first fish house build 4 years in the making!

[jsr426hemi]

This is my first post to this forum but I have been reading posts for the past few months which has given me lots of insight and inspiration. I finally found some time to post some pics of my build so feel free to ask questions. I am no way an expert and I have done a lot of learning as I have been working on my fish house and I have really enjoyed working on it. My only wish is that I had more time..........and money of course

I started my build almost 4 years ago. I know......you are asking what is taking so long. My first son was born just before I started and the second will be 2 this December. I am also building it at my shop at work so spending extra time there after work or weekends have been hard with the fam at home and plenty of things to do around the house. Anyway I started drawing up plans soon after the first kid was born on late nights up with him when he wouldn't sleep. I wanted to build a drop down fish house so I went to work drawing and soon after that I purchased metal from a local welding shop. Never built a trailer frame let along a drop down trailer so for me that was the hardest part which took all of 3 years of building off and on. It started out as a 8'x 20' square frame, then I modified the tongue design, and finally ended up with a v-front 8'x 22'. The frame was finally done and painted this past March and started on the floor in July. Took a little break in between Hopefully I can attach my pics and explain a little along the way.

I used 2"x4"x1/8" for most of the frame and used 2"x3" for some of the cross members. This pic is from almost 4 years ago. Lucky my frame didn't rust away by now!

Mocked up my wheels although my design completely changed in the end. Had to buy different wheels, spindles, and hubs. Figured it was going to weigh more than I though after we made changes to the frame and size and we need electric brakes so that was a learning experience.

This is a pic of the aluminum rolls I picked up cheap. Got 6 of them 20' to 30' each for $128.00. Initially was going to use aluminum on all the sides and roof but would have ended up with a seam on the roof so I eventually bought rubber roof material which has yet to go up.

I ended up using green treated plywood on the bottom, a layer of 1-1/2" foam, and 3/8" plywood on top. Everything is glued and screwed down.

This was the fun part for me starting the framing. At this point I had been dreaming for the past 3 1/2 years of getting to this point. It is a pain in the rear to find straight 2x2's. Even ripping 2x6's instead didn't always pan out. :

Started putting up the aluminum siding a couple weeks ago. Went thru lots of glue.

This where I am at as of today. I am hoping to spray prime on the aluminum tomorrow and paint next week sometime. I seem to be having problems uploading more pics so I will try later and I will try to post more as I go along. My goal is to have it done for this winter so the whole family can enjoy it.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Awesome work and thanks for sharing

[Chad Holst]

We just started ours. We are also hoping to be fishable this winter. Just got the steal cut for the frame! Let's hope it's not four years

Thanks for the pictures.

Up to the point your at, what issues have you had?

How are you doing the roof? Cut 2x6's?

[jsr426hemi]

The biggest issues have been redoing the wheel system. Originally I was going to use the crank down method with winches. I eventually thought of using electric jacks when I knew I needed beefier hubs, spindles, and tires. I had to buy new parts and sell old parts on a rummage sale last spring hoping not to lose to much money. Another problem I had was when I rolled out the aluminum for the first time. I found many dents in many of the rolls so I was freaking out wondering do I scrap what I have and go a different route. I liked the idea of one piece with no seams. I ended up making it work with few dents on the pieces I used. I was able to pound and sand all of them out. It was left over roof skin from a trailer place. No idea there would or could be defects.

As far as the roof goes I decided on 2x6's and I wanted to taper them a little. The middle 2 feet are level and from there it goes from 5 1/2" to 3 1/2" at the ends. I wanted a level place in the middle for a roof vent and a flat spot for 2 solar panels. It just took time cutting 17 of those sob's. Good luck with your build! Hopefully u will be done in 2 to 3 months and not years

[jsr426hemi]

Here are a some more pictures of the fish house trailer I built.

This is a pic of my idea for an electric ice auger. Since I do not want to use my gas auger inside the fish house I am putting in a 1200 watt inverter to run the outlets when the generator isn't hooked up. I have a heavy duty mixing drill for mixing up grout and cement in a 5 gallon pale so I am going to take a 8" hand auger that my buddy has and attach it to the end. It should have plenty of power. The drill has 6 different speeds and the on the initial test the inverter only got close to peaking on the highest speed and that was only at start up. The drill should work off the batteries and when the generator is plugged in.

[BigDogRob]

Maybe it's camera angle, but are the axles tilted slightly to adjust for the weight when it is finished? Maybe they are straight and my eyes are just playing tricks also. That would be my primary concern for myself is welding the trailer "perfect" or to my standards, which I know I can't do myself. It looks like you are going to have lots of laughs and memories coming your way! Kids love coloring in-between rattle wheels. It definitely beats sitting in the house all winter!

[Eric_Kruger]

Nice work!

[randerson]

Looks good Do you have Zerks at your pivot point ?

[jsr426hemi]

I did tap a hole on the end of the arms where the 3 inch tube passes thru. That was a must. I would hate to have to drag the shack of the lake because the arms wouldn't drop from rusting together.

[jsr426hemi]

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Me and my little buddy applying polyurethane to the floor to water proof it before carpeting.

[jsr426hemi]

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The first coat of primer using a help sprayer.

[jsr426hemi]

Sprayed one coat of base coat yesterday and realized I had a bunch of fuzzies in the paint I decided to hand sand with 320 grit to get rid of the imperfections the best I could. Also had a little orange peel look which I wasn't pleased with. Figured out I had the largest diameter needle in the gun. I put the smallest one in and it sprayed a lot smaller particles and laid the paint down much nicer. Sucks learning the hard way. Used half the amount of paint today than I did yesterday. Picked the wrong project to learn how to spray but it looks much better after second coat today. Will do one more tomorrow.

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[jsr426hemi]

Finished up the rubber roof. Now onto some diamond plating.

Finally working on the inside. Built the framing of the bench. Next is the dinette in the rear and then I will finally start wiring. Supposed to be a low of zero tomorrow night so ice shall arrive if it's calm winds.

[jsr426hemi]

Got the door on finally. Have a little diamond plating left around the wheel wells then the outside will pretty much be done minus the solar panels. Have 3 inches of ice on Clear Lake so I am going to have to put in overtime I think. Picked up all the gas pipe and fittings to hook up the burners and heater.

[Chad Holst]

few questions, how did you attach your aluminum sheeting? did you sheet with OSB first?

We are using 2x2 for studs, I see you used them too, but in spots you turned 2x4's sideways. I was thinking the same thing,how did that work, how many 2x4's did you use in place of the 2x2's? We were going to 2x4 all the corner spots, but i was thinking a 2x4 here and there may help.

did you use a prehung door? we are not, so it doesnt stick into the house too far.

pro's-con's to using thin OSB sheeting before hanging the aluminum sheeting on the outside?

[jsr426hemi]

I ended up using a zinc screw with a flat Phillips head. I painted over them so I don't have to worry about them rusting. I did buy pole barn screws first but they stick out far and I just didn't like it. I used the same screws with vhb tape on the diamond plating. They blend in well so u don't really see the screws from a far. If those rust at all I will just put new ones in. I attached the aluminum siding right to the 2x2 studs. I screwed and used Pl premium on all the studs. Didn't seem like the Pl held good to the aluminum so that was a waste of money.

I did use 2x4's on all the corners turned sideways for added strength. Also used 2x4's where I boxed in the wheel wells mainly to have a nailer on the inside corners when I run the tongue and groove pine which I will run horizontal. Used 2x2's in the rest of the walls. Also ran 2x4's for the double top plate which the roof 2x6's are glued and screwed to.

I purchased a rv door off an rv parts auction site. Those are made to work with 2x2 walls so it works well and a burglar can't just kick it in although if someone wants in they could get in. Putting a hi decibel alarm in just in case On the inside the door frame sticks out past the stud 1/4" which should be perfect with the tongue and groove thickness.

Don't think it is necessary to hang osb on the studs. All u would be doing is adding weight. Almost bought fiberglass like what is used on campers but the drive was to far to go get it. I would have hung osb to glue the fiberglass siding to. We ended up using pink foam insulation and I am not going to glue it in. Cut it just right and it makes a tight fit. Only benefit i see would be a solid surface throughout and u can run screws thru the aluminum anywhere. I never once thought about sheeting the outside since my aluminum was full pieces. Hope this helps! Look forward to seeing some pics.

[Chad Holst]

Yah, thanks. I am thinking will be using the sheeting for 3 reasons. First the sheets of aluminum are 4x8 and we will be over lapping them to the next sheet. so if we are not on a stud, the edge can still be screwed down.

Insulating the walls. We ended up getting the white foam, rather than the pink foam, as it was MUCH cheaper and the R factor was only 1.5 less. So, with the added osb, we should end up at about the same R factor as if we didnt use the osb and went with the pink foam.

lastly, we are building this over the weekends and at night, we dont have a full time shop to keep it in, we want to get it to a point that we can have it up and then can work in side it, with heaters, to do the insulation, car siding, counters, etc... this way over 1 weekend we can atleast have the walls studed, and the osb sheeting hung, so its weather tight. We can then pick away on it after work, until the following weekend, where we can use the big shop again. I was worried that sheeting would get bends in it, if we only had that on the outside, and nothing making the walls ridged...like the osb will, for driving it to and from the shop.

On a side note, what you use to cut the diamond plate and the aluminum sheeting? I will post this in our build thread too..but i see you probably had to do some cutting.

Thanks.

[jsr426hemi]

I found a air nibble for $5.00 at a rummage sale couple years ago thinking ahead I would need to cut the aluminum siding. It worked well. Had most of the diamond plating laser cut at a fab shop. I used a jig saw with a metal blade to make cuts at the shop as needed. I used sandpaper to sand the edges smooth.

Yeah the pink stuff is spendy. We bought it on sale at $17 a sheet. Still much cheaper than spray foam.

[landscaper]

Very Nice! Keep the pictures coming.

[jsr426hemi]

Been a while since I posted any pics. Didn't get much work done around the holidays.....to much traveling. Have been putting a lot of time into the house since the new year trying to get it done to use in a couple weeks at least before the season is over. Took it up yesterday to get the trailer certified by the dot. It was the maiden voyage for the house so I was nervous but we had no problems. It traveled well even at 70mph. Inspection was done and everything passed. On the way home we weighed it at he Co-op scale. Weighed 4120 pounds so I am sitting Ok weight wise. Just can't go over 5100 pounds since the tires, hubs and spindles are rated for 5100. Finished up electrical which took time and now working on interior wall covering.

This is a pic of my inverter, battery disconnect, outlet, light switch for converter, and toggle switches for the electric jacks.

This is where the trailer wiring comes into the trailer from the outside. The electric brake battery is right next to the terminal bar. Everything is nice and neat.

All the wires coming into the converter box......not so nice and neat lol.

working on the time consuming tongue and groove.

The maiden voyage to the dot garage.

[jsr426hemi]

It is official, after 4 years we are finally using the house for the first time! So excited to sit inside. Kids were excited too. Had a little trauma last night. Did something I have never done before. Cut my finger on the miter box blade while cutting trim. Needed 7 stitches. Finished cutting a piece and grabbed the piece before blade stopped. Must have lifted my hand up to high. At least I wasn't coming down with the blade. Probably wouldn't have a finger left. Moral of the story......don't get in a hurry with power tools. Still have some trim left and cabinet doors to make but I will finish the cosmetics after the season since there is only about a month left.

[aanderud]

Looks great! Thanks for taking the time to post the pics an story along the way. I think y'all will have a good time with this.

[leech~~]

Nice work. 4 years are you still married?

[landscaper]

Looks very nice!!

[jsr426hemi]

Thanks for the kudos! Still married and the wife was actually excited to use it this weekend. With 2 kids and many house projects working on the shack was put on the back burner many many times. Sometimes motivation was hard to find too. Wish there was more season left but I will be ready to go next year!