Well, I took my son up to Tug Hill this past Sunday, and there was lots of snow up there. We put on 135 miles.
We were about 2/3 of the way back to where we dropped when my son heard a "new noise" on his sled. We stopped, and checked the sled over. Then I saw it... he had lost a rear skid frame bolt. We were way out in the middle of nowhere, it was around 8:30 PM, and it was already dark. No cell phone signal either...
We tried to find a "donor bolt" to use (something my dad taught me). I opened the ZL hood to get some tools, and the cable must have broke, because the hood just kept opening - right over into the snow. Broke the tabs right off the cowl, and down it went! We couldn't find a bolt to use... so we decided to put the helper spring up on that one side, and take it easy on the way back. Problem was: we had some pretty big mud holes to go through ahead of us. I'm glad I had some long tie-wraps stashed in my toolbox. I was able to tie-wrap the ZL hood in front, so it didn't bounce off and get damaged any further.
The good news is - we made it back under power. We got the sleds on the trailer okay. The tunnel took a slight bend on the opposite side where the skid attaches, but other than that, it looks okay. The hood will be an easy fiberglass fix. The tabs are actually designed to break, to save the hood.
I'm glad I had a good LED flashlight in the sled. I'm glad I had some extra long tie-wraps in the sled. I'm glad I had tools with me. I'm *going* to put some spare hardware in there now. The worst part is that I have extra tunnel bolts at home, I just never put them in the sled.
I'm going to remember the Lock-tite next time too...
Anyway, here's what the trails looked like that day...
