Building a Fish House

[Cowhead]

Well me and three other guys are looking at going in on and building a fish house and putting skis on it so we can drag it down to the river and leave it there for the winter and were looking at building it about 13x 7 any ideas on how to make skis for it and what to build it out of so its light weight and easy to move with a 4 wheeler when the ice isnt good so we dont have a 2500HD out there? so any thoughts and ideas would be great and were looking at doing battery powered lights with marine batteries and what kinda heater should we use?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I did the skid house deal last year. Never again. You will be much happier buying or having built the cheapest of all wheel house frames vs a skid/ski house.

[DuckBlind]

We used Pro Siding from Menards, easy to put on and light weight...catch covers!

[Cowhead]

Well i will for sure check into the Siding and what do people usually use for the Skids to make em slide nice across the snow?? and well i guess i can figure that out later too but my main concern is what to use for a ventless heater? I want something that doesnt require power or maybe one that will use 12volt with low power consumption I am also looking for the plastic stuff you see in comerical kitchens thats on the walls or in trailer houses for bathrooms that thin plastic sheets i would like to do that on the walls and celing so if anyone knows what its called or where i can pick it up that would be great

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

The Pro Rib siding is good stuff. While you are at Menards, check into their FRP (fiberglass reinforced panels). That is the white plastic board you see all over restaurants. For the skids, I had a piece of flat steel made with mounting tabs. On bare ice you could almost push it by hand, with any amount of snow you'll be digging.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Fleet Farm or Northern have good prices on ProCom ventless heaters. I had a 10k BTU in an 8x12 last year, and it kept it HOT in there. Be sure if you go the ventless route to have a CO detector. I had 2 with digital readouts that never went above 0 PPM.

[Cowhead]

well i am thinking i might use some Rectangle steel for the skids and turn them up at the ends and run three the long way down the house and then weld an angle Iron frame and then set that down on top of the skids and then just build my floor and set it into it and then just screw my walls to the studs in the floor unless that isnt going to be sturdy enough. we were thinking about doing 3/4 floor then 2x4 then 1/2in so the floor will be about 4 3/4 thick or we can brace with more angle iron and just do a 2x2 floor. We were thinking about packing the entire thing with foamboad floor walls and celing and then how about a roof do i need to slope it or should i make it flat or what should i do we might load it on the trailer and move it about 140 miles round trip but thats about it for the most part it will be on the river.

[Cowhead]

So does anyone have any plans for something like this?? Frame Wise I mean if we do it right we might be able to add the crank down wheels later on

[rickl1968]

What ever you decide, do not skimp on materials. Changing your skis later is not fun especially if they break off on the lake or wear out fast. If you look at the pics of my hut(2009/2010 ICE SHACK BUILD)you will see big skis. They have steel under them now and it was a big mistake that the guy before me made. I took the shack off of the trailer to get it ready to pull out on to the lake and it froze to the ground. It took two trucks to break it free. I would recomend that you use Teflon or Hyfax under your skis. You can pick up used teflon from skating rinks or hockey rinks. The zamboni (ice cleaning machine) rubs on this strip at the bottom of the boards. Just make sure that you use the smooth side down.

I am adding 9" wide X 1/2" thick strips of teflon under the skis this summer.

Hope this helps.

[fishinalot]

Don't buy a Procom ventless! You will regret it. I buddy of mine bought one that had a bad valve, returned it and got one that had broke at the threads when he was installing the gas line because it was made very cheap. Brought that one back and got another one that he had to be very carefull puting on the gas line because it just about cracked again. He did use it last year and he had to crack the windows all season because it was hard to control the heat. You can't get ahold a anyone with there customer service because they are made overseas. This year he's upgrading to a direct vent. He learned the hard way trying to save a buck.

[ben karas]

to warm up my dream shak initially, i use a big buddy, i think a buddy is a great heater. could use it all the time with a 20lb tank on it if need b, shak is 16x8 and keeps it 70deg on low i like it! cause if your gonna leave the shack on lake take heater with when leave or lose your heater!