Portable Modification Recap and Pictures!!!

[tchow]

Just wanted to thank all for your ideas and pics. Just finished my 1 Man and wanted to share some of the things that I did on my Eskimo. I built a 2 part Storage box that fits right underneath the Bench seat. The seat can slide back and forth which allows me to flip over the front lid. Front part is used to store 3 -1 lb bottles and 2 Gel Batteries. When the lid is flipped over, it doubles as a small shelf. On the left and right side, I put 2 Scotty bases so I can place the Rodholder on the right or left side for a Dead stick.

For the Bench seat, I installed a Swivel base and got a nice boat seat for comfort. When transporting, the Boat seat comes off easy and placed behind the Storage box.

I'll post some pics when I can. Thanks to all again

[Cygolf1]

Would love to see some more modification pics for otter shacks. Looking to make some to my own but want to keep it light. Please explain what , ahy, and how you made your shack better. The more pics the better. I think this thread is one of the best preseason motivators out there. Thanks

[walleyeiceguy]

Yea, thanks for all the information on mods, I am looking at making a lighting mod for my portable this year and start to design an sled mod after I finnish the lights. If anyone has any links to web sites to order the LED lights that would be great as I am in stationed overseas and wont have much time to shop around before my LOW trip when I come home on leave.

It is painfull to see all these custom fish houses and know that I cant work on mine for another month. All the ideas are great though thanks to you all for the pics and comments, they have sparked some good ideas.

[McGurk]

I had good luck with spectrumled.(you-know-what), and another site people have used is superbrightled.(you-know-what). Thanks for watching over us and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[DEADhead]

I got around to installing the reflectix in my portable this afternoon. The insulating properties of this stuff is amazing. You can literally feel your body heat reflected of the stuff. Unlike other people's results with their lighting, I don't think the relfectix necessarily made the inside of the shelter any brighter. I attibute this to the fact that I had the LEDs pointing towards the ground, so there was not much ambient/stray light to reflect off of the reflectix.

I used aluminum tape to reinforce the slots I cutout to mount the velcro straps from the canvas to the support hoops. I extended the reflectix past the ceiling and along the back wall for increased insulation. Since I do not use the trap link, the use of the back door is not vital. I can always roll up the reflectix if I want to open the door in the future. I did cut out a section, however, on the back wall to utilize the window.

Since I only needed 120" of the reflectix (48" wide), I ended up splitting this roll with another FM member. This is definitely one of the best, and cheapest, modifcations I have made to my portable!

[gvg_uwec]

Well you guys twisted my arm hard enough. For about the past month or so I have been working on modifying my XLTwin when I have a little time here and there. I have the frame of the organizer done with brainstorming help from this thread and should finish it either tomorrow afternoon or friday. I am afraid to go to menards on friday and get some carpet for to finish it off. I will post pics as soon as I get it finished. I am super excited to try it out as I think it will be much easier to fish out of when everything has a place. Now i better eat my wheaties for a couple of weeks till the ice start here so I can still drag it out with the extra weight.

[McGurk]

To The Top...seems like there are questions relating to Paul's lighting and such.

[picksbigwagon]

TTT

[DrJ]

I made my framework out of an old aluminum ladder. I sandwiched two pieces together with 3 vertical legs bolted all together for center support. I left some rungs for stabilty and removed some for compartments. the whole framework is under 5lbs but super strong. Only needed a few bolts on the outside edge.The width fit an otter magnum sled perfectly. Super strong,light and no rust or waterlogging possible. Used left over ladder to make horizontal auger rack bolted to the back of my snowmobile. Worked great at LOW last weekend even with the run to Garden Island area. DrJ.

[broman]

DrJ, that's an interesting idea. Can you post some pics of your ladder setup?

[DrJ]

Broman, Heres some pictures I took today. All the blue and brown colored material is from a spa cover. It is waterproof and won't rot.My auger has the extention on and its still very sturdy. DrJ

[SeaMcnasty23]

Where do you purchase this reflctix isulation stuff and how much does it cost. I'm interested in installing it sometime soon maybe if sombody is in the area north of St.paul I can split it with them.

I also came up with a modification this winter when figuring out a way to tie my shack down or attach an auger to it. I took 1x4's and cut them to streach the sides of my shack parrallel to eachother. Attached them with some small 1.25 inch screws with washers on the inside of my sled and drilled some 5/15 holed to attach 4 Eyehooks through further securing them. This worked well when strapping my shack to a snowmobile trailer or when strapping my auger down during transit. Don't really need pictures to visualize this but it takes about 15 min and does the job well! Since ive done this all my friends have followed. Its not even that creative compared to some of the ideas here but i was excited and wanted to share!

Thanks, Brad

[SeaMcnasty23]

Also what is a decent seat i can swap out my clam scout seat for?

[so haaad]

SeaMcnasty,

You can pick up the Reflectix at Menards, Home Depot, etc. You can find a boat seat for your FishTrap at Fleet or even Walmart, in the sporting goods area.

[DrJ]

Here's last years thread on modifications. My framework and auger rack are the lightest and strongest that iv'e seen yet. No rust or rot. DrJ

[DzNuts]

I like the idea's. It gets me ready to build. I'll be sure to take pictures as I go. Thanks FMers.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

I thought I should bring this thread back since it has some great mod ideas... I have been looking into modifying my Voyager. I usually have the auger in the area behind the seats so that area is all taken by the auger... I would like to build a platform back there so I would make some mounts for the auger on top of the platform and still have other stuff like my rods marcum and heater underneath.. anybody ever done this? I really like the ladder idea and was thinking maybe if I could find cheap one and cut a few rungs off that would work good..

Let me know if you have any ideas for this.. I would like to keep it as lightweight as possible since the voyager is already very heavy..

Ryan

[WTN4ICE]

Check out my thread Pimpin the Porty it will be a few pages back.Pics of what I did to my Voyager.