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Production of the aluminum snowmobile racks went smoothly again today.  You can almost feel the heat still emanating off this stack of racks as they sit on the welding table. Use of the custom jig, coped ends, computer and laser cut design has meant that the racks are quite straightforward to build.  Even welding in aluminum, which can be more difficult, can be made easier by having a precise fit to all the pieces.  Better welding results in a stronger and more durable product, these things have to be able to withstand a beating in the mountains. Next stop to...

Well the prospect of 45" of new snow had the Port Tack Racks R&D crew pretty excited to get up the mountain on Sunday.  It wasn't meant to be.  Sleds were loaded, fueled up.  Had the sled deck out and and a crew of powder thirsty snowmobilers ready... but unfortunately, thirsty people had a lot of rain to drink instead of powder. Rain was falling all the way to the top of the Brohm Ridge.  Visibility was pretty poor too... even on the highway it was hard to see, you know that's a bad start to a day aimed at...

We the Pacific Northwest continues it's torrent of fresh snow.  There's nothing like heading up knowing that the week dropped 45" of fresh powder all week!  The only question is, can this Ski Doo XP handle all that snow?  She's certainly looking the part on the night before!  We like to fuel up and load our gear on the snowmobile rack the night before when possible to save some energy and check everything off our snowmobile gear list.

Here is a highlight of the snowboard holder  portion of the Snowmobile Rack.  Snowboard holders are one of the trickier aspects of a design to get right.  The snowboards are pricey, so the rack must not damage the board in any way.  So how do you handle a piece of cargo with 'kid gloves' if it's bucking around on a bronco ready to be tossed off?  We used redundancy with the strapping to get a tighter fit and that does a couple of things.  It means that if something goes wrong, you'll have more of a chance for it not to ruin...

Wow!  La Nina is a welcome blessing for us in the NorthWest looking to get into the backcountry. The last time a La Nina here was 1994 and set all kinds of records for snow.  The 2010 - 2011 winter season looks like it is off to the same great start.  Usually the start of the season in Snowmobiling is full of grinding skis into gravelly paths and avoiding boulders and stumps.  Well not this year.  This year the snow is deep and fresh, no need to ride in tracks, every day is riding on fresh pow. Check out the...