updated wheel house project pics ( camper conversion)

[mustangt69]

hey all, here are some updated pics of my budget fish house i started building on september 24th i believe. I currently have roughly $1300 into the house, thats including the siding which isnt installed and the rest of the plywood to finish the house. Let me know what you think!!!! there are 2 pages of pictures. My feeble attempt at HSOforum creation

http://jtraut.clearwire.net/

[MuskieJunkie]

Very nice, much better than paying $5k+ for a premade one.

[Swill]

1300? For all of that? Wow

That ice house looks like it will be sweet.

A few questions...

How did you attach the 2 x 2 to an plywood to the trailer frame?

What kind of frame did you purchase? I have seen a lot of ice house trailer for 1500 -2000 bucks, that is why I was surprised you only have 1300 into it....

Keep up the pics and give some details along the way. Very nice ice house.....

[Farley]

Pretty sweet, I am also curious about where you got the frame from unless you built it yourself. Can't beat building your own.

[huntingislife]

I think it was a camper frame.

[mustangt69]

it is a camper frame. It is mostly 2x5 steel with 2x6 green treated runner on the sides ansd down the center. (thats how the frame was made). 8x16. I put tongue jacks onto the frame in the back corners and use them along with the jack on the tongue to get the house up enough to pull my disconnect pins that i access through a hole in the floor and then i can pull the wheels out from underneath it and drop the frame onto the ice. I used the factory axle and cut it in half(its square) and got a 6 foot piece of square tubing that it slid into and then drilled my holes. so it has no suspension but it is basically still a solid axle that has trailer brakes from the factory so not all bad. This way you can bring the tires out as far as you would like you just need to cut the square tubing to the desired length. Also it is a drop axle so if i need extra clearance if therer is a ton of snow or something i can flip the axles upside down and get an extra 6 inches of ground clearance for the house. The stove and the furnace are out of the camper.

[mustangt69]

we used 1/2 inch green treated, 1 1/2 pink insulation, and then framed around our holes and stuff with 2x2's and then covered it all with painted 1/4 luan paneling (almost no floor sponginess) The floor is screwed down with self tapping 2" screws. The edges of the frame are wood so the part for the walls was easy, we also welded anchor bolts along the outside and bolted the studded walls to the frame.

the ceiling is 6 shortened trailer house rafters and 4 homemade rafters. they are made out of 1x3's and 1/4 paneling. Each rafter will hold over 200 pounds of weight standing on it. The reason we used 2 different rafters is because all the rafters have a 4" curve on top but we made custom ones with that bow on the inside also to give us more headroom in the bunk (i think we have 26" headroom) these gave us an extra 4" over the flat ceiling. The top bunk also has a fold doww like alot of campers. Top bunk dimensions 41"x84" and the booth folds down to 43"x84 so they will be ok siZed beds. Also did a half v front so we could still keep the factory propane tank mount while still making it kinda aerodynamic. The inside ceiliing height is 6'8"

[Eric Wettschreck]

Nice. Not a good flavor beer, but nice house.

[McGurk]

I didn't notice before, but you are right; with at least one beer in every picture, it's like the house has already been on the water all last winter!

[mustangt69]

yea, lol its also had it fair share spilled by clumbsiness and extension cords. Update: I picked up a 7"lcd tv with tuner and a/v inputs off hsolist for $55.00 it says it draws 7 watts. i also got a crank up antenna off of a camper. (does anyone use any kind of amplifier???? where do i find one that runs off 12v?) i also picked up a car cd player off of hsolist for $80.00 that plays cd/dvd/divx/mp3. this way i can play dvd's and the sound will run through the ceiling mount speakers and this whole setup should run a pretty long time off a battery. I am getting led lights for in the ceiling. I plan on doing a rubber roof and vinyl siding(it was free). I also put a weatherproof outlet on the house and cut an extension cord and put alligator clips on one end this way i can hook up the house to my vehicle and charge my batteries. Is 6" of insulation in the ceiling sufficient?I also have plans to put a battery operated dartboarrd in the fish house I would have my mom sew up something that snaps onto the bottom of the dartboard and would catch the darts that fall out so they dont go plunk down the hole. I am also modifying a nintendo 64 to run off of a battery, the 64 actually operated on 3v. I would appreciate any comments or criticisms, being this is my first house and all. If anyone has any wuestions or wants more pics on how i converted this camper frame to a drop down for $100 (thats including the jacks) feel free to ask

[Northland Sportsman]

I am planning on doing a camper conversion this year also. I don't think I will do a whole lot to it this first year, but plan to use it and see what features i would like to add and work on it more for next year. i would like to see how you converted it to a drop down for that cheap. Please post or send me pics or more info at [email protected] Thanks, It looks like you did a great job on the house!

[ib_jigged]

I would be interested in how you modified the frame to work.

[walleye_jigger]

We did a camper conversion also and what we did with the frame was mount two more jacks on each back corner and then we replaced the bolts were the axle springs mount to the frame with hitch pins. Then all we have to do is jack it up and pull the pins and pull the axle out and drop the house down to the ice. We did weld some 4 inch skids on the bottom of the frame so it doesn't go all the way to the ice which helps with the jack length also.

[Blaze]

w-jigger,

So when you pull the pins, does the whole axle and everything pull out? I'm working on a camper with a couple guys right now and we're talking about different options to "git-er-down". If you have any pics, I'd love to see them.

[walleye_jigger]

Blaze..

Yeah the whole axle pulls out. I believe we have to take one tire off as well but when you have a couple of guys we are usually set up within 10 min. We aren't too big into moving. We have our spots on our favorit lakes and usually sit there. It works for us but I have some other idea's in my head for a drop down type if we ever remodle the whole thing. I'll see what I can do on the pictures.

[mustangt69]

on mine only about 18 inches of the axle and the wheel and hub pull off. each side pulls out seperately. It is a very simple idea. If you have a square axle you can do it to yours also. cut your axle in half, remove all suspension, figure out what you need for securing pins and then measure and drill your holes. Cut your Square tubing to the desired length and voila. One of the first pics on my HSOforum shows the frame and the spring loaded pins, the only difference is that the square tube is welded onto the bottom of the frame (in the pic its just sitting on top. One person can do this relatively easy. The wheel/axle parts are pretty heavy but i can deal with that i guess. Yours may be lighter if you dont have trailer brakes. The square tubing should be a tiny bit larger than your axle but not too big where it will slop around inside it. I also drilled my holes in the axle as close to the end as i could to put the leaset amount of pressure on the axle where i drilled the hole. have an access hole inside the house in the floor to release and set the pins