fill this I'm looking at this 12v submersible pump that can run off the snowmobile... just leave the machine running (I think that would work? ).
Just watch the temp gauge on the snowmobile while doing this. They tend to overheat fairly quickly when just sitting idling. Depends on how long the fill process will take.
Glad you had a good, successful, safe trip. Safe travels home.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 09:23 - Edited by: Nobadays
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Good advice..l thank you! Wondering if I keep the hood open if that will help? It is a water cooled 4 stroke machine with the radiator being under the hood.
The pump does about 20-25gpm so getting parked and hooking up... pumping shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes.
Thanks!
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FishHog
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 14:18
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It might help a bit, but most of the actual cooling comes from snow being thrown up on to the radiator fins under the track. The rads in the engine compartment help but don't do enough on their own.
if you have a temp gauge just keep an eye on it. If it starts to overheat go for a quick ride to cool it down and repeat
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 15:19
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Good enough... thank you!
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shingobeek
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 15:45
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Nobadays
my father in law had one arm and rode sleds his whole life as a matter of fact from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Winnipeg several times......his trick was a twist grip motorcycle throttle!
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shingobeek
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 16:00
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forgot to say twisting FWD was faster.....
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 16:08
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Shingobeek.... that's a thought! I'm doing way better than my first week or so out. I rotated the thumb throttle down and that helped a lot.... a packed trail helps heaps! I think stronger now as well, just wasn't used to that kind of arm workout. Love our sled.... it's a beast but just what we needed!
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shingobeek
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 17:07
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I have same sled but a 2011, and go about the same distance to our water access cabin in N. MN and that sled will pull a house!!!!
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2020 17:58
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Quoting: shingobeek that sled will pull a house!!!!
I do believe it! I want to make a sticker that says "The Beast" ! We bought it this summer with only 371 miles on it.... we have put 98 miles on it in the last month.... great machine!
We don't even use low gear. With both of us on it (~340#), 28 gallons of water on the back and 40 gallons in the sled we just ride up and out of the hole the spring box is in. So far this year... two 4x4 pickups with chains have had to be winched out of there and some folks with a 4x4 quad on tracks said they struggle to pull 50 gallons of water up from the spring.
I've been wanting to pull some logs with it but I need to make a sled-arch to keep the butts from digging in.... we have some standing dead spruce not far from us that would be easy to get at in the snow but tougher in the summer.
Fun at yhe cabin.... we'll be back up in March.
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NorthRick
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2020 11:43
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Not sure about Yamahas, but our Skidoos will shut themselves off if they have been idling too long (about 5-10mins).
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2020 11:58
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NorthRick.... yeah... not sure about that. I'm still not sure my machine has an external radiator/cooler. A friends Yamaha has an obvious cooler right at the end of the tunnel but I cannot see any external cooler in the tunnel on my machine.
Shingobeek.... do you know? Any insights you might have on idling the machine for 10 minutes or so... pulling 12v power off it to run a pump... would be helpful. I don't want to toast the alternator or anything... only about a 10A draw.
Thanks!
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2020 12:50
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All I can suggest is just try it. At the very least you will have a light come on on the dash that says the engine is overheating. But I don't think you will see that. I have not had an snowmachine engine overheat just idling. My problems have always been when pulling a load very slowly.
My wife's 4 stroke Skidoo has a heat exchanger at the front of the tunnel and a small radiator under the cowling. It has never overheated idling or otherwise.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2020 13:04
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I can't speak about your machine specifically without reading the build details, but my buddy rode yamaha 4 strokes since they came out and they all have heat exchangers along the tunnel or above the tunnel or at either end of the tunnel or all of the above. The under hood rads were a later edition to help overheating.
We have overheated my skidoos and his yamaha just by idling lots of times, but if you have a temp gauge you can see it coming and take precautions. It won't be a surprise and if you shut if down or go for a spin as soon as the temp light comes on you won't hurt anything
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2020 14:01
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.... I'm guessing you are right, there must be another heat exchanger somewhere in the tunnel but I can't see it. If it is at the front it would be hard to see. I don't see one at the rear of the tunnel. I'm definitely going to run a pump off it next year to see how it goes... gotta find a better way than lifting 7 gallon/ 60# totes! Pumps and pipe/hoses be my friends!
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