My first wheelhouse build.

[Scoldy_Nation]

Hey guys and gals,

I've been working on building this fish house for about the last 2 months and I finally decided that I needed to post the progress since i've been getting most of my ideas from multiple people on this forum!

The frame started as a pop-up camper that i got for free which was 6 1/2' by 9' and since i wanted to be around 10' i just "stretched" the frame so that i'm a little over 10'. I then sandblasted the frame and sprayed zinc primer and multiple coats of rustoleum.

For the flooring I used dry-ply and glued/self tapped the sheets down. The studs are just ripped 2x's also glued an screwed. The upper part of the bump-out will be for an extension for the top bunk and the lower part is just to give a little more space at the dinette. For the roof I'll be using menards rubber roofing kit and the siding will be 3/8 plywood with duplicolor bed armor for paint.

One other thing I decided on was that I definitely wanted it to be able to haul my wheeler so I welded up a frame for the ramp on the back which will be finished as soon as the siding is done. The door for the house will be built into the ramp so i wont be wasting any wall space. The axle will also be eliminated and drop down axles will be added on.

As of right now we have the siding and roof kit sitting in the garage but this weather hasn't been cooperating to much lately! So when that work gets done i'll post more pictures. Any comments are welcome!

[muskE]

Looks good. I'd love to see how you change the axles.

[theminnow]

I have been debating about building a house out of a pop up frame also. Would be very interested to see how your new axle set up is!

[Scoldy_Nation]

Well I got the frame for free so I couldn't beat it. With the drop down axles i'm going to weld 3" rectangle steel underneath the existing frame and run a 3" round steel pipe to insert each axle into from one side of the house to the other versus just welding the arm onto the frame. Should be a pretty basic design. Does anybody know if using the "tube & leaf spring" design is a good idea versus not using a spring at all? I do plan on making trips to red lake and lake of the woods and most people tell me suspension is a must. The picture is a rough example of the design i was planning on using.

[adamr]

I have had both and would never go back to one without leaf springs ice roads are never good roads. Im very surprised how mutch those leafs flex. Without any suspesion just think of the amount of pressure when you hit a bump and the thing slams to the ground. Also a v front is a must for me it is truly amazing the difference our pickup use to over heat pulling a square front until we vd it now its like pulling a boat.

[Rube]

You are probably the only ice fisherman that is hoping for some more warm weather. Went through that a few years ago when I built my wheeler.

Anyway looks like you have a pretty good start, the frame I built was a lot like the one you pictured. I also would recommend some kind of suspension- springs, torsion bar or equivilant. If you are hauling a 4-wheeler, go with a little heavier spring set up, consider where it would get tied down in the house and how that will effect axle placement & the tongue weight. Also wish I would have made mine with V front-same reason as adamr stated. Looking at a modification for mine. Gas wasn't $3.50 when I built mine.

Will you be welding the axle in with the house on the frame?

Looking forward to seeing more pictures- good luck - have fun.

[Scoldy_Nation]

Yea I think I'm going to use the leaf spring design for the drop downs. I made some pretty good progress today. The siding and rubber roof are done and pictures will posted tomorrow. I kind of ran out of daylight towards the end.

[not_nuf_time]

I'm not an engineer(sp), but after reading the post above about his wheels being located in the middle of his house, therefor getting way to much sway. You may want ot think about putting your axle a little further back to give you a little more tongue weight for safe towing. Good Luck.

[Scoldy_Nation]

Today i finished up on the roof and puttied all of the screw heads. Hopefully this week i can finish getting it sanded, primed, and painted. Next thing to tackle will be the ramp door. All of the steel is laid out in the garage but i'd like to get the siding done before finishing up the ramp.

As far as the axle set up goes, once i get the ramp all welded up i'll load the wheeler and see how my tongue weight looks and where the axle placement will be but so far as it sits i have about 150lbs or so of tongue weight. And to answer another guys question the axle setup wont be welded to the frame. The tube running through the frame will accept the solid round rod from the axle/suspension. That way the setup is held in by wrist pins and it's removable.

[Scoldy_Nation]

I finished up most of the ramp door this week along with priming the entire exterior. I also pulled the four wheeler into the house and everything worked out as planned with plenty of room to spare. I'm hoping to finish up the entry door within the ramp tomorrow. Insulation and wiring will be next.

[otterman91105]

Looks nice. Now all we need is some ice hopefully the cold weather keeps up.

[Boar]

very nice.gtreat job

[Scoldy_Nation]

Well I've got the hinges welded onto the door frame but getting the door to fit just right is a time consuming task! I give credit to guys that do trim work after trying to get this to fit perfectly. I've got the spots for the hinges routed out but now I just have to mount it. Other than than I used 3/4" BCX plywood for the inside of the ramp and 3/8" BCX for the exterior and 1" extruded polystyrene sandwiched between. The cross members in the ramp are all 1" square tube 1/8" thick with standard ramp hinges beefed up a little bit at the bottom. Next will be to get the entry door done and get the ramp bar locks on to hold the ramp upright.

[otterman91105]

I like the idea of the door inside of the drop down ramp. Thats a pretty cool way to do it.

[fishersofmen]

Nice work......thanks for sharing.

[Scoldy_Nation]

I finally got the door installed along with the ramp bar locks and the tail lights. Today i'll be getting the exterior painted and hopefully wrap up the insulation on the interior.

[hunt fish repeat]

Originally made my house with a similar axle set up and eventually had a complete failure on the way back from LOW, with this set-up there is still lateral pressure on the leaf spring with every bump in the road. My new set up is similar to this:

Keep in mind that the majority of the damage to axle set ups occur going across the lake not on the highway the best way to overcome this is a set of skis. With skis you can pull a house at 30mph across the ice and practically not spill a beer off the table:

these skis are simple drive on and go, no tie downs or straps needed. They also work great for deep snow especially when your house axle is wider than the vehicle axle.

[duckfarr]

did you make the skis also? if so what would you charge me for a set for a wheel house 6 1/2 ice castle wheels out side thanks.

[hunt fish repeat]

did you make the skis also? if so what would you charge me for a set for a wheel house 6 1/2 ice castle wheels out side thanks.

Not really interested in making them for sale, the house would almost have to be on site to ensure their are no clearance issues with the suspension or frame at the front. Last week I made up a prototype for the front of a two wheel drive wheeler using the same basic design, could'nt get to test it though before the snow melted.

[duckfarr]

how wide are the skies and how long ?

[aanderud]

how wide are the skies and how long ?

The picture is right above! To me they look to be about 2x as long as the wheel diameter and about a couple inches wider than the wheel.

Doesn't look like rocket science. Google "trailer skis" and then click on images and you'll find a ton of examples. The bottom pic is from a set that appears to be for sale at roughly 289 to 531 bucks depending on which options you get (4 foot or 6 foot long, and different materials)

[hunt fish repeat]

the ones pictured I made for a 7x10 that weighed about 2000 lbs they were 10" wide and 32" long for a total downward force of 3.12 lbs per square inch. It was equipped with 12" tires that gave it a downward force of about 55lbs per square inch. A couple weeks ago I made a set for a little heavier house that had 13" tires probably 2500 and made them the same size but had to make the front part of the ski a little shorter for frame clearance.

When I planned out the ones for the wheeler I added struts to the front of the skis to provide a little more stability when turning.

[hunt fish repeat]

one word of caution regarding making them with the smooth poly bottoms, they work great in deep snow but on a plowed ice road they need a rod down the middle of the bottom similar to a wear rod on a snowmobile or else the house can be going at a right angle to the truck, it can make stopping a nightmare too.