Finally starting my '09 fish house project!

[SapperACE]

My wall studs, in this house, are steel, welded directly to the frame. If you are going to use wood studs, some sort of strapping would be good. I also have used self tapping screws from fishhousesupply.com to secure the walls to the frame.

I like to use foam insulation for the ceiling and walls because you can get almost any thikness you want to fill the void. Sometimes fiberglass seems too thick for the narrower studs in a fish house.

I would use 2x2 studs in your house strictly for weight reasons. If you do, make sure you go 16" on center instead of 24". I did one 24" once and it was hard to keep the panelng on the iside from warping.

These are just my experinces... take 'em of leave 'em. Good luck with your project NAG!

[FishinGirlMN]

Ok SapperACE...when your done with your project, wanna do the inside of mine? You do some nice work. Not sure where your at but Lakefield Native here...so Ernie must've built your base!?

[SapperACE]

Yep, Ernie has done pretty much all the work on this house so far. He is the man! He builds em' top knotch. My last house was built on one of his frames. I wish I would have had him do the whole shell on that one too!

Hopefully I can get to work on the inside of this one again soon. The ice will be here before we know it! Thanks for the compliments though! If only I was a little faster (or had a little more time and $$$) i'd be set!

[SapperACE]

Finally got my furnace, oven/stove, insulation, and furring together. I'm going start installing all of that first thing tomorrow morning. I will finally be posting pics again. Stay tuned.

[SapperACE]

I'm finally getting back to work! As promised, here are some pictures of the insulation process. I started this afternoon and got over half done. It was slow going though. The nice weather today got me side-tracked a few times.

You can see that I put up a few of the lathe peices as well. I'm using self tapping screws and that works really well... better that anticipated, and very solid too. I'm just sinking them in till they're flush.

Anyway, like I said, I'm back to work. I hope to be posting a ton more pics in the next couple weeks. Thanks for looking.

[Tom Buckles]

Looks great!! I love this thread!! Im in the military and stuck down in Florida now so reading the threads is the closest I will get to the ice this year.

[SapperACE]

Thanks Tom! I've really enjoyed doing this. It's been great to hear everyone's input, and to have the entire construction of my new house documented. Stay tuned because in the next week or two, I hope to be installing the furnace and oven/stove, wiring, and framing cupboards. I promise to post a ton more pics when I do.

By the way, thanks for your service. I'm a 4 year regular Army/Iraq vet myself. I admire you guys that are in the military in these times! They're running you folks ragged! Thanks again, and keep your head down.

[Nisswaguy]

Hi Tom and ACE,

Just wanted to say "Thank You" for your service. I admire and am very thankful for anyone who is serving or has served this country!!!!!

ACE - nice work. Keep the pictures coming. I'm about to frame in my oven/stove and do some wiring and am very interested in your pictures... especially since i have a hard time trying to figure out which end of a screwdriver to hold.

[Tom Buckles]

Thanks Nisswaguy.

[Tom Buckles]

Ace, I cant wait to see the new pics. I hear you guys got some snow up there lately. It was in the 90's this past weekend down here in florida. No ice fishing for me this year. Anyways, keep the pics coming.

[SapperACE]

I just about have all of the insulation in. Almost finished today, then I was forced to go shoot some roosters before work Next, i'm going to finish the firring, and build the base cupboard to mount the furnace and oven/stove in up in the V. I work nights all week, but i'm going to really try to get all of that done this week, so I can go get the tounge and groove bought next weekend. This cool weather is really motivating me to keep working. I'll post more pics again soon. Thanks for looking!

[SapperACE]

Well, I got the lower cupboard for the the furnace and ovens/stove framed up today. I also got the vent pipes and the outside cap for the furnace installed. I know this isn't the conventional way to build cupboards, but with all the angles, and securing it to metal studs, this was the easiest for me. Now to finish it off, I'll ad a counter top, tounge and groove, doors and some trim to face it off.

I plan to frame up benches, bunks and wall cupboards next... then wiring, firring, and finally T&G. I have most of the materials sitting in my garage so it sould go reletivly fast. Thanks for looking, and I'll post more pics soon.

[landscaper]

keep the pictures coming!

[Nisswaguy]

Any more pics to share ACE?

[SapperACE]

I'm finally getting to the fun part! Started putting up the tounge and groove today. I got the back wall done, 1 side wall almost done, and the other side wall about half done.

I'm gluing every peice with PL 200 glue and then nailing it. I should finish the other side wall and the ceiling tomorrow afternoon, and then the V by the end of the week hopefully. I'm also going to make a run Thursday morning to get matresses, LP lines and fittings, and lights. My goal is to get the thing ready to camp in by this weekend for deer hunting. I'll continue to post pics as I make progress.

Hey nisswaguy, if there's anything specific you would like pictures of, let me know and i'll try to get it for you. Thanks for looking.

[Nisswaguy]

Looks great ACE! That's quite the shack. I'm interested in your electrical wiring - specifically of how you're tying it all together at the battery end.

Again - GREAT LOOKING SHACK and thanks for the updates. Looks like you're going to love it!

[WALLEYEDUDE2001]

Same here, any idea on the wires going to the battery, ie fuse block ? inverter in place ?

[SapperACE]

walleyedude,

If you look at the cupboard up in the V, there will be a large door to the bottom right. Thats where the batteries and hook ups will go. I always just put an in-line fuse link in the hot wire so no fuse panel. There will be one set of wires for the heater and one for the lights ect. There will also be a 110 plug inside that cupboard door for a battery charger or whatever. In addition, there will be 2 110 plugs on the wall above that cupboard, and another near the back of the house.

I got the T&G almost done on the side walls and ceiling today, and I'm going to work on the T&G in the V tomorrow. I first have to put in the outlet boxes and the thermostat wiring. I'll post pics tomorrow of what I get done.

[SapperACE]

Most of the T&G is done now. Just have to finish all the fun angles in the V. The wiring is all done which includes 4-110 outlets wired to an outside male recepticle, 12v lights, the furnace, and the thermastat.

The way I wire 12v for a fish house is really simple, effective, and [PoorWordUsage] proof. There are 2 main wires, a red and a black, running down the middle of the ceiling that all the lights get hooked to. I ran those wires to a standard single pull 110 switch. I then ran 2 wires from the switch to the battery. The 2 red wires (1 coming from the battery, and 1 coming from the lights) get hooked up to the only 2 recepticles on the switch, and the 2 black wires just get wire nutted together and stuffed inside the outlet box.

At the battery, I just wired in a fuse link in the red wire and the black wire gets left alone. Alligator clips on the end of the wires connects it to the battery. Its that easy! Now I have lights that are ran by the master switch (the 110 switch) and they can also be turned on and off individually if the master switch is on. Turn the master power off... and it cuts everything. I like it like this cause you can turn the master switch on when you go to bed at night, and shut all the lights off at each individual light. Now when a rattle reel wakes you up, you can switch on the light closest to the hole the fish is on, and not totally blind yourself.

The heater, I wired to the battery on its own set of wires. I used a fuse link just as I described above. Then 2 wires for the thermastat and wala!

I am not saying that the way I wired my house is the best, or even right, I just know that doing it like this has always worked for me. I like to keep it as simple as possible.

[JumpStart73]

SapperACE, are you interested in putting in a bunk for sleeping or anything. I bought a ice castle and one of the bunks in the house I turned into storage right away. So I have a mattress thats never been used (92"x30"x4") if you are interested shoot me a e-mail [email protected] (I live in North Branch)

[SapperACE]

I already have matresses but thanks for the offer.

[SapperACE]

Well I broke the ol' house in this last week. We used it as a deer camp cabin, and it worked great. I got the heater and the oven/stove all hooked up just in time last friday, and everyhing worked perfect. The lights also worked great. We used cots and I put my matresses that I got from fish house supply on them. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks or so I can finish this thing up, but I wanted to share how well it worked so far. I will be posting a ton of pics in the next week so stay tuned!

[kevfish1]

hey sapper, I sold the shack today and get to start a new one soon. wooooohoooooo

[Big Buck Buster]

hey sapper, I sold the shack today and get to start a new one soon. wooooohoooooo

Hey kevfish1,

Were you up at Ripley with it on the first hunt? I saw a house that looked like the one you built.

[kevfish1]

ya, that was us. Up towards the front. No deer for us