Wheel Fish Houses

[Chad Luebker]

Hello -

I just thought I would start an thread regardng the best wheel houses on the market. What would you rate as the top 5 fish houses on the market. I know there are a lot of factors but I am just interested in hearing what people think. Besides home built houses here are the only ones I know of.

1. King Crow

2. Ice Castle.

3. Dandy(Clearwater,MN)

4. Performance Engineering(Glencoe,MN)

5. Frank RV's - Ultra Shack

How would you guys rate this based on quality and price. Please feel free to ad others to the list and links to other fish house manufacturers. It will be interesting to see where Ice Castle ranks because they are the most sold but read lots of flaws with them. I currently have a King Crow and so far it seems nice for the price.

Thanks.

Chad

[Hazzard]

#1 Performance Engineering(Glencoe,MN) Tom will bend over backwards to make the house how you want it. His houses are custom and he builds them one at a time.

Frank RV's - Ultra Shack a great house but over priced and frank is very hard to deal with.

Ice Castle - You get what you pay for the k mart of wheel houses.

I have no experince with the other makes

[Farley]

Chad-

First off way to keep it local by getting a King Crow.

I dont know much about #3,4, and 5, never fished out of those, but the Ice Castles are good for local stuff, prob dont want them for trips up to LOW.

If I remember correctly you live on a lake? Dont want to say too much here but we've had good luck out there on your lake so far, you been out?

Shoot me an email, Eric.Johnson at MTS dot com

[Chad Luebker]

Farly - Email sent. Let me know if you didn't receive it.

Thanks.

[hdspringer]

Had one Ice Castle and Never again. I hope next year to buy a Salem Ice Castle. Very nice house, look to be great quality. They are made by a R.V. manufacturer and look really nice.

[eyebjim]

I have a king crow and am very happy with it. It could be a little more air tight. I will be fixing that this summer with a can of great stuff foam. cheaply but functionally designed interior. The whole house is quite light so I can get out on thinner ice 6-8 inches at 6.5x12'. The only real thing I would like better that I can not change is I wish it would sit lower to the ice. The way the frames are made it sits up on built in blocks about 4 inches higher than the last house I has which was a ultra shack. The ultra shacks are the cats meow but they are quite expensive. You get what you pay for with them though unlike the ice castles.

[Whopper Stopper]

I have an Ultra Shack. I have no experience with any of the others listed. My next house will be another Ultra Shack. I have a few things that I will want to change but all in all, I couldn't be happier. I have had a few dealings with Frank over the years and I guess I never considered him hard to get along with. I know from looking at the ads that when I do sell mine it will be very close to what I paid for it.

WS

[elkrivermn]

I have known Frank for years. Good guy to work with and he builds top of the line houses. Just remember you get what you pay for. One thing to remember is any toys you buy like Trucks, cars, boats,quads,ect. just like a good woman why be tight and try to save money and end up unhappy? Spend your money fellas and end up with a keeper!!!!!!

[minnbowhunter]

My brother has an Ultra Shack and is happy with it. He did have a problem with the front wall separating from the floor. Not sure what happened, he is very careful driving on the ice. My son had Performance Enginering built his house, as stated above, they will build whatever you want and are easy to work with. I have an older Ice Castle, with the vinyl siding, no suspension, just the long arms to lower the house. Some people say they are made cheap, but I love mine. Very warm, and no finish flaws to speak of.

[crappiekid]

Ultra Shack, Frank is old school and says it the way it is. Nothing wrong with that.

Home made house if you are capable..

I have had two ice castles and no problems

no exp with the others...

[Bryce]

How about this mfg. ? Lodge makes a nice unit too. Heard good thing about Custom Cottages (not postive on the name) but have never seen one in person. Carsella's, Fish House Store, etc. Big market out there.

[landscaper]

Yes the LODGE Makes nce houses also does custom cottages.

I was in Montevideo mn where they make ice castle to look around about 4 years ago and they said they can make about 12 fish houses a day.(not sure if that is the frame and all...i dont think so, just the wood working part)

Myself my next house. I will have the FRAME built maybe the shell not sure but i am capable to finish it myself.

[wplatehunter]

We have a Franks RV's house that is about 10 years old. After about five years the walls started to separate, and there was a gap between the wall and windows. The heater also went out two years ago. We replaced the walls and heater, and it still works great. The only other problem we had was a bent cranking arm, but they fixed it.

[eyehunter78]

Performance Engineering gets my vote!! I'm on my third house from Tom and his quality is always first class. He always makes just what you want or is willing to give you some help along the way. Ice Castle is ok but the fit and finish is not a quality gob, but they seam to be getting better every year. Lodge is a very nice house ,but very expensive for what you get. Saleem is also very nice ,but alittle expensive. Dream Shack-- way over priced for the average angler.Franks builds nice house but he is also expensive but builds some quility house at a price. King Crow , well they are basically the pioneers of the wheel house and in there time where a good house, but they are not keeping up with the times like the others. Well thats my 10 cents. For the money and quality I think you get a better house from Performance Engineering then the others

[J.Iverson]

I agree..Performance Engineering--best value. I have contacted and visited all the builders on your list but Franks only because they were out of my price range. Tom was very easy to work with. I chose him to build my next wheelhouse because he was the only one willing to build what I wanted. This will be my 3rd wheel house and hopefully a layout that will suit our family best. The craftsmenship and fit/finish on his houses definately stood out from others. I have friends that own castles, King Crows, and Performance Engineering houses, so I have had a chance to fish out of all of them and get their input on what they would do different "next time".

[MuleShack]

I have known Frank for years. Good guy to work with and he builds top of the line houses. Just remember you get what you pay for. One thing to remember is any toys you buy like Trucks, cars, boats,quads,ect. just like a good woman why be tight and try to save money and end up unhappy? Spend your money fellas and end up with a keeper!!!!!!

I had this philosophy in mind when I bought mine...

I have an ultimate lodge, and one of the reasons I went with them was the heavy duty frame and solid axle set up they have on their trailers. Then on top of that, they have some sweet set ups inside of the houses. I dont have anything against vinyl siding, but I dont like it on a fish house. I checked out different vendors before I bought mine and decided to pay for quality. With that said, i got mine new but for year end close out prices 3 years ago...So if I would sell, I would probably still get most of what I paid for it.

I also heard that Lodge was coming out with a 5th wheel design...That might be interesting.

As i get older the hydraulic option is getting more appealing