Best way to drill holes in wheel house

[Frozen Fingers]

Last year we tried lowering the shack and marking the holes then drilling them and backing up but they were never lined up nice. I have the catch covers, catch cover sleeves and a 10" auger. So this year I get the auger mate and think its going to be the ticket. It still makes a mess inside and stinks it up for a little while. With the ice so thick the auger mate needs to be dumped half way thru and its a royal PITA getting the auger up out of the hole after you finally hit water, its full of slush and almost takes 2 guys to lift it out with the 12" extension on. Plus last weekend it was near the breaking point where I will have to add my second extension if I want to use the augermate and drill inside the house.

I really like the holes drilled this way with the sleeves but there must be an easier way.

On a side note I am kind of obsessed with gadgets & have been using the fish elevator on my last two trips and it works great for the crappies & walleyes, don't have to bend down and hand lift them and if they do come off anywhere in the hole you can usually still make the save. Works great for cleaning the slush out too, you can get all the way to the bottom of the hole and chips don't keep coming up with every fish you catch.

[wingnutken]

Hello

Here is how I have been doing it.

I sold my gas auger a bought a Strikemaster Electric auger. It's quiet,has no odor and is a little slow but it does not throw snow everywhere.It also re-drills holes with easy. I always start drilling in a cold house so the ice chips don't melt on the carpet. I use a good plastic shovel with a sharp edge and it is easy to scrape everything up off the carpet. You can also use a 3x3 piece of outdoor carpet with a hole cut in it the same size as your auger.Lay it over your hole before you drill and you can shake it off outside your house when you are done shoveling.

Do you have a generator?

I do and I also have a 5 gal. shop vac. I removed the wheels and the paper filter. It is compact and light weight and does a great job cleaning up the slush. Just be sure to empty it right away and let it dry out. Hope this helps, Ken

[deadminnowcatcher]

we were up on red last week. For the first time ever we tried this and to my amazement it worked great.

Drilled app. 1 inch with the house up

pulled foward and drilled all the holes outside

then shoveled all the slush to the side

then keeping the steering wheel strate backed up over the holes

set house down and banked the house with all the slush

It worked great, we moved 4 times and the holes lined up every time. this is how we will always do it.

[Desperado]

Why do you want to shovel the slush away from the holes?

If you leave the slush cones and drop the house down, frame and the bottom of the floor will settle onto the top of the slush cone. Thus effectively giving you a seal around your hole. Especially nice if there's not a lot of snow around for banking.

Here's how I do it:

1. drop the house about halfway down

2. drill holes in the house

3. drop the house the rest of the way down

[Mjen]

All good suggestions. Not sure I know what a fish elevator is. I drill from inside the house and clean up with a shovel also. Need those extensions. The best thing I did was put a fan up in the ceiling. It runs off one of my 12 volt batteries from my boat. Very quiet and it clears the smoke out before I am done clearing the holes. It also makes the heat more even from top to bottom in the house.

[cookie129]

I auger a foot down or so and flush the chips up then down a little further again flush the chips I do this untill Im all most through then I stop and brush all the chips away from the holes and punch through then as I come up flush the hole. It takes a little time but no buckets of slush to deal with. If the house is close to the ice surface I just let the chips fly into the house and use a plastic shovel to throw them out then punch through at the end with a small amount of slush to deal with.It works for me and takes the same amout as time as hauling bucket after bucket of heavy slush out

[mrmanners]

I just auger the holes with all windows and doors open then drop the house down leaving the pile of snow and ice to act as a seal under the house. Then banking the house isn't as important because you already are sealed on all the holes. We did try to mark the holes pull forward and then auger them but getting back was not as easy as i thought and then we removed the sluch and it caused a wind tunnel that was hard to bank under the house.

[Frozen Fingers]

Quote:

---

Not sure I know what a fish elevator is.

---

Good suggestions from everyone, will give some of them a try next trip. Just type fish elevator into google or your address bar and check it out, I was pretty skeptical at first but really like them now.

[ozzie]

the best thing i have seen for permanants is an electric auger.........we have started dropping the house to the ice and then drilling with the electric...not as many shaving it seems. then we use the shovel to scoop any shaving that do get on the carpet and then use the slush inhaler to clean the holes!!! quick easy and pretty clean way to do it.

[slimy]

We use a 12volt hair dryer, it takes a while but no mess at all.

[ozzie]

to dry the carpet we just crank the heat up and go to westwinds for a drink then come back and she is toasty and dry in the house.......

[kelly-p]

Quote:

---

to dry the carpet we just crank the heat up and go to westwinds for a drink then come back and she is toasty and dry in the house.......

---

Labs does the same thing!!!! How many days do you stay at Westwind?

[LABS4ME]

Aw heck, we quit doing that a couple years ago... too much work. Now we just forget about drilling the holes and cleaning the floors and head straight for shore and the bar! hehehe Maybe just maybe Kelly I will still make it up this weekend... I'm leaving the auger at home!!!

Good Luck!

Ken

[Desperado]

One of the best things about leaving the auger at home is you don't have to even consider whether you're gonna need an extension.

[deadminnowcatcher]

When it is really cold out i find that the house will not set down all the way if the holes are drilled with the house up