Wheelhouses wheeled fish houses Ice Castles or whatever you call them

[marquette]

In the upper Midwest they are the dominant style fish house over the last fifteen years or so.   Pretty much replaced the wooden skid house of old. Most of the manufacturers seem to come from Minnesota,Wisconsin or the Dakotas.  Are they used elsewhere or are they a Midwest thing?   

[FG Steve]

Pretty much none around here.  Driving on the ice is not common practice.

[adkRoy]

Used to be lots of wooden shanty towns on lake in NY. Now most people use portables as they can go from lake to lake easily.

[Tikkaman]

I was wondering how the manufacturers stack up vs each other when it comes to quality.  My buddy has an ice castle and it’s kind of a pos IMO

[marquette]

Quality is a hotly debated topic.  In some cases it’s a Ford - Chevy kind of debate.  There are definitely better brands but most of them when you compare similar size and features are several thousand more dollars so they should be better.  Kind of a BMW vs Chevy debate.  Aluminum costs more but weighs less so weight vs cost is another debate  How big is too big or how small is too small another debate.  So to say which brand is the best is almost impossible because everyone’s budget and needs are different. 

[Bull Herbie]

Here in North Dakota we have them running all over the place. Only problem is you can't use them all the time. Like right now it would be real hard to get out on the lakes unless they are plowed. Early ice you need a flip or hub, late ice when the snot rockets are biting we normally sit in lawn chairs in the sun. I would love to have one but the cost to use ratio is way high. Anybody who says you can use them for camping usually are just telling their wives that so they can get the ice castle.

[ice dawg]

We have gone from having a basic shack on wheels for a reasonable price to wanting a motel room on wheels for a lot more money. Same thing when comparing the first Fish Traps brought out by Dave Genz to the $800 flipovers we have now. First we wanted to be small, light and portable and now we want comfort and features. I really don't care what others have as long as I'm not paying for them. I have noticed a growing number of wheel houses being used for summer camping in campgrounds where I have been recently. Dual purpose units make sense to me considering the cost of owning one.

[Sylvanboat]

I fish at Shawano Lake in Wisconsin and this year I saw no wheel houses. Lots of home made shacks.

[GBguy]

Yeah I would hardly say the professionally built wheelhouses from manufacturers like Ice Castle and Glacier are taking the ice by storm. I'd be surprised if they represent even 10% of the shacks on the ice here in Wisconsin, and it could easily be closer to 5%.

Like another user said, gotta have good ice and not too much snow to get them out, or you need a strong UTV or a plow for deep snow. They're definitely a niche market and not for everybody. The price alone puts them out of reach for the average guy, especially considering they can't be used the entire ice season (early and late ice).

[marquette]

Interesting not many in Wisconsin.  I just assumed it wouldn’t be much different than Minnesota.  Are they used much in Michigan?   

[bowmandan]

There is a big market in South Dakota also

[Light liner]

Never seen one here on champlain, either stick builts or regular campers.

[Ice Scratcher]

Around southern Michigan, I've never seen one...

Plenty of old school wooden shanties though..

<°)))>{

[stout93]

Interesting not many in Wisconsin.  I just assumed it wouldn’t be much different than Minnesota.  Are they used much in Michigan?

They're all over in MN. As others have said, can't use them early ice, can't use them late ice, can't use them right now with the amount of snow...

I'm starting to see the prices for slightly used ones come down quite a bit. My guess is within the next few years, the used market will be flooded with them.

[Ice Surveyor]

They're all over in MN. As others have said, can't use them early ice, can't use them late ice, can't use them right now with the amount of snow...

I'm starting to see the prices for slightly used ones come down quite a bit. My guess is within the next few years, the used market will be flooded with them.

There are manufacturers of light weight fish houses out there.  They are built for early and late ice. 

For example, an 18' ice castle is probably around 4 to 5000lbs, depending on the amenities inside.  A 19' Core Ice fish house, complete with sleeping quarters for 3-4 people, furnace, tv, radio, and other gizmos is only 2300lbs.  You can pull these type of fish houses with an ATV.  Ridgeline is another manufacturer that makes a light weight unit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-1n8MqbMY

[marquette]

Since there hasn’t been any replies from New England wheelhouses must not be popular there.  I was in Sanford Maine in December and don’t recall seeing any parked in people’s yards. But I assume northern Maine gets a lot more ice. 

[Light liner]

Here theres 40" of ice I think its more of an economic thing. Were pretty all poor up here from paying our taxes.

[marquette]

I don’t know about your taxes but the tourists keep the prices around Waterbury and Stowe high.  But you have a lot of good beer.  Now if you just had a 65 degree wheelhouse to sit in and drink beer on that 40 inches of ice.  I’m assuming you can drive on the ice to pull a trailer or skid house if you want to. 

[Hooked up]

There are manufacturers of light weight fish houses out there.  They are built for early and late ice. 

For example, an 18' ice castle is probably around 4 to 5000lbs, depending on the amenities inside.  A 19' Core Ice fish house, complete with sleeping quarters for 3-4 people, furnace, tv, radio, and other gizmos is only 2300lbs.  You can pull these type of fish houses with an ATV.  Ridgeline is another manufacturer that makes a light weight unit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-1n8MqbMY

Interesting, towing a 4000 lbs ice house with a ATV rated to tow 1200 lbs.

[JonPerry]

It's all about the tongue weight. The wheeler may squat a bit, but as long as the wheels have traction it's a non issue. There's a company out there that manufactures a towing dolly with a wide ski that can be attached between the wheel house  & wheeler as well to distribute the weight better yet.

[Ice Surveyor]

Interesting, towing a 4000 lbs ice house with a ATV rated to tow 1200 lbs.

That Ridgeline trailer in the video is just a shell, and they say it weighs 1700lbs.  I'm purchasing this same trailer next week, and with it outfitted to fish it weighs around 2900lbs. 

[marquette]

Rv manufactures used to be notorious for under rating their trailer weights.  Better now because of new requirements but still not prefer.  Since the fish house industry is pretty much unregulated it would be interesting to run a few over the scales and see their true weight.  Grey Wolf is probably the closest to true weight because of being built in a Forest River facility.  Just because of the frame it’s hard to believe a standard stick built wheelhouse would weigh less than a comparison camper. A 4000 lb camper needs a minimum 400 lb tongue weight to tow with out waging.  Most 1/2 ton pickups have a 350 lb max tongue weight with out a equalizer hitch. I can see the lighter weight aluminum or 6x10 or 6x12 towing like a loaded 6x12 cargo trailer but bigger than that to me seems to exceed all good towing guides

[ice dawg]

I'm no expert, but I just googled the subject and half ton pickups without load leveling hitches were rated for 500 lbs hitch weight including 4 cylinder diesel and six cylinder gas engines. Maybe I looked in the wrong place. We have wheel houses being towed all over around here and some of them are huge.