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Old 12-17-2008, 10:38 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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Default Another Portable Ice Shack Project - Pic Heavy

Well, I must start off saying I've wanted to build a shack for about 10 years now, but never got around to it. I have a garage, and recently bought a big buddy heater to help heat it.

I've done a bunch of research, and a special thanks to The Fisherman Guy, his completed project is here.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=24279



The design for mine is roughly based on the following designs.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~charrons/Default.htm

http://www.stopsnoringnow.com/icesha...ntyphotos.html

I have a dodge Dakota, which means I have a small truck box. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that there will be a portion of the shack hanging out the back of my truck over the tailgate. I’m going to set it up so that there’s a fair amount of storage under the shack for gear.

I’m going to make the shack pretty large, so that I can have 4 people relatively comfortably in there. And possibly use for winter camping overnight. The floor will fold down in two pieces with two clasps holding it together. Each floor piece is 6’6”, making the total length 13’. The width is 4’, for standard plywood.

Since I’m thinking on using it for camping as well, I’m making 4 hatches, for 4 holes.

By making the floor so long, I created a problem for myself in that when they fold up, they have to be below the curved portion of the roof or it will damage the canvass. So I’ll be making the roof 7’ high with a very shallow curve. Not the best, but I’ve already built one floor section. In hindsight I’d have made the floor panel only 6’.

The other issue is that it may be quite a sail in high wind, but I guess I’ll find out. I can always use guy wires with ice anchors if needed.

For the spreader roof pole, I was looking for expanding metal poles, since I didn’t want a 13’ pole hanging out the back of the truck. So I went with 2” abs, in three sections put together by couplers. I’ll build a slot for it on each wall, and should work well.

I bought a 15’x20’ brown canvas from princess auto. It looks great on The Fisherman Guy’s setup. I love wood burning stoves too, but since I have a big buddy heater, I’m going with propane heat. I have a CO detector as well.

Other than paint, I think I’ve purchased all of my supplies. The total budget was more than I thought, but this is a project that my wife let me do, so I wanted to do it well.




I spent a few hours this evening and have the first floor section down. My buck keeps me company, it’s cold so he’s got my toque.



Will post updates as I can. Hope to get the project done in about 10 days. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.



Here’s the big buddy going full bore in the background. Works great on the double car garage in -20 weather. Melts snow on the floor.

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  #2  
Old 12-17-2008, 10:53 PM
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The Fisherman Guy The Fisherman Guy is offline
 
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Just dam cool! Good thread ABD, sounds like it will be more comfortable and spacious than mine. Great idea with the carbon monoxide dectector, a must have if you are going to sleep in it.

To hold the tarp on the sides, since your floor is collapsable, perhaps you can thread some rope through the grommets, and attach them to each wall, that way when the shack is expanded, the rope pulls tight and holds the tarp down and in place. Snaps can fill with snow, and can be a bugger to clear out in the cold.

How long until you are fishing? I hope to do plenty of fishin over the holidays.
Thanks for the props, I look forward to seeing it in action. A Christmas holiday derby maybe! Let me know what you think!
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Old 12-17-2008, 10:57 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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I bought some cup hooks to screw every foot or so along the floor. I bought a grommet tool as well, so all I have to do is hook the canvas grommetts onto the hooks to keep it tight. I'll leave some extra cloth as well, and tuck the rest under the floor to help keep blowing snow from getting in. I like that rope idea too, might try both!.

My father is recovering from prostate cancer, and growing up we just sat outside and fished on Pine Lake, so I'm going to push to get it done before the holidays so I can take him out to the lake when we head up to Ded Reer.
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Old 12-19-2008, 06:19 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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So in about another three hours, I completed the second floor piece and cut and hinged two access hatches. I also decided to cut the first floor piece down to 6" to make my total length 12'. Seems good when it's all laid out.

Other than taking a chunk out of the end of a finger it's going really well. (following in Treeguy's footsteps. Next it will be a broken or severed finger).
















Next step is to do the next two hatches, build the walls, door, paint, and then fit the canvass.
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Old 12-19-2008, 10:43 PM
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http://icefishinghuts.ca/

Go here and make life easy.....
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Old 12-19-2008, 11:17 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingonthebrain View Post
http://icefishinghuts.ca/

Go here and make life easy.....
They're nice enough, but if I wanted to purchase a hut I would have probably just went and bought a 4-man ice cube.

This is a fun project for me with an end use.
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  #7  
Old 12-20-2008, 08:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Albertadiver View Post
They're nice enough, but if I wanted to purchase a hut I would have probably just went and bought a 4-man ice cube.

This is a fun project for me with an end use.

This site offers both assembled and assembled yourself. They send you the plans and the canvas and you supply the rest. Or they can build and ship.
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  #8  
Old 12-20-2008, 01:14 PM
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Lookin Good - Keep us posted on how it works out
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  #9  
Old 12-20-2008, 01:48 PM
Duck Hunt Duck Hunt is offline
 
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Huntingonthebrain is right, The wooden fold up huts are best there is, and quite affordable at that. $120 gets you the plans plus plywood and the odd board still cheap! and build away. Most economical and spacious hut there is, plus very light weight at that. The only thing with these is to replace the tarp door with a wood one, much handier. Your hut could half the size and have six holes. Cheers
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Old 12-20-2008, 01:56 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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Thanks ULTRAlight. It's going not too bad.

I've got the end wall fastened and up. I just finished painting it after adding a 6"x8" window and vent.

Now that that end is drying, I'll work on the other wall and entry door. Hope to get the wood working part done today, finish painting tommorrow, and work the canvass after a few more days.

I chose to paint for durability, and since I'm using OSB sheathing, I want to keep water off of it. The paint will be a good enough seal for my purposes.

I think it's going to take a while to dry as I can only get the garage to around +8.



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