Ice house storage

[Vikesfan]

With winter approaching I need to figure out how to lift my ice shack up the ceiling of my garage to make more room when I'm not using it. I have an otter cabin. How do all of you do this? Any ideas or pictures would be very helpful. I know I have seen other threads on this and I can't find them.

Thanks,

Vikesfan

[BartmanMN]

Racor Pro Heavy lift. Search for it.

[Crappyfisherman]

$99 at Amazon.com

[Vikesfan]

That looks awesome! Thanks guys!

[Hardyboy]

$99 at Amazon.com

The $99 bucks is just for the rack, you also need the lift pieces so that will be a little extra. Still a great price right now.

[CJH]

Racor Pro Heavy lift.

That's what I use - love it!! Going to install a second one for all of the miscellaneous stuff that migrates to the garage.

[Vikesfan]

What other lift pieces will I need? Are you talking about the handle to crank it up?

[Hardyboy]

Yeah the $99 is for the bottom rack itself you still need the crankup pieces that attach to the ceiling that make it work. Still a great deal no matter how you look at it.

[picksbigwagon]

Racor Pro heavylift, and I had a friend with some metal fabrication experience create a hook that I can chuck into my cordless drill and can raise or lower the lift with no cranking by hand, just pull the trigger

[otterman91105]

I have the otter resort. I measure out on the ceiling for four eye hooks (metal)one in each corner then buy four pulleys hang the pulleys from the eye hooks. Tie a rope off from each corner of the house and lift it up. This works great for me i store mine in the air all summer like that, it's pretty easy.

[mccullen]

1/2 ton manual chain hoist $60 at northern. Works awesome for a fairly decent price. Mine was only $25 just a couple years ago. One eye bolt centered where you want to hang the shack and clip the hoist to that eye bolt. Run strap or straps, depending on the size of your shack, under the shack and lift her up and out of your way in a couple of minutes.

I have 2x4's I put between my lofts to set it down on so the weight of the shack isn't on the straps all summer long. I never lift it up in the winter, it's usually in the back of my truck ready at a moments notice!

[BartmanMN]

What other lift pieces will I need? Are you talking about the handle to crank it up?

I believe that 99 covers the entire unit. I don't see any mention of it not including eveything.

[McGurk]

I put a RacorPro Heavy Lift in this summer, and I have an Otter Cabin and a small sled on it side by side. The only issue I have read is that they supply cheap hardware and people strip the lag heads off. I doubt they predrilled like they were supposed to, and I didn't pop a single one off. This unit from Amazon includes everything, there are no additional parts needed.

RacorPro Heavylift from Amazon

If you do get one (and I HIGHLY recommend it!) make sure you read the Amazon comments to find some easier installation tips. I'm glad I did as they covered answers to questions I'm sure I would have had! I have a 9' ceiling and it does not go down to the floor, but about 18" up from it. I may add some small chain about 18" long to each corner so I can get it the whole way down. Others have purchased longer cables and replaced the supplied ones.

-You need your rafters to be 47" to 49" apart, and confirm that they are there if you have a finished ceiling with a tiny drill bit.

-Put the mesh rack together last, as it just gets in the way until you need it.

-Make sure you are looking all the way to the floor when picking out a spot on the ceiling/rafters to mount it so it doesn't interfere with anything going up and down.

-Don't assemble the pulley brackets and arms on the floor, but loosely attach the central part to the ceiling first with one lag (PREDRILL!!!), then the other one, and double check that they are square.

-Attach the pulley arms to the central brackets, and then tighten up the first lags. Confirm that they are square.

-Mark and Predrill all of the rest of the lags, and don't overtighten them!!! It is not necessary to go past a good snug fit.

-Before you attach ithe gear box, open it up and put a lot of cold temp grease inside, as it seemed a bit dry when I first used it.