2012 Fish House Build

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Looking good !! So how many have you built now?

This is my 5th one. I might retire from fish house building after this one.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

How hard were the dinette and the cabinets to make? I haven't done woodworking in 10 years (and vaguely remember that!) I have never made cabinetry and am a little bit nervous!

If I don't make my own I was thinking of purchasing premade unfinished oak, but not sure how that will look with the cedar

I would never ever describe myself as a woodworker, or cabinet maker. I spent $1200 on custom cabinets for my last house, and this time I decided I'd invest in tools to do the project myself, rather than have someone make them for me.

You will for sure need a table saw, a good miter saw & blade, router (preferably a router table), a Kreg Jig with a bunch of clamps, a drill (or two), a good wood working bench, and some other miscellaneous tools. The Kreg Jig kit and associated clamps and screws was probably $300. I spent about $200 on a router, table, and bits. I had everything else, but burnt out my miter saw cutting the tube steel for the, so that was another $900 for a sweet saw and stand-ended up being money well spent!

I wouldn't describe cabinets as 'hard' to make, it just takes some planning, and precise cuts (measure twice...). One challenge with these is that I am making them out of cedar. It is really hard to find good cedar boards, and it is relatively soft. It isn't a big deal for the cabinet face frames, but the miters for the doors are tough to get perfect.

There are lots of videos on using the Kreg Jig on YouTube. I was worried that they made it look easy on the videos, but it really is a simple system to use.

[Iambjm]

I did pine in mine and used pre-made oak cabinets from the big box store. It made it a lot easier and I managed to hit them on sale in November last year

[landscaper]

I would never ever describe myself as a woodworker, or cabinet maker. I spent $1200 on custom cabinets for my last house, and this time I decided I'd invest in tools to do the project myself, rather than have someone make them for me.

You will for sure need a table saw, a good miter saw & blade, router (preferably a router table), a Kreg Jig with a bunch of clamps, a drill (or two), a good wood working bench, and some other miscellaneous tools. The Kreg Jig kit and associated clamps and screws was probably $300. I spent about $200 on a router, table, and bits. I had everything else, but burnt out my miter saw cutting the tube steel for the, so that was another $900 for a sweet saw and stand-ended up being money well spent!

I wouldn't describe cabinets as 'hard' to make, it just takes some planning, and precise cuts (measure twice...). One challenge with these is that I am making them out of cedar. It is really hard to find good cedar boards, and it is relatively soft. It isn't a big deal for the cabinet face frames, but the miters for the doors are tough to get perfect.

There are lots of videos on using the Kreg Jig on YouTube. I was worried that they made it look easy on the videos, but it really is a simple system to use.

Router table? DId you make one or build it?

$900 for what kind of saw??

The KREG JIG is sweet easy to use!!

I just built a cedar cabinet for my parent garage and used the KREG JIG and it worked good but like you said the cedar is tough to get perfect

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I bought a cheap Ryobi table and router from Home Depot for like $100 or so. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on something I've never really needed or wanted before, but now that I have it I can think of lots of things to use it for! It seems to work well, but it is the only router I've ever used.

The miter saw I got is the Milwaukee 6955-20. It is a 12" dual bevel sliding compound miter. I put it on a Bosch T4B stand. I've used a lot of miter saws and stands, and this is by far the best combo I've used. The 12" isn't necessary for a project like this, but at some point in the future I'll probably be happy to have the additional capacity.

[BobberDown365]

First let me say Hello & very nice house and write up Lip Ripper guy. I'm residing my house and would like to know what size vhb tape you used on the seams? Is the seam tape a one shot deal when applying the sheet or can I still adjust it? Thanks

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

First let me say Hello & very nice house and write up Lip Ripper guy. I'm residing my house and would like to know what size vhb tape you used on the seams? Is the seam tape a one shot deal when applying the sheet or can I still adjust it? Thanks

My recommendation for seams would be the 3M VHB in either CV62F or CV45F. You'll want 1" width. I've tried some others, but that seems to stick the best.

Make sure you take some Scotchbrite to the painted surfaces, and then clean with a rubbing alcohol/water mix at 50/50.

Once it sticks, you won't be doing any adjusting. Have at least one or two helpers, and use clamps to hold the sheet in place. It is intimidating at first, but once you get the process down it is really easy.

[RiverChuckNorris]

How's the carpentry coming along inside now LRG?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

It's coming along. Deer hunting threw a major wrench into the build, but I've been slowing plugging away.

Everything is pretty much in place now. I'll have to take the lower bunks and cabinets back out to install the carpet, so this is just temporary. Yesterday afternoon was spent getting the wiring hooked up to the power panel. I'll probably finish that off tonight.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Looks fantastic. Did you consider installing a rubber floor instead of carpet? I grew up fishing out of a perm with carpet and hated pulling hooks out and the moisture retention. We've got rubber in our wheelhouse now and I love it (granted, it's also a toy hauler).

[hooked79]

looks awsome great job

heck you should go into busness not retire

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Looks fantastic. Did you consider installing a rubber floor instead of carpet? I grew up fishing out of a perm with carpet and hated pulling hooks out and the moisture retention. We've got rubber in our wheelhouse now and I love it (granted, it's also a toy hauler).

I did. I like the carpet for the extra warmth, but there are definitely drawbacks. The stuff I have is boat carpet, so it shouldn't be too bad for hooks or cleanup. I am considering doing the front area with either G Floor or Herculiner, but I don't have to decide that for a few more days.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Any progress LRG? Dressing all those deer taking too much time?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

It is 99.5% done! Another couple hours tonight, and a couple hours of cleanup, and I should have some pics to post.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Looking forward to seeing the finished pics!

[landscaper]

Cant wait!

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

House is done, finally! I don't have all the final pics yet, but I should tonight. For now, please excuse the mess in some of the pics.

Just before the carpet went in...

All the interior lights are recessed LED from super bright LEDs. I have 9 in the main part of the house, 3 have separate switches to turn off.

I hate noise. Especially from the forced air furnaces. I wrapped the entire inside of the cabinet and underside of the counter-tops with this duct insulation from Menards. It made an absolutely incredible difference in sound level.

Here's the front of the house. Under the front bench is the hydraulic pump with it's own battery, and the (2) 6-volt batteries which power the house. This is the first house I've used the 6-volt setup in, but most of the RVs use it.

The top center white handle is for the crank-up satellite & (powered) off-air antenna. It seems to work well (Winegard RM-DM61). I get 29 channels at home.

I don't currently have a front upper bunk, but the TV is recessed into the wall so I can add one in the future without moving the TV. For now, I think I'm going to do a wire shelf.

I built all the cabinets and counter-tops in this house as I mentioned previously. They turned out pretty good, IMO. Cedar is really hard to work with, as it is very inconsistent. I probably wouldn't do cedar again.

More to come.....

[c0untryf1sh3r]

It may be inconsistent but I bet it sure smells good. Great work LRG. Pretty neat watching a build like this progress.

[Tom Buckles]

Looks great!

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Took a trip to the scale last night, which was also the first time pulling the finished house. Pulled really well, and weighed in at 5400#.

The first pic is with the hydraulics locked in the highest of 6 positions. I have a small drop hitch on, so it looks out of balance.

This next one is with it dropped down 1 position, to make it pretty much perfectly level. This will be fine for going down the road, but it is definitely too low for a sloped access. But the wireless hydraulic remote takes care of that without even leaving the truck!

The table drops down flat to make a 48" x 92" bed, and the upper bunk folds roughly in half for good head space at the table, and I can still keep cushions and sleeping bags up there going down the road without them ending up all over the house. If you look really close at the front of each bench, there is a small UV LED light built in for glow jigs.

The inside of each wheel well has outlets for charging the Marcum's. Because of the design of the frame, the wheel wells only needed to be about 20" tall. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with the space, but the extra storage will be nice. At the top right corner of the door you can see a small box covered with diamond plate. This is the controller for our 'outboxes', which are basically heated boxes with electronic rattle reels. Slicker than snot.

And last, but certainly not least

Now all we need is ice!

[RiverChuckNorris]

Congrats on project completion LRG! The results speak for themselves.

I spoke with the Ice Assault guys at the show about your trailer this past weekend and they were mentioning you had just finished.

For what it's worth, I've got the same truck and pull a 8x16 castle (winch, not Hydro). I found a 1" lifted tongue makes it nice and level for trailering just in case you find you need to pull it a bit higher.

The only bad thing about the 1" lifted tongue, is I have to have someone stand on the bumper if the bed is empty, to hook up the castle as the ball is a bit to high for the tongue stand

I'll look for you on the ice this year (assuming we get some!)

[nofishfisherman]

Looks great, but I think you left out something rather important. There doesn't seem to be a hole in the bathroom for jigging while you're on the can.

[Iambjm]

Absolutely stunning!!! Better looking than most of the ones I saw at the ice show!

[BartmanMN]

Turned out amazing. Congrats. Bring on the ICE.

[rebel102285]

Looks amazing I an going to start my interior in the next 2 weeks or so. .. I do have a quick question for you. . What are you doing for your sink. ...I am debating putting a sink in and having a house that week draw water from a hole with a pump. .. Then running the drain into another hole.... who'd be nice just for cleaning fish and rinsing dishes off.