New wheel house ideas/comments

[jiggin9]

I'm in the market for a new wheel house to keep up at LOW during the ice season. I know it's a bit late in the season to start now but I'll at least have a good start for next year. I'm looking for ideas and advice on size, floor plan and anything else related. I'd like to buy the frame and then finish the rest on my own. I've looked on line at several different companies who manufacture just the frames already. Around $2000 is the going rate for the v-fronts, which I think are a bit over priced. Are there any companies that manufacture frames and/or frame and shell around NW Minnesota? I'm also debating on having the wheels inset or on the outside of the house. Also, I only have a 1/2 ton truck so any house size that requires a tractor to move is out of the question. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[BartmanMN]

16x8 seems to be the new norm for wheel houses. The 8 ft wide gives you the additional space you need. Read through the 2010 wheel house build threads and you'll gather a lot of useful information.

[gregg52]

i was just lookin at these new ice cabins they call them

made by forest river a major RV builder

i believe they do have just a fame but its not the V stlye

but i think they look nice plus have some good floors and seem to resonable priced

[BartmanMN]

i was just lookin at these new ice cabins they call them

made by forest river a major RV builder

i believe they do have just a fame but its not the V stlye

but i think they look nice plus have some good floors and seem to resonable priced

Yep, Forest River makes the Salem Ice Cabin

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I would highly recommend 8' wide x whatever length you want. On the 8' wide house the wheels will follow in line with your truck, giving you a huge advantage over the 6.5' wide in snow.

Check out my 2010 Fish House Build post for some ideas. I haven't posted final pics, but will in the next day or so.

Since that post, I also built an 8x14 + 3' v for a friend. It is almost the same as mine, except for the extra 2' of length, a window on the back wall, and the door is on the drivers side. I'll try to find my pictures of that one, too.

As far as frames, you honestly get what you pay for. I spent lots of hours looking into all the frames out there, including the cheapies on the classified site by Craig. If I were looking into a 8' wide crank down, I would look at the Shack Rack frames (check out a post from 2009 by SapperACE). They are single winch at the tongue(instead of 3 winches), with a linkage that connects to the axle. This will save you from making 2 or 3 trips around your house to drop it all the way to the ice. For $450 more, you can get a full hydraulic setup from Shack Rack. The other frames I would consider with hydraulics are from Innovative Recreation, or Berkon.

[LightningBG]

I would highly recommend 8' wide x whatever length you want. On the 8' wide house the wheels will follow in line with your truck, giving you a huge advantage over the 6.5' wide in snow.

Maybe I'm missing something. But wouldn't the wheel base on an 8 be about the same as on the 6.5? Since the wheels are inset on the 8, outside on the 6.5?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

The 6.5' houses end up at almost 8.5' to the outside of the tires. The 8' wide houses are 8' wide, with the wheels set in from there. I haven't measured center to center on my tires, but they are probably around 7' or maybe a little less.

[forcedtowork]

Check out L&L Fabrication in Perham, Minnesota. They call there frame the Ice troller. Their frames look just like the fish house supply frames.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

They are fish house supply frames.

[Minnie_sota_Mike]

L&L makes the frames for Fish Hose Supply

[Grainbelt]

When considering the length of your house think about the lake accesses that you will be using. The steeper access the shorter you will want your house to be otherwise you'll be dragging the back side down the slope.