Licensing a ice house

[walleye977]

I bought this old camper its 7.5 feet across and 10 feet long its small just converted it into a ice shack Looking to get it licensed for the road. Just wondering I should be able to get a life time trailer license cause it under 3,000 lbs for it. The lady at the DMV says it needs a title. I live in minnesota the land of 10,000 fees. Just wondering what others have done.

[cavalierowner]

What if you told her is was home made. I didn't need a title for either of my home made trailers. If I recall, it just had HM under the manufacturer.

[choppermn27]

I had issues with mine. If you tell them it has a title you will have to have the title and change owner to yourself. If you tell them it's a home made trailer then you just need a sticker to drive it on the roads.

I took pictures to show them it was road worthy and had lights and was legal and they licensed it as homemade, they do however require you to give them the value of the trailer, and if you have any reciepts of the materials you bought to build it you can use them to offset the taxes. I was just grateful to get it licensed and payed full price.

[walleye977]

How do people with Ice castle have to license there shacks do they have to do a recreation license or travel trailer or can they get away with lifetime trailer license. All I have is a gutted 69 camper but will be towing it long distance to lake just for winter use figure i better get some type of license on it.

[choppermn27]

If your camper is an RV costs more to license.

All the factory built wheelhouses have to be licensed as RVs and they have a title from the manufacturer.

If you goto the DMV and tell them your fish house is home made, they will license it with a permanent trailer license.

If you tell them it's a camper, or about having an existing RV plate, they will not allow you to register it as home made. So if they see a plate on it, they will force you to RV register it.

There are also weight restrictions, but for a camper conversion your trailer is 3000lbs or less.

The difference is if you plan to sleep in it when not on the ice in the summer, it's better to have the RV license.

The issue I had with my camper was the person I bought it from never changed the owner of the title on it, and I had no way to transfer the title on it, this was no big deal for the person I bought it from because he never tried to drive it down the road off his property and didn't need a license. But for me it was a nightmare trying to get a hold of the previous owner who lived 50 miles away, and wanted nothing to do with this camper which was basically worthless except the frame.

I will add also that I claimed the value of the fish house as 800 and did pay plenty of tax on it to the state, but it's not an RV it's a fish house.

[choppermn27]

If your camper is an RV costs more to license.

All the factory built wheelhouses have to be licensed as RVs and they have a title from the manufacturer.

If you goto the DMV and tell them your fish house is home made, they will license it with a permanent trailer license.

If you tell them it's a camper, or about having an existing RV plate, they will not allow you to register it as home made. So if they see a plate on it, they will force you to RV register it.

There are also weight restrictions, but for a camper conversion your trailer is 3000lbs or less.

The difference is if you plan to sleep in it when not on the ice in the summer, it's better to have the RV license.

The issue I had with my camper was the person I bought it from never changed the owner of the title on it, and I had no way to transfer the title on it, this was no big deal for the person I bought it from because he never tried to drive it down the road off his property and didn't need a license. But for me it was a nightmare trying to get a hold of the previous owner who lived 50 miles away, and wanted nothing to do with this camper which was basically worthless except the frame.

I will add also that I claimed the value of the fish house as 800 and did pay plenty of tax on it to the state, but it's not an RV it's a fish house.

[walleye977]

Thats the problem I have I have the title but its from montana and its got diffrent names on it not the guy i bought it from some in line forgot to send it in but they he signed it. Looks like going to have to try and get a life time license on since it does qualify just look like a camper buts it gutted thanks for the help

[choppermn27]

Tell the DMV it's home made and give it a real world value and license your fish house trailer.

They make you fill out a form for all of it.

[Fishin4fun_MN]

Its not really the same thing, but a friend of mine bought a car trailer and couldn't get a title from the owner so he just went to the DMV and got an application for title/license for a home made trailer. Basically the same thing every one here is telling you. It is pretty simple to fill out and the taxes aren't that bad, unless you give it a high value.