Fabricating Ice House Wheel Assembly

[quackattack13]

I've been thinking about building my own fish house. I plan on making i plan on making it 7 by 12 and will build it all from scratch. i was talking with my dad the other day and we both had no idea how to creat our own wheel assembly that can be lowered. any help or ideas would be appreciated!

[fishinalot]

I would not recommend building the wheel kit yourself without experience.

If you bought the wheel kit from a manufacturer and built the frame for it you might save some $$.

I've seen plenty of homemade wheel assemblies around on the lakes. Some good, and some that should not be on the road!

I would suggest talking to Ed @ www.sportsmanfishhouse.com or Ron @ www.fishhousesupply.com for more details on your plan.

[Mark Gangl]

easy to do! I worked for a trailer place and thats pretty much all i did was fish house and trailer frames. others did the rest. If you can weld you are good to go. You could try talking to a couple places and maybe one of them sells the blue prints? if they do its easy you spend one day just chopping metal(all lengths are on a check list) and the next you weld it up paint it and then when its dry spindles go on. look at the close ups at all the pics on factory sites. its not hard to figure lengths if you know what you want either, just takes longer.

[love to hunt]

First I would like to say welcome to Fishing Minnesota. This is a great place to ask question like this and get honest answers from folks who know.

Second, this task is not as easy as said to be.

-There are laws and DOT rules that need to understood

-You need to balance it properly to get the right tongue weight

-Build the pivot arms the right length to ensure easy lifting

-Bbuild them strong enough to support the load

-Calculate the leverage to ensure you get heavy enough springs but not too heavy so it rides correctly.

-You also need to ensure the frame is square to the wheels, the wheels are square to the tongue and tow vehicle.

-You need the correct tow in and camber on the wheels to make them tow perfectly.

I don't know what your welding ability is or what equipment you are using but if you are not absolutly confidant in your welding skills, and certain that you will achieve at least 80% weld penitration in the 4 major welding positions then don't attempt this project.

I built trailers for many years professionally and believe me this is not an easy task for the weekender.

Mine or some one elses I would suggest you purchased your frame or at least have a certified welding shop make it for you. By far the frame is the most important part of your shack and you will want to make sure it is done right.

Blunt but to the point.

[quackattack13]

thanx for the suggestions i think i may try and find either a pre built frame or buy someones old house and do some remodeling. but thanx again for the suggestions if anyone else has ideas feel free to let me know. also if anyone has plans for a 7 by 10 or 7 by 12 fish house they would be great thanx!

[Sonicrunch]

Quote:

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First I would like to say welcome to Fishing Minnesota. This is a great place to ask question like this and get honest answers from folks who know.

Second, this task is not as easy as said to be.

-There are laws and DOT rules that need to understood

-You need to balance it properly to get the right tongue weight

-Build the pivot arms the right length to ensure easy lifting

-Bbuild them strong enough to support the load

-Calculate the leverage to ensure you get heavy enough springs but not too heavy so it rides correctly.

-You also need to ensure the frame is square to the wheels, the wheels are square to the tongue and tow vehicle.

-You need the correct tow in and camber on the wheels to make them tow perfectly.

I don't know what your welding ability is or what equipment you are using but if you are not absolutly confidant in your welding skills, and certain that you will achieve at least 80% weld penitration in the 4 major welding positions then don't attempt this project.

I built trailers for many years professionally and believe me this is not an easy task for the weekender.

Mine or some one elses I would suggest you purchased your frame or at least have a certified welding shop make it for you. By far the frame is the most important part of your shack and you will want to make sure it is done right.

Blunt but to the point.

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I respectfully disagree. (with conditions)

If he builds a light fishouse, he doesn't need to worry too much about tounge weight, the springs, or the leverage. Some of the DOT stuff may not apply either.

You are talking about a perfect trailer. All this guy wants is a fishouse with wheels.

Now, if he is building one of those heavy bastards, I agree completely.

(PS, I built mine light.)

[Mark Gangl]

i may have made it sound a bit easier than it is. the key part of what i said ment get a blueprint. I agree with love to fish. you need to weld good. and balance is important, but if you get plans its figured in. the making sure everything is square was common sense to me, but maybe not all. Also consider not onlt trailer balance but placement of things in the house(weight)

[Farley]

7X12 is a pretty good sized fish house. If you want a frame to just tow to your local lake and that's it, go for it, but if you plan on going more than a few miles back and forth, get one that is built strong and can take a long trip. The last thing you want to do is have to fix it out on the lake or 50 miles from anyhere when something snaps.

If you already have the materials then just find a person who welds on the side and pay them to build it.

[quackattack13]

the farthest i would take it over the road is 10 miles at the most. im mostly just trying to do it as cheap as i can. being 17 i don't have a lot of money to put into it and my parents are no help either! do you know much about putting it on runners or skids? how big of a house can u put on them>?

[Farley]

I probably wouldnt go much bigger than 8X8 with runners or skids, you got to get all that weitght onto a snowmobile trailer or whatever you use to get it out there. I guess what I would do if I were you is go and take a look at some frames and see how they do it and decide if that is in your ability to weld and fabricate, if not go to a smaller house with skids. We have a 6X12 house on wheels and a few 4X8's on skids and we actually end up using the smaller houses more since they can be moved easily. The 6X12 is kind of a pain sometimes. If money is an issue then definetly go with a smaller house, the trailer alone will cost you at least a couple hundred bucks, then the house will be at least a couple hundred more, especially a big one like you want. You can always build a small one quick to use this winter and start your big one and take a few years to build it to your specifications.