hub style house questions

[Gunflint Guy]

I typically fish in untrodden areas, often without a snow machine or ATV. I'm not one that likes to fish outside on a bucket-I like the portable house and heater. The portable tent style house I use now is actually pretty good-room to stand up, mostly warm enough, low-priced, light (13lbs), and has a zipper door (portables without doors are impossible to bank with snow). But my little tent is an absolute terror to get set up in the wind when alone. Ice anchors don't seem to work for me (is there a trick to getting them started?). When I finally do wrestle it down, it likes to lean over in the wind until I am leaning with it. I bungee it to the auger, etc., but it is a pain (I even tried some fancy ice cleat thingies, but the plastic immediately snapped when they were cold).

The "hub" styles appear to be a good option...set up quick, thicker nylon (warmer), roomy, zipper door, still fairly light weight. But they appear they would be trouble in the wind as well. Anybody have any observations about the hub styled fishhouses? Does the hub system set up easily even in the wind. Does it want to blow away until the anchors are in?

By the way, I've tested out solo flipover shacks...all are too heavy and the sleds are too wide to pull 6 miles into the BWCA efficiently (at least for me)...I use a 8' long, narrow tobaggan, so the bagged tents are best.

Any thoughts are welcome.

[Mike Stark]

i have used the hub style tents for the past two winters. they are very nice shelters for what you are doing. i also haul gear into the b-dub via x-ski/hike/snowshoe/dogsled. they are tricky to set up in the wind by yourself but it is doable. if they are not anchored down they will blow away like a tumble weed in the desert. the first thing i do when i set one up is anchor it to the ice on the two upwind corners. this will keep you from chasing your shelter down the lake. it gets easier and easier to set the shelter up by yourself after you have done it a few times.

with the ice anchors.....lots of pressure and real slow until the anchors catches....once it catches it should just screw in...also make sure the handle of the ice anchor is pointing away from the shelter...this gives the anchor a better angle in the ice, which makes for a stronger anchor. make sense?

this is in my opinion the best shelter for the BWCAW. you wont find anything lighter or anything that packs down as small as these hub style shelters. frabill and clam both came out with hub style shelters this winter. they look pretty slick. i have the quick fish II and III. the quick fish II is what I use when going into the b-dub solo or with another person. it is a little tight with two people but very doable...you just cant bring EVERYTHING inside.

go with the hub style...you will not be disappointed.

mike

[NCLaker]

Given your situation, you'll love hub tents! Flipover & old style cabin tents are just to heavy to haul by hand in snow.

Only exception might be if you created a carrier on skies that had additional clearance so the frame would not plow through the snow. Old down hill/cross contry skies work great for this. With this setup you could put any shack to your liking and it woudl be pretty easy to pull across the snow it if is not too deep.

[shizzy]

I havent had any real issues gettting my Quick fish III set up in the wind. As already stated, anchor one corner and start pulling out the sides. a quick snap on the side and not a smooth slow pull is the trick to getting it up quickly.

I walk out everywhere I go so the light weight was what sold me. I have never used the extra 2 anchors for the sides, just the 4 for the bottom. even in strong winds I have never been worried about it. it has large flaps to bank snow on.

[Spearing Machine]

Here is the weekly rant about the hubs again! I remember posting this samething about 2 weeeks ago or less.

I too have the quick-fish III. I will be going on my fourth winter with it and I am not talking one time use per winter. I record every outing and early this winter I will be topping the 200 outing mark with this house. I use it for everything from early ice crappies, to spearing and just as a place to warm up when fishing tip ups. I have put this house through some ultimate tests and it passes with flying colors. 40mph+ on red lake, setting it up at 4:00am in January at -35f, and the constant wet and dry of the canvas. The one thing I recommend is that after each use you dry it out completely. I think this is what has really helped my preserve this house for so long. I just bring it to the basement and take it out of the bag for a few hours laying next to the wood stove and then its good to go the next day.

[fishinfey8]

Hub system is great...anchors are a must or the walls will collapse in a strong wind. Like mstark said, make sure you put alot of pressure on the ice anchors and turn slowly until it catches. I have a quickfish III as well and one thing i've noted is that you need a bigger heater than a mr. buddy when the temp is less than 10-15 degrees and a little wind. I like it b/c of the fact I can just strap it on top of my otter sled w/ bungee cords without taking up any more room than I used to when I would go out in the otter cabin, except I can now fish 5 comfortably all pulled by one snowmobile or cross country skier...

[Mike Stark]

if the wind is blowing hard into one of the sides you will need to use the side anchor. i have had the side collapse on me many times while fishing....it will scare the sh*t out of you!

[gvg_uwec]

Clam came out this year with a new tool that goes in the end of a cordless drill for putting in the ice anchors. If you dont mind carrying a drill around this might be an easy way to put them in and out.