New Member new ice castle

[Japeloquin]

Hi guys and gals,

Just wanted to say hi to everyone. Long time ice fishermen here but just bought my first ice castle been fishing out of portables and a home made permanent shack but this Ice castle is awesome picked it up easter weekend so haven't had a chance to fish out of it but have taken it camping 3 times already. I will post some pics.

[Japeloquin]

These are pics at the dealer. Now I need to get a camera and electric auger. Plan on going with the strikemaster lithium. Still unsure about the camera thinking about the Marcum pan cam. But wondering if you guys have any suggestions this will be for the castle only and will be put on a TV so don't need a big screen unit.

[leech~~]

Welcome to the forum.

Looks great have fun with it!

[RiverChuckNorris]

Welcome Japel and congrats on the new unit, looks great.  Many great memories to be made I'm sure!

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Welcome!  Next one will be a 10x35 that you'll have to permit every time you move it!    Addicting sport!

[YettiStyle]

Welcome and congrats on the shack!  I've done some serious looking into the Marcum Pan Cam and if it was my money I wouldn't touch one with a 10ft pole.  Some people have had success and the concept is great but I've seen/read too many horror stories to tie up $350 into one.  The app to view/control on your phone/tablet is not very good, the internal battery is dump, and the internal motor/gears are very prone to prematurely wearing out.  The only positive part about them is that they are made by Marcum who is one of the best customer service companies you will ever deal with. 

 

I actually have an extra brand new, still in the box, VX625SD (http://www.rapala.com/marcum/special-buys/vs625sd/VS625SD.html) that I would be willing to sell.  Bought one last year and received another one as a gift for Christmas.  It's the same thing as their top-of-the-line VS825SD but has a smaller screen.  Has water temp, camera depth, relative position, and battery voltage right there on the screen.  I use mine usually just in my shack connected to my TV but having the screen on it is nice for checking structure, water clarity, or bottom material before I set my shack down.  I use it on a 50" TV in my shack and it is crystal clear (and really fun to watch).  Comes with everything in the box so camera unit, motorized camera panner, battery, charger, manuals, sun shield.  I paid $550 for mine but would let this go for $400 and would even pay for the shipping. 

 

It is fine if you're not interested in my camera but I would still advise you against getting the Pan Cam system.  I would check out the 485C or the small aquaview systems, those would fit your needs and would be more reliable than the pan cam. 

 

 

[Japeloquin]

Yetti style thanks sent you a private message

[1lessdog]

I have the Aqua Vu 360 and it has 4 cameras in it and it works great. I put it in my house and on a 32 inch TV and the quality is real good. No turning the cord or searching for a remote to turn the camera.

 

check them out

[Japeloquin]

rl_sd have you hooked it to a tv? Just wondering how the picture is? I see your in south Dakota we rented shacks out on bitter lake last year and had a blast had crappy weather but still caught fish defiantly plan on heading out that way again next year! This shack is going to have a lot of miles on it this winter.!

[Japeloquin]

Awesome thanks for the info it's hard for me to not buy a vexi. That's the brand I grew up with and has always worked great

[Boar]

I have the high end mico view, love it. hook it up to the 32 in the IC and its fish tv. have a video somewhere.

 

Edited June 16, 2016 by Boar

[Boar]

cant figure it out, owell

Edited June 16, 2016 by Boar

[tisosys11]

Does anyone have a picture of the tv backer Ice Castle installs in their tv locations?  I'm trying to figure out my mounting flexibility and curious if I need to find a stud or not...

[YettiStyle]

6 minutes ago, tisosys11 said:

Does anyone have a picture of the tv backer Ice Castle installs in their tv locations?  I'm trying to figure out my mounting flexibility and curious if I need to find a stud or not...

I don't know what Ice Castle uses but if you are attempting to hang a TV from a wall in an ice shack then you most definitely need to find one stud, if not two.  Traveling on the highway, gravel roads, and the lake itself is pretty violent and you want to make sure your TV is rock solidly attached to your wall. 

Just for reference, when I finished of my shack I put two 2x4's, from ceiling to floor, inside my closet wall and there are four 2" lag bolts holding up my 50" LED TV.  Whenever I'm traveling I run 2 ratchet straps over my TV to secure it to the wall so there is no chance of it moving.  Last thing I wasn't is for a $500 TV to come crashing down and bouncing into things while I'm going down the road. 

 

[Boar]

yup find a stud, easy to doo look for the brad nail holes. and your golden.

[walleye44]

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 7:53 PM, Japeloquin said:

These are pics at the dealer. Now I need to get a camera and electric auger. Plan on going with the strikemaster lithium. Still unsure about the camera thinking about the Marcum pan cam. But wondering if you guys have any suggestions this will be for the castle only and will be put on a TV so don't need a big screen unit.

 

I would get an Aqua Vu AV Multi-Vu - Add Underwater Camera Functionality To Any RCA-Enabled Sonar Or TV/LCD or the HD model version of that. Hook it up directly to the TV & you're done.

Edited August 9, 2016 by walleye44