T-bone, shoremaster vs. Otter

[rod bender]

T-bone, I see you have a Shoremaster Jigger. I will be purchasing either an Otter Medium or a Shoremaster in the next month. Can you help me out with any differences or pros/cons? Thanks for your help!

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Rodbender

[Duffman]

I'll chime in a little. Picked up a Shoremaster Voyegeur Extreme late last season. The Shoremasters canvas, poles and overall construction is top notch. The tub is nice, but I think the Otter tub is a little more heavy duty than the Shoremaster. A huge bonus is that my Shoremaster DoubleWide was completely assembeled and came with a travel cover. I thought the price was great compared to other doublewides, I think I paid $515.

[Guest]

When I bought the Shoremaster, I was at a "winter sports" show a couple of years ago. At the time, I had a one man fish trap that was really old but still in good shape with a heavy tub. I needed more space is all. The only two shelter mfg. there were Shoremaster and Otter. So I compared the two for price and for what I visualized each one needed and how it could be modified. After a couple hours I decided to get the Jigger. The reasons were: Price. I liked that the tub top was flat and square so I could mount seats on it and be able to move them further apart. It wasn't as heavy as the Otter tub but heavy enough in my estimation. That seems to be true after two winters out there. I don't drag it around behind a four wheeler. I also liked the fact that the back zipped open. It turned out to be a good thing because on a really cold windy day, you can flip down the front and berm it up with snow/ice and seal the drafts out-then come and go from the leeward side through the back. You don't lose all of your heat that way. I also like the low profile of the Jigger and that also helps on real windy days too. Not as much to catch the wind and I wasn't planning to spend alot of time standing up in there anyway. That's not to say anything detrimental about an OTTER or OTTERSKIN. Those are awesome shelters in their own right. I made the choice from what features were available two years ago. As you can see, the competition amongst the shelter mfg's has really heated up. Good luck on your decision.......T

[This message has been edited by TBone (edited 10-24-2003).]

[rod bender]

Thanks T-bone. Any other comparisons out there?

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Rodbender

[Boar]

I dont have a comparison but I enjoy my otter lodge, I guesse because it's my first truly portable house, the only thing I did,nt like was that I had to replace the poles cause they fit too tight and would work a up a burr inside while collapsing, an easy fix with larger electrical conduit but still it should'nt have needed to do it. Keep an eye out for deals in the bargan cave of a cabelas if you can, I picked the lodge up for 335.00, reg. 444.00 last year in the cave returend for the same reason I replaced the tubing. Later Boar

[Sturge1]

Anyone have problems setting the Shoremaster up during the winds of last year? Do you need to add weight to the lower canvas to keep the wind and elements out? I like the looks of it but the Otter has it's merits with the use of square tubing this year.
Too many choices are driving me crazy!
Sturge