Please comment on my 6.5 x 16 floor plan

[Boker001]

This is what I've got planned out for the new house. Any suggestions or comments would be very appreciated.

[JeffB]

I love the smell of a wood burner, but I wouldn't be willing to give up the space on a fish house. I would go with a small force air propane built into on of the benches for the table. You get great heat right where you want it and a thermostat on the wall to boot. If the furnace was built into your bench for the table you would gain at least 20 sq feet of usable space and not have a hole in the roof. It does look nice though and I'm sure you will enjoy it either way.

[Boker001]

I'd love the convenience of a propane heating system but I'm looking at the low cost of start up and almost free heat that the wood stove provides. Propane gets expensive and then I need a generator with a battery bank. On the other hand I could go with a 14' house and still have the same floor plan. That would save on cost.

[Boker001]

Whats the average length a 30 # tank will last with a 16,000 btu forced air furnace on a well insulated 14' house?

[Big Dave2]

I'd love the convenience of a propane heating system but I'm looking at the low cost of start up and almost free heat that the wood stove provides. Propane gets expensive and then I need a generator with a battery bank. On the other hand I could go with a 14' house and still have the same floor plan. That would save on cost.

If you don't already own the wood stove you would still have money into buying the stove. A gas furnace does not have to be that expensive, you could probably find someone who is parting out an old camper and get one for a couple hundred or less. For the amount you will end up investing in your fish house, this will be a drop in the bucket.

I love the wood stove we have in the hunting shack but I NEVER liked the wood stoves we had in fish houses as a kid. No temp control, hauling wood, smoke in the eyes, way too hot in the top bunk, can't sit anywhere near it after you stoke it up, where all things I hated about them.

I wouldn't think you would need to have a generator, just a couple of good deep cell batteries that you can interchange when needed. You will need those anyway for lights and maybe a fan or 2. With having a gas system you could also put in a cookstove if you plan to spend a lot of time or overnight trips in your fish house. It's always nice to have a hot meal on a cold day!

[Big Dave2]

The other thing I like about the gas is I can leave it on over the weekend if I go home for the night and am coming back the next day.

[Boker001]

Dave how often do you use up your tank? I'm definitely warming up to the idea.

[Eelpout08]

I cant remember for sure but we usually fill up the two 30lb'rs on our 6.5x14 for deer hunting and end up refilling them once during the winter. i would say we use it two or three nights a week and one weekend of "fishing " each month, on average.

Hope that gives you some idea of how long it will last.

Floor plan looks good. if it were mine i would definitly put in some counter space and a cooktop with oven. we didnt put one in so we have to use a tabletop camp stove and a pizza oven. it would be nice not to have to find a place for those two things.

[Boker001]

Thanks, that gives me a really good idea. So I think I'm sold on the forced air furnace. I think I'm going to change the plans to a 14' with V. So the V will have the typical furnace and cooktop/counter set up like most. The walls are going to be 3" and I plan to use the fiberglass bat insulation so it will have an R value of around 14. 1/2" or 3/4" pink foam in the floor and fiberglass bat in the ceiling. Should be very well insulated. Plan to buy a 50W solar panel to mount on the roof and have in charge two deep cell marine batteries. Wire the batteries with a second charger with a receptacle mounted through the outside wall incase of the need of a generator.

[Big Dave2]

Dave how often do you use up your tank? I'm definitely warming up to the idea.

I wouldn't use our situation as a guide of fuel consumption. We have a small ventless heater that I don't recommend by the way. It works good for us but I would never tell anyone else to use a ventless.

We never go through more than 2 - 20lb tanks but like I said, our heater is small, we never have to run it on a setting higher than 2 out of 10, and we don't fish as much as I would like to

[Norm1980]

I would atleast think about investing in a cot or two rather then the fold up bunks on the side.

[BLACKJACK]

I would atleast think about investing in a cot or two rather then the fold up bunks on the side.

I'll second the idea of cots vrs. foldown bunks, then put windows where the cots would be. Make sure your windows are low enough so you can see out the windows when you're sitting. I looked at a few house with the folddown bunks over the wheels and they were awful dark inside.

I have a wood stove in the current house, like dinking with it, even has a hot plate for cooking on top, but it does take up a lot of room and it is hard to avoid getting 'too hot' at times. Also tough to bank it enough to last all night without having to get up and restoke. The new house has a forced air furnace with a range top... Give me a year and I'll tell you how much gas I go thru.

[Boker001]

I have access to 2 military cots but they are a pain to set up. The side bunks are only going to be 24" wide so the windows will be about 26" above them. I'd rather have fold down bunks since they are just there out of the way when you need them. I've also thought about recessing them into the walls which would be cool but too complicated for what its worth.

I have a 7' x 12' house right now with a wood stove and yes it is nice to have something to tinker with but it can go from 90 degrees to 40 in the middle of the night. A better stove would be easier to damper down but it would be nice to not have to haul/split wood/clean up ash/not have wood splinters stuck all over in the carpet.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I have a 16k BTU Suburban forced air in my house, and go through 20# in about 3-4 full days of fishing, depending on temps.

[Boker001]

Lip_Ripper I see your house is pretty much the same sq ft space as my planned 6.5 x 14. Do you think running an 18,000 btu furnace would be more efficient since it wouldn't have to run as often or would it not be much difference?

Thanks

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I'm not sure that 2,000btu's would make much difference. It can take a little while to warm the house up from completely cold (I use the 3 stove burners to help out), so maybe a little extra juice wouldn't be a bad idea?

[broman]

I would atleast think about investing in a cot or two rather then the fold up bunks on the side.

We use cots. Problem is that everyone who sleeps on them complains about it getting cold. Especially if you have holes open next to them. This is even with a fan on. Bunks are nice if you use some thick foam. Better insulating factor.