Ice House Holes

[rippinlipz]

hey guys, I just purchased an older camper trailer that I am going to gut and use as an ice shack and since I dont ice fish much i thought this would work fine. I have been reading some of the forum posts here and I am curious if the 5 gallon bucket to the ice is the best way to go to prevent updraft or else I was going to do two 5 gallon buckets to add a little more insulation. Any THOUGHTS?

Also, any other suggestions on mondifying this camper would be great. I'm sure there has to be some experienced people out there. Thanks alot!!

[18 inch Crappie]

I have seen a light green 10 or 12" pvc type pipe used. Thicker walls then a 5 gal bucket. And you can cut to any lengh.

[nytelyter]

only thing i can say is get a good heater as campers are not insulated well. ... paul

[Sutty]

I had one and used pvc pipe it worked pretty well. if the water starts coming out of the hole they can freeze to the ice and you need to be carefull chipping them out... another option is to rebuild it so your camper lowers to the ice. I had a friend do that and it works pretty slick.

[deepportage01]

you Don't ice fish much? well this is just my opinion if you are going to do somthing do it rite. It sound like you have a good platform to start from so here is what I would do. I ran a camper for years out on the ice, and you have to get it as close to the ice as posible or you will just have problems with hole freeze over.get your self a 14v tourq wrench for the lug nuts[it's faster than a tire iron] remove the tires or put pins in the leaf springs and pull the whole axle out that will get you as close as posible to the ice. It sound like alot of work but it's worth it when you have a camper shack. one thing we did was put 3 toung jacks 2 on the back bumper and one on the toung,just crank up remove tires or axle and your fish'n, you should be able to bank the shack prety good after that. We also used 5 gal pails with lids for hole covers just cut the bottom off to what ever lengh you need.Oh and you might want to put a beter heater in it and some gas lights.

Hope you have a sweet ice ice shack when your done. Good luck rippinlipz

[rippinlipz]

Thanks guys for the tips, i really appreciate it. I started gutting the stove and sink out last night. what a pain, but i was able to get it all out. It does have electric outlets thoughout the camper so what i think i will do is just plug in the main cord into a converter from the batteries, so all the outlets work. I will also put in some gas lights, cause I hear they can also put out some good heat.

[deepportage01]

email me if you want to get rid of the stove.