Patriot

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Posts posted by Patriot

  3. Posted · Report reply

    On 12/9/2017 at 4:52 PM, Patriot said:

    I keep my sled in a clamshell trailer during the offseason. What is the best way to keep mice out? I had some bait traps in the trailer, so the mice I got didn't survive. But I had a giant nest in the belly pan, and they also set up shop underneath the console, while chewing through a couple wires. Nothing major, easy to fix. But it is a stinky PITA.

    I suspect they are getting into the trailer through the slots on the floor that the tie down bars slide back and forth in. So...what do you do to keep mice out of your trailers? I really don't want to deal with this crap anymore. 

    Well, as it turns out, when I said "nothing major, easy fix", boy was I wrong. 

    I was up in Pittsburg last week. Towards the end of the day, I kept getting an engine light, and sled would go into limp mode. After a few mins, re-start would get me several more miles. We tried a trailside repair with electrical tape on the wires behind the speedometer. But I barely made it back to a road before it died completely. We were on trail 127 I think, a few miles north of 1st Conn Lake. Thankfully we crossed Rt 3 about 5 miles from the Canadian border, which is where I stopped. The other guys kept going and came back with truck/trailer to get me.

    Anyway, got it to the shop, where they diagnosed the damage. Mice had chewed through the wiring harness behind the speedometer, the ignition coil, around the headlight, and the fuel sending unit wires. All said and done, it is going to cost me over $1k to fix. Sled is a 2009 Ski Doo 600 etec, so lots of electrical stuff going on. Parts alone will be over $700.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    The thing I hear the most "we are not harming anything, why won't the landowner ride all over the place"....blah blah blah. What they don't understand is that it is not their land, therefore they can't do whatever the F they want. I say raise the fine even higher. Keep raising it until it stops. Up in the back woods in logging country, these clowns have no idea the damage they are doing to the saplings that the paper companies plant. 

  6. Posted · Report reply

    11 hours ago, PolarisCobra said:

    I think the idea that Snowmobiling is self funding is a good thing. That means that riders need to pay for the costs of riding, so the fact is that riders are a source of income.

    But I do agree that it would be great if many of us (me included) got more involved with their clubs. For me, it's tougher living where I do, but that excuse goes only so far. I will say that I have joined several different NH clubs over the years, always put my email address as part of the application, but have never received an email newsletter, or any other communication from the club once I sent in my registration fee. I know that volunteer man power (personpower??) is hard to come by, but I would feel more connected if some sore of newsletter came to my inbox from time to time. 

    I agree that money is part of the problem. But it is a small portion of it for the clubs. I would guess that 25% of the problem is money. The major problem is lack of help. A club can have a million bucks in the bank, but it is worth $0 if there is no one there to help. Will the threat of a club shutting down motivate people to help that club? Or will those people just join other clubs?

    Regarding the email/communication, my club has struggled with it. Big time. It is the only vehicle we have to reach our members, and we have no way of knowing if we are reaching any of them. Do the emails go to junk mail? Do they go to the right people? Do people read them? Do the emails get rejected by the ISP? We have had all the above problems, with no CHEAP solution. Cheap is the operative term, as many clubs are operating on razor thin cash flow. Who wants to spend $$ on email, when it can be better spent improving the trail?

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I keep my sled in a clamshell trailer during the offseason. What is the best way to keep mice out? I had some bait traps in the trailer, so the mice I got didn't survive. But I had a giant nest in the belly pan, and they also set up shop underneath the console, while chewing through a couple wires. Nothing major, easy to fix. But it is a stinky PITA.

    I suspect they are getting into the trailer through the slots on the floor that the tie down bars slide back and forth in. So...what do you do to keep mice out of your trailers? I really don't want to deal with this crap anymore. 

  8. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, noxorc said:

    The club failed to get volunteers to help. 

    The PemiValleySC did not survive on membership numbers, but by grooming hours.

    $42/per hour grooming,   times 215 hours =  $9,030.

    What is the cost of Club insurance, NHSA dues....?

    If they didn't do the grooming, they didn't get the $$$.

    Insurance for my club is ~$2500/year.

    Lack of volunteers will kill a lot of clubs in the near future. Not just snowmobiling, either. People either just don't have the time, or assume there are enough other people who can help out. Of course there is a certain percentage of people who refuse to help, but I think that is a smaller percentage. 

  11. Posted · Edited by Patriot · Report reply

    On 4/20/2017 at 1:42 PM, Freedom Rider said:

    I did vote last Annual Meeting. That was when the current Board was voted in. So I have a vested interest in the sitting Board makeup.Will I vote this year, no. As you are aware I did not join the NHSA this year but did join my clubs, who are NHSA Member Clubs, to support the trails. Thankfully there are 3 clubs in our county that do NOT require NHSA membership and a few more in other counties. It probably makes up for the 5000 or so members that the portal show as not having renewed their NHSA membership this year. The funny part is the only groups that will know where the members who left went will be those clubs that have decided to worry about supporting themselves instead of someone else. See you Monday.

    Am I the only one who thinks that this is counter-productive to our goal? When I say OUR goal, I mean all of us, ALL snowmobilers in NH. When I say OUR goal, I mean being able to snowmobile on the trails in NH.

    Freedom Rider, I don't mean to single you out here, and apologies if you feel that I am. I am really not, but it just seems like to me that this dissension is not helping to further the sport of snowmobiling in NH. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that NHSA is error-free here. And don't get me wrong, I am not saying that there haven't been people who have recognized the errors of NHSA's ways, and that those people have tried to help NHSA get on the right path.

    I guess my point is this...snowmobiling in NH is a very fragile sport. I think every club in the state is one landowner away from having to shut down major trail systems. Funding is a huge problem. Club membership and volunteerism is a HUGE problem.

    But how can we (ALL SNOWMOBILERS) address those issues? How can we make snowmobiling better in the state? How can we get more people involved? How can we help NHSA help the clubs, the trail systems, the club members, and ALL snowmobilers?

    And again to Freedom Rider and some of you other guys, I know that you have tried to help out, I get that. But how can we, as a state, as a group of snowmobilers help?

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  14. Posted · Report reply

    Going downhill quickly in the southern part of the state (Bow). Exposed areas are quickly melting, rocks and stumps showing, and water bars/mud holes opening up.

    We had 2 separate reports of sleds through the ice on 2 different ponds in town over the weekend.

    STAY OFF THE ICE!!!

  18. Posted · Edited by Patriot · Report reply

    Headed up to Pittsburg Sunday afternoon. Stayed at Lopstick in one of the Magalloway cabins. There were 8 of us total in 3 cabins. 

    Sunday night we did a short 30 mile loop and had some dinner at the Buck Rub. Conditions were great, plenty of snow.

    Monday we woke up to about a foot of new snow at the cabin. We headed out and went down towards Errol. Conditions were insane. We were breaking trail in some areas through over a foot of powder, but most trails had been ridden on by a few sleds, so they were not very wide. We saw a bunch of groomers out panning. The snow was so light and fluffy, although they were flat, the snow was very loose. So we had to keep the speeds down, which was fine. The amount of snow we saw heading into Errol was incredible, I would guess there is at least 4 feet out that way. Once we got to Errol, we had to settle for Subway for lunch, as the restaurants are closed on Mondays I guess. All in all it was a 130 mile day (we got turned around a bit in the Millsville area). No issues, but we did get into Errol with 1 sled riding on fumes. He put 9.7 gallons in his 10 gallon tank...close!

    Tuesday we started up at Diamond Ridge, fed the grey jays. Not much of a view as it was still snowing, but still a great spot. From there we headed down to Colebrook. Same conditions as Monday, but all trails had been groomed with the exception of the trails heading into Colebrook. They were quite bumpy. Had lunch at the restaurant (can't remember the name of it) right next to the Ski Doo dealer. Headed back up through Coleman State Park, gassed up at the SDR hut. Tuesday was a 110 mile day.

    Wednesday we checked out of the cabin, and went for a short ride up to Boundary Pond, tons of snow up there too. Another fantastic ride. 60 mile round trip back to the trailer. We had lunch at the Buck Rub and hit the road. That is another story...it was snowing like a mo-fo. Roads were terrible, and quite slippery. I was driving quite slow, as I could tell the truck just wasn't getting much traction. Heading down the hill into Stratford where the road bends hard left, that's when it went to shit. I hit the brakes to slow down from 30, and nothing. Immediate anti-locks. Road turns left, truck/trailer went straight right into a giant snowbank. We hit it very hard, but thankfully blew right through it. Somehow there was no damage to the truck or trailer, and the sleds stayed perfect right in the trailer. A State Trooper gave us a hand and called for a tow truck. He had us pulled out of that mess in no time. The rest of the drive home was uneventful thankfully, but it was still snowing the whole way back so we had to take it slow. A 3.5 hour drive turned into about 6 hours. Oh well. Next stop...new tires tomorrow morning.

    Pic 1 Boundary Pond, Pic 2 Diamond Ridge grey jay, Pic 3 Snow depth at Ramblewood campground (that is a picnic table under there), Pics 4 and 5 stuck truck

    Boundary Pond.JPG

    Diamond Ridge.JPG

    Ramblewood Snow.JPG

    Truck1.JPG

    Truck2.JPG

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  22. Posted · Report reply

    On 1/31/2017 at 4:46 PM, Skip said:

    Two big concerns I had when I served on the board were the fact that they had paid many thousands of dollars to a board member (former president and grass drag vendor coordinator) over a number that of years and failed to meet the AG's notification requirements, or the concern raised back then and to this day of the tens of thousands of dollars paid out at the Grass Drags for "volunteer" labor where those volunteers never received a 1099. Perhaps the money is being spent to squelch the AG early on to prevent an investigation from looking at these other major areas of concern?

    i agree, this is not very good for the sport...but are we looking at a house of cards that may finally come tumbling down? 

    I say call off the dogs and let the AG do his job, accept responsibility if necessary and become a better organization. Seems sensible to me, unless some of those voting to squash this possible this investigation are nervous that they could be swept up in the 1099 issue? I know for some the back tax issue could definely not be pleasant...no one wants the IRS breathing down their necks or have to answer to an audit.

    Time will tell, but personally I don't think this is going to end very well for the sport in general and maybe some folks in Tilton....but as always that's my personal opinion shared for thought and discussion. ;)

     

    Skip, just one question on the bolded text. When someone volunteers at the grass drags, doesn't the hourly wage go directly to the snowmobile club they represent?

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  24. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, ckf said:

    It must be tough for the clubs in southern NH to hang on after having a few crappy winters in a row. If things don't improve before February I'm sure a lot of riders won't bother to register even if we get late season snow.

    Speaking only for my club, thanks to a snowy December, we already have more members than we did all of last year. Last years memberships were down about 25% from the previous year.

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