Wheelhouse wall height question...

[epkirkman]

I am in the process of building my first drop down ice house. I got some great ideas from some of the houses I have seen built here over the last few years.

With that said, as I was standing up my first wall tonight, I realized it may be a bit tall, I had the studs cut at 7'6. I checked at few manufactured fish houses and the ceiling height seems to be 6'6 or 6'8. Is that pretty much a standard height or could you go a bit taller if you wanted?

Thanks

[Eric Wettschreck]

You can go as high as you wish.

The higher it is, the more room you will have for tall guys. The downside is the more space you will have to heat and the added weight.

Higher ceilings, for me, are great. More room and you can install a good fan to keep the air moving around.

[meatfish]

epkirkman

I've built some houses that tall and it worked out great.I built some light weight, small,shallow cabinets and shelving around the whole ceiling.They take up air space and its great to have all that extra storage.And a good spot to hang rattle reels.Then I mount computer fans under the shelves above each hole.The cabinets also work great for running wires and cables from front to back and side to side.Have fun I find building fish houses almost as much fun as fishing.

[Random guy]

Pros- A taller house will allow more room for shelves, cig/cigar smoke and maybe allow more room for bunks. Basicaly it just gives you alot of interior options.

Cons- Heat goes to the ceiling, a taller house creates more drag hence harder pulling more fuel. (thats a biggy now) A taller house on the lake will create more wind shear and lose heat faster.

[jerkbait]

When I built mine the walls were just tall enough to get a standard exterior door in. The wall ended up about 7' or a hair over. Heating works great, yes heat does rise, but a fan pushes the haet right back down. I am going to add a 12volt cieling fan 1 of these days, currently I have a 6" 12volt fan. Make sure to build it with a V-front, wind resistance is reduced tremendously. I also wrapped the fish house with TY-VEK. It is a 8'x16' plus the V and the ceiling is vaulted. It is heated with a 15,000 btu heater and it can cook us right out of there. Circulating the air is the key to heating any fish house. The taller walls are nicer for more head room on the top bunk. Good luck with your build.

[epkirkman]

Thanks for your responses guys. I think I will go ahead and build them a bit higher. I am lucky to live close to some great fishing spots so I don't have far to drive.

I do have a V-front on the trailer. I have been looking forward to building this thing for the last three years. This site has been a huge help.

Thanks again,

Ed

[epkirkman]

For those of you thinking of building your fish house, I had a self teaching lesson today on wall height.

I am using steel siding, I should have thought about what length I was going to use when considering wall height. I didn't. I have a break so I can put a piece of trim on but I built my walls 2" higher than they should be.

Consider how high your siding is going to be if you are using steel siding before you build your walls.