Wheel house holes

[hoggsback]

What are others doing to open your holes after they freeze in your house?

I only get out on weekends. I have been re-drilling my holes but my house got so full of ice on the floor, I had to take it off the lake and thaw it out in heated garage for 6 hours. Then I had to wet vac the carpet to remove all the water. It was bad. This was after fishing in the same spot for 4 weeks.

I hate to crank the house up every time I want to fish or move it a few feet to drill new holes. Leaving it down causes all the shavings and water to spiral up the auger and into the house when drilling.

Are most using a slush bucket or something similar? Are you cranking up your house a foot or so and then drilling? Is there something you can put into the unfrozen hole to limit the amount of ice you have to go through after it freezes?

Any and all help is needed. I have not wanted to go out fishing since cleaning up the floor as I don't want to ice the place up again.

[Big Buck Buster]

If you re-auger the holes, I would definantley get the slush bucket.

I made one from a Rubbermaid tub and a five gallon bucket. Cut a hole in the bottom of the tub to slide the bucket in(big part of bucket down),epoxy it to the tub. You will have to decide how much you want to stick through the tub for ice accumulation.

Depending if you have catch covers in the house, and what brand, you might have to get the right size PVC pipe to fit tight enough in the hole.

I liked the one I made because of the handles. Seems light the slush buckets I looked at were so flimsy.

[BottomPounder]

What kind of auger do you run. Some throw the water alot more than others. Had a jiffy till it flooded my house twice. Never again. I traded it in for a nils!

[HOGEYE]

I just keep the wheelhouse attached to the vehicle the whole time and bring it home with me. Takes 10 minute for either setup or takedown. I have a crankdown hitch though. This way I don't worry about breakins.

[Dozer]

Get rid of the carpet. If you sweep the ice chips off the floor it wont take long to dry. I have never understood why people want carpet in a fish house.

[SM1]

hoggs-

The things you mentioned are good. One simple thing that I do is always sweep up the ice chips in the whole house before I really get the heater turned up. Mine is a 8x12 with 6 holes. I clean up the slush that ended up on the floor with a ice scoop, sweep up the ice chips back into the holes and finish clearing the holes. Takes me 10 min tops and without the slush sitting on my floor it doesnt get iced up like what you had. My floor is usually dry within a few hours of fishing.

The slush bucket that goes around the auger would be better but I dont have one of those, yet.

[mskyfshntchr]

Get rid of the carpet. If you sweep the ice chips off the floor it wont take long to dry. I have never understood why people want carpet in a fish house.

Gotta agree here, at least carpet screwwed down. All it does it keep moisture trapped on the floor. Wreck the floor much quicker.

Sweep it or get a squeegie and use that. Dries real quickly after augering out the holes.

I always have strips of carpet to lay down- once the floor is dry, lay them down. I have 2 strips. One goes from the door to the holes. The next goes in front of the holes- the length of the shack- where we walk.

This works great!

[hoggsback]

Thanks fellas for the response.

I have an old Jiffy that seems to bring the entire lake up the screw and into the house. I have a shovel in the house that I would use to put the ice shavings back in the hole. What happened, I think, is the water coming up the auger is what accumulated on the floor.

I think the idea of no carpet makes sense. The house came with it when I got it this year. There a many things I would like to modify this summer.

I was thinking of also making my own slush bucket to catch what comes up the hole.

Another problem I have is i need a few fans to circulate the heat in the house. My floor is always very cold but my head stays warm. I read about cheap 12v fans at northern I believe that I will have to look for.

[bak2MN]

The slush bucket is the only way to go. And most definately get a fan air circulation is a must.

[Christopher Quast]

Go with computer fans instead they move the air nicely and dont take much juice.

[fishandshroom]

I also just cut a hole in a tote it was a miracle worker. 5 bucks rather than a 50 dollar store bought slush bucket. Then i use the slush inhaler and a small net instead of a ice scoop it works much better.

[hoggsback]

Where do I find computer fans? Computer store?

[slab seeker]

In my dads fish house we put down rubber roofing. Works near perfect, once you drill the holes all you have to do is shovel the ice out and get fishing. The only problem, if wet it can get a litle slippery.

[wplatehunter]

The slush buckets work great.

[fish with teeth]

i use an electric auger and slush bucket. the electric spins slower so the lake doesn't come up the hole at you and anything that does goes into the slush bucket. i also use 3.5 inch coumpter fans for air movement that i found at northern. i have 4, they move the air well and don't use much power at all you can run then off of a vexilar battery.

[usmcjsy]

Where do I find computer fans? Computer store?

I believe fish house supply sells the computer fans. Also this summer if you feel the itch to burn some extra cash upgrade to forced air heat. It seems to dry the floor a lot quicker and has more even heat.

[tonkapat]

if u have a generator forced air heat works. To me a dead battery=no heat is a terrible idea. Empire heater with the vent kit will work with and without power. Will give you forced air results. Any store with computers will have the fans

[crothmeier]

I also bought a rubbermaid tote for $5 and cut a 10" hole in the bottom. $5 vs $50 is a no-brainer. Also get a 6" or 8" hand-held squeege and a dust pan, that will take any shaving off carpet or linoleum. and the squeege will also dry your floor if you use it right. I like the little bit of carpet i haven in my house!

[kr8r.tom]

truck bedliner on the floor and up a foot on the walls all the way around, floor lasts for years. cut the bottom off a 5 gal. bucket when you drill your holes the chips/snow stay in the bucket even when you lift the bucket out of the floor to dump outside.

[Big Buck Buster]

truck bedliner on the floor and up a foot on the walls all the way around, floor lasts for years. cut the bottom off a 5 gal. bucket when you drill your holes the chips/snow stay in the bucket even when you lift the bucket out of the floor to dump outside.

When you installed the bedliner(assuming that it is the liquid), did you do any kind of priming of the plywood before you put on the bedliner? The reason that I ask is that a neighbor of mine did this to his house, and the bedliner is coming off already. It hasn't had one season on it yet. I am thinking of doing the same thing in my new house, but if it doesn't last a long time, I will not. That stuff is expensive. Thanks

[I_icefish_in_my_sleep]

I have one kind of set up and my husband has another. His is a crank down house, he has forced air and carpet made for a boat in his house, which keeps the floor from rotting. His problem is he doesn't want to start and stop his auger to clean up the mess from the holes, last time he had his house sitting right down on the ice when he drill and it took days to dry.

A girl friend and I spent the night in there and the floor was soaked, even after many squeegee's we scraped into the hole using my windshield scraper. It took days to dry out.

I suggested he drill part of the hole while the house was up, I don't know if the house falls perfectly strait down though, to match the hole. Or if he can be part of the way off the ground, if not a person could use blocks, drill and then lower. If he could drill while it was up, most of the slush would be under the house. Finish drilling once you set the house down. Clean out the excess snow while the house if still pretty cold too. Once it starts melting, you've got a skating rink, then it turns to water.

My house doesn't get this problem, I make sure and use the big scoop shovel right after drilling, set it down back wards and scrape it towards you like your raking, get all the snow out you can. I put down those big rubber type interlocking blocks by the holes, I keep turning them or wipe them off with a towel if they get wet. Once the carpet is dry I use these rubber blocks as wind breaks or insulation. Sometimes I leave one down if I'm doing something down by the hole, it's cushy on the knees.

I wonder too, where do old computers go when you want to get rid of them, I bet lots of people junk them and don't think about the fan being of use. Maybe you could call around and find the computer waste place, might be a good deal.

I have a permanent house, might have it sold soon, will fish in hubby's house if it goes through.

I'll be using my rubber blocks in there for sure.

Happy fishing,Diana

[SkitterPopper]

I found this one for $35.00 and it has a raised piece around the edge so nothing falls out. I think it is a great investment.

[hoggsback]

Where'd you find that one? Looks like a rubbermaid product?

[kr8r.tom]

buck buster, i painted both sides of my plywood floor so it would not absorb moisture when i built the house and also insulated the floor. i used high gloss paint with a couple coats then the roll on bedliner.

only thing i can say is i'm on my 7th year with the house and the floor is fine no peeling, but in all honesty i don't know what paint i used but i think that stuff was the key and i think it would have stood up well on it's own. it was the kind your shoes gripped on when it got wet, not slippery.

my house is only 6x8 equivalent to a truck bed it was only hundred bucks for the bedliner.

[Big Buck Buster]

Thanks for the info. I don't think that my neighbor painted the plywood before he put the bedliner on. I will make sure to do this before I put the liner on mine.