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Camper converting to fish house

vrodharley77

By vrodharley77
in Ice Fishing

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Scott K Grand Master

Scott K

Posted
Posted

It may be a bit of an overkill, but I would love to have a huge ice house like that. If there is a good 18 inches I wouldnt worry alot about the weight, but the downside is, we dont get 18" down in my area until middle of jan. If you were to keep it upnorth and use it there, you may have a longer season with it. Now I want one grin.gif

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Dances with Walleye Community Regular

Dances with Walleye

Posted
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I'm looking to find & buy a 12 to 14 footer and do the same thing...

24 is A LOT more weight, meaning you'd get to put it out later.

We put my buddy's 12 footer out just before Christmas... And it seems like too short of a season before you pull it off at the end of Feb.

Also... Unless you go crazy insulating and reventing that thing, you're going suck down TONS of propane to heat it... Which will hurt the pocketbook if you don't have a bunch of guys with you every time you go up.

So while it would be sweet to have a HUGE house like that...

Boy there's some somantic snags.

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vrodharley77 Contributor

vrodharley77

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thanks for the info, we are gutting everything out of it and just building 2 bunks, all of us involved work in the construction trade and with scraps and connections we are hoping it works out i will send in pics when we are done but it should be SWEET!!!!!

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Boar Grand Master

Boar

Posted
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I have a 17' an just bought a 21' They are really sweet to fish out of. I go to LOW an have seen alot of huge crank downs an perms. in 15-20' range before I set up, but those things are I'm sure pretty bare on the inside. I usually wait till 12" before my 17' is on, an will probabley wait til at least 15-18" before I put out he bigger one. Definatley insulate the floor with 1" foam, 10" pvc to drop from the floor to the ice works great for 8" augers an wallmart right now has 12 volt ocilating fans for 8 bucks to mount on the ceiling to push air down, but get them now or they go away for the season. I would put two small wall mount heaters on opposite end for heat, I have a 30,000 btu in the 17 an it's way over kill an I'm just waisting fuel, the large element is just burning unnessesary fuel even on the lowest possible setting, just some hints, I'm sure you guys know what your doing. Boar

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Dave Grand Master

Dave

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I converted a '72 16-footer years ago, nothing stripped out (so I can still camp in it during summer) and it weighed 4000 pounds. Even stripped, it'll be heavy for sure.

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kwiggy Collaborator

kwiggy

Posted
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I have a question to add to this post... what has anybody done about the windows? Do they just frost up? I have a 16' camperLite which has a huge picture window on the front. I thought I would face that south so the sun could help keep it clear. Just wondering if there are tricks out there to keep things from frosting up like my free garage beer fridge smirk.gif

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caughtacase73 Contributor

caughtacase73

Posted
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I use an old 14 footer on the ice. You may want to consider replacing the large windows with something else. We had our house broken into at the end of last year. Those big windows make it easy to see in and easy to get in. The big windows were also drafty and cold. Just a thought.

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federline Proficient

federline

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Posted

Quote:

Hey just wondering if anyone thinks a 24 foot travel trailer is to big to put on the ice, what if mostly gutted out and just 2 sets of bunks put in?

thanks

If you don't mind putting it out late, you are not the first. There's a couple old conversions of this size, mounted on skids, that are put out on Mille Lacs. They are monsters - if you gut and rebuild light, you should be fine, but I would personally consider skids to spread out the weight/pressure.

We gutted a 12 footer down to the framing and aluminum, did a frame-off insulated floor rebuild, remounted the alum + skick shell, put 1.5" foam insulation in the voids, rewired, repaneled, built three multi-section flip-up bunks (2 w/ storage), made 6 holes. The thing is LIGHT - one man can lift up a side.

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federline Proficient

federline

Posted
Posted

Quote:

I have a question to add to this post... what has anybody done about the windows? Do they just frost up? I have a 16' camperLite which has a huge picture window on the front. I thought I would face that south so the sun could help keep it clear. Just wondering if there are tricks out there to keep things from frosting up like my free garage beer fridge
smirk.gif

They frost up like the dickens at night - sunrays, even on cloudy days, help keep them clear except in the coldest of days. They also leak drafts in the windblown tundra... but the crank out ones, like we have, and the pop-top vent, are great for evacuating auger fumes in seconds.

We bought a roll of Reflectix from Menards, along with some velcro, and cut custom-fit pieces to insulate and block drafts and mounted them with the velcro to the windows. They can come off during the day, especially on sunny days and roll up tight to store. Insider temp diff is remarkable if your floor, wall and ceiling are also insulated - we used 1.5" pink foam all around.

With a 9000 BTU can-style gravity propane furnace in our 12 footer camper conversion, we can maintain a 70-75 deg F temp diff between inside and outside.

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kwiggy Collaborator

kwiggy

Posted
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Velcro... what a great idea. Could velcro be considered the "Space-Age" Duct tape? Did you put anything on the inside of the pink foam, or did you leave it uncovered. I think I will put some light, cheap paneling, but I thought I would ask if you used anything else because you were able to keep it very warm. Thanks for the idea... I am getting pumped for hte season. Is anybody else hoping for a serious crash in temperature!?!?!?

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Pikeslayer Community Regular

Pikeslayer

Posted
Posted

How far off the ice is the floor of your trailer?Do you lower it down some how or is that what the PVC pipe is for?I have a older 16' that Im working on and it looks like with 1"insulation added to the floor it would be too far off the ice to reach down and grab the fish unless I lower the trailer down somehow! confused.gif

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Dances with Walleye Community Regular

Dances with Walleye

Posted
Posted

Quote:

How far off the ice is the floor of your trailer?Do you lower it down some how or is that what the PVC pipe is for?I have a older 16' that Im working on and it looks like with 1"insulation added to the floor it would be too far off the ice to reach down and grab the fish unless I lower the trailer down somehow!
confused.gif

It is a bit more difficult to grab the fish with the camper height...

My Buddy's camper/wheelhouse, he used to lose all kinds of fiish...

Then I started Musky Fishing, and bought the armored glove... Started grabbing fish with it... (I thumb Walleye like they're bass)

Allows you to get right down into the hole and get them...

Even in the case of Pike, where you'd risk damaging their teeth if you thumbed them... You can still get in there with the glove and grab that gill plate with more confidence... Rather than seeking around and dealing with all the thrashing.

One season of my friends watching me with the glove and now there isn't an angler amonst us who doesn't own one...

Best $17 I ever spent on any piece of fishing gear.

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perchking Mentor

perchking

Posted
Posted

I have often thought about that with my 32 foot trailer, that I currently use for a hunting camp. It weighs 5200lbs, a bit heavy but after watching "ice road truckers" it really should be an issue with good ice. There is really no way to lower it but it would still make a great meeting spot on the lake.

JUST IMAGIN THE LOOKS YOU WOULD GET PULLING CAMP "REHAB" ON THE ICE...

Here is a couple of pics.

[image]IMG_0355.jpg[/image]

[image]IMG_0360.jpg[/image]

[image]IMG_0362.jpg[/image]

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Dances with Walleye Community Regular

Dances with Walleye

Posted
Posted

Quote:

Thats a good weight for such a large unit. (seems to light )

Far better distributed in 32' then a 6,000 lb truck or SUV everyone thinks nothing of. Most of these houses over 16' are 4,000 lbs or better as well loaded up.

Well the problem comes in when you put the 4,000 pound trailer and the 6,000 pound truck together to get them out on the ice.

The amount of ice needed to support that weight means you couldn't bring it out there until late season. Versus what my buddy's and I have done with 12 & 14 foot camper's where we just towed it out onto the main ice sheet with a wheeler.

****

The other thing... Man that 32 footer is NICE... even with top end hatch covers and removeable sleeves, I still wouldn't want to be putting holes in the floor.

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