Buying Fish House Help........

[BLACKJACK]

bass n spear,

I bought an Ice Castle this fall, a 6.5x14 Sport Angler. I had been looking for a wheel house the last several years, priced them at several different spots, Alex, Nilsson Hardware in Swanville, looked at Yetti's (too expensive by the time I had it finished), looked at frames and building my own, looked at King Crows, looked at a number of used ones and new ones built by various people, called back in the spring to see if I could get special end of year sales. Eventually settled on the IC Sport Angler as filling my needs (bunks, bathroom, stove) of an overnight fish house at an affordable price.

Saved my money, shied away from any other expensive purchases, was determined to buy one. This fall went to the MN state fair, looked at ICs from Milaca Unclaimed Freight. They had the big honkers at the fair but gave me a number to called. Called the guy on Monday and long story short I bought a 2010 Sport Angler, one that had sat there since last year. What sealed the deal was when he said that all I needed to do was put $100 down and could come to Milaca and look at it, if I didn't like it, I'd get my $100 back. Plus I had looked at enough fish houses so when he quoted me a price, I knew it was a good price.

With the crummy ice I have yet to get it on the ice but here are some thoughts:

1) Make sure you get the bigger windows, some ice castles have the narrow windows.

2) As someone else mentioned, it comes standard with a one tank regulator, make them swap that out for a two tank regulator. I'm currently in the process of putting in a two tanker automatic regulator, I didn't want to be out there in the middle of the night swapping it over. Anybody want to buy my new one tank regulator??!

3) I did buy two 30 pound filled tanks at Milaca, they had a good price on them “we sell a lot of them”.

4) I did take it to a spray foam guy up by Alex and had the bottom spray foamed, cost $300, I figured it was a good long term investment in comfort.

5) When figuring your budget, figure in all the extra expenses - sales tax ($400+), LP tanks ($140), two batteries ($200), onboard charger ($150), rattle reels, electric auger, hole sleeves, it goes on and on.

6) The bigger the better, but also consider how you fish. Looking at this 6.5 x 14, its going to be a nice two person house, but 3 people will be a crowd and 4 is out of the question. 95% of my fishing will be with 1-2 people, the way I look at it, this will give my wife and I a taste of overnight fishing, if we like it, we can always upgrade.

7) The people that advocate buying the bigger and better RV models, using it for camping and as a fish house, more power to them, my wife and I have a Coachman camper and now a fish house, 20 years ago I might have been able to talk her into a combo house but now I don't think she want fish guts, minnows, etc in her playhouse.

Good luck in your search!!

[bassNspear]

awesome information bud. Thanks so much for sharing your information.

[mediocrates67]

[mediocrates67]

also don't get a house with the window on the front left side, that gets beaten up by flying rocks from oncoming traffic. went on a trip one time with my cousin and his house took a rock through the front window. we fought with it the rest of the weekend to keep the house warm.

you'll see in my photo the forced air furnace primary outlet facing the doorway so it can dry out the wet carpet.

[bassNspear]

i dont think any of them have that anymore...

you running sat or antenna

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I love the fact that I can just strap a new cable on mine if one breaks. If yours don't work on the lake then what do you do to get the hydrolics to work when you need to be back to work in the morning? Maybe there is a manual lift or lower for the hydrolics?

Hydraulic is a very simple system that has been tried and tested. Think of all the cars running around with hydraulic brakes, power steering, transmissions, snow plows, bobcats, etc. Sure, some things COULD go wrong, but if you have a well designed system, it should be very rare. A person is far more likely to have a leaf spring or cable/winch problem, than they are a hydraulic system failure.

Worst case scenario, you'd end up having to use a jack (hydraulic) to lift it up.

[BigDogRob]

I don't know anything about Hydrolics, that is why I wondered... Bass, mine has a front window on the left side... It's where the bathroom is, but it is up quite high. I wouldn't worry about it too much taking a rock anyways. I also have another tip though. carry a window insulator kit from Menards or another big box store and throw in a wheel well. If you ever do have a window break... you can put it on the outside and another on the inside and still keep the heat in and not fight the constant onslought of cold coming in. Those of us with kids know how "accidents" happen...lol

[bassNspear]

im not sure why a guy would really need to go with hyros...unless its a no brainer when it comes to the money. I would think that its alot more money thow

[BigDogRob]

I thought it was an extra $750 or so for mine to do that... I figured that for that price I could buy lots of cables... and being a bit on the chunky side I could use the little extra excersize...lol. I could see the benefit it it were -20 outside when getting to the lake and a 10mph wind. Then again it's only gonna take me about 5 minutes or so to drop mine to the ice and get inside. by then the thing is warming up pretty quickly anyways.

[larryz]

Not having to deal with the cables. The wheel assembly takes less space. And it is a whole lot easier to raise and lower the house for an old man like me!!!! I have had both winches and now hydraulic and for me it was definitly worth the cost difference. And I believe the paint is better on the hydraulic frames.

[BigDogRob]

LarryZ I will definately agree that the wheel wells are lots smaller. If I was 60 or so I would probably agree on the age helping me make the decision of cable/vs./hydrolics. I do see that with the Hydrolic wheel wells you could make them into a bench seat on each side if you wanted, but the only space I seen you gain would be wall space? If you have two bunks hanging off the sides then you still don't really gain anything other than you don't have to crawl up so high to get into the bunks. I guess the choices of the two are kind of along the same lines on (which is better... Strikemaster or Jiffy...) Everyone has a choice to make on which they feel is the best choice for them in the timeframe they are going to use it. I thought about some with the electric on each side also, but then I figured with my luck I would tear off a cable and have to work on it for an hour in -20 at the lake.

[mediocrates67]

i use antenna. i don't watch a lot of tv, but its nice to get fox in digital signal for the vikings games and weather. have a playstation for games/dvds.

[B-man715]

BnS I would highly recommend hydrualics, no matter what brand you go with.

You can raise and lower your shack by barely lifting a finger. This lets you make your wheelhouse into truely a portable fishouse.

Nobody I know moves 5,6,7 times or fishes multiple lakes with a crank house in the same day.

In a hydraulic house moving is no big deal. With my shack (Shack Rack Frame), I can go from stepping out the fish house door to driving away in about 45 seconds. The only "labor" is bending over to slide the pins in.

My buddy just picked up a new Ice Castle (the 17" hydraulic camper.) I haven't seen it in person yet, but it sounds very nice. Tube frame and key fob hydraulic operation, with only one pin to pull/push. He paid a lot for it, but was in the market for a camper anyhow. It was the perfect choice for him.

Have fun shopping around It is a lot of fun checking out different kinds of shacks!

-Brandon

[bassNspear]

all this information is so awesome, and some of the things all of you have said are things that i might look over. Thank you

Im not sure how much that options of hydros is but i will have to look into them. Not like im not going to keep this things for 1-2 years, when i pop on it, and make the plunge, im going to have it till its junk.

[bassNspear]

does you guys think the AC ptions is a good idea if your only going to use it for maybe 1-2 times a year at the VERY most.

thinking that its not worth it???

[GSB Ice Man]

I purchased the Spirit model last winter. My wife and I like the layout with 2 smaller kids.

We just use a window AC unit for the 2-3 times we need it in the summer, works great in the bay window.

[mediocrates67]

make sure you have a window big enough for an ac. you don't have to get the roof mount one.

[BLACKJACK]

when i pop on it, and make the plunge, im going to have it till its junk.

I guess my philosophy is a little bit different. I feel if I buy something at the right price, use it for a few years, get some use out of it, I can always sell (or trade) it, then buy another one thats bigger and better. This goes for boats, 4-wheelers, vehicles, fishhouses, etc. Have you ever seen anyone trade in a boat or 4-wheeler for a smaller one?

If you buy new, yes you lose 20% of the value when you drive it off the lot but you (hopefully) get maintenance free use for the first few years, you get to be the one to put the wear and tear on it, you know it hasn't been abused.

I'd love to buy a 20 foot, hydraulic lift, fully decked out fish house, but if buying a smaller one gets me out fishing rather than waiting 3 years until I can buy the big one, I'll buy the small one, use the heck out of it, then upgrade in a few years when I can afford it.

[cluelessfisherman]

As far as the ac unit, it does have a fan option that you can use to blow some of the warmer air from the ceiling around in the fish house. I was told several guys really like having that option during the winter, but I haven't had the opportunity or need to try it out myself yet.

I had the same debate as you - do I put it on if I may only need it a few times in the summer?

I finally decided to go with it. I figured if this was a house I plan to keep for the next ten years, I didn't want to have any woulda, shoulda, coulda moments by not having it.

[bassNspear]

thats a good point. guess it all comes down to money, and how much a person is willing to spend.

[BigDogRob]

+1 on Clueless statement. I have looked and debated for over a couple years before we decided we could buy one... Then when we got to the dealer and seen the RV edition, well everything was out the window! The thing was a perfect fit with everything we wanted minus only one thing for summer camping. An awning will be added later, but I will say that we got the A/C unit on ours and after only 2 trips with ours. We used it a couple times and the best part is that when we have people come up in the summer for ATV trips they can stay in there as a cabin and they have air to stay cool if needed, heat if cold and lights when dark. I couldn't be happier with mine. I think though in a few years I will be looking at possibly going to a 20' with a similar style we have! I had the same mentality of keeping till junk, but then think of the people that may want a great house in a few years that maybe can't afford the sticker price that we paid and want to have a chance to get something bigger or newer than they have. It's kind of like helping out someone in a far-off sence. When it's paid for then I'm not really losing anything if I were to keep it, but there is always new ideas and inventions and with Aluminun getting to be a littl e more use and trial to see how well it will hold up on a wheel house then that may be the way to go for me in a while. The choices are almost endless and can give you a headache if you sit and dwell on what you may be forgetting. You just need to figure out what you want and what will be the most beneficial to you! Then sit down with the wife and actually do a pro/con list. Just remember if you are both thinking it might be a good idea you may as well go with it! (kicking yourself if you didn't) We always hear of guys that kick themselves for not getting (....), and the thing is that no matter what we tend to forget what we want as guys when we start seeing something bright and shiny...lol Have fun and look at lots before jumping in... also remember that you can pick any color you want and if they don't have it they can get it so don't settle...

[bassNspear]

great information

[bassNspear]

do you guys think its a good thing to sand blast the frame, and if so, do you do it every year.

[bassNspear]

wondering how many people custom there layout in there house. I like the Mille lacs and the lake of the woods, but there would be a few things i would change.

Do they charge more to do it, or no?