Wind and pop up ice shelters

[craver]

Hey there! I am relatively new to ice fishing and wondering how much wind pop up shelters can take. Reports  are forcasting 26mph at Francis this weekend coming up. I have a pop up, anchors ect. but have only had it out in winds maybe half of whats forcasted. Do anchors hold that well?  I would like to take my 4 yr old with me but he wont deal with that kind of wind and no shelter I know setting them up in the wind can be tricky but any other advice??

[mt.perchman]

i have 2 pop ups and love them. mine has the large d-screws . just make sure you put the straps down also on the sides . a few times on cayon ferry i tied my shack to the 4 wheeler in really windy days . just use your judgement on to much wind . tight lines and i hope you get your limit . great you take the kids along 

[Pastor B]

I have the frabill headquarters pop up, and the only advice I would give is to buy some big screws and washers instead of the anchors it comes with.  I have almost broken all of the anchors it came with, either removing them during take down or during set up.  The other reason for the big screws would be that you can bring a portable drill and get to fishing faster.  i have used the "drill bit" for the big anchors it comes with, and that thing broke on the first trip.  dont get me wrong here... i am not this violent man wielding sharp things while i fish.  i like my gear and take very good care of it!  The shelters themselves hold up very well though!  I have been in some pretty good wind in mine and as long as I put some snow around the bottom little "skirt" I could not feel the wind at all, and have stayed very warm even without a heater!  My 8 and 10 year old do not complain at all if the shelter is up.

[Jason watts]

You can also get a grommet kit at a hardware store and put them in the skirt. Then you can screw the skirt down if there's no snow. I've also had the skirt freeze down on longer trips when banking snow on the skirt. I prefer to screw it down

[Buckshot86]

I forgot to buy ice anchors last Saturday. It ended up being super windy in the mountains and I wanted to use my shack to block the wind. The wind literally took the shack like a kite while I hung on by a bungie cord. The ice was super smooth, so I just let the shack pull me across the ice for a few minutes. Kinda fun, but ice anchors would of been more so.

[Htech77]

I have the frabill headquarters pop up, and the only advice I would give is to buy some big screws and washers instead of the anchors it comes with.  I have almost broken all of the anchors it came with, either removing them during take down or during set up.  The other reason for the big screws would be that you can bring a portable drill and get to fishing faster.  i have used the "drill bit" for the big anchors it comes with, and that thing broke on the first trip.  dont get me wrong here... i am not this violent man wielding sharp things while i fish.  i like my gear and take very good care of it!  The shelters themselves hold up very well though!  I have been in some pretty good wind in mine and as long as I put some snow around the bottom little "skirt" I could not feel the wind at all, and have stayed very warm even without a heater!  My 8 and 10 year old do not complain at all if the shelter is up.

The frabill ice screws are junk. I think I am going to get some lag screws and weld some washers to them then go with the portable drill idea. should shave 5-10 minutes off setup/takedown time. Otherwise the popup shelters do well in the wind if anchored properly. Definetly good to have help if setting up in the wind.

[feklar]

I have not had good luck with the screws.  What a lot of people do is drill holes upwind of the shelter, use a S curved piece of metal to anchor into the hole, then tie a rope from the S piece of metal to the shelter.

Of course this is much easier if you have a power auger.

[The Rezerend]

I have the Quickfish 2 for when I don't wanna lug the Trekker out. The Eskimo screws are pretty sturdy. I cut a groove into an old socket and attach it to my 1/4 inch impact driver. Work great. I think I'm going to do the grommet trick for those snowless nights on Clark Canyon. My old man has the Headquarters and we broke two screws the first night we used it. I think I'm going to talk him into lags and washers with his cordless drill. Just gotta make sure it stays warm while fishing.

[craver]

Thanks...I am off to the hardware store after work today . Lag bolts n washers and  :bow:a grommett kit!I

[Htech77]

there is a product out there called timberlok screws. they are designed for building with timbers (4x4,6x6,etc) most home improvement stores/lumber yards carry them. they are corrosion resistant and have a smaller head. if you could find the right washers they coulkd work well too.

[bridgedoctor]

I've tried most anchors on the market and finally found one that works; Ultimate Ice Anchor.  It easily screws into the ice and holds rock solid.  The bits are hollow and drills a core into the ice. The design is similar to the anchors used for ice climbing.  Well worth the money.  www.ultimateiceanchor. com  You can watch a demo on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gepQpIr646s

[J_Edwards]

Those look nice.

Those frabills are junk, I sheered a set off on Daily last season, nearly went for a ride.

[appleye]

Might think about using a ratchet straps for holding pop up open. Notice stretch in the light cord that comes with. Straps don't stretch

[mt.perchman]

i have never had any trouble with my eskamo d style screws . they are great once you get them started. i have been in some bad wind on canyon ferry. my shack is a 3 man red pop up . i have had the wind blow in one of the sides and had to get the straps out with more anchors. guess we will do anything to fish !!!

[Fryinpan]

I have been using a Shappel.  I chose a low profile only 5'6 at center hub.  No you can not stand up straight but it catches less wind! than the 7 foot models, and we use it for warming hut mostly.  I like to fish outside mostly. The rods are shorter and stiffer coming out of hubs.  It came with D handle anchors that work good.   Ground cloth around edges are heavy and has gromits each corner and center of each side.  Look for a brand well made, some are better than others.  You can purchase additional D anchors.
I anchor two up wind corners and a slight bank of snow to stop draft and set thru 25 mph winds.
Winds higher than that anchor on all four corners and tie off the up wind hub as well.  It has set through some wind that I did not like walking in when tied down properly.  Hope this helps some, shelters are great and there are lots of good choices.

[craver]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I was up at Frances and the wind was blowing fierce on saturday as forecasted. I used a combo of lag and washers and big d anchors, power tools and snow around the bottom skirt. I was amazed at how well everything stood strong on the deck !! Man that wind was strong...oh ya I caught 6 nice perch and 2 walleye!