Perm. Ice house to leave up on Mile Lacs?

[bigstick56]

Me and a buddy are considering building a 10 x 20 perm. fish house to leave up on mile lacs. We have already narrowed down the place we will be keeping it at to Brandts. My question is what would be some good things to have / not have on a fish house like this? Metal skids, floor plan...things like this we are still in the planning stage but need to get after it pretty soon if we wanna make it happen this year for first ice. Thanks.

[rickl1968]

JMO ...But, I think the most important part on your shack are your skis and the floor. Speaking with the guys that pull shacks on and off the lake for a living during the winter months, they say to make your skis at least two feet longer than the hut on both ends. Make them out of wood preferrably 2x10's x 8" wide reinforce them in the middle as you would joists in a house. Use plywood to cover and then Puck board, it will slide like a dream and it is less likely to freeze to the ice.(always block up with at least a 2x4) once the skis are mounted to the floor use angle iron(aluminium)on both sides of your skis and drill and bolt to every joist.(make it strong)

Mind the placement of your skis under your hut, when designing your hole placement and the ability to fit on a trailer or float truck to the ice.

If you start this way you will have less problems in the long run.

Another tip is to make sure it is pullable from both sides incase it gets stuck.

[bigstick56]

Wood skies? Don't you think steel skies would be better? Maybe not but i would think a metal sk / fram house would be a lot stronger and better for a fish house...

[Kettle]

I got wood skids, wrapped in sheet metal I bended, works great.

Kettle

[rickl1968]

Wood skies? Don't you think steel skies would be better? Maybe not but i would think a metal sk / fram house would be a lot stronger and better for a fish house...

The only problem I see with steel is that welds can break with constant pounding, wood flexes a little. I am not too sure about weight wise either. I used pressure treated wood.

I had steel bent around my wood skis and it would freeze to the ice, on sunny days they would warm up just enough to stick. The first time out it froze to the ice in the parking lot, after using two trucks we finally freed it from the ice. Thats why I used self tapping waferhead screws countersunk into the 1/2 inch puckboard and bent it around the skis.

Pulls like a dream now.

Maybe next time I am out at the fish house, I can take a few pitchers of the broken skis skatered all around the ice houses. The owner of the property stores around 300 shacks there.

[toughguy]

Don't a lot of guys use White Oak for skis? For some reason I think it hold up better than treated pine. Probably costs a lot more too.

[Alagnak]

Let me suggest something MUCH easier and MUCH cheaper. Why don't you buy one for next to nothing that is already up there. There are plenty of us with houses owned by a 'group of friends' and inevitably, there is always guys not willing to pay their share or want out. You can make some cheap mods to get it how you want it and be money and time ahead!

[Wimbie]

I have heard to use white oak skids also. Metal will heat up and sink easier. I know some resorts sell them and also use them themselves.

[Ryan_V]

I have white oak skids on my shack, when it's time for new ones, we want to go with steel, I done see melting as an issue, we are always blocked up a minimum of 4". Steel should be permanent.