Buidling a light one man portable shanty

[Rob V]

Last year I built a nice, collapsable, portable fish shanty - good for two or 3 people. works great, but too heavy to drag on the ice using "foot power". I'd like to build a smaller 1 man portable shanty that I can pull out when I can't talk someone and their ATV into going out with me. All the commercially built units are outside of my budget. Anyone have any ideas/plans ?

Thanks in advance. Rob V

[Bean]

You can go to ebay and buy an "Eskimo quickflip 1 ice shelter" for $95 and that includes shipping. I bought one and I really like it. Can't go wrong for that price. Only thing you need is a seat for it or a bucket with a lid to sit on. Do a search for it on there and you'll see it. He has 6 left as of right now.

[Rob V]

Thanks Ken - found it but it's not available outside of Canada - darn - looked like a good rig.

[bueller]

Bean, tell me more about this shanty, such as how heavy is it, does it pull easily, is there enough headroom when sitting on a tall bucket, etc. The price is almost to good to pass up.

BTW, I love the picture of the carp. I am also an avid carpfisherman during the soft water season.

[Bean]

Bueller,
    Here's the specs: The weight after assembly is 25 pounds. They save weight by having no seat and a sled which is light. The sled size is 36" x 24" and looks like a jet sled style design. It has telescoping and locking poles which put the inside height at 59" to the bottom of the one pole where your head would be. I have a bucket that is 19" to the top of the seat. When I sit on it inside the hut I still have about 1" head clearance if I keep my back perfectly straight and don't slouch over. I'm 6' tall. I might not use that bucket in there though, because I might use a collapsible chair that has a back and arm rests.
     The material they use on this one is the same as the other eskimo huts. The only thing I would have liked to seen them improve was the sled. It's not built like an otter sled, but that would add more weight(which I wouldn't have minded another few pounds of plastic). I could see the sled getting damaged if you dragged it over rocks or gravel instead of just ice and snow. I decided to beef this area up a little. I bought a small piece of 3/8" plywood and cut it to fit in the bottom of the sled.  I sanded the edges and corners, then painted it with a sealing paint so it will last longer. I found a pair of $5 skis in the paper, took off the bindings, and cut it to fit on the bottom of the sled. I then installed screws through the plywood, through the sled bottom, and into the skis. The bottom should last a long time now. I probably added about 10 pounds by doing this. I think it should pull very easy unless I run into some deep powdery snow(most anything will pull tougher in that).
     The width of this unit is 34 to 35 inches. The area from the front of the flip tent to the sled is 39". It has about a 1 square foot window in the front with an attached velcro window cover. There are 2 vent screens(1 on each side) that also have attached velcro covers. You can set it halfway up if you want it to be used as a windbreak.
     I might buy or make an elastic cover for this so the tent material doesn't accidentally hang out and drag on the ice.  It would keep the snow out also.  I also thought about buying a stadium seat and attaching it permanently to the sled somehow. They're pretty lightweight, are foldable, and would suit me fine.
     Sorry for all the rambling, but I try to be thorough. Good Luck!