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Building an inexpensive wheeled ice house

Jim Hager

By Jim Hager
in Ice Fishing

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Jim Hager Newbie

Jim Hager

Posted
Posted

Hi to all,I'm new to this web site so I'm sorry if I am to ask questions you may have already answered. I have caught the ice fishing bug and love it. I would likem some ideas on how to build a fish house and not spend $1500 on a frame. I am very mechnically inclined, but short on funds, The house I would like to build would be in the size of 8'x16'. I would use it in MN. close by the Fargo area, give or take an hr or so drive time. In time would like to have fold up bunk beds,tv,mic. but for now to build this summer and add all the fun stuff at a later date. I have seen houses that the tires roll dn,tires removed,units that are on the ice up to 5" to 6" off the ice. I've heard of people using the frame from old campers, is there any sites out there or ideas any one may have? I'm thinking of 2x2 wall, corrugated steel sidding, ????????? What works what doesn't and what not to do, any help would be great.

JIm H

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muc33 Mentor

muc33

Posted
Posted

Welcome to FM Jim! You should gather a ton of advice here. It really depends on what you want. I am by no means mechanically inclined, so I opted after owning 3 perm houses on wheels to buy one that is REALLY road worthy. The reason I say this is that the perms I have are great for short journey's of 15 to 20 miles, but not much more. I have 1500 or less in them, none of them are real sleepers though. Just enough to fish in very comfortably. most don't even have paneling. just lathe holding the insulation in. BUT THEY WORK. I spend lots of hours in them and have caught plenty of fish. But they are just that, short journey houses, that work great to leave on a lake for the season and just move from spot to spot. I bought a new one a month ago and spent 3 times your budget, and now have a house that is built to travel. The wheel system is tested and tried, the construction is sound, and it pulls like a dream. It is nicer than I could have ever imagined. But my others work just fine. So take your time, if you have the skills and the time, study some trailers, I have many friends who have built their own winch wheel trailers that work just fine. You can gather windows and siding and lumber and get it done for your price I think but it will take some bargin hunting in my opinion. Have fun and keep coming back here and you will have so many Ideas, your head will hurt!

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mediocrates67 Enthusiast

mediocrates67

Posted
Posted

Jim, no matter what you do have a plan first. I'm in the same boat as you and will be building my house this fall, but will have to buy a frame.

The biggest thing for building a house is to have it as light as possible. When you start talking steel siding and all sorts of heavy materials, it's gonna get too big and you may need a tandem axle. Best idea is like tis said is to just keep searching the net and also on this great site, you'll get plenty of info.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      By The way that didn't work either!! Screw it I'll just use the cellular. 
    • Wanderer
      Just Food and Drink

      By Wanderer · Posted

      It’s done automatically.  You might need an actual person to clear that log in stuff up.   Trash your laptop history if you haven’t tried that already.
    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      😂 yea pretty amazing how b o o b i e s gets flagged, but they can't respond or tell me why I  can't get logged in here on my laptop but I can on my cellular  😪
    • Mike89
      Just Food and Drink

      By Mike89 · Posted

      I grilled some brats yesterday, maybe next weekend will the next round...  
    • Wanderer
      Just Food and Drink

      By Wanderer · Posted

      You got word censored cuz you said        B o o b ies….. haha.   Yeah, no… grilling is on hiatus for a bit.
    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      Chicken mine,  melded in Mccormick poultry seasoning for 24 hours.  Grill will get a break till the frigid temps go away!
    • Mike89
      Problems with Yetti

      By Mike89 · Posted

      good luck!!!   
    • rundrave
      Problems with Yetti

      By rundrave · Posted

      we had some nice weather yesterday and this conundrum was driving me crazy  so I drove up to the house to take another look. I got a bunch of goodies via ups yesterday (cables,  winch ratchet parts, handles, leaf springs etc).   I wanted to make sure the new leaf springs I got fit. I got everything laid out and ready to go. Will be busy this weekend with kids stuff and too cold to fish anyway, but I will try to get back up there again next weekend and get it done. I don't think it will be bad once I get it lifted up.    For anyone in the google verse, the leaf springs are 4 leafs and measure 25 1/4" eye  to eye per Yetti. I didnt want to pay their markup so just got something else comparable rated for the same weight.   I am a first time wheel house owner, this is all new to me. My house didn't come with any handles for the rear cables? I was told this week by someone in the industry that cordless drills do not have enough brake to lower it slow enough and it can damage the cables and the ratchets in the winches.  I put on a handle last night and it is 100% better than using a drill, unfortatenly I found out the hard way lol and will only use the ICNutz to raise the house now.
    • Wanderer
      Problems with Yetti

      By Wanderer · Posted

      I haven’t done any leaf springs for a long time and I can’t completely see the connections in your pics BUT I I’d be rounding up: PB Blaster, torch, 3 lb hammer, chisel, cut off tool, breaker bar, Jack stands or blocks.   This kind of stuff usually isn’t the easiest.   I would think you would be able to get at what you need by keeping the house up with Jack stands and getting the pressure off that suspension, then attack the hardware.  But again, I don’t feel like I can see everything going on there.
    • rundrave
      Problems with Yetti

      By rundrave · Posted

      reviving an old thread due to running into the same issue with the same year of house. not expecting anything from yetti and I already have replacement parts ordered and on the way.   I am looking for some input or feedback on how to replace the leaf springs themselves.    If I jack the house up and remove the tire, is it possible to pivot the axel assembly low enough to get to the other end of the leaf spring and remove that one bolt?   Or do I have to remove the entire pivot arm to get to it? Then I also have to factor in brake wire as well then. What a mess   My house is currently an hour away from my home at a relatives, going to go back up and look it over again and try to figure out a game plan.           Above pic is with house lowered on ice, the other end of that leaf is what I need to get to.   above pic is side that middle bolt broke and bottom 2 leafs fell out here is other side that didnt break but you can see bottom half of leaf already did but atleast bolt is still in there here is hub assembly in my garage with house lowered and tires off when I put new tires on it a couple months ago. hopefully I can raise house high enough that it can drop down far enough and not snap brake cable there so I can get to that other end of the leaf spring.

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