Ice Castle Fish house?

[fishing tech]

I just ordered my first shack today. 8X16 LOW Hybrid. About the only thing I didn't add was the electric winches to raise and lower it. My concern is the if the winch were to go out that there is no way to manually raise or lower the shack. Am over reacting or did I make the right choice to go with man power?

[Fowlmouth]

I'm on the same page with your thinking. I'd hate to be stranded somewhere because the electric winch doesn't work. Enjoy your new house!!

[Dave]

I suspect electric winches would have a manual backup.

[fishing tech]

I suspect electric winches would have a manual backup.

I am not worried about it losing power, I know enough to be able to rig power and ground to get it to work. My issue is if the winch broke for whatever reason. There is no way to manually turn it.

[Boar]

just like everything else, carry a spare, tire, winch, cable ect... tool kit jack, have to be prepaired for the unexpected. I have a tote full of tools and extras to pretty much cover anything except a broken axel.

[fishing tech]

Kind of what I was thinking Boar. I was happy to hear that they went to stainless steel cables on all their houses now. Thanks.

[harvey lee]

just like everything else, carry a spare, tire, winch, cable ect... tool kit jack, have to be prepaired for the unexpected. I have a tote full of tools and extras to pretty much cover anything except a broken axel.

I agree Boar, I have enough along to fix just about any issue I could have.

[Naturalbornhuntr]

Hello All! I am new to this site, but I just ordered a custom 8x16 LOW Hybrid. I have never owned a ice house before, but have spent my entire life ice fishing and hunting. Anyways...one of my biggest questions is...Do you lower the ice house all the way down? I will most likely be spending a day or two at a time on the ice. I'm going to buy hole sleeves and don't know if I should buy the 9" or the 4". Any help for this newbee would be much appreciated! I apologize this probably isn't the thread to be asking this on, but I figured I'd try.

[OutlawBiz]

I would lower it all the way down regardless of how much time you spend. Will be more "stable" and it will seal better against wind / drafts. Hole sleeves are still nice when lowered all thew way. Buy them long, lower the house, measure the distance to the bottom & cut them to fit.

Are you on Facebook at all? If so...there is an Ice Castle Owners Group on there that has a lot of info and guys sharing tricks/tips.

[Naturalbornhuntr]

Thanks Outlaw! I am on FB and I will check that out. If there is say 10" of snow...do you shovel the snow down to the ice and then set it down, or just set it down on the snow? Sorry for my ignorance...I'm sure I will learn a lot of this on my own, but would like to save some misery if possible! Thanks again!!!

[BuckSutherland]

Set it in the snow.

[rbs]

get a ice bucket and ice inhaler for your ice castle...you will thank me later! You will have almost no mess on your floor!