fire brand fish house

[Mike89]

took the time to stop and see them being made, very impressive I thought. no cables for the wheels and one piece alum roof among other things.

[leech~~]

That is a real different idea for the wheel set? Looks like a ball and hitch release after you jack up the house a bit? Huum.

[JSK76]

Wouldn't it being pulling up on the ball? I know you get some lift on the coupler when pulling a trailer but it's designed to mostly just hold the coupler to the ball with downforce on the ball. I'm sure they have it all figured out and it works just fine, they wouldn't jeapordize their they company if it didn't. I just don't get it.

[Rexx]

You pull the pin and the arm lifts up to drop the house. It doesn't get any easier than that. Very simple to operate and if there is a problem easy to fix. Electric jacks are standard on all 8' foot wide houses while the other lifts are on the 6.5' wide houses.

[brian6715]

I have been trying to decide between firebrand and yetti for a few months, I am going to pull the trigger on an 8x16' here in a month or two. It's probably one of the most stressful decisions I have had to make in a while

The Yetti is light, not sure on the weight of the Firebrand.

Firebrand has electric jacks, which seem nice, but I question their reliability

Firebrand is a new company (although an offshoot of Yetti, as I understand it) but that makes me nervous (Yetti had issues their first year or two)

Does anyone know if the Firebrand is all aluminum? I had heard that some of them had a steel frame, any truth to this?

Also, anyone with an 8x16 Yetti, how hard is it to crank up with the winches? Do you feel electric jacks would be worth the $ and concern of failure?

[Mike89]

steel frame I think, rest alum.

[Rexx]

Firebrands and Yettis are similar in weight. They are both all aluminum and unlike ice castles or other steel framed houses they do not rust after a year or two. The electric jacks have been reliable but the house does come with hand cranks in the unlikely event of failure. You should compare the houses side by side before you buy.

The Yetti crank system is very easy to do no matter what size house you have.

[Eyefishalot]

I just picked up a brand new 8x16 Firebrand fish house. Being this is brand new and my first house, I had a few request made to the order. Only 2 of the 4 items I requested was met. A/C unit and additional bed was in but 2 other request were just ignored.

Here's my opinion.

PROS: Its a great house with all welded aluminum frames and feels rock solid. Fit and finish on the outside is smooth and well painted. The power jack & optional manual. Coupling makes it easy.

CONS: Interior finish is very rough. All the edges and corners are very sharp. Coating is rough and needs to be sanded down to a smooth glossy finish. Inside cabinets has a lot of wood split from screws. One would think to pre-drill before screwing. Dinette seats support are made of particle boards which I replaced with solids. Bathroom fan and light switch is on the ceiling which is too high.

This being my first house, I was not impressed especially on a custom order. I will spend the next few weeks to re-do it the way I want it.

[SnowGuy73]

I just picked up a brand new 8x16 Firebrand fish house. Being this is brand new and my first house, I had a few request made to the order. Only 2 of the 4 items I requested was met. A/C unit and additional bed was in but 2 other request were just ignored.

Here's my opinion.

PROS: Its a great house with all welded aluminum frames and feels rock solid. Fit and finish on the outside is smooth and well painted. The power jack & optional manual. Coupling makes it easy.

CONS: Interior finish is very rough. All the edges and corners are very sharp. Coating is rough and needs to be sanded down to a smooth glossy finish. Inside cabinets has a lot of wood split from screws. One would think to pre-drill before screwing. Dinette seats support are made of particle boards which I replaced with solids. Bathroom fan and light switch is on the ceiling which is too high.

This being my first house, I was not impressed especially on a custom order. I will spend the next few weeks to re-do it the way I want it.

Just curious, why take delivery if your not happy?

[sportfish]

That ball hitch design must work or they wouldn't sell it but in my head it doesn't work , all the weight is pushing the ball down . Hit a big bump on the high way and I would sweating it holds

[Gus]

Re-purposing a ball hitch setup like this for a task that it wasn't intended to perform, seems like a pretty big risk to me. Chances are it'll work fine.. but what if?

Like others have said, the hitch ball setup generally has all of the forces pushing down on the ball. with only minimal bumps up, if any, in a properly weighted trailer. Completely reversing that seems like a bad idea to me.

[Eyefishalot]

SnowGuy73

[Just curious, why take delivery if your not happy?]

This is my first house so I don't know what to expect. Some of the things I requested were minor which I can do myself. The things I'm not happy about were not discovered until after I took it home and sat in there for hours.

Overall, I'm pretty happy. Just not impressed.

[SnowGuy73]

I hear you..

[B-man715]

I question the design as well......

Exerting thousands of pounds of upward force on a coupler that is designed to have hundreds of pounds of downward force seems foolish..... and then add the force of a bouncing trailer????

Yikes!!

I wonder what Mr. Newton would have to say??? (F=ma)

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I don't see any issue with the design standing up. A normal trailer going down the road exterts upward, downward, forward, backward, and side to side forces on a ball. This design is solely upward and downward, as I doubt it can move side to side. You guys are suggesting this would literally pull a ball apart from it's base. Not happening.

[mnhunter2]

I have been getting ready to buy a new fish house and it will be either a yetti or firebrand 8x16 toyhauler. I also have questions about the ball hitch on the axle design, it has to slide about 1/2" or so to release/connect and am worried about how that will work if its frozen? I am thinking a good torch will be needed once in a while to get things working but that isn't anything new for an old ice fisherman. Did they make any last yr to try this idea?

[outkast7222]

I don't see any issue with the design standing up. A normal trailer going down the road exterts upward, downward, forward, backward, and side to side forces on a ball. This design is solely upward and downward, as I doubt it can move side to side. You guys are suggesting this would literally pull a ball apart from it's base. Not happening.

Personally I think it will work just fine to. But the problem would not be the ball. It would be the stamped steel ball clamp in the coupler. And they do break in the traditional use that's why they sell repair kits. But when they fail on a trailer it's not usually catostrophic because of weight pushing the coupler down and safety chains if it does pop off.

[livindadream27]

Eyefishalot: (I also sent you a pm)

How does it pull down the road? Do you see any issues with the ball and coupler design?

Any other owners out there that have had one for a year or taken on a couple trips, any input on this design of the ball and coupler axle system

[krauty]

Eyefishalot: (I also sent you a pm)

How does it pull down the road? Do you see any issues with the ball and coupler design?

Any other owners out there that have had one for a year or taken on a couple trips, any input on this design of the ball and coupler axle system

bump - I am looking into the Firebrand and have the same questions.

[brian6715]

I just bought an 8x16 shell, I will be posting a lot about it in the future I am sure. I pick it up in 3-4 weeks

[RiverChuckNorris]

Does anyone else get queasy thinking about a toy hauler w/aluminum frame/welds bouncing on a lake or going down the freeway @ 70 mph when it's -20F outside?

I've got a 2011 IC toy hauler and wish like H*LL I had a galvanized frame (like they started selling (finally) last year). I routinely have 500-1,000 lbs of additional weight in mine (snowmobile, porty, etc) and went IC route in large part due to the above stated concern.

As background, I sort of had my fears confirmed on a March trip to LOW last year when my buddies tandem sled trailer had it's frame crack in half 5 miles outside of Baudette on the way home. Meanwhile, my 20+ year old galvanized utility trailer that I haul my sled in has never given me an issue.

I haven't seen many (if any) toy hauler Yetti's but maybe my fears are misplaced?

[iffwalleyes]

I once had a trailer coupler pop open on me because I had a very tail heavy load on my trailer. Not Fun luck the chains were there otherwise being I was on in interstate it could have gotten interesting. I question it but also figure they probably have the engineering to back it up. I think it would work as well. I have had leaf springs break on trailers also which is what most manufactures are running.

[eagle_3464]

I wonder why they would just use a simple pin and shackle type connection? I know they don't need a shackle with their design but it wouldn't hurt a thing and make connecting really easy. Would also be cheaper to produce than the ball and coupler and be easier to manipulate when it is froze up with road grime.

[brian6715]

What you can't see in the picture is that there about a 6" safety chain attached to the frame, in case of failure. The unit could still drop, but the chain would only allow it to drop 5-6" or so.

I think I am going to do a little customization to mine and get a pin installed in there somewhere.

[RangerZ]

I just bought the 6.5 x 14 Firebrand a few months ago. Pulls like a dream and is very nice! As for the ball hitch jacks I don't see any problems. Just got back from hunting out west, pulled with my 4 wheeler and all my gear 600 miles round trip and had zero issues. Takes a bit longer to lower as traditional cables but I hear of more people snapping cables out on the middle of the lake in sub zero temps. Not my cup a tea! Pretty unlikely a hitch would break its coupling system as my fishing boat is 3000lbs and slams and bounces in all directions. if it wasn't true and tested you would see a lot of fancy trailers and boats in the ditch on the highway! I like it and Yetti does not make a 14'

[icehole10]

That is a real different idea for the wheel set? Looks like a ball and hitch release after you jack up the house a bit? Huum.

I have never seen one of these in person, so looking at the picture. Is the coupler the pivot point, or do you release the coupler to drop it down? Either way, im with the guys who say this is a bad idea. Is there at least a safety pin once you have it in place. What is going to happen when there is a little bit of road debris or ice on the ball ,or in the coupler. Get out the hammer and start beating on the latch!!

One more question, is the ball mounted to an aluminum angle? It sure looks like it in the picture.