Building a permanent ice fishing shack on the frame of an old camper

[Tyler p]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this website but am a big fan of ice fishing and I have been doing it just sitting on a bucket in the wind but I have decided to build an ice fishing shack on a old camper base I got. so I was wondering what you guys would recommend for things like heating it, ventilation , seating and anything else because I do plan on doing some night fishing and am slightly worried about using propane in the shack. So any advice you could give would be great also I am not worried about weight more about comfort so I can bring friends out and hopefully enjoy an amazing winter this year and for many years to come. Thanks in advance.

[ICE WANDERER]

         Am I going crazy, I thought I answered this this morning, but I'll do this again. Depending on the size of your shack you can get a propane heater made for travle campers, they are perfectly safe & you can put a vent in the top of the shack just like the campers. I'm sure if you go to a camper supply they can advise you. You can also get kerosene heaters as well. A lot of heaters have  CO sensors, if not you can get 1 @ Home Depot.
        As for seats, I would put bench seats then you could use them to lie down & take a few zzzz.

[OldSailor]

         Am I going crazy, I thought I answered this this morning, but I'll do this again. Depending on the size of your shack you can get a propane heater made for travle campers, they are perfectly safe & you can put a vent in the top of the shack just like the campers. I'm sure if you go to a camper supply they can advise you. You can also get kerosene heaters as well. A lot of heaters have  CO sensors, if not you can get 1 @ Home Depot.
        As for seats, I would put bench seats then you could use them to lie down & take a few zzzz.

You aren't going crazy!! I thought I read your reply this morning before I went it to work!! IS seems to still have glitches in the system!! It's happened to me also!! 

[da man cave shack]

Well the beanch seating is also good because you can store stuff in them as well and if you want to get some more ideas search "popup camper build" Joedirt and Surflizard built it and it is an amazing shack and in the posts they go over everything.

[pfscott]

Mine is wood heated, and run on a generator. A small fan keeps the air moving, and I'm thinking of changing out my porch light to a 2 way flood light to check tip ups at night. I picked up a green Eskimo bench seat from the Ardisam warehouse for across the back end, and built storage box seats in the front and cushioned them with kneeling pads. I did the floor with a couple partial boxes of laminate wood flooring, but wish I would have used something less slippery. I also added a bunch of reflectors to the outside to make it more visible at night. Just a few ideas for you.

[Tyler p]

Thanks guys you have given me some great ideas especially the lights outside to check tip ups. I never would have thought of that. Thanks guy

[da man cave shack]

No problem ask anyone and they will help with just about anything.

[Joedirt34]

Good luck and have fun with it ! Also the more pictures the better !

[Tyler p]

Yes I will probably be posting threw out the build. I plan on starting in the next couple weeks. By the way what do you guys think about sleeping on the ice? I'm thinking about maybe a top bunk that comes down just incase the fish aren't biting and I want to get a few hours anyone else have any other ideas? Also if I go with using a generator should I do some electrical wiring throughout the shack with a few outlets or just straight from the generator?

[da man cave shack]

Sleeping ont he ice is awsome and so yes I would buils a least one bunk if not more if possible and it makes easyer to do more if you harwire some outlets through out the shack in multiple spots because it sems like cords are never long enough.

[ice dawg]

If you're going to be running a generator you may as well wire in some AC outlets. My shack is set up to run all 12v DC, but I have a couple of AC outlets for things like my coffee maker, TV and on board charger. I use 12v computer fans for air circulation and I just bought some LED bulbs to replace the incandescent 1141 bulbs in my light fixtures.

[da man cave shack]

Hay icedawg where did u get your LED's from, I was searching for some to change out the bulbs in my shack as well but was finding them hard to find.

[ice dawg]

I have been looking for a while and finally found some that weren't too expensive. A lot of the ones I had been looking at were around $25 each. I found these shipped free from good ol Communist China and they seemed pretty reasonable. http://www.ebay.com/itm/170877498442?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[da man cave shack]

I have been looking for a while and finally found some that weren't too expensive. A lot of the ones I had been looking at were around $25 each. I found these shipped free from good ol Communist China and they seemed pretty reasonable. http://www.ebay.com/itm/170877498442?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Cool thanks.

[blackmer826]

I have a wood stove in mine with 6 inch pipe out the back side. You cannot beat the wood stove, much better than propane heater in my opinion if you go that route. One thing I can say is build seating that can hold storage because you will never have enough room it seems like. My shanty is 8'x8' and with me and my two buddies and the wood stove it is comfortable but we have storage under our bench seat. Also we hinged a card table off one of the walls so when you wanted to eat or something you just unfold the legs and voila you have a table, then when done, fold it down. it's just one way we saved space. also shelving, we put shelves above our four windows, along with the window sills just to have more room and space. I will post pics sometime when i go home.

My question to everyone is how do you get your shantys on the ice? last yr me and 6 friends loaded ours up on a snowmobile trailer and towed it out on our lake with my fourwheeler but the ice conditions were absolutely perfect. This year we might do the same, but have been debating on putting the shanty on a trailer axle with tires and make so called skis. I saw a shnaty last yr that was on a trailer so it had tires, but then they made ski like things near the tires that sat about 4 inches higher than the bottom of the tire so if the tire got into deep snow, the ski's would assist in skiing across. just trying to figure out new ways to get the shanty on/off the ice without hassle

[ice dawg]

Zackshack sells skis for ice shacks.  http://www.zackshack.com/fish_house_ski

[Joedirt34]

I have a set of snowmobile skis welded to a set of rims . Works great ! I'll get some pictures when the rain breaks . Still have tires also . Didn't need the skis last year . Also I can't agree more on storage the more the better !
As for sleeping I got a camper / sofa bed works like a charm !

[blackmer826]

I would like to see some pics of what you have for ski's and tires. I live in Northern NY in the Adirondack mountains so we usually get a decent amount of snow. Last year was an exception where we didn't get much snow really so the lake was always great for tires, as I used my fourwheeler instead of a snowmobile 99% of the season. I am looking for a similar idea where if the snow gets to much it will ski a little if possible.
thanks for any ideas

[Tyler p]

What would you guys recommend for flooring that won't be slippery when wet and is easy to clean? Thanks

[da man cave shack]

I like lanolium and just keep a squeegy in the shack and squeegy the water into a hole. you just want to keep your floor from rotting. There is a page on here some where where a guy used truck bed liner on the floor and it look really sweet.

[Tyler p]

Thanks  I looked at a few posts about different ways of doing it and I think that should work well and a bought hole covers so that should seal it up from the plywood underneath and keep water from gettin In between.