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aluminum frame


onamian

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Hovermn and Myself was thinking aboutstuff like that, the only questions we came up with was what would we use on the outside or inside to sheet the house, at the time we had Steel siding and were worried about corrousion (sp?) We then saw the 2x4's made out of metal at Menards, I think we are going to go with that next time.

Shawnny B

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It would be helpful to know if you plan on making the whole thing from Alum. or just the house part with a steel trailer frame. One thing about alum. is that it doesn't like vibration very much. Aluminum, when subject to constant vibration (flexing) will eventually crack on you. Proper bracing is required to minimize flex. The same can hold true for steel, but alum. is much less tolerant.

A steel trailer frame with aluminum house framing members would work fine, but some sort of barior must be placed between the steel and alum. to prevent crossion, say a plywood floor.

I'm 90% sure that steel studs would make a much lighter house then an alum. I'm 100% sure that it would be cheaper and easier to build!

Wow, I just woke up and can't remember what else I had to say, but there's more. I'm sure someone else will chime in with more pros and cons. The bottom line is, a fish house can be built from just about anything you cant get your hands on. Heck, if properly sealed, you could build it from cardboard :-) Hmmm... grin.gif

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welcom to FM onamian, I to thought about aluminum but after a talk with a few frame builders there is a big reason not to use aluminum it just come down to pure strength steel is a much better choice for a wheeled house and if you ever need a weld done on your frame when your on a trip most auto shops have one and will be glad to help out,now trying to find an aluminum welder out of the metro can be a task in it self. if you want email me and I will hook you up with a A+ frame builder he uses 2x4 tube steel not 2x2 or angle metal. he built a frame for me and every body that sees it just says WOW that is over built and thats what you want in a ice house frame. [email protected]

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Me and a couple of buddies built 2 houses completly out of aluminum 8x12 with a V front. We used all 2x2 (16" on center each way) tube for the frame, walls and roof. We used alum. sheeting .060worked very well.We used 1x2's to fir out the inside so you don't get the condensation. Insulated with 1.5" and 3/4" then used 1/4' luan underlayment. We put the wheels on the inside to give us more room and with the 1x2's on the inside it gave us a runway for running elctric in the walls. We also just boought a trialer jack that we mounted inside for lifting up and down instead of cables or winches. Worked out very nice pulls down the road excellent and weighs about 900 lbs. we guessed we did weight the frame with floor walls and roof with no sheeting I think it was about 450-500 lbs.

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I totally agree with deepportage on his reply regarding aluminum frames/hitches. We were up at Brandt's on Mille Lacs last winter when we slid down their ramp and broke our aluminum hitch off the house. We couldn't find a portable aluminum welder so we needed to load the fish house on a flat bed trailer, haul the house to Isle, and find a guy who was willing to "modify" the front hitch (braced it with steel and drilled holes through it and attached with bolts, etc). Long story short, 1 day and evening wasted because if it was steel the resort had a portable steel welder, total cost of $300 (I was expecting alot more than this), 1 night staying in the hotel, and a lot of cocktails while waiting for the fish house to be repaired. I felt we were lucky to find a guy willing to do all of this for us at a very reasonable cost.

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Thats not the 1st story I've heard about tongues snapping off aluminum chassis (frame) drop axle fish houses.

The folks I'm thinking about had the tongue break off on the lake and drop the front end of the shack onto the ice while they were driving. Who's to say what would have happened if they were on a highway at speed.

That was a pretty new house as well from a commercial house manufacturer.

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I would strongly sugest against using aluminum for any aspect of your shanty except siding.

Though light weight it is not strong enough to take the abuse of towing across the lake.

This is coming from they guy who has tried it and made the mistakes. I am a certified welder and experienced trailer builder and this is not a task for the home fabricator.

As far as using it for studs in your walls absoutly not, for several reasons.

1) Metal studs are a bad idea either aluminum or steel, simply because the cold outside and warm inside will create frost lines up and down you walls.

2) Also if you welded all the joints there is not enough give and flex in the wall and they can crack causing the wall to fail.

3) It is a total waste of money. It is much more cost effective to use wood for wall construction.

As far as your frame goes, unless you have experience in building trailers and are a compitant welder don't even attempt it. Mainly for safety. There is a lot of trash being pulled down the road these days and it is creating a very dangerous situation for any one driving. Use caution when you see the home mades that weave all over the road, have the tops of the tire sevearly tip in /---\, and are built with angle iron.

Just buy your frame, if you are a do it yourselfer and want to make it your own that is great but put a good frame under it. There are a lot of good frames being sold out there that will get you going in the right direction.

You can find fish house frames on hsolist and other places on the web. I would beg you to buy it from anyone if not me for the sake of safety.

Good luck this winter and may all your rods bend frequently,

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I agree with you Hanson, it could have been a lot worse. It could have happened out on the highway or out in the middle of Mille Lacs on 6 or 7" of ice. I don't know how I would have towed it off the lake with the 4 wheeler if it happened out on the lake and in any amount of snow. My buddy also broke his off backing his into his garage when he jack knifed it slightly. I think I'm done with aluminum framed houses.

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I'm just curious...are the same people breaking all of the aluminum houses the same people who break their fishing rods too? I have an all aluminum house. I fish with the best rods (SC 5's, GLX, etc.). I haven't broke any yet and my house is just plain awesome! My point is that people break things because of ignorance or plain not taking care of their stuff. I admit, I baby my stuff a bunch...but then again, I want to feel a walleye in 25 feet of water and I want a house I can take out on 8-9 inches of ice. If you want a rod that you can treat like garbage and never break, but an Ugly Stick. If you want a house that can take abuse and neglect, build it like a bomb shelter on wheels.

Just remember, these tools we use to chase fish all have a purpose and are at times very different from one another. When used properly, each has a place. Including aluminum and steel fish houses.

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I feel I was being very careful with the fish house when it happened. The resort has a very steep landing and it was icey at the time. I asked if I could use my truck to back the fish house down the landing rather than use the 4 wheeler (4 wheeler had chains on all 4 wheels). The resort owner wouldn't let me use the truck because of a heave around the landing and he was concerned I would break off a chunk with the truck. It was the only resort that was open (to 4 wheelers only) at the time so my option was go home or risk sliding down the landing and the rest is history... I had this fish house for 7 years now and never broke anything. I just know what it was like to try to get the aluminum welded/fixed at the time and it was a lot of begging and no options besides what I described above.

PS. I use GLoomis also, the difference is if something happens to your rod by chance you could find a replacement in 5 minutes in any town. Aluminum welders are very hard to find, even on a big lake like Mille Lacs, trust me on that.

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pegleg - I was just generalizing when I said "All of the people breaking alumnum houses". I realize generalizations usually are negative, but I just wanted to make the point that an aluminum house is an option. Sure, it may carry more risk, but in the end (as you experienced), accidents do happen. I build fishing rods and it just bugs me to no end when I hear someone start trash-talking a high-end Loomis or St. Croix because it broke on them. Sure, there are legit accidents (car door, etc.) but most of the breaks are because the user doesn't know how to use the rod. Stop letting those roach sinkers bang against the graphite. Stop reefing back on the rod like it's a piece of fiberglass. Anywho, I just don't want everyone to think aluminum is a poor design option. Obtaining the knowledge about the materials and their properties is key. Just out of curiousity, has anyone who broke an aluminum fish house really know why they broke? Was it a weld? Stress? Poor material selection (size)? I perform Failure Analysis for a living, and without truly understanding the problem, how can you be so sure of a solution? Show me the data, and from there, an informed decision can be made.

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aluminum is for pop cans and boats, steel is for the fishermen who want the most out of there frame now i know that is a prety strong opinion but i dont want to have to wory about frame cracking and if i had an aluminum frame it would wory me.

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I think if you designed the frame properly. I.E. had it engineered by someone who was an engineer, it would work. However, I can't see the benefit. When it comes to the larger fish housed, I don't think lighter is better. While you don't want a house that will go thought 12" of ice, the few extra pounds that steel frame adds on a 7x12 house does not hurt a thing. In my case, I have aluminium studs. This makes the house bottom heavy and it tows like a dream without any springs. It also will stay put better in a wind storm. (However, this has its limits. I know this for a fact. I think steel is better. I would reccomend that you get a top quality paint job. The manufacturer that built mine did not do such a great job with the paint.

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Big Ick, could you tell me how much lighter aluminum is vs steel if you use aluminum for just the frame? Somebody told me the difference is only about 100 pounds on a 7.5' x 14' or 16' house? If it is this little, I would give up an additional LP tank (make a 2nd trip with the LP tank) or something else to have a stronger frame. Right now I have 2 aluminum frame houses (one about 30 years old) and not looking to get rid of them but just looking at the next house down the road. thanks!

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Hey Pegleg,

I know this wasn't directed to me but I have the chart so here you go.

Aluminum is approximatly 33% lighter then steel taking into consideration you need thicker aluminum to do the same job as steel. Almost twice the thickness actually.

With that in mind, a steel trailer weighing 500lbs would weigh approximatly 335lbs if made from aluminum.

That is a difference of 165lbs.

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Aluminum weighs a third of what steel weighs. If money is no object go with aluminum. If you buy the right kind of alumimum and the welding is done correctly it will be just as strong as steel. Another benefit is aluminum does not rust. The key is to get the right kind of aluminum and have a welder who knows what they are doing.

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Thanks, Love to Hunt... I guess I will be going with steel the next time and tell one of my 200 pound buddies to find another guy to go with at least until the ice is safe or the other option is for him to walk behind us...

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That's a good point LTH. Peg, if you're only thinking of doing the trailer in Aluminum, the weight vs. cost may not have good enough return for you. If you really want to cut out the weight, why not consider doing the frame and truses in Aluminum too? Each time you use aluminum, you'll be saving on weight (also that nasty thing known as rust). But then again, if cost is a high design criteria, then aluminum won't be what you want. Here's a pic of what I started out with for my house...

trailerframe2uf.jpg

Here's where I'm at with it right now.

picture0420xx.jpg

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