Wheel House Consumer Reports Please

[bassNspear]

thanks all for the information. MJ, hope you get your house soon.

I im just in the starting stages of looking at these, and getting all my ducks in a row. Going to hit the ice show, hopefully they will have a wide range of display there.

Anyone like KING CROW??

[MIDNIGHT777]

OK here is my wheelhouse review………

I researched wheelhouses for about 2 years before pulling the trigger last year at the ice fishing show. After looking at most makes/models I chose the Salem Ice Cabin 20 foot SV model (toy hauler). This particular model seemed to have to most ideal layout for what I wanted. Below are some of the pros/cons I have found after last season’s use.

Pros (just to mention a few)-

-Floor plan; I really like the rear full queen bed that pushes up to the ceiling when not in use. Also, the rear benches that fold up to the walls make for a wide open layout if wanted.

-Rubber floor; if it gets wet just wipe up.

-Nice looking interior and fit/finish; cedar

-Price (comparative to Ice Castle and more affordable than Lodge)

-Electric wheel and tongue jacks

-Self-contained propane tanks

Cons (or problems I have had)

-Single axle for a 20 footer? I figure SALEM knows what they are doing since they have been in the travel trailer/5th wheel business for a while. But, I would feel more comfortable with a double axle.

-Towing. It pulls just fine, but would plan on having a good sized truck. I used a f250 w/5.4 gas last year. This truck and engine combo really worked hard to pull this house. I upgraded to 1 ton diesel this year so it should not be an issue. I think the fact it is not very aerodynamic is a large factor.

-Last year during the maiden voyage on Lake of the Woods one of the electric wheel jacks broke. This was a major pain in the rear. Got the house down, but could not get it back up. Long story, but the problem was the gears and it was replaced under warranty. We could not even use the manual crank override. Other than that the other 2 jacks have worked flawlessly. They don’t have any problem breaking the house from the ice after a few day stay even though I only set it directly on the ice once. I block it up with 2x4’s around the house.

-Some of the cedar paneling on the walls has started pulling away. The main problem is the nails/staples pull right through the paneling. I fixed using nails with larger heads so they can’t pull through.

Heater is plenty strong enough I just wish there was a way to get one for the heater vents to the rear of the house. The front of the house stays a little warmer than the rear since all the vents are in the front.

Overall I have been very happy and do not regret the purchase a bit.

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Matt

[jjohnson5150]

Matt-

How did you get the house up off the ice? Did you have to use an auto jack and remove the post from the house? We should create a Salem ice cabin club lol

[mrmanners]

I also will have to give a thumbs up to the Salem Ica Cabin. I purchased mine a the end of March this year so it has not seen any ice time. I added an AC, Awning, Coleman portable toilet, fridge and 15" LCD. The pitch was easy to the wife after showing house after house as she wanted something that would be suitable for the family.

Pros:

Like Matt the Layout is about as good as you can get.

Floor is just so easy to clean and drys fast (had it on several tubing/camping trips this year and the water dried fast)

So much storage

Electronic Jacks rock

Love the window sizes (Real camper windows)

Matt is right about the self contained propane tanks (larger models)

Cons:

Battery Door already rusted out so I will have to take that off and sandblast it.

Door had to be replaced which was so common that the new doors were on back order

The Dinette in the front folds into a bed that only my 6 and 3 year old fit into do to the fold down bunk

Stereo was already replaced and not very good

Mine pulls a little heavy but I have not had it to LOW yet so we will see how the Hemi handles that.

The biggest surprise was how nice it was to work with the dealer ship. They included everything into a much better financing package that worked for us and the family. I will be taking a ton of pics this year from the ice if it ever comes....

[jjohnson5150]

Shortly after getting our house last year, we realized a generator was a must. I believe it was on this forum that I got the best suggestion after I was asking if it was necessary. I had been toying with getting one made in china for the sake of saving a few hundo. We ended up getting the Honda generator, which makes the wheel house experience all that much better. Someone had asked me why I would be worried about saving a few hundo after dropping thousands on the house. So, my point is, if you have not thought about it, give it some strong thought and build in enough reserve funds to go with the ultra quiet, efficient Honda. We lock ours up to the tie downs in the back of my truck at all times. It works great and gives you peace of mind on overnight trips.

[jjohnson5150]

Mrmanners-

Did u replace the stereo with a normal car deck? I was considering replacing, but was not sure what was underneath the current unit. I did not want to find a spot without paneling that a car deck would not cover.

[mrmanners]

I have not replaced the stereo with a car deck yet but that will be the next step. I did replace the factory speakers with after market Pioneers. I have to take my Pioneer deck out of my 6X12 king crow and than see if I can figure out how to make a mounting bracket. I was thinking about adding a Door and turn that into another area to store pots or pans and mount the car deck above it depending on what it looks like behind the factory stereo. I will post some pics when I get done with that as it looks like I may have a few more months. X mas present that my wife and I will be getting this year is the new Electric 10" strike master.

[MIDNIGHT777]

Johnson,

Well it started with a bunch of swear words. Then went into the resort and borrowed an auto jack and pieces of wood. Next chisel out about 6-8 inches of ice to get the auto jack under the house blocking it as we go up. Was finally able to get the pin back in. After that episode i went and bought the lowest profile auto jack i could find. I also now block the house up of the ice so if it happens again i dont have to chisel as far. The wife wont admit it, but i think she stripped the jack gear when she thought she was lowering it but was raising it. haha. First time out with it.

I am thinking bout selling the gas auger this year and getting a jiffy propane Pro4. much easier drilling in the house.

My stereo has not been a problem, but it is fairly cheap. The door to my battery is also starting to rust pretty bad. Might have to do something about it next summer.

Matt

[Nordern]

This is a question for the Salem owners. Have any of you guys had any issues with the pivot point on the swing axle sticking? At the end of ice last year I had a really tough time with one side. Now when I went to lift it at deer camp we needed to manually jack up that side of the shack and I thought the cable would snap but we did get it pinned. There are grease points at the front side of the pins but they really do not take grease. The tolerance between the pin and the bore is so tight that grease cannot get in there. I looks like this will be a real bear to remove and clean it up. Anyone have any experience with this issue?

[walleyeman82]

I would have to agree Ice Cabin is a nice rig. One thing that bugs me with all these wheel houses is the hole placement. Maybe I'm the only one but when I go out fishing I usually go on a friday and don't come home till sunday. During this whole time I like to sit in my chair with my bottle of booz on one side and mix on the other and fish all day. The law is your able to fish two lines in the winter. This is the reason I have always built my own houses. I build the frame leaving out the cross members till I put in the holes. I place two holes comfortably in front of every chair in the house. Then I crawl under and put in the rest of members. NOBODY that I have seen has a layout that is comfortable. They all seem to set the holes in the most uncomfortable spots.

Getting closer to freeze up. Can't wait.

[Remi2007]

This is also for you Ice Cabin owners. I recently purchased my ice cabin and it has the fold down bunk over the dinet. not overly impressed with the latching system they have to hold the bunk up as seen in the pic. thinking that after a few trips down the road it will rip the brackets off the wall? any one have this house/bunk? have you changed the bracket or have you had any problems with it?

Thanks

[usmcjsy]

Well I have never tried to disconnect it cranked down. However I did use rubberized undercoating from fleet farm on the underneath of the frame. Then on the sides of the frame I used some rustoleum enamel stuff. Its like a industiral epoxy type of stuff. Its a lot tougher than regular paint. Most of the time I leave it on the lake. That is another thing I like about the weight of it. I feel comfortable leaving it out on the lake no matter how strong the winds get. It is a solid well built house.

[mrmanners]

I have the same layout and we keep the bunk down during transport. This was worked well as we have put some miles on camping this summer.

[Poutmaster]

I've seen the same spindle / grease issue on ice castles. Anyone have a cure?

[bassNspear]

since most of you guys have bought these houses, do you perfer the panels or the cedar inside??

[JRB fishing]

I have pine in mine and love it.

[fishinalot]

Just remember before buying a Salem fish house. Where they are made I doubt any of those boys Ice Fish!!

[bassNspear]

the pine looks really night. I looked at them again more last night, and you can really tell the different in the fit and finish of a ice castle. TO me, it seems like they finish them off as well as lodge or salem, however, there not the same money as them either.