FishHouse Down!!!

[TUMBLEWEED]

All, a work buddy's permanent house went in on a

lake up in Aiken. When he put it out, they had

8-10 inches, but after all that warm weather

hit, he feared the worst, and he confirmed that last

weekend with the DNR. His shack is down to about

two feet from his roof on one side of the house.

Does anyone have some first-hand knowlage on getting

a wet shack out and back up on the ice?? He is going

back up on Friday to figure out what they might do.

This is a fairly large house (8x10), and now that it is full

of water, even heavier than ever. What are some of

the first things to do?? My suggestion was to check the

ice thickness again to verify what they are dealing with.

There is no snow cover right now, so not much traction

for pulling, if one could get some ATV's nearby. Also,

the point he is out in front of, has some bigger trees

from which to anchor, and try to winch it out somehow.

I hope its still hanging in there with another week of

this warm stuff. Thanks for any help you could give him...

[Eric Wettschreck]

I have helped remove a fish house from the water before. I don't know if the situation is similar, but this is what we did. Please understand, the water was about 8 feet deep, and the ice was about 9 inches thick when we did this.

Cut the hole around the house into a rectangle, big enough to get some large planks, set at an angle. One end under the house the other end on the ice. Someone has to get wet and hook up chains to the frame. Come-along the house up the planks if there is a tree nearby. If safely possible open the windows and door when it's coming up to help get rid of water.

Good luck. I don't know the ice thickness or water depth so what we did may not work for yous guys. Be careful.

[boneyslayer]

Bummer, well its unsafe to drive out so first thing to do is mark it for saftey reasons so in case it does go down. Use a long rope and a clothes detergent bottle to mark it and put a bunch of ropes on it now and throw them on top, then just leave it but put some yellow caution tape around the spot and come back when its safe to cut it out, hook the chains up first so it does not drop. and cut the backside of the house ice last then do what was suggested on planking, just have to wait till its safe, Whats the weight and size? I would use two four wheel dives one on each corner. ho ho ho merry xmas.

[Blaze]

Boy - that things is LITERALLY a fish-house, isn't it?

Good luck and BE SAFE.

[TUMBLEWEED]

It is sitting over 22 feet of water, and one whole

side is down. Only a couple of feet of the door is

visable, and that was last Sunday!! Keep the suggestions coming!!

[efgh]

You can chop a hole in the ice and use a J hooks, 2, for a anchor if nothing else is handy to use for a anchor. Just make sure the J hook is real heavy or big enough to stand the strain. Come alongs, 2, work great. strech out you chain or cable, strech out your come along, Cut your ice hole, insert the J hook and start wenching, when your come along is wenched up tight strech out your other come along, cut your ice hole, insert J hook and keep on wenching and keep repeating till the house is out. You can also use jim poles. hope this is some help to you.

[john.wells]

my house went down on North Center a couple years ago. Fortunately, I have a tongue on it that we were able to loop a chain around by making a large "U" and working it around a couple times (I know it sounds a little confusing). We then anchored three four wheelers by drilling two holes about a foot apart for each wheeler and dropped a chain down one hole and just reached down and grabbed the end to form a loop. At that point, it was just a matter of slowly winching the beast up (8x12 with an axle assembly) and letting the water drain. It drains fairly fast, but don't rush the job. We also used 2x4's for leverage and planking. Our house never did sink all the way, it was floating like a boat up to the windows, and I would imagine any wood framed house with styrofoam insulation would act the same. One last important thing to do is to clearly mark the area so no one goes through. We just drilled holes partially through the ice at four corners and stuck studs in and packed them with slush and tied police/construction tape around the thing and slapped some cheap reflectors on the studs. When the ice got thick there, we chiseled out the studs.

[markzeke]

I had a permanent 8 x 8 that went in about halfways. We got a chainsaw and cut around one edge making a v-cut so we could put planks under it. Then we did 2 other sides and we had to tip it on its side to get it out of the hole. It was a real pain in the butt but it got it out. Just make sure the ice is thick enough before doing anything.

[Farley]

There isnt an easy way to do it, that's for sure.

Maybe you can drill a hole through opposite sides of the house near, but under, the roof. then get yourself a 10 foot piece of steel tubing (square is stronger than round) and slide that in the holes to use as a pulling bar. So now you have roughly two feet of tubing sticking out of two sides of the house. loop an end of a towstrap around one end of the tubing and the other end of the towstap on the other end of tubing, making a triangle. from the point of that triangle, run either a cable from a winch from one of those trees or if it's close enough to get a truck on that point, pull it out that way. Somehow you will have to losen the house from the ice around the edges of the house. Shotgun might work.

[Capt.Blaine]

Did you get the house out?

[Surface Tension]

First you'll want to stabilize it. Get yourself 4 4x4s that are long enough to span the house and onto good ice and 1/2" x 8" lag screws. Predrill the 4x4s with 1/2" bit, this should be done in an area where you can get the lags screws into the corners of the shack. Now make the hole locations in the corners close to the ice and predrill with a 1/4" bit. Do both ends of the shack.

Use a jack under the 4x4s to lift. Do a little at a time on each corner and use cribbing as you go. You'll get to a point where your going to need to place the second set of 4x4s lower as you go. Once your above the ice slide logs or 4x4s under the shack.

Just remember you have a lot of weight there and strange things happen. Your cribbing needs to be solid and keep your jack height low.

[wallyeye]

A friend of mine also had this problem. We drilled 2 holes in the ice about 15'

away from the edge of the hole in good ice. Then we wedged wood 4x4's into the holes

we fastened one end of a 50' log chain to 1 of the 4x4's. We tied a rope to the other

end of the chain and one guy walked around the hole to the other side of the house with

the rope. We then dropped the chain into the water and guided it under the house. The guy

with the end of the rope then threw it over the top of the house (while holding onto the chain)

Then by using a come-a-long attached to the other 4x4 anchor point, pull the rope tight and

hook the chain up to it and start winching. You have to take it slow so that water can drain

out of the house while you are winching it out. If you have a well constructed house you

will have minimal damage.

[MuskieJunkie]

Tumbleweed - Were there any fines?

[TUMBLEWEED]

I would like to thank all that helped

with getting this thing back on top of the ice. The house was "rescued" on New Years Eve. They used the two- holes

and chain trick that was suggested. A total of three sets

of two hole anchors were installed with come-a-longs.

They were positioned one on each end of the house,

and one in the middle. They installed lag bolts onto

the 6x6 runners and attached the middle come a long to

those. Next,they ran a strap, from one of the end

placed anchors all the way around the top of the house and

attached it to the other anchor come a long set up.

Then, with a guy on each come a long, they slowly brought it

up and out onto the ice. As it was coming up, a large crash happened when the ice broke underneath it again!! The straps however, held it in check and they continued cranking it up. The strap that was run

around the house started to slip down, so they added some

lag screws to keep it in place. This worked to pull

the dropped end out of the water. A nearby homeowner

was realy impressed how it came right out. There is now the matter of drying it out. As for a fine, none has been issued

as of yet. Again, thanks FMers for the help!!

[PierBridge]

Glad it worked out for you.

There wouldn't any reason for a fine.

[McGurk]

Way to go! Any pictures by any chance? I don't quite understand the method you used, luckily I don't need it (yet ). Thanks!

[TUMBLEWEED]

I have a few JPEGS snaps of the house when it was down.

Can I send them to someone to post for everyone to see??

More pics coming, of the recovery....Thanks

[marine_man]

send them to me: [email protected]

I'll get them posted for you...

marine_man

[EBass]

I sure want to see the before, during and after process.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Marineman, did you get my email with attachments??

[PierBridge]

Send em over I'll post them..... d a r t m a s t e r h d at yahoo

[TUMBLEWEED]

Dartmaster, you have mail..

[marine_man]

yep.. I got them... just been away from the computer for the weekend.

Here are your pics, sorry for the delay...

marine_man