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First Wheel House Construction (Advice Please?)

Fuzzbient

By Fuzzbient
in Ice Fishing

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Big Buck Buster Mentor

Big Buck Buster

Posted
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REALLY good buy on hsolist right now for sheet alum 25.00 sheet 48"wide 10' tall search fish house sheet steel

I saw that add also. I never tried to contact the person. I haven't had much luck on c-list lately. Seems like when I do find something I would like to purchase, I either never get a reply back about it, or it is already sold. Just my luck, I guess. cry

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bassislife Proficient

bassislife

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You might only have $3000 into the material, but what about the hours of building it, running around to get your steel, aluminum, lumber, getting it insulated etc.?? wear and tear on tools and equipment??

I would rather buy the shell for $5000-$6000 , get a warranty for a year and finish off the rest myself!

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Big Buck Buster Mentor

Big Buck Buster

Posted
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You might only have $3000 into the material, but what about the hours of building it, running around to get your steel, aluminum, lumber, getting it insulated etc.?? wear and tear on tools and equipment??

I would rather buy the shell for $5000-$6000 , get a warranty for a year and finish off the rest myself!

I guess that I enjoy doing things for a friend! What are my tools for, if I'm not using them? Maybe they look nice just sitting on a shelf, or behind some glass so they don't get used or dirty. crazy I guess that some people have enough money to just throw around, and others have to stretch it as far as it will go. As for the one year warranty, I will warranty it for him, and won't charge him any extra for it. laugh

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Fuzzbient Collaborator

Fuzzbient

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You might only have $3000 into the material, but what about the hours of building it, running around to get your steel, aluminum, lumber, getting it insulated etc.?? wear and tear on tools and equipment??

I would rather buy the shell for $5000-$6000 , get a warranty for a year and finish off the rest myself!

Hey, you need an excuse to buy new power tools! I love this kind of stuff. The labor part is actually play time for me. cool

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Jim Uran Grand Master

Jim Uran

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Hey I commend what you are doing, after all is said and done, you know you built this thing from the ground up. Thanks for sharing your process, it will help a lot of us when we decide to take this route. I'm a year or two from tackling this myself..

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iafish4fun Collaborator

iafish4fun

Posted
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You might only have $3000 into the material, but what about the hours of building it, running around to get your steel, aluminum, lumber, getting it insulated etc.?? wear and tear on tools and equipment??

I would rather buy the shell for $5000-$6000 , get a warranty for a year and finish off the rest myself!

The time spent is rewarded when you catch fish and sleep in something that you made yourself. JMO

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ndsufootball Rookie

ndsufootball

Posted
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Just keep at it, mine looks alot like big buck buster's minus the wheel wells. If you have any other questions let me know I uilt mine in about 4 months start to finish. Used aluminum siding. The white actually looks sharp, have the metal plating like big's rubber roof is the way to go. The only other tough decision you might have to make if you haven't is what kind of heater you will install. Empire direct vent or one with a blower pros and cons to both. I went with the Empire heater my personal opinion, i don't like the blower. Good idea but sucks alot of juice. I only need one battery to run everything. Just my opinion. Let me know if you need any other advice. It's nice to get advice from different angles on here.

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hawkeye43 Mentor

hawkeye43

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I built a wheel house over 30 years ago, I had very few to look at to see if I was doing it right or wrong. But I did the best I could, learned alot each time. I have changed everyone of them after that to make them better. I for one don't like a house that looks like everyone else house. I have been thought the houses with the wheel on the outside of the frame, they are a bear to drag thought 2' to 3' of snow with out plowing a road first, then everyone can follow you. What ever works for you I guess.

I have bent a few axles because they where to light, now I have over kill them but haven't bent one since. What good is a light weight house if it falls apart on the lake. We as fisherman have changed the way we fish now in the last 30 years. There are so many new products out there that we didn't have even 10 years ago.

As far as what it cost, its what you what to spend. I can't see me having a $45,000 boat at this stage in my life, if ever. But I have friends that spend more than that on their boats. But I could see spending $10,000 on a house in a heart beat. Some people enjoy building their own, just a pride thing, what ever makes you happy right??

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bassislife Proficient

bassislife

Posted
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I have built a few myself over the years! I didn't mean what you were doing was not a good thing, I'm just saying that the hours involved with running and gunning all over town to get the steel for the frame, hauling it to a shop, welding it up, painting it etc. takes more time and effort then if a guy just bought a trailer and built off that or bought a shell and then finished it off.

Next one I build will be with a already shelled unit, only finished off on the exterior. Then I will finish off the inside as I have the time.

I will still be able to smile when I'm catching fish and sleeping in something that I part in building!

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Fuzzbient Collaborator

Fuzzbient

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I put three coats of spar urethane on the floor to protect it from the water it's going to get exposed to.

IMG_4127.jpg

I've framed up the wall sections but don't have them attached yet.

IMG_4122.jpgIMG_4123.jpg

I've picked up a 30,000 btu LP heater for it too but decided it's too much for it and will get something smaller.

IMG_4124.jpg

I'll be working on the rafters next.

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bassislife Proficient

bassislife

Posted
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Looking good!! but one thing....... You better have a retractable roof because your going to need it with that 30,000 BTU ventless. That is way to large and it is going to cook you out of there on low. Better off hooking it up in your garage and finding a smaller one!

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    • 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.
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      Just Food and Drink

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      😂 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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