Ice for long?

[DEADhead]

Loren, Peter hasn't gotten back to me yet about the reflectix, but I'm not in a rush to get it installed since we have no ice yet. If you want to look at my other mods let me know, I'll be home tomorrow evening and home on Friday if you want to swing over, just give me a call.

When I install the reflectix, I'll post it in the portable mod thread in the ice fishing forum and on my HSO blog. I'll let you know so you can check it out.

[ivegottabite]

Looks like it may be next week before I get some time to check out your mods. I am going to hit Home Depot to see about this reflectix as it seems like a great idea.

I may look into some rope lights as well as I am trying to get away from the lantern.

[Dahitman44]

Hey --

Somebody pick me up som of the cheap rope light. It is like $18 or so at Skeels and the ohter local places.

[DEADhead]

hitman, I'd pass on the rope light from scheels. I didn't like the looks of it. I'd either go with the cheap stuff at gander or at reeds. I've got the stuff rom reeds and they seem to do the trick and were only $9 for 6 feet of LEDs

[fisherdog19]

Ditto Dead on the LED's, I ordered 3 6' pieces from Reed's and they are nice, and inexpensive to boot. Go to FLeet Farm for Reflectix, it's cheaper than Home Depot by $10+, I bought a 4x25 foot roll for $31 today. I'll be making mods this weekend, if you want to stop by and see them next week, just drop me an email.

Fisherdog

[Just2fish]

Fleet Farm has the rope lights too, FYI! Forgot the price...

[fisherdog19]

The ones I got were $9 for 6', well made also.

[Paul]

Hey Guys, sppeakin of portable mods, I am sort of thinking of replacing my bench seat in my Eskimo QUick Flip 2 with some nice swivles like the new houses have in them. Has anyone seen those type of seats for sale anywere?

[newfoldener]

Paul

If you replace your seat let me know. If you want to get rid of it, it might fit my quickflip.

[Paul]

IF I replace My seat I will let you know. My bench is modified however. My 500lb fishing partner was too tall to sit on the bench as it was comfortably so we took some 2x4's and made a frame on the existing aluminum frame then put some 5/8 sheeting on top them reatached the bench. It got us up about 4 extra inches, combine that with some boat cushions and it is like siting in the lazy boy.

[Dahitman44]

Rope lights --

Are they expensive to order and ship from Reeds?

[DEADhead]

I don't think the shipping cost was that bad hitman. F-dog got his lights in just a couple days too. He put the reflectix in his house last weekend and said it was pretty sweet. I'm going to try and pickup the rest of the roll from him on Wednesday to install on min.e I'll post pics when it's done.

[shae1986]

Deadhead

This interests me, i was wonding in December here if i can come and look at someones so i can check it out. Do you just hook it up to a battery? Im sure it will work but would like to see how you did it so i can check it out.

[Dahitman44]

Dead --

What is flectix? Is it rope light?

[Paul]

HOw does Refletix do with condensation? DOes it build up on your head and get you wet all day long?

[DEADhead]

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i was wonding in December here if i can come and look at someones so i can check it out.

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Andrew, or anyone else interested, you're welcome to stop over and check it out anytime, just get a hold of me in advance before hand. The rope lights from reeds are easy for the electrical illiterate. they come with alligator clips that you can connect direct to the vexilar battery. I cut the clips off of my lights, and installed female spade ends on the wires so I can install direct to the vexilar male spade terminals.

Fisherdog and I were considering of having an impromptu get-together during early ice. we could get some fishing in, and check out portable mods, as well as exchange the FM neighborhood watch stickers.

Quote:

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What is flectix? Is it rope light?

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hitman, reflectix is reflective insulation. It's often installed in attics. the concept of it is to use reflective properties to insulate the house. It is very shiny.

Quote:

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HOw does Refletix do with condensation?

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From what other users mentioned to me after they installed the reflectix was that it cut down condensation drastically. Frost buildup was minimal or non-existent. They mentioned that if they had wet hands or gloves, they could put it next to the reflectix and it would dry in to time. Time will tell if those claims are true, when we finally get some ice.

[fisherdog19]

The reflectix is bubble wrap with aluminum on each side. It is supposed to really cut down on condensation, and it helps a lot with light reflection. The shipping on the lights from Reeds was nominal, I got 18 ft (6'X 3 strips) of rope light, and with shipping included, it was less than the Clam corp. wants for a 3 foot piece of the same stuff. Less than $30. Any time someone wants to come look at my mods, just give me a call or email. Like Dead said, the lights come with alligator clips, I am going to replace them with the same quick connect tabs that connect to vexilar batteries, and attach them to a 12 amp hour vex battery (regular vex battery is 7 amp hours) I just bought on ebay for 20 bucks. There are double quick connect tabs that have a male and female in one piece so you you can attach two seperate lights to the same battery terminals without having to do major wiring mods.

Fisherdog

[DEADhead]

I got around to installing the reflectix in my portable this afternoon. The insulating properties of this stuff is amazing. You can literally feel your body heat reflected of the stuff. Unlike other people's results with their lighting, I don't think the reflectix necessarily made the inside of the shelter any brighter. I attribute this to the fact that I had the LEDs pointing toward the ground, so there was not much ambient/stray light to reflect off of the reflectix.

The reflectix I used came in 25 foot roll by 48 inches wide. I used to 60 inch length pieces and taped them together with aluminum tape. The result was a 60" by 96" strip of reflectix. I used aluminum tape to reinforce the slots I cutout to mount the velcro straps from the canvas to the support hoops. I extended the reflectix past the ceiling and along the back wall for increased insulation, since I do not use the back door for access. I can always roll up the reflectix if I want to access the door in the future. I did cut out a section, however, on the back wall to utilize the window.

Since I only needed 120" of the reflectix, I split this roll with Fisherdog; This only cost us $18 each, including the tape. This is definitely one of the best, and cheapest, modifications I have made to my portable!

[huntnfish]

I might have to give that a try. How flexible is that stuff? I have a doublewide Polar and would like to put some on the sides to help keep the wind out. I think I might have to try it at least on the ceiling. Either way I think it should help quite a bit on those cold days.

[fisherdog19]

Huntnfish, I don't know if putting the reflectix on the sides would be very viable. It works well on the cieling because you only have to make one crease in each section of the reflectix between the support brackets. The side fabric tends to get very wrinkled when taking the portable down, and I don't think the reflectix will be able to do that very well. You lose most of your heat through the cieling anyway so it's where you want to put it.

Dead, looks nice. I'll take some pics of mine and post them as well. One thing I couldn't do was have some hang down the back side. I had to cut two 70 inch pieces that fit across my cieling, but the 96 inches just overhung the back by about 8 inches. If you have a couple feet left, let me know. I may tape it on the back and hang it down a bit and cut out a window spot like you did. Unlike Dead, I put the LED strip lights on the center bar and the bar behind where you sit. I just wanted some more light behind me for tying lures on and baiting hooks. The center bar is quite higher than the front or back bars in my fish house so the light from the LED strip on the center bar reflects well off the reflectix and lights up the open floor/ice area of my portable very well. The light on the back center bar is pointed down on an angle so the floor gets some light from that one as well.

Fisherdog

[DEADhead]

Fdog, there's a piece left over that should be big enough to cover a door. It might not be big enough for the eskimo though...