Build Your Own Portable Ice Hut

[BEARCLAW]

3 or 4 years back, I purchased a lightweight tent style ice hut. I found it to be very useful but a little small when fishing in groups of 2 or more. What I needed was a larger shanty. Since my wife wouldn't let me spend 300 bucks for the one I wanted, I started to look into other options. I found these plans on the internet. The costs was right around $100 depending on how fancy you make it. It is heavier than most of the store bought outfits but if you have a snowmobile or 4-wheeler it should tow just fine. You can pull it by hand if you're walking short distances and not too steep. The plans and instructions are at: [url "http://www.fishontario.com/ice-fishing/buildahut/workshophut.html"]http://www.fishontario.com/ice-fishing/buildahut/workshophut.html[/url]

You can see photos at: [url "http://www.stopsnoringnow.com/iceshanty/"]http://www.stopsnoringnow.com/iceshanty/[/url] click on photo gallery...
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[Theekillerbee]

Pretty nice little shanty...but you can make one out of a dome tent for cheaper...and it is lighter. Go buy you a clearance 6 man dome tent, 9X9 or 10X10. Then either seal the mosquito netting, or rig up (I use velcro) a way to attatch the rainfly so it keeps out wind. Cut 4 holes in the corners for your various fishing holes, and viola, you have yourself a nice comfy ice shanty. I use conduit around the bottom on the inside to keep it square. I spent 40 bucks on a tent, and 6 bucks on conduit/connectors. You slap a heater, and a couple reclining lawn chairs in that bad boy, and you've got yourself one comfy ice shack.
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[Shrimpboy]

How do you seal up the mosquito netting? Does the seal hold up all season? I've got a two man shanty, but a tent would be SO much easier to pack around.
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[BEARCLAW]

Howdy Bee,

I actually used an old 10X10 tent as my very first shelter in the early 90's. I found that in the high winds at Scofield that the interior size was cut in half. When the wind really starts to howl, the sides of the tent act like a sail and the poles would bend and flex substantially inward. Maybe I should have replaced the poles with heavier duty ones, but this newest shelter is almost hurricane proof. I use my atv to get it on the lake and that seems to work great. I really like your idea about conduit around the base. I'll definately use that for my 7X7 polar ice tent. Seems that keeping it square would aleiviate some of the wind issues. Thanks for the idea.[]
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[Theekillerbee]

Our tent has just a 1/3 rain fly. When you hook the rain fly onto the tent, it just goes below the netting. I used glue strip velcro around the bottom edges of the rainfly. Just remove the protective tape, apply the velcro to the tent and the fly. Then when you put on your rain fly you "stick" the fly to the side of the tent, it keeps the wind from blowing under and thus keeps the heat in the tent.

The conduit does provide nice stability in the wind, but when it really picks up, the sides do bend in a little. I've never been driven off of the lake because of wind, so that is a bonus.
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[Theekillerbee]

Oh yeah, been using the tent for 4 years with the same velcro. Never had a problem yet.
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[Fishkid]

I got an ice tent form Hooked for $100 last year I think it is an HT Greenhouse it does everything I need. I also saw some cheap ones on ebay for under $100.

FishKid
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