Just Curious about Bombardiers

[B_Skurka]

Hey guys, I hope you don't mind a question from a non-Bombardier person, but in some of the photos I see posted here, I see snow piling up in front of the nose.  Why is that?  Is it just an illusion because the front skis kick up the snow for the photos?

Also, how well do the skis float in deep snow?  I would think these units would be great cruisers on frozen lakes and flat fields with somewhat heavy snow but how do they handle in dry powder/deep snow conditions?

My Snow Trac is a SLOW unit, like most fully tracked vehicles.  I've always been amazed at the speeds a C-18 could make on a frozen lake (50% higher than I could ever achieve).  But it seems to me that if you gain speed then maybe you lose the ability to do something else and I wonder if it is deep snow that might be the weak point for these types of machines?

[Swamp Dawg]

I'm no expert but in deep snow it seems the ski's are always below the snow.  Most likely because there is so much track length which is pushing down on the skis.  Since powder has little compaction resitance they sink.  We clocked our bombarier with a 300 6cyl at about 40km/h on hard pack snow.  32-35 km/h in powder.

[B_Skurka]

Do you think longer or wider skis would provide the type of floatation you need for deep powder snow?

I know with my Snow Trac it was available in 2 different models.  I have the standard model, but they also made a powder snow version that has wider & longer tracks.  It provides less than 0.5psi (pounds per square inch) of ground pressure versus my Snow Trac's 0.7psi of ground pressure.  The standard version is by far the most common and saw use from Antarcitca to the mountains of Norway and up into the arctic circle.  However in the deep low moisture powder snow of the the northern islands of Japan and in the dry powder snow of Utah it seems that the wider track "Snow Master" is the favored machine.  I see other brands of snowcats that seem to have optional track designs and it seems like some specific regions really require extra floatation.

A machine like a Snow Trac is equally at home in the mountains on steep slopes as it is on flat field, but as I said before, it is slow.  Top speeds are right about 22 miles per hour.

[Averyman]

  I think that bigger or longer skis are not needed, they are not intended to carry much load, just to steer.  The tracks carry the load much like your machine, difference is you steer with clutches (I assume).  Plowing through deep loose snow is fun but once the snow firms up the machine pretty well rides up top.  Clarence