2009/2010 ICE SHACK BUILD

[rickl1968]

Hey guys

I was thinking that maybe I should share a few pictures of my last years build/reno. It started off with a cheap $500.00 shack full of green and black mould, after peeling off all of the interior walls I found the disaster. 2 walls and 3/4's of the roof needed to be replaced. I ended up looking like I was wearing a HAZMAT suit when I gutted everything out...LOL. The build/reno took me most of the summer and into the winter of 2009 and into 2010. We bought a new house in October which put a damper on the shack for a couple of months. I took the shack out on the ice in Feburary of this year.

While I had everything ripped apart I decided to put in some large windows, (the best thing I ever did) The view from inside makes it all worth while. The conservation officers has no reason to harass me about no being able to see my lines. The law here states that there should be no obstructed view of your lines.

I am using a blue flame heater mounted on the wall that heats the shack perfectly. I did purchase two indirect vents, one near the floor beside the heater and another on the opposite wall near the celing. I also installed two 12" pop out holes in the floor for those cold windy days.

Well enough is enough.....Here's a link to my pics.

http://s757.photobucket.com/albums/xx214/rickl1968/

There is an album list on the left side of the page.

[Cowhead]

Well I guess we were thinking about running just a 4x4 steel tubing in three spots for skids and then turn the ends up but maybe we need to go bigger i dont know i just dont want em to fall off and we are going to do a heavy angle iron frame around the base to put the floor into and then screw the walls to the floor so let me know how tall your skids are and i guess well start planning from there

[rickl1968]

My skis are 9" wide 12" tall x 12' long. The previous owner had built them with two 2x12's, 12 feet long for each ski.

He had put the 2 - 2x12's side by side with a 6 gap in the middle supporting and cross bracing them together. He used 1/2" plywood strips 9" wide to form the bottom and a 6' piece to fill in the top. The previous owner used steel to line the bottom, But I would recommend using teflon/hyfax instead. Make sure to attach skis to the bottom of the floor with long angle iron or aluminium angle 2x2x8 on each side of the skis. This has been proven very helpful when removing a frozen shack from the ice and no problems with the skis falling off. I had used 4" lag bolts to attach each ski to the front and back of the shack just incase.

I have also seen guys use 4 - 2x8's laminated together to make a 4' wide ski. But we usally get alot of snow up here, and the wider skis work much better.

I know the skis are heavy but......better to use more wood and less steel.

[newoodhntr]

One problem with running the third ski down the middle is if it freezes in it's hard to chizel out.

[rickl1968]

One problem with running the third ski down the middle is if it freezes in it's hard to chizel out.

No no, third ski! Only two skis are needed.

[Cowhead]

Ha ha I never thought about having to chip the darn thing out good thinking why didnt i think of that Oh yeah i havent done it before well ok So a 4x4 steel tubing wont work so well for skis? I guess i can do wood i just want to make it as sturdy and strong as posible but light so i want to do the base heavy and the top light so it doesnt blow over or anything. Has anyone ever used steel studs for the walls in the fish house? just a thought since they are so light weight and i can get some fairly cheap so any thoughts on that would be great

[rickl1968]

I would think the steel studs might rust with all the moisture and cause you more trouble down the road.

Aluminium studs might work, but with moving the shack around alot it may wear the holes round and you might have your shack falling apart on you.

[JSK76]

looks great! I would consider a vented header so you don't get the mold back.

[Mr.Seaguar]

I am thinkng of building a permanent. About the mold, why did it happen and why does the specific heater prevent it? Thanks

[rickl1968]

Hey guys,

The mould problem! The previous owner went cheap on the roof and used pieces instead of using full lengths of steel. The seams were only overlapping about an inch. So capillary action helped the water leak past the seams into the roof and the insulation held the water. (bad for mould)

I did install a ventless heater, but, I also used indirect vents on the floor beside the heater and one on the oppisite side of the shack near the roof. (white vents seen on the outside of the new hut pictures)

No moisture and the windows never fogged up last winter.

[rickl1968]

I did run a dual powered Battery/110v... Liquid Propane/Carbon Monoxide Detector in the hut and have never had a reading or alarm.

[rickl1968]

I have an updated link to my photo bucket pictures. The old link above does not work anymore.

http://s757.photobucket.com/albums/xx214/rickl1968/Ice%20Hut%20Pictures/