Toboggan hauling setup

[Heavy Duty]

Hello all. I'm debating on changing up how I haul my toboggan. Looking towards a waist belt setup or something similar. Currently I have a 2" wide strap tied to a couple of ropes tethered to the sled. This two rope method works but sometimes it's a bit wonky on portages, seems like some control is lost and tangles easy.

Any advice? What's your setup?

[snapper]

I mostly use a pulk instead of a toboggan but I've set mine up to have both poles and a rope system. My poles are made from PVC piping attached directly to a hip belt, so they're pretty lightweight. I added the rope pull system so I'd have a back-up if one of my poles ever broke while on a trip. Having both gives me a lot of flexibility in hauling so for now, that's what I'm going to go with.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

[Wayland]

I use something similar to you. A strap and cord system that I can shift from shoulder to shoulder or waist depending on circumstance. It's long enough that on down slopes I can walk behind the toboggan and use it as a rein to steer with.

In convoy I have a leash that can be deployed to the rear of the sled to keep it from sliding sideways on slopes but other than that I just keep it simple.

[hh76]

I just have ropes on the front of the toboggans with carabiners on the ends. I attach the carabiners to my waist belt of my backpack. If I'm not wearing my pack (not often), I just clip the carabiners together around my waist. It can get a little "out of control", but usually that's just short term. It's nice how easy it is to quickly reconfigure for different obstacles. Easy to shorten the leads, or even extend when needed. For steep uphill sections, it's nice to have a good long lead so I can plant myself and pull hand over hand.

The last time I went out with others, we each carried another rope with clip to attach to the toboggan in front of us. On descents, we each pull out the rope, clip in, and ease the toboggan ahead down.

[Bothwell Voyageur]

I use the standard two rope and tump strap setup. I’ll switch between the cross body, round the back of my neck/ underarm and waist haul. I have added a loop halfway along each rope with an alpine butterfly so that I can shorten the ropes you clipping a couple of carabiners into the tump for hauling the heavy bush. We also have a tail rope tied on for downhill travel.

[4estTrekker]

I switched from a pulk with hip belt and crossed poles to a 6' toboggan from BRS. For giggles, I tried the poles a few times with the 'boggan, but it was near impossible to control and drug me all over, and that's with a very short sled. I've stuck with a tump line up front and a knotted drag strap in the back. My pulks all have fins to help with lateral control, but my toboggan slips around like butter in a hot pan (kinda the point, I guess). Not sure if you're traveling alone, but I'm almost always in a group and we use the method mentioned above of having the sled behind serve as a brakeman of sorts on sketchy terrain.

[Scoutergriz]

I switched from a pulk with hip belt and crossed poles to a 6' toboggan from BRS. For giggles, I tried the poles a few times with the 'boggan, but it was near impossible to control and drug me all over, and that's with a very short sled. I've stuck with a tump line up front and a knotted drag strap in the back. My pulks all have fins to help with lateral control, but my toboggan slips around like butter in a hot pan (kinda the point, I guess). Not sure if you're traveling alone, but I'm almost always in a group and we use the method mentioned above of having the sled behind serve as a brakeman of sorts on sketchy terrain.

what works for me is to make sure that your toboggan has ZERO side to side curves, they can act like scoops or fins, leaving little ridges on either side which can push the back off course and out of your track, same with the width- if it's wider than the track it will always be trying to climb out of it. A a keel on the back half also helps, you can make it segmented so it can flex.

[Lonelake]

I pull a rigid toboggan with a waist belt set up from Ski Pulk. I have a bungee webbing line connected to reduce the bump/pull while snowshoeing. My preferred method.

LL

[hurricanebob]

Lonelake, by a rigid toboggan, do you mean a "traditional" wooden toboggan, like we used as kids?