Help! How do I make wood walking skis for klondike derby?

[nightowl]

I have looked throught hundreds of sites trying to find plans or info. on those walking skis that 4 kids or so stand on. They hold onto ropes and have to "Walk/Ski together. I can't find any plans and I have to build these tomorrow. I didn't think it would be hard to figure out. I really need to know the spacing for the toe holds. I started to use some kids standing on a board to get placement measurments, but just am not sure. I need help ASAP as the scouts are coming over soon and many of our staff are gone for the holidays. Someone out there must have this simple but hard to find information. Thanks!

[eisely]

I made a set of these several years ago without plans. If I recall correctly I used 2x4's that were 8 feet long. This resulted in spacing the lines about eighteen inches apart.

 

I used heavy metal staples, like the kind used for attaching fence wire to wooden posts. I measured back one foot from one end and put two staples in, one on each side. I did not drive these staples in all the way, because I wanted loops to pass the line through.

 

I cut the rope in about three foot lengths. You may want to start with four foot lengths. You can always shorten them. I tied a knot in one end as a stopper, passed the line through one staple, over what was to be the top and through the other staple.

 

Spacing these eighteen inches apart leaves a foot at each end.

 

The scouts use the skis as follows: Lay the completed skis on the ground about a foot and a half apart. The boys step onto the wood and fit their feet underneath the rope. When they stand up with the lines in their hands, they pull the lines tight. This holds the wood to their feet.

 

Hope this helps, even if it is late.

[nldscout]

Eisley,

That sound exactly like the ones we have, except they are mad with 2X6 10ft long. They work good if the scouts get the coordination part down.

[ScoutNut]

We drill thru the boards and make a larger hold on the bottom to countersink the knot. The kids just stand on the boards and hold the ropes (knoted at various places for hand grips for different height kids). We do NOT do toe holds of any kind, too dangerous. This way if a kid falls off it is only that kid and you don't have the whole board flipping up, dumping and smacking kids as it goes. It works just fine with no toe holds. There has to be maybe a tad more coordination and teamwork involved but that is the point after all!