Cheap Insurance for Tubing Hills (aka USED EQUIPMENT!)
Stand alone snow tubing hills can be highly profitable but they can also incur considerable expenses. Liability insurance can be difficult to secure if the tubing hill is not under a ski area umbrella and to purchase it can be a higher-than-expected percentage of your budget. I will discuss liability insurance in another post at a later date.
Did you know you can insure your operation against shutting down with used equipment? This is not a policy you purchase and file a claim against, this is having a backup plan. Most start up tube hills can’t purchase all new equipment, the economics don’t always add up. Purchasing used equipment is typically the best way to open a new tubing hill. Operating with used equipment can be a gamble, so you need to have a back up plan if that equipment breaks a few days before Christmas.
When I do consulting on snow tubing hills, there are a few things I suggest. A snowmaking system should have two pumps, even if you only need one 90% of the time. If the pump breaks down, it can be weeks if not months to repair. Have that second pump ready to go or design your system to run both pumps in the colder temps. If one pump goes down, at least you can have 50% of your max flow.
Most snow tubing hills are only an acre or two and one snowcat is all you need. How much do you want to spend on a snowcat? New machines are $300,000 to $400,000 with long lead times. Used snowcats under 5000 hours are easily $100,000 to $200,000. Snowcats over 5000 hours may need some work and could be more likely to break down but cost considerably less.
Snowcats from the late 1990’s and early 2000’s didn’t have the horsepower cats do today. Pisten Bully and Bombardier were in the 200 HP to 300 HP range. Most cats today are in the 400 HP to 600 HP range, unless you drop down to a medium size snowcat like the PB 100 or the Prinoth Husky.
The extra horsepower of the full size newer cats doesn’t really benefit a snow tubing hill. In fact, they tend to not be as fuel efficient compared to the smaller HP cats doing the same job.
When deciding on what snowcat to purchase, consider purchasing two older “like” machines and find a parts machine. Learn how to work on them and make a relationship with a local mechanic. Be sure to do all of the maintenance and repairs before the season.
In 2015, a customer of CHS Snowmakers purchased a PB 280D and a parts machine very cheap through our classifieds. The machine only needed batteries and a starter and it fired right up. They completed a service on it and it has been in use since. In 2019, they purchased a very clean PB 280D and they now have two like machines, both in great running condition. One has a tiller on it for the kid’s snow play area and the other has a Tube Shaper. Both machines are in use and they always have a back up, if needed.
Consider what your business losses would be if you were not able to open for the Christmas season because your one and only pump couldn’t be fixed or your one cat’s replacement part was two weeks out.
Liability insurance is something you hope to never need to use but having backup equipment is a great insurance policy you will need to use more often than you realize.
Jason Sawin
CHS Snowmakers
303.818.5923 cell
December 22, 2022
