CONSTANCE BAY 2012

[Roy Teske]

Thanks Mike and everyone involved. Perfect day out on the Ottawa River. Diablos and Hus-skis were well represented this year. Thanks Tracey for the great camera work.Here are a few of many excellent pictures.

Constance Bay 2012 172.JPG (207.93KiB)Viewed 2194 times

Constance Bay 2012 207.JPG (159.23KiB)Viewed 2194 times

Constance Bay 2012 203.JPG (152.28KiB)Viewed 2194 times

[Barrie2777]

This Constance Bay ride was the last of the year for me but certainly a ride with memories as the under side of my machines was exposed to the sky several times. The nearly ride ending breakdown was when the cotterpin, retaining one of the counterweights in the primary clutch of my 400, came out. My friend Blair was riding this one and signaled to me there was no power so we switched machines. As I was driving , I heard a noise come from under the hood which was not normal. Everything looked correct but when I restarted the engine, the counterweight pin fell on the ground. Luckily a nearby Diablo rider who keeps cotterpins to reattach wayward boggie stations, was able to provide me with a cotter pin and all was right again. As we drove across the river to the Quebec side, a distance which seemed never ending since the river is particularly wide at this point, the aroma of smoky maple and oak filled your sences. The snow was hard packed and had not yet started to melt from the heat of the sun. The friction was so intence that the teflon on my 444 sliders began to shred. Although we stopped and removed the remaining pieces, the exposed screw heads had already knawed into the cleats. The 400 which has wood sliders was doing fine. Both machine continued on to Quyon and part way back until some ice cleats became loose on the 400 tracks. I had quipped my toolbox with #10-32 x 1-1/2" bolts just for this reason. It wasn't long before we were on our way again and back to the starting line. This was a grueling ride for HUS-SKIs due to lack of soft snow. On the award podium, HUS-SKIs took oldest and second oldest machines while a DIablo took best restored machine. A great day for our RED and Yellow machines. One of the star guest of the day wa sFred Fassbender. He was part of the Diablo Rouge and Bolens SPrint design team in the 70's. What a thrill it was to meet and talk to him about the machines. This was the first time he had attended a vintage snowmobile event and had no idea anyone cared about those old machines.

[Barrie2777]

With the use of a router with a guide collar and a template, I levelled off the damaged cleats, then replaced the sliders. Some of the gouging is still in the cleat but I did not want to remove that much wood.