Clam Expedition

[Moonie]

Wondering if anyone has one of these and could provide some insight.

I currently have an old clam portable but was thinking of buying one of the expeditions as they look like they have more room and are 6' tall. Saw one at gander and they don't have floors. I was thinking of possibly making a hinged floor from plywood or something and somehow anchoring the 4 corners from that. I like the portability of my current house but I'd like to get my dad out fishing more, and he's a little on the older side and likes to be able to stand up and have more elbow room (more comfort). Thanks!

[Zoob]

I'll weigh in on this - crazy late, sorry. I have one - and I have to say, I'm not terribly fond of it.

PROS

* Lots of height.

* Plenty of room, it's very roomy.

* Anchor points in all four corners, plus guy lines and anchors.

* Does a good job cutting out the wind.

* Sturdy, I can hand plenty of stuff from the pop-up bars on the roof. Also takes quite a beating just fine in the wind and rain and snow.

* Nice wide skirt to bank it in.

* Big cargo bags on all four walls, to store [PoorWordUsage] in.

* Did I mention lots of room? I love that about this.

* Retains heat fine. The ice floor fights keeping it warm, but I can stay toasty with my Buddy Jr. Heater on low all the time.

CONS

* No floor (but apparently you can buy one and clip it in). I've almost cracked my [PoorWordUsage] on the ice a couple times going in first in the morning when the ice has glazed over after last nights heater melt.

* The black coating is awful. It started wearing away almost immediately. I have one door that's almost gone.

* Stitching - bad. Pinhole lights throughout the whole thing.

* Ripping - it's already ripped in two places that've seen lots of freeze/thaw lines. I've duct-taped (gorilla tape, actually) them to avoid getting larger.

* No lower cool-air vent (I want top vents and bottom vents to get air circulation flowing) - just two top vents.

* TONS OF CONDENSATION. Each day is a "fire up the heater, get the towel" - or let it rain on me.

* windows are either frosted-over or foggy.

!@#$%^!@# pop-ups. I hate tearing them down, because I always seem to bind the legs, and it's this clown-joke of an ordeal in the middle of the lake trying to get it set back up.

I gotta say, though, for the price - it sure beats sitting on the ice on a bucket in the snow and wind. I just wished for all the effort it takes to set up (and make sure it doesn't blow away) - that it'd have a better quality put to it - in terms of mostly that black coating - it cheesed me to no end seeing that stuff just fade away along frost lines.

The next portable I get - I'll have more experience in my belt. Not sure if I want to go with a sled-type, I like being able to arrange my home-away-from-home, and the Expedition rings that one in quite nicely.

I wish I had a floor, I wish the coating was better, I wish I could see out the windows. I wish I had a couple of lower cool-air vents, and maybe a small port so I could run my propane line in to the buddy heater, vs against the ice under the skirt.

[buddah7]

I gotta tell ya I had a clam summit and had the exact same problems! The black coating was horrible, stitching was coming apart and so forth. I emailed clam and they got back to me in about two weeks and replaced it for me because of their one year warranty. I then received the new summit and exchanged it at Reeds for a thermal base camp. I have to say I am extremely impressed with the thermal material, quality stitching, no condensation and a heckuva lot warmer in there!!

[landscaper]

how much did you pay for the thermal base camp?? I found it for $230 i think is that a good price?

i am in the area of updating my clam guide and was looking at the HUB style fish house over the sled type.

[buddah7]

Yeah if you can get it for $230 I'd say that is a very good price!

[landscaper]

well around 230 or 240 but FOR SURE it was LESS than $250

how many ppl. can they fit?

[Zoob]

Here's some pics of the inside of my Clam Expedition. I took these a few days ago. Now figure that this guy is brand new, I've had it about a month and have moved it a total of only three times.

Wall:

Door:

Window (note that the bottom line of light is not the window itself, but more stitching - the window is a good inch or so below that yet):

Better Shot of Door:

[Zoob]

I took your cue, and fired off an e-mail to Clam customer service. Besides the stitching and bad coating, it's a roomy little thing I do like, with lots of height. Hopefully they can rectify the problem.

[buddah7]

It might take a couple of weeks but they will get back to you. You will need to send them pictures of the fabric wear and a picture of your receipt. After they ok that they will ask you to cut out all your clam logos and 6 inches of the zipper rendering it destroyed in the field. I sent them the logo and zipper pictures at 8 monday morning and had the new house by 11 the next day. I'm not sure is they did anything to fix the problem though because I didn't open up the box because I had to exchange it...

[jimmyjames76]

I'm really frustrated with pop up shelters. I had the eskimo last year, but the hubs always bound up when I was trying to set it up/take it down. The hubs actually went south rather quickly and one of the poles started popping out of the hub everytime I set it up. It was also a struggle to slip the thing into the bag out on the ice. It was possible, but unnecessarily frustrating when a zipper on the bag would have solved the problem. So this year I bought the clam pop up. I love the hub design which is different than the eskimo, and I believe much better. I was happy with it for 2-3 trips, but now mine looks just like the pictures above. The zippers are also really bad, and constantly jump teeth. I'm waiting for the grommets to tear out of the skirt because apparently that's another common problem. What happened to quality products? I'd pay twice what I paid for a house with decent zippers, fabric that doesn't start falling apart after a handful of uses, good hub design, and a useable carrying bag. I think it's pretty well documented that fisherman are willing to pay a premium for high quality products. I really want to check out the Frabils, but I think most places are sold out for the season.

[Zoob]

The hub design is OK once you figure it out. :-) Until then, I look like a clown on the ice fighting a giant tarp monster.

I forgot - on one of the doors, the zipper handle popped off, snapped in half. I think I would've preferred the cloth part ripping on the zipper before the metal handle snapping - now I reposition it so the other door is in use.

I might consider the flip-overs next go-around - but I really do like all the "here's a tent, all this floor space, do what you want with it" ability of pop-ups.

[Zoob]

Just heard back from them this morning; they said just as you mentioned - send a copy of the receipt, description, and photo of the problem to the warranty dept, and they'll contact me back within 4 days.

Hot diggity.

[jimmyjames76]

The hub design is OK once you figure it out. :-) Until then, I look like a clown on the ice fighting a giant tarp monster.

I forgot - on one of the doors, the zipper handle popped off, snapped in half. I think I would've preferred the cloth part ripping on the zipper before the metal handle snapping - now I reposition it so the other door is in use.

I might consider the flip-overs next go-around - but I really do like all the "here's a tent, all this floor space, do what you want with it" ability of pop-ups.

I think the pop ups are great and I think the clams are very easy to set up, but these quality issues are really frustrating. I've always owned clam fish houses, and lately the quality seems to have taken a turn for the worse. I hope they get it fixed for you!