Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Ice Thickness for Wheelhouse?? (14'+V @ 3740 lb.)


Cobber

Recommended Posts

Good morning, all!

So, it's our first winter with a wheel house- picked up a Team Lodge 14' plus V over the summer.

After doing all of our customization, finishing, etc- we have the house at a weight of 3740.

Wondering what everybody recommends/thinks for thickness of ice that I should look for, before I'm comfortable bringing it out and setting it for the weekend?

I know there are plenty of variables (ice condition, quality, etc.)- however I'm looking for a guideline on good, solid clear ice that froze without breaking up or snow.

 

Thanks for any help!

-Cobber

 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Cobber said:

After doing all of our customization, finishing, etc- we have the house at a weight of 3740.

Wondering what everybody recommends/thinks for thickness of ice that I should look for, before I'm comfortable bringing it out and setting it for the weekend?

-Cobber

 

You will need something to pull it onto the ice. Basic F150 weight is 5305 which is considered by DNR as a medium size pickup. Now your at 9045. Add another 500# for your fishing gear now 9545. Finally add you and your 2 buddies average 250 each. Total weight on the ice within a 30' circle = 10295#. That's 5 ton.

DNR recommendation for safe ice:   http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/thickness.html

If it were my rig, I would look for 15"+ where ever I would drive.

I look for 12+ with my 6.5x12 wheel house just over 2000 fishing ready and 4300 for my Dakota.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the help so far!

I'll be pulling it with a Honda Rubicon ATV, which comes in at about 500-600lb- helps a lot vs. the idea of a pickup but I do see where you're coming from.

Any thoughts on how pulling it with the ATV would change things??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked up the specifications for a Honda Rubicon Fourtrax and it comes in at close to 650 pounds empty. Add 25 pounds for a full tank of fuel (4 gallons @ ~6.3 lb./gal.) and another 6.5 lbs. for motor oil plus your own weight (assume ~200 lbs.) you're up to about 875 lbs. over a 27 sq.ft. area. That works out to about 32.5 lbs. per square foot overall but much higher at the actual contact of the tires. I don't know how much surface area is under the tires.

You said your wheelhouse is 14' long and I'll assume 8' wide. That's about 277 sq.ft. 3740 / 277 = approx. 33.5 lbs. per square foot overall but much greater at the contact of the tires. Again, don't know the surface area contact of the tires.

Maybe it isn't but I hope that's helpful.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just pulled my 7' X 12' house out on Vermilion today with my Artic Cat 550 ATV. There was 11-12 inches of decent ice.

Had no problems.

Cliff

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Anyone else have ideas on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I bought a grand lodge in 2005 and had a ram 1500 I went out that year on New Year's Eve out of Terry's boat harbor to 7mile cranked house down drilled holes 10" of ice let's just say there was a bit of a pucker factor I spent the night out there I didn't sleep a wink but after that I always looked for 12" when I got a 3/4 ton diesel I looked for 16" I think if it's solid ice you could get out on 10" or less with a wheeler and it's always safer once it's cranked down 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are going to a more familiar lake check with the resorts.  They will let you know if it is safe and then you can measure the ice depth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.