Holes re-freezing in wheelhouse

[alumacraft3]

I was fishing out of my ice castle and each morning we had to re-drill the holes. During the day they would skim over constantly and by the end of the day you could tell they were slowly closing in from the sides. We had the house banked good. It was -20 the first morning we woke up and never got warmer than -10 that day. The next morning it was -15 and warmed up to about -5. The day we left if finally got up to 2 above. I know those aren't ideal temperatures for holes not freezing but wondering if there is anything else I can do. I set my house down on 4x4 on each corner. If I set it straight on the ice would that solve my problem? Would I have to worry about the frame freezing down? My hole sleeves fit perfect with 4x4s on the corners but I can cut them shorter if I need to. Any ideas or tricks?

[chris63]

What size holes did u start with?You can get a giant fish through a 4 inch hole if your careful!c63

[B-man715]

Setting down right onto the ice will definitely help (less cubic feet under the shack to keep "warm", or less cold if you will). Banking the house well and NOT using sleeves right now will help too, but you will burn through the propane. I prefer to use sleeves and re-drill if needed.

No worries of freezing down with some common sense (if there is standing water on the ice when you arrive and forecasted temps are under 32, blocking is a good thing).

The big reason the holes can shrink so bad right now is the lack of snow cover on most lakes. Even though the shack is heated, cold works it's way laterally through the ice freezing your holes, not necessarily top to bottom.

More air movement never hurts, but bare ice and frigid temps will win unless you have some extreme banking reaching several feet away from the shack, which is obviously hard to come by.

Once a decent amount of snow falls and insulates the entire lake, this problem all but disappears, even with just a small amount of banking.

That's my take on it anyway

[Boar]

Im cranked down on the ice right now. Havehoes freezing and slushingnup thru out the day. Banked ok but its hard to get the wheel well area. Gona make a snap on tarp.for next for each wheel well area. I think bman is right about limited snow cover. But the hole that freez for me are wind ward side.

[David Anderson]

I agree with your assessment. Was on Red on Monday at -14. On Saturday I set the house on the ice and no problems (it was warmer however) but moved Monday and put it on 4 x 4's thinking it might be better, my mistake. Ice was cold and was encroaching my 10" holes which were 7 inches by Tuesday morning. Best defense would have been to first, set the house on the ice drilling the holes first and set it before cleaning to seal and second, what worked good was to have my small fan blowing air towards the hole. I needed a couple more fans!

[Bureaucrat]

What kind of insulation package do you have on your ice castle? Also, how did the house hold up for warmth above the floor?

[walleyewiz0212]

I was on red last weekend with -15 temps. I put the house down all the way, drill the holes, and before removing any slush, I put my hole sleeves in. I think it kinda makes a seal when the slush freezes again. I had no trouble with holes freezing over but still had holes closing from the sides. Probably nothing you can do about that when it is that cold.

[alumacraft3]

It's a 2011 without an insulated floor. So whatever was standard in 2011 is what I have. We were able to keep the house at 70 degrees inside without a problem. Actually had it set higher than that on accident and were hotter then hell while sleeping until I turned it down. That was when it was -20.

[broman]

+1 on fans and banking .

[Boar]

The small inconvience of holes freezing a little come pared to what i had before, two feet off the ice in a camper is easy to deal with

[tisosy11]

If you are just using your house for a couple of days and not setting it in a pool of water I would suggest always putting on the ice. My floor is insulated but I've never had any issues with freeze on top (not sure there is much to do about shrinking holes other than moving air), but I always move my house within 2 days of setting it down...the 4x4s would make it impossible to get a good bank until the snow picks up I would think. ..

[WalleyeSlayer21]

Keep heater on low. Thats what some people do. Just a Option.