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Building a fish house


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I would like to build my own fish house, but need some resources. I can find whole trailers, but would like to build from the ground up. It would be the best of both worlds if a fella could make something that was collapsible, at least part way, but still sleep in it with the family, or the "fellas". Any help would be appreciated.

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What exactly are you looking to build...that is, what materials are you looking for, and are you going to do it yourself?

Are you going to revamp a trailer, start with something already designed for a fish house setup, or you looking to build something on skids?

I would say NO to the collapsable part though myself.

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Sorry, I should of been more specific. I am talking about a wheel house. of some type. Materials, I am open to anything, same with trailers. Right now the only thing I know for sure is that it needs to be big enough for my family of five to go ice ishing together.

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Say vegas, I did some research last year and found that it's almost as cheap to buy a crankdown trailer and start there than to build your own trailer from scratch. I found some reasonably priced trailers over in the Millaca area. Not sure if you were looking to weld a trailer together or not but the materials aren't that cheap by themselves. And then you have to factor in the time to build a trailer. Getting it done accuratly may pose another problem as well.

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vegas,

I built mine from the ground up got the steel from l&m steel for the trailer, aluminum siding from l&m toungue and groove pine from the sawmill in pine river. they are a lot of work but it all depends on how nice you want it. i have around 5,000.00 in mine could have gotten by cheaper but wanted it nice because i don't want to build another one. mine is 6'10'' wide and 14.5' long with a v front which is nice when pulling long distances. if your gonna build one just drive around and look at some to get some ideas.

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  • 3 weeks later...

How much did you spend on the steel? What size and gauge did you use? I have been wanting to build on myself...the retractable trailer posses some problems. Just wondering how much cheaper it would be to build the trailer than the just buy one.

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i have a little over 1000.00 in the trailer with tires and a jack on the front. i don't know for sure what gauge it is but i could find that out. building one or buying one? i built mine so i know what i got and i didn't chince on the metal. that way you will never have problems. let me know if you want to take a look at it.

tengauge

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A good trailer is going to cost around $1500-2000 or so for something in the 6'6"x15' with a v-front. Now, for a family of 5, I'm not sure that is big enough. You want to be able to fish 2 holes each or just 1? Cause then size, hole design and floor design make a difference. If 10guage has a $1000 in the trailer itself, I would go buy one. I would actually start looking for steel elsewhere, too. We just built one as the size above and we had $800 and that was winches, tires, axles, steel, everything. Maybe steel is higher in the northern part of the state \:\)

Building one yourself is tricky because you HAVE TO be able to balance them out so they pull well down the road!!! If you don't...Well, you have a nice big shack that goes about 20MPH down the road.

Buying a pre-built frame- you are getting that.

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check out sportmans fishhouses. i bought a 18' shell from them in december and finished it myself. i built it camper style with 44" wide dinette that collapses for a bed big enough for two and also a fixed bunk above it that ive had 3 kids sleeping on. the problem in most of the manufactured houses is head clearance. i had tim make my walls 7' so i have 8'10" in middle. being 6'4" i am still able to have just enough clearance for a ceiling fan even after i built a insulated floor over the main floor. im also able to keep the bunks fixed and have plenty of head space when sitting in the back dinette. vegas, i see you live in brainerd too, so if you want let me know and come take a look

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Your house sounds nice, I would very much like to see it in person. It sounds like I would be better off buying at least the trailer. I have talked to 3 different welding shops and they have all told me that they could not weld up on for me for less than buying a trailer already done. E-mail me and maybe we can set up something. [email protected]

thanks

Vegas

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