newbie, building first shanty.

[charliericker72]

Hey everyone.  I'm Charlie, from mid Minnesota. I'm building myself a shanty like the fishontario style, and I'm having the house be 4x6x6, I've got the base built already. I have a 22.5 inch wide hole at the back end to use as a spearing hole or as a spot for three holes to be punched. I told the boss that I'm only building a portable, but I'm actually planning on turning it into a permanent after she sees it as a portable unit for a few trips. I mostly go out alone, but occasionally a few friends and I go out and catch a few crappie, and usually see a few good size northerns down the hole. Does anyone have ideas for what I could use for walls to convert the Ontario style shanty to a permanent? I was thinking some scrap roofing tin would be great, but the factor of weight is a problem there. I'm 5'8 and about 130lbs, so the twig I am can't really pull a heavy house too far across the ice (no snowmobile or 4 wheeler). Also,another drawback of the tin is it might leech some warmth out. I'm not too terribly thoughtful on building materials, but I have a good supply of ingenuity and lots of 1/2 inch sheet rock screws. Any ideas are appreciated!

Charlie

[pierced lip]

We leave our Ontario style huts out on the ice open, just put a  few more braces in it and make sure the tarp or canvass is secured really good. If you are only walking and have to pull by hand you will want it as light as it can be.

[Whopper Stopper]

Welcome to Ice Shanty!

       WS

[charliericker72]

Thanks for the welcome!! And I got an extra 100$ in a Christmas card today, so tomorrow I'm going to head to the home depot and pick up a few sheets of 7/16ths chip board, I think the actual name is MDF or something similar. But, a 4x8 sheet of it is 7$ so I'm not gonna complain. And also, if I used a standard house on/off switch wired to a car battery to shut the house light off would the house switch still work with only 12 volts going through it? Electricity isn't my strong point.

[charliericker72]

I finally got my photo bucket account back online after a while, and here's some photos of the house base.
I added skis to the bottom, they're not a matching pair but oh well, for 15$ I'm not gonna whine about it. I think I'm going to use tin to cover the outside of the house, I seen on here that someone has a small permanent house with the same dimensions that's covered in tin and insulated. So, I'm going to start gathering some tin scraps and I'll be putting 1" foam all along the inside, and I'm going to have a window on the door.
I'm going to carpet the floor as well.  It's two layers, one is 1/2 inch plywood and the second layer is 1/2 inch chip board.

[Drift Dodger]

Hey Charlie, for weight considerations try hard to limit the amount of lumber you use ... it all adds up real fast! I was planning to load my small permanent into my truckbox or a trailer rather than drag it (very far) on the lake, so did not build it on skids or skis. The floor is 1/2 inch plywood over a 2x2 frame.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=66634.msg3143443#msg3143443

[Moonman]

Hey Charlie, for weight considerations try hard to limit the amount of lumber you use ... it all adds up real fast! I was planning to load my small permanent into my truckbox or a trailer rather than drag it (very far) on the lake, so did not build it on skids or skis. The floor is 1/2 inch plywood over a 2x2 frame.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=66634.msg3143443#msg3143443

+1. As soon as I saw those two by fours, I was thinking the smae thing, too heavy, especially as you mentioned wanting it to be light. You could use 2x2's and save half the weight right there, or even thinner if you can rip some stock off the edges with table saw. Weight adds up really fast. Dimensional lumber weights are available online, as well as all thicknesses of plywood, so you can calculate material weights before using. You might be surprised how heavy some materials are. Have fun building though. Your next one will be better and lighter, no matter how good this one turns out. 

Moonman.

[da man cave shack]

Ya the house switch will still work on 12v.