lowering a wheel house

[rocki]

got a new wheel house, now that its built, whats the best way to lower them to the ice, it has a crank on each side and a zero clearance jack on the front. do you crank them up the same way also? just dont want to put any extra stress on welds and frame. let me know!

[CatManLee]

I don't know if this is what others do, but it's how I do it. I lower the front first, then lower each side. My thinking behind this is, the tongue is made to handle the weight of the house?? Don't know if it's right, but that's my way of doing it.

[germanshorthairs]

I just got one as well. I was told to lower front first and then sides. When you are going to jack it up and leave do just the opposite. (sides first, than tongue/front)

[ice_it_06]

I generally drop the front and the sides within 8" of the ice.

Drill my holes, shovel the shavings away from outside quick, drop the front and sides all the way. Usually 5 minutes from start to fishing Start the auger as soon as I get out of truck and let it idle while working the house.

[thirtysomething]

Yep, everyone's correct, front first, then sides. Reverse that when you bring it up. What kind of doors/windows set up do you have? We used to do the drop it close, drill the holes, or mark the holes, calculating the rest of the fall and drill. That was years of wasted time. Our new wheel house has double doors in back, side door and side windows with an ocelating fan mounted near the top, above the heater. We drop and drill and the exhaust blows out pretty quick. Lot's of good threads about what else you'll need on the board last couple days. If you don't have it already: generator, microwave, electric skillet, coffee maker, TV, that old car stereo you never threw away finally comes in handy, old computer speakers mounted in corners make great surround sound, and DirecTV tops it off. Okay, so it's not always roughing it. Another nice touch is some lower powered lights. When we're in the shallows for the night bite, it always gets better when we kill the flouresents and run the low watt bulbs. Good luck to ya! Now we just need some ice to pull that baby out on!

[Kaz]

I do the same procedure.. But I drop the house down and open the hole doors and drill the holes. I made some inserts that I push into the shavings to seal the drafts and then clean out the small amount of slush left inside the insert. That way I keep the hole sealed from the outside. I have square openings in the floor, so my inserts are also square.. Been doing this for over 10 years. The hole just about never freeze up, even when I'm gone over night with the house set at 70 degrees.. The insert idea works great and the slush in the bucket keeps the BEER nice and cold .. LOL.. Come on ICE ... Kaz