Forest river Cherokee ice cave wheel house, reviews?

[Skhots]

Hey all. Looking for any reviews or first hand experience with these wheelhouses. Can't find any history on them and no one seems to own one. I saw one listed on hsolist a few months ago for a 2014 unit. Searched here and op got no responses.

So hopefully I'll have better luck.

Build quality looks good, fit and finish is very good. I'd say better than some more well known mfrs.

Specifically I want to know if the house will stay warm and keep the heat in with their insulation. Supposedly it was upped to r20 from r?

The one we are looking at has a toy hauler ramp. It's a tradeoff of having no ramp, bay window/U-shaped dinette and fold down bunk above dinette... Or ramp without rear bunk. I'd like to haul my snowmobile and sled out there in case I want to venture off but without the ramp, I'd be loading the snowmobile in my truck bed and piecing equipment into the wheelhouse. I've read that the ramps let in a lot of cold through the metal ramp door frame. Is it a huge deal? Any way to mitigate it? Insulation blankets or tape over ramp when not in use?

At max it'd be 10 fishers with us, ever. But normally it'd probably be the wife, kid, 2 brother in laws. And I don't think we'd really be sleeping that often unless we're on a long trip to lotw or something. Which is probably 3 times a year max.

Anyway, looking for opinions on the ice cave wheel house and on toy hauler vs non.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!

[Skhots]

anyone? no one? Apparently it is named Grey Wolf elsewhere.

[dirt292lv]

I know of two people that have them one just got if and the other last year but has only used it once said its nice but that's about it sounds like you can find some good deals on them

[60mike]

I have a 2015 ice cave. and have yet to make a trip without the fenders and hitch.giving trouble.Tired of picking up parts every 150 miles.dealer not much help.If you want the dealers name I will let you know.Have pictures if you need.

[JSK76]

It came down to two house manufactures for me, IC and the Grey Wolf (same as Cherokee). I ended up buying an IC before I even got the chance to see a grey wolf in person. Being the kind of guy I am, I was second guessing my decision and took a 6 hour drive to see a Grey Wolf in person. Here is my review.

I'll tell you why I was so interested in a Grey Wolf first. I was looking at the MP (Minnesota Pro) because I will be doing just as much summer camping in it as fishing. I really liked the looks of the GW, it looked like it would blend into any campground with the other RV's. Huge windows in the back bay and huge side windows at eye level. It had a lot of nice features not found in an IC at the same price point, like water tank level indicators, big Norcold 3 way fridge, LED light strip on the electric awning, way, way more cabinet space (IC gives you one uper cabinet in the 17' RV), insulated floor standard, walk on rubber roof with down spouts, bigger bunk in the back (48"). the Radio CD player also is your DVD player and it comes with a mount for your TV. Comes with a 40,000 btu furnace, where IC uses a 30,000. The cooking range had the auto light burners. Rubber flooring (400.00 upgrade for IC) the axle pivot points are 25 to 33% bigger in diameter then what IC uses. GW uses Catch Cover holes covers that to me are a pretty big step up in quality over the IC Fishing Buddy ones. Biggest thing of all, a galvanized and poweder coated frame standard! Oh, and more countertop space by the sink too.

Whithin minutes of pulling up to the GW for the first time, all the hype I built up in my mind started to slip away. I'll start with how the house sits on the frame. I didn't like how the frame was smaller then the actual house by a few inches all the way around, its probably just fine but it didn't look right. In the back the frame doesn't extend under the larg bay window, this would be a problem if going up a steeper landing, I could see it coming in contact with the ground or ice. This will happen to all houses but at least there is frame there to protect the others. With the process of galvanizing a frame they needed to make sure all the liquid gets into to the frame and back out. This leaves open ended square tubbing that GW could have put plastic caps in to close off, instead they filled with grey spray foam (absultly tacky looking). Wheels didn't come with fenders although I think some dealers add them. Tires where smaller then my IC leaving only 10" of ground clearance compared to 12" with my IC. I noticed the hood range vent didn't have a flap in it witch would be like leaving a window open. I don't know if it was just missing or what was going on. I could see Refextix insulation stick out past the house in multiple places down by the frame (can easily be trimmed off but it looks sloppy). In the back by the bay window the vertical trim insert pieces had shrunk and pulled up about a foot or so and where out of the channel.

On to the inside, as soon as I shut the door behind me I noticed about 1/4 gap at the top of the door letting light in. then I noticed no screen door nor the ability to add one because the camper style door had house door knobs on it. Why make a fish house that's a camper in so many ways but not come with a screen door?

One thing I've learned over the years is a good sealing door is one of the most important things on a fish house period! Cedar interior was decent, they uses a cedar veneer rather then true cedar t&g. Cabinets where pretty rough wood but looked like they wher built fine. The seating by the dinette under the cushions was just thinner OSB and didn't have hinges for the storage below, they just had a hole for your finger to pull the piece out. The jacknife sofa was too short for almost any adult, I'm only 5' 6" and I'm don't think it even came to my neck. I've owned a Forest River made fish house before and can say the RV style windows will frost up on you much more the the house style IC uses. The floor is insulated with fiberglass covered with RV underbelly material and at the fishing holes it had a very crude bead of spray foam to make the transition. The toilet doesn't have a RV waist dump like IC, instead it has a casset toilet that can't be hooked into a septic but rather the holding tank needs to be taken out of a compartment on the outside and be dumped. Big deal breaker if you have a septic where your camping.

I know in the past GW had complaints of the house not being warm enough so in 2015 they added a layer of Reflectic to the outside and inside and insulated the floor. upgraded from 30,000 BTU to the huge 40,000 BTU furnace. I've heard and read that some of there earlier houses they built didn't go all the way to the ice or had a really deep floor, but this one looked like it would sit all the way down like an IC. It seems like they have been making improvements but still have a ways to go. I'm in no way saying IC is perfect but when I left I felt very content knowing that my house was the better built of the 2. In all fairness mine is fiberglass sided and spray foamed, if I didn't have that I wouldn't give IC as much of a lead over GW. BTW I'm wrote this because when I wanted to know more about GW I really couldn't find much online so hear it is. I'm no expert but have built 2 wheel houses from the ground up and owned a Ice Cabin and now and IC.