Flip over shacks with an aluminum seat frame ?

[cold nose]

I know it would add cost to the unit , but my GOD the weight savings would be worth it ! Those steel frames are super heavy , then they use aluminum tube for the tent supports ? Extruded aluminum seat frames would be sweet !  Eskimo and the rest are you listening ? 

[defish]

Aluminum wouldn't hold up to the tonnage of most people anymore...

[thomasthepikehunter]

I've had the same thoughts, but when mediocre shacks are hitting $800, I can't imagine wanting even more money involved. If I was ok spending $1500, I would strongly consider a custom like a Canvas Craft flip over, get it on a good Otter sled, and have a fab shop make you a couple seat mounts. I feel like if you have that kind of money, just get a 4 wheeler or snowmobile to pull the thing at that point.

Strength would be no issue. Many, if not most camping/lawn chairs are aluminum frame, and usually just bent junk tube and riveted together. They hold 300 pound people just fine. An aluminum bench with some boat seats on it will hold anyone fit enough to pull a sled.

Alternatively, and this probably makes much more sense for most people, get a flip over without attached seats. Get some good hunting chairs like a Millenium G-100, they are like 7 pounds each. Plus if you ever want to fish outside the house you just bring the chair with you.

[Ronnie D]

Steel has 3× the tensile  strength as aluminum, so the aluminum  would have to be 3x thicker to accomplish  the same task, also the 100's of rivets used for assembly  would be 3x as likely  to fail because aluminum  is too soft

[HWeber]

Steel has 3× the tensile  strength as aluminum, so the aluminum  would have to be 3x thicker to accomplish  the same task, also the 100's of rivets used for assembly  would be 3x as likely  to fail because aluminum  is too soft

You plan on driving over these hypothetical seats or what?

[hardwater diehard]

I have an tube aluminum directors chair ...other then the fabric failing it seems to do the job..but I also think adding aluminum to an ice shelter seat would increase the price ..

[greenbulldog]

Aluminum wouldn't hold up to the tonnage of most people anymore...

Good point, if you look around we are by and large not a real svelt people, myself included 😆

[thomasthepikehunter]

Steel has 3× the tensile  strength as aluminum, so the aluminum  would have to be 3x thicker to accomplish  the same task, also the 100's of rivets used for assembly  would be 3x as likely  to fail because aluminum  is too soft

You obviously don't know what you are talking about.

There are a number of mild steel alloys, but a 1018 has an ultimate tensile strength listed 63,800 psi. Most of your basic aluminum you would use for this is probably 6061. It has a listed ultimate tensile strength of 45,000 psi. Its not even half of a basic mild steel. Those vary, but 3x is not true.

That's beside the point, tensile strength has little to do with anything here. We aren't stressing material to failure in a chair. More realistic might be yield strength, but it's not much of an issue here. You can absolutely build chairs out of aluminum, and it does not have to be much thicker than steel.

I suppose you could rivet a seat bracket together, that would be a really dumb way of doing it, but it would not take hundreds. Bolts would work fine. Realistically, most manufacturers would weld them. Put a gusset in the corner, and I bet they hold up just as good as steel.

Strength isn't the problem. The problem is cost and ease of manufacturing (which is still cost). Steel is easily robotic welded, it's done all the time in China. Steel is much more forgiving to poor welding practices. Even ugly steel welds are fine for a seat bracket. Aluminum in the other hand is much less forgiving. It can be robotic welded, but it is not yet common, at least not small stuff. I don't know about the automotive industry. Right now a bracket like this would be built by a skilled person with a spool gun or tig welder.

A completely bolted together design might be possible too. I think a lot of weight could be saved on most current steel designs anyway.

[cold nose]

I have an aluminum alloy receiver hitch witch is stronger than steel . The weight savings would be significant . They can make an aluminum chair to handle 300 lb people , no reason a mandrel bent seat frame could not be done for flip overs . Im sure price point would be beyond what people would want to pay . Shaving 30 or more pounds off a a flip would make life easier LOL   

[jimmyclaude]

I know it would add cost to the unit , but my GOD the weight savings would be worth it ! Those steel frames are super heavy , then they use aluminum tube for the tent supports ? Extruded aluminum seat frames would be sweet !  Eskimo and the rest are you listening ?

Ive been a walker most of my ice life... and got a snow dawg 5 seasons ago... weight wasn't a issue anymore, but traveling with minimum gear over the years is ingrained. This year everyone is a walker with 4" of ice.

what ever weight savings you gain is quickly overshadowed with the gallons of water in your bait bucket.

[A man called horse]

Weight and features is the reason I build my own. Aluminum is the go to for framing. At one point I was manhauling 25# of sled, 65# of hut, 47# of gas auger, 25# of other gear. Now I’m 20# hut/sled combo, 14# auger and 30# gear😹