Author Topic: My first fish house build. 6x8 house on skids. (Read 30786 times)

Spud_bar · « **on:** Sep 28, 2017, 02:26 PM »

Seeing big beautiful houses on the lake out the windows of my portible pop up tent fish house the past couple years have finally got the best of me and I've decided to start building my own (semi) permanent house.

While deciding on the type of house I wanted, I factored in my desire to have a utility trailer for hauling my lawn mower, kayak and anything else that wouldnt fit in my truck. Knowing that my budget would be more likely to be approved by my wife, if a significant chunk of it is a trailer rather than just a wheel up- fish house, I decided to make a house on skids.

I did some shopping and found a decent price on a trailer with a 6'4"x 12' bed.

I then researched this site and a few others to determine what to use for skids/skis. Ultimately I didnt find a consensus, but the best option I came up with was simlply 4x4's that could easily be removed in the future, if they need to be replaced with other options, or possibly have hdpe or uhmw plastic runners put on the bottoms. For now a couple pressure treated 4x4's are what I'm going with.

The floor is 2x4 Pressure treated boards, with 3/8" ply on the bottom that has been treated, and 1/2" PT ply on top. I started with 4 12" holes, but decided to add 2 more. I'm planning to have a couple center facing seats along one narrow wall, door on opposite wall, and windows on all walls without the door. (3).

Walls will be 2x3 on each end, with 2x2 on the sides. Ends will be made a little beefier to support possible bunks. Finding a balance between a lighter house, and one that's not going to blow away in a stiff wind is tough without the benefit of having ever built a house, nor shed before. Hopefully my chosen specs will suffice.

This is the point I'm at now. Future plans are corrugated steel siding, roof. (gable roof with 2x6 joist with 2x2 rafters.

I'm definitely open to suggestions, or critiques, just be kind- I'm a total noob to this house/shed/shack building thing. Thanks!

Hoping to make more progress and have more photos to share after this weekend.

Floor frame on my new trailer. Skids are connected by some 2"L metal angle iron brackets I made with large lags into skis, and bolts through the doubled end boards.

1 1/2" pink foam and expanding foam is sandwiched between the ply on top and bottom of the floor frame.

View of the frame flipped upside down.

I used the foam circles cut for holes to insulate my hole covers. The covers are the 1/2" ply from the hole cutout glued to larger diameter 1/2" ply circles to make for a stronger lid.

At this point I'm trying to not let perfect get in the way of good. I appreciate your advice- thanks.

SpitzoMT · « **Reply #1 on:** Sep 28, 2017, 05:41 PM »

Looking good Spud.....Nice work !!

bowski76 · « **Reply #2 on:** Sep 29, 2017, 07:48 AM »

Keep us posted , we love the home-made houses!

OldSailor · « **Reply #3 on:** Sep 29, 2017, 05:38 PM »

Quote from: bowski76 on Sep 29, 2017, 07:48 AM

Keep us posted , we love the home-made houses!

Yup!! Shack porn time!!

gonehunting · « **Reply #4 on:** Sep 29, 2017, 05:47 PM »

Save about $300 in your budget for a 12 volt winch for the front of the trailer to pull it on. Will save you and your friends back. Nice start.

Spud_bar · « **Reply #5 on:** Sep 30, 2017, 07:27 PM »

I thought about going with an electric winch, and I still may, but I realized I had a hand one laying around collecting dust from a former project. it was still new in the box. I decided to throw it on my trailer. My trailer had a nice spot on the tongue for an old truck box that I had from a former vehicle. To put it there though, It meant I had to find a different spot/way to mount the winch. I settled on mounting it off to one side of the trailer. this way it required no additional welding/modification to the trailer, aside from a couple holes for threaded rod that I used (with a pipe cover) to act as a roller, so the winch pulls the house straight on.

Great suggestion. Hopefully it works a little better in the snow/ice, but I was able to pull it off my concrete garage floor onto the trailer, so it should work ok.

I finished rebuilding an old door I stole off an old pickup camper today and replaced the handle. considering it's wooden frame was about 50% rotted away, and a good portion of paint was faded/washed off under the former handle of the door, it turned out pretty well.

Next updates should contain some wall framing.

mr.clean · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 01, 2017, 07:22 AM »

Looking good so far Spud bar please keep us updated as you build progresses we love ice fishing "porn" here on Ice Shanty.
Steve

prospector · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 01, 2017, 10:15 AM »

Nice work!

barduk · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 01, 2017, 10:34 AM »

That's really nice, I love your fish house

Where do puffer fish live ? !! Caxikneri araqum

missoulafish · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 01, 2017, 11:05 AM »

Looking really good Mister:)

Spud_bar · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 03, 2017, 01:27 PM »

Walls are 90% framed up. going to add a few more vertical supports above windows and the door, but shouldn't take long. After assembling the walls, it's roomier than what I thought the size of the floor frame made it feel. Should be a great size. Weather and wife allowing, I'm hoping for walls and ceiling joist/rafters to go up in the next couple days followed soon after by tyvek. Steel Panels are on order.

lostbrit · « **Reply #11 on:** Oct 03, 2017, 05:33 PM »

look good man, wish we could do this in Colorado

mr.clean · « **Reply #12 on:** Oct 04, 2017, 06:04 AM »

Nice work Spud Bar.

thank you for the photos.

royjulius · « **Reply #13 on:** Oct 04, 2017, 10:23 AM »

Man that's pretty nice! I'd love to have a good solid house, but our ice isn't good enough for that every year. Some years I'd only be able to use it for 2 months. $:-\$

Spud_bar · « **Reply #14 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 11:06 AM »

While not posting much recently, I have kept progressing. Due to the height of my garage doors, the frame and house had to move outside.

After getting the walls connected and upright, I wrapped in some weather proof material cause apparently that's all the rage. (I'm a total noob when it comes to building/construction, but can appreciate a water barrier).

I toyed with the idea of wood/panel/steel siding and roofing and ultimately decided to go steel. Why... not sure. I guess I figured it'd mean I woudlnt have to paint and it'd server it's purpose well.

Ultimately it's looking pretty good. I added a couple 2x4's running the length of the trailer to keep the sides of the house from banging into the sides of the trailer. I didnt factor in the width of the corrugated steel panels but got VERY lucky and the house fits with just about an inch on either side of the house.

Loading and unloading has turned out to be a little trickier than I anticipated as it's certainly not and "ultrilight" perm house. currently I have a winch side mounted- and run around a 1" iron pipe to act as a roller, but I'm thinking I may throw an electric winch on the front of the trailer to reduce the amount of cranking I have to do. My father in law gave me a couple roller bunks off and old boat trailer that I may incorporate on the trailer to allow for rolling the trailer on and off, as opposed to simply sliding. I'll update when I make more progress. Thanks all for the kind words of encouragment.

Oh- and also used some shop time while I waited for special orders to be shipped, to whip up some rattle reels.

tbern · « **Reply #15 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 11:12 AM »

Looks very nice. Thanks for all the different pictures and info. The rollers should help a lot.

mr.clean · « **Reply #16 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 11:28 AM »

Thank you for the progress report shanty looks great. What is the purpose of pipe extending from roof out over back wall of shanty. Good idea putting roller bunks on the trailer should make loading/unloading the shanty an easier job.
Steve

Spud_bar · « **Reply #17 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 12:22 PM »

Haha- I just got ahead of myself and took a picture before I trimmed the excess off.

mr.clean · « **Reply #18 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 12:56 PM »

Thank you for the explanation .
Steve

Nessmuck · « **Reply #19 on:** Nov 15, 2017, 08:26 PM »

Those are fine and dandy.....everyone is on board and gun ho...when you put it out......Taking it off in 2 feet of snow and a slush bottom...and your friends are no where to be found....been there done that....but Enjoy !!

Spud_bar · « **Reply #20 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 07:17 AM »

initially, I'll probably be pretty tentative about leaving it on the lake for long stretches at a time.

Light liner · « **Reply #21 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 09:49 AM »

Looks good insulated floor is going to be nice.
Good job.

potatoe · « **Reply #22 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 07:00 PM »

Looks good, would be fun staying out at night

OldSailor · « **Reply #23 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 07:34 PM »

Just curious what you are using for heat, or did I miss that??

Spud_bar · « **Reply #24 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 08:48 PM »

haven't covered that yet. I was hoping to use an old heater I snagged off a garage sale, but I'm afraid it's ventless, and thus a bad plan for a sleeper house. I'm going to try it a time or two under control conditions without sleeping in it or anything with a carbon monoxide detector to see exactly how bad of an idea it is. I bought a CO detector that has a parts per milion display so you can see what levels are before they surpass whatever the traditional style beeps at. I'd love it if my $10 garage sale find would do the trick, but it's not worth risking my life over. I'll update after I have a chance to try it. Currently I'm working on insulation. I'll post some more pictures after this weekend. Thanks for the input.

Nessmuck · « **Reply #25 on:** Nov 16, 2017, 09:48 PM »

We heated our 10x12 with a small wood stove...it was great. Did some sleep overs....ah ..the good ol days

Spud_bar · « **Reply #26 on:** Nov 21, 2017, 09:44 AM »

With the outside nearly finished I've begun on the inside a bit. I''m going with 1 1/2" white foam insulation. I ran a 16" tall peice of 1/2 pressure treated ply all the way along the walls to hopefully keep any moisture/slush from ruining the panel board I plan to use for the walls. This also stiffened up my walls very nicely as they act like gussets. I robbed the table from a pickup bed camper that once belonged to my Great Grandpa who was a very avid ice angler. I'm sure he'd love that it's getting new life on the ice. I'm going to use the seats to house my electrical stuff. Plan on putting in a small inverter for a single outlet (mostly for a CO detector) but always nice to have in a pinch for charging other stuff. And then lights will be LED strips on the ceiling with a switch by the door, and a dimmer near the table. Once the seats are built- at least enough where I can determine where I'll need to restrict wires to, I'll begin running wires.

Table will lay flat between the seat cabinets to make a flat spot to sleep. I'll be adding some sort of suspending cot above as well, but havent' determined exactly what that will consist of.

Next update will likely include a photo of my 3 ton electric winch that's going to go on the trailer. Wife vetoed the idea of putting the whole house on a frame this year, as it's easier to digest the cost of a utility trailer that can be used for other stuff, than a dedicated fish house wheeled frame. When I mentioned my concern for it's weight she was completely on board with getting an electric winch for the trailer.

Thanks again for the compliments, questions, and criticisms!

Spud_bar · « **Reply #27 on:** Nov 21, 2017, 02:44 PM »

Is there a consensus as to how best to build a lightweight bunk that doesn't weigh a lot, but also is going to support, let's say 200#'s? I'd like to make one above the table, but Id like it to maybe hang against the ceiling when not in use, or possibly fold up.

I'm open to suggestions- Thanks!

mr.clean · « **Reply #28 on:** Nov 22, 2017, 12:54 AM »

You build is progressing nicely thank you for the update. glad the wife agreed to electric winch will make loading and unloading much easier for you.
Steve

walleyes · « **Reply #29 on:** Nov 23, 2017, 02:47 AM »

Nice little shack you got coming along.

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Author Topic: My first fish house build. 6x8 house on skids. (Read 30786 times)