FireBrand Fish Houses

[polarsusd81]

Anybody have one or have any experience with them?

I went to FishNStyle down in Savage to look at them in February. I like several things about them, all welded aluminum frame, flat aluminum siding applied with VHB tape, electric jacks and space saving coupler system, torsion axles, doesn't have Camo cushions and curtains everywhere, optional cooler and bait well over a wheel well, the list goes on.

I priced out a Miltona with a few custom tweaks and it came in about 19k. I wanted to change up the front to have the bunk house and bathroom/closet similar to the Minnewaska and extend the depth of the passenger side wheel well for a deeper counter and install the cooktop with oven on that side. It would also have the bay window in the back.

I like the Ice Castle fish houses but really prefer aluminum construction for several reasons. Not really a fan of the layout of the Ice Cabin houses, and others just don't pass the longevity smell test for me. I design aluminum wall systems so to see a company like FireBrand using it makes me lean heavily in that direction. It also will not end up rusted out, a lot lighter weight for towing, and with the VHB tape attaching the siding I am not worried about water making its way into the wood framing used in other brands. I see a lot of positives with their houses, just want to see if I am missing any negatives.

So that said, anybody have one and care to share their experiences with a FireBrand house?

[brian6715]

I have an 8x16 that I finished myself. I got the bay window and moved the door to the "V" portion of the house to get the layout I wanted. Half of my "V" is a bathroom and the other half is the entry way, if you will. I got the bay window as well, the extra space is nice, but it is definitely cold if you sleep by it!

The houses seem to be really well built and pull very well. I have to pile things in the front of mine to get enough tongue weight, even with the batteries in front of the wheel well, I think the added weight of the bay window causes this. I still haven't added it up but my guess is I am right around $14,000-14,500 finishing it myself.

They go up and down really slow, but it's better than winches IMO. It works best if you have two people, one outside and one inside. The latch system takes a little bit of learning, definitely not the easiest operation, which if you buy one I can give you some tips on lowering and raising it.

I finished mine with two 6v golf cart batteries (hooked together for 12v), and I can go three days on them without a generator. Everything in my house was wired to be ran off 12V with the optional 110V system working only if it is plugged, but I don't need it (12v TV, 12v coffee pot, etc).

Hole sleeves are a must, as the skirting around the edge of the house won't touch the ice even when it is all the way lowered. Of course, if you have enough banking it's not really an issue, but last year there wasn't enough snow.

I can't think of anything else to add at the moment, but if I do I will post again!

[Mike89]

I have seen them at the factory where they finish them and had the grand tour of the place, if I were to buy one today that would it! Like anything out there, there will be people on both sides of the fence. I like the units over all build and how they work.

[rickwalley]

Brian…

What brand 12volt TV did you get? Is it a true 12volt designed for extreme low power consumption?

[mnhunter2]

I also bought a Firebrand house last yr and would like ideas about how to speed up the raising and lowering.

[Gus]

What kind of ground clearance do they have? I've only looked at several of them at shows, but to me, it appears like they are lower than others when set for towing. I could be wrong, never had a tape measure on me.