Pulling a skid house

[FWR]

Those of you with a skid house on Mille Lacs, do you tow it to a new fishing spot yourself or do you pay a resort to move it? I am looking at a skid house around 10x20 and I am concerned about having enough traction to move it myself in heavy snow. Most resorts I looked at charge about $50 for a move. Is it worth it? I am also looking a 8x16 wheelhouse but its a much more expensive route to go. Let me know what you think.

Thank you

[Gordie]

I had a 8x16 years ago and moved it myself because I couldn't afford the move by the resort.

I had a old ford truck and made a high hitch for it myself along with tire chains and moved as well as the resort could they didnt like it but I also helped the resort at the end of the season pull houses to shore so they never did get to terribly mad.

It is hard on the house and truck if your not set up for it. You almost have to have chains on your truck to get traction.

You will also need a really good jack to get the house up and off the ice and onto blocks then do the oppisite to move by taking it off the blocks.

If the house has steel skids it will move easier than ones that have wood skids.

Good Luck

["Just Add Ice"]

Appeldorns gives you one free move if you have your house at their resort just an FYI...

[Ice Shack Baby]

I've been ice fishing on Mille Lacs for about 8 years with a 10 x 20 skid house. The resorts have their trucks set up for towing skid houses. If you have a set up like the picture below, you will have no issues. Other than that, I would pay the price. They have a set up similar to a tow truck that lifts the house a little at the tow points. This puts less stress on the vehicle. They also have chains on the tires. Most of the resort trucks do need transmission work done each year which I would guess would be more $$ than what it would cost you to have your house towed.

[dougger222]

I don't spend any time on the ice on ML any more but instead have had a 11x17 sleeper on LOW.

The only issues with moving the house is when you step it on glare ice it will freeze down instantly and you have to give it a good jerk to get it loose. The other issue is if it's one spot too long the snow banks around it will become rock hard. In these cases the tractor is required to move the snow to get to the house.

In the past 8 years it's been about 50/50 resort taking it out putting it back to shore and moving it around the lake.

[Finlander]

Pay the resort as said! One transmission repair will pay for many years of house moving!

[Dozer]

I you take out a trasmission pulling around a skid house you are doing something very wrong!

Plow trucks are hard on trasmissions because there are constantly going from forward to reverse, often times while still moving in the wrong direction.

[Stick in Mud]

We pay the resort to move ours, though we tend to get a little bit lazy because we don't move the "big" house very often. The vast majority of the time we'll take out the portables and use the house as a home base.

But as others have said, considering the scope and scale of the problems you might run into, $50 isn't too bad. Just my .02.