Wheel House Options

[Mike_D]

Hello fellas

would like to buy or build a 6.5 x 14 wheel house and hoping you can help me sort through the options.

Option 1 - buy new, $5k to $6k. this is the easiest but most expensive option. looking at the IcePro or the King Crow. fished out of the king crow several times and like them. not sure how the trailer long distances. anyone have any feedback on the IcePro?

Option 2 - buy shell house (unfinished) with trailer frame, studs, and siding, ($3.5k for the shell, plus $1k to finish). looks like IcePro offers a shell house, King Crow a stripped down model. I am reasonably handy and have access to a shop. Anyone ever go this route? I would think that one could finish a roughed in house working 5 days or so.

Option 3 - but trailer frame only ($2k) and build from scratch. I've seen several folks on this site that have built nice houses - cons, time - might not be ready for the start of the season.

Thank you for your input.

md

[hoggs222]

I'd like the idea of buying just the shell. That way you can customize it. I have a king crow 6.5x12' that came will everything installed. I would like to gut it out & customize to my likings. Hole locations, etc.

[Northlander]

Mike D. call Jay Soderbloom up and run this all by him. I think you will be glad you did. www.soderbloom.com

Myself I would by a shell house and do the inside the way I wanted it.

[Coots Unlimited]

Mike_D

Your dilemna is like deja vu. I am in the process of having a fish house built and started out in the same spot you are. After LOTS of research, we decided to go with an Ice Castle fishhouse (6.5x16). We took a drive to the plant in Montevideo and walked through at least 30 fishhouses there - to get ideas for the layout. After that, we drew up plans for the custom shack. We honestly could not build the house for much cheaper than their quote. Good luck!

[Mike_D]

thank you guys for the feedback. anyone have any comments on the trailer quality of the king crow vs. the tube style frames. Thank you

[Augusta]

I would stick with the tube style frames. After sometime and if your trailer sees some hard use, angle iron will twist and the welds will break. I've see the"big black bird" fish house trailers, be careful. I know a place that sells very well made trailers at a very reasonalbe price.

[Mike_D]

what do you recommend for frames?

[hoggs222]

I've had my King Crow for about 5 years & the only problem has been a little rust on the wheel well. Other than that, no problems. It's probably more my fault on not keeping it clean that anything.

[norm]

I had my frame made at a welding shop called Miltona Blacksmith. For a 6'4"x12' with crank down wheels, 2"x3" tubing, and 2"x2" tubing for cross beams was $800. I had him add a scissors tounge and a 3' V-front and it came to $950 after tax. It's about as good a frame as I've seen and the guy said he's been builing them for over 20 years so he knows his stuff. The one drawback is he only builds the frames on the weekends so it takes him about 3-4 weeks to do it. Might be something worth looking into though.

[minndonn]

Last year I did the search and ended up buyng an Emperor built in St Cloud. Very pleased with it. Uses steel siding instead of aluminum. He does what ever options you want.

[aquafang]

What kind of trailer frames let you lower the house and not have to unhitch the vehicle from it? I've seen some of these last year. Wow! they'd pull up drill holes and lower down in 5 minutes! Great mobility. Even faster than a flipover. You don't have to pick up your heater and vex and then load the thing into your vehicle if you want to go far. Just leave everything in the house and go. I was thinking of having a similar trailer built for a 5x8. I don't want all the bells and whistles, just great mobility for big water and not have to worry about windy days.

Ty

[crappace]

Ice Castle makes this style frame. I think there are plenty others too.

[Granny]

Like Northlander mentioned contact Jay Soderbloom at www.soderbloom.com . Jay is leading the way with his new Aluma Lite house. The house frame is all aluminum so no rusting and these things are light! He uses spray in foam which is light and also prevents any chance of leaking. The price tag on Jays houses are much less than other houses out there too! He aslo has a set of skis that you can put on instead of the tires so you can pull the house through the snow with your sled or 4 wheeler.

Check them out. You won't be dissapointed!

Granny