Hey fellow spearers, this is my first post, though I've read through quite a few of those one here already before asking. I am planning to try sturgeon spearing on Lake Winnebago for the first time this winter, and had a quick question about the interior of the shack. I bought a permanent shack that's about 6x4' and the interior is a tongue-in-groove type wood with vinyl siding exterior. I had originally planned to tear out the interior and leave just bare studs, but after pulling off a small piece, I see the guy who originally built the shack didn't use any sort of plywood beneath the vinyl siding, so tearing out the interior will greatly reduce the structural integrity of the shack I think.
My main question is, how important is it that the interior of the shack be black? What I'm considering as a compromise is removing the bottom 4' of tongue-in-groove all the way around the interior and replacing it with black painted plywood. The shack currently has some wobble/twist to it, and I had originally wanted to tear out the interior to add some diagonal support, but I could add some 45 degree 2x2s in each corner of the framing if I remove the bottom 4' to hopefully cut down on some of the twisting.
Another alternative would be to just paint the interior black. There is a window on the door and a single window on one of the 6' walls that I plan to cover with heavy fabric and attach to the wall with velcro to keep it in place.
While I'm asking, do you guys think 2x2 flooring joists placed 16" on center would be enough to support 400 pounds? I will mostly be spearing alone, but might have a buddy that wants to see what it's all about, and would like to be able to use this in the off season as a hunting blind. The shack was built on 2x6 runners, and I'm afraid if I use 2x4 floor joists they will not have much clearance when towing across the ice, I'd hate to hit an old hole or ice chunk and tear my floor joists out. When I bought the shack it only had about 2' of floor just inside the door, but I tore that out. It currently doesn't have a floor, which might be alright for spearing, but again I'm a little concerned about it twisting when hauling it down the road. I figure the floor would add strength to the structure.
