can you make an ice shelter from an old camping tent?

[grabsjoker]

hey all

i've got an old car camping tent that i dont use anymore and just gathers dust in the basement. has anyone turned camping tents into ice shelters? its a coleman 4 person dome style with a tarp bottom, mosquito netting and a rain fly to go over the top. i'm thinking that the easiest would be to just cut two holes in the bottom and call it a day, but i'm worried about it leaking too much air, and blowing away on the ice if there is a strong wind. i've never used a portable shelter, so i dont really have a clue if it would work. any suggestions on addressing the air-leakage/wind problems (or unforseen problems), please let me know!

i'd buy a real shelter if i knew that next year i'd be living in a cold climate, but my job ends in the summer and i may be moving to no ice land (somewhere south), so i cant invest in any more ice fishing gear. 

thanks!

[Dirty P]

short answer is yes but i would look for a older tent that has very rigid poles if you have high winds.

[teardrop]

Get some screw in lag bolts and a cordless drill pop the lag bolt in where the tent stakes go get a little buddie for heat a folding chair cut a hole in the bottom drill the hole your fishing, may want to drill holes first and shovel away snow and ice. Actually by cutting wind your body heat may keep you warm enough good luck.

[grabsjoker]

thanks for the rapid replies. yeah, the wind isn't supposed to be a problem tomorrow, only 10mph at most. the tent is more for my wife than me, she likes ice fishing a lot, but she gets cold quickly. the lag bolts are a great idea, and i'd probably do the holes first and then mount the tent over the holes.

[Dirty P]

should work great to keep you wife warm

[slamminsam]

I've seen some people use hunting blinds for shelters...yours would work, but I'd definitely think about trying to anchor it in some way.  Good luck.

[Joe Butler]

Heck Joker, 

If your modifying the tent!  take the entire floor out!  Leave the rain fly at home.  Remove the netting and bring some long lags and a drill and socket to secure it to the ice.   Yea it will work well!!!

[bowhtr]

Heck Joker, 

If your modifying the tent!  take the entire floor out!  Leave the rain fly at home.  Remove the netting and bring some long lags and a drill and socket to secure it to the ice.   Yea it will work well!!!

if you take the floor all the way out you might end up with a odd shaped tent when putting it up.  I would recommend leaving a one foot strip around the outer sides of the floor.  You might want to place your ice screws in first before putting up the tent poles.  One thing I found out this year was putting a floor in my shanty wormed things up a lot.  I used those interlocking exercise mats cut holes where I wanted them.

[Sprocket]

BOWHRT makes a great point - leave a "wind flap" at the bottom - leave 6"-12" - flipped outside it can be anchored down with snow in low wind.

Experiment and have fun - enjoy the re-use of an old friend, next year get a QF3 or something along those lines once you figure it out.

Or start a whole new genera of ice fishing:
100% BootyFab/RedNeck/Hacker/Bodge Job equipment and tactics - Honestly I believe the start of fishing on the ice was that way - long before there was an oficial industry, there was a market - grumpy old guys home-made everything from rods, houses, etc.

Now we can just buy it all out of a catalog and get it shipped...

Sorry for the mini-rant.

Do it - I almost did last year - bucket seats, cooler, bait, fun - Enjoy.

[Joe Butler]

   I agree!  The outer portion of the floor would make a good wind flap.

[grabsjoker]

i dont think i understand how the wind flap is supposed to work. is it to prevent the wind from going underneath the tent? also, why should i not have the rainfly? without it, i'd feel quite certain that the tent would serve no purpose, as the rain fly keeps in a lot of heat.

anyway, thanks all for the comments

[flyfish413]

If you look at pics of pop up shelters, youll see they have a skirt around the outside to keep wind out and also to cover with snow to anchor it down and further seal it from drafts.  If you cut out the floor leaving a 12" edge and then cut that from the corner of the cut out part to the corner of the tent you could flip those pieces outside the tent. Using the rain fly will help retain heat too I would think. Youll have to anchor it down. You can pick up some lag bolts or a pack of real anchors is like 8 bucks.

[nocod]

set one up a few years ago,when the winds came the tent came down,with me in it lol.

[IFF]

Have pitched many tents on ice, from Army style Command tents, Wall tents, ones that had center poles, put pole in shallow hole and anchor away.  Even in 50 mph winds, not a problem.