2012 Fish House Build

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

What was the reason for 2 different kinds? Just wanted something a little stronger for studs and corners and saved some money on the rest?

Just needed a thinner tape for the seams so they don't stick out as far. If I remember right, I paid almost $200 for the roll of seam tape.

[slammer]

What will the total build cost? I understand if you do want give out that info. Great looking house and nice work.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

What will the total build cost? I understand if you do want give out that info. Great looking house and nice work.

Well, it's going to depend on a few 'luxuries' I'm debating (automatic satellite, etc), but $15k +\- $500 will be pretty accurate. The steel studs and aluminum roof add quite a bit, but the finished product will be really nice.

[Finlander]

Great work! Lots of good ideas!

[LMITOUT]

I see Ice Castle is offering a sky light in some of their models. Is that something you would ever consider? You have pretty good sized windows so light probably won't be an issue, but in most houses I would think the light from the sky light would be nice.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I see Ice Castle is offering a sky light in some of their models. Is that something you would ever consider? You have pretty good sized windows so light probably won't be an issue, but in most houses I would think the light from the sky light would be nice.

The sky light is a cool option. My initial thought is that I wouldn't personally do it with the combination of wood studs & fiberglass insulation (like the Ice Castles), as sky lights have a tendency to leak and condense, and that could be a major problem that might not show up for a few years. With board foam or spray foam you'd either see a leak right away, or everything would be sealed up tight.

[Guest Kyle]

Are you planning on selling this, or are you just building it for yourself. I've thought about building one to sell and see how it goes. Not sure how big the market is for a $15,000 shack that has no brand name...

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Are you planning on selling this, or are you just building it for yourself. I've thought about building one to sell and see how it goes. Not sure how big the market is for a $15,000 shack that has no brand name...

Hopefully never selling it, or at least not for awhile. This one will have pretty much everything you could ever want in a fish house, so I should be good for a long time.

Building one to sell, with hopes of making a profit, is probably a losing proposition. I've given it a lot of thought, and unless you can do it in mass quantity to get purchasing discounts, or get into high end with bigger margins, there is no room to make money. Not when the #1 name in fish houses has the market saturation (and top of mind awareness) they do.

[BartmanMN]

I'm guessing if he did sell it to start a new one, he wouldn't be selling it what he made it for. More likely a $18-20K shack that has a detailed build sheet with the best products available.

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I think it would be well worth the price IMO. If you look at a comparable Ice Castle it would probably be in the same price range but you wouldnt have the satisfaction of sitting in a house that YOU made (minus the frame) to YOUR specs and not a cookie cutter house. Just my 2 cents. Another job well done LRG.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I think it would be well worth the price IMO. If you look at a comparable Ice Castle it would probably be in the same price range but you wouldnt have the satisfaction of sitting in a house that YOU made (minus the frame) to YOUR specs and not a cookie cutter house. Just my 2 cents. Another job well done LRG.

Thanks! Hoping this one turns out as good as the last one!

The closest comparable Ice Castle to this is their 21' RV Edition on hydraulics for around $22k (selling price, not MSRP). That one has a couple things mine won't (a/c, water tanks and water heater for ~$1000), but mine will be a much higher quality product with a beefier frame, metal instead of wood framing, smooth siding, spray foam, way better interior finishing, LED lights, etc. I probably have additional material costs of about $2500, so I'll be almost $10k ahead (including nothing for time).

[eyehunter78]

Looking good! Can't wait to see the finished result! Love to see these fish house builds, they just never get old.....

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Siding is done & roof is on. This weekend will be spent doing the diamond plate, window trim, installing the door, roof trim, and running lights. If all goes well I should have the outside finished on Sunday.

I just left Fastenal going after buying stainless screws......

[hawkeye43]

You a little surprized were you. That place will always hurt the pocket book. Think of the big picture and smile because you know you did it right. Nice build.

[anderson_dc]

Thanks for taking us through this build with you, I know I really enjoy checking out the photos and reading about the progress. Sure the up front cost is high, but you're building it right and it should provides years of enjoyment for you and your family.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Well, my goal proved to be too aggressive for the weekend The roof & trim took way longer than expected.

This is what I started with Saturday morning:

The aluminum roofing came in an 8'6" x 24' long roll. I'm guessing it weighed around 100#, which is much lighter than a comparable rubber roof and plywood. Once the VHB tape was applied, it took about 15 minutes to roll the roof out and pull the backing. Very fast!

Step one was pounding the edges down flat with the sidewalls.

All was great to the point of putting on the first pieces of trim. It turns out that the roof stuck under the flat part of the trim by about 1/2" on the 20' walls. Most people wouldn't care or notice. I have a pneumatic nibbler which worked great for the siding, but for some reason it wouldn't cut the roofing very well. Cutting 40' with a tin snips isn't my idea of a good time.

Up next was the trim, which has a 'rain gutter' type profile.

The corners are all mitered for a (close to) perfect fit. Doing the trim this way was a lot of work, but I have to say that it turned out really nice.

[BartmanMN]

Outstanding workmanship. If you ever get short on Friends this Winter, let me know.

[Finlander]

Wow! Awesome job! Keep the pictures coming!

[nofishfisherman]

Nice looking house.

My only thought is that with that color of siding that thing is just begging for some sort of racing strip down the side. As an added bonus the racing strip should help it go faster down the road to.

[CaptainMusky]

He could decorate it with a #20 and some Home Depot stickers. :-)

Looks like an awesome build though.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I was able to sneak away from the office for a couple hours this morning to install the running lights. The window trim is done on two of the windows.

I'd say in two more evenings the outside should be done. I have two windows to trim, the rest of the bottom diamond plate, and the door.

[bpowers5757]

are you going to spray foam the bottom of your shack? and is the subfloor better than green treat plywood?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

are you going to spray foam the bottom of your shack? and is the subfloor better than green treat plywood?

I will for sure have the floor and roof spray foamed, and I'm 95% sure I'll have the walls sprayed.

The floor is 23/32" Advantech, which is a lot better than green treated.

[forcedtowork]

Do you wire the inside before you have it spray foamed? I am at debating if I should wire the inside before I have it spray foamed or after.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Do you wire the inside before you have it spray foamed? I am at debating if I should wire the inside before I have it spray foamed or after.

Typically wire before spray foam. I use all heat shrink connectors, and heat shrink insulation over the top of that. Everything is then contained in the insulation, and no risk of connections coming apart. There *shouldn't* ever be a wiring problem when done this way, but if there was, it would be a major project. Kind of a trade off/risk I'm willing to take.

The other option would be to do like Ice Castle does and put a false beam down the middle of the fish house, and contain most of the wires in there. There is still a fair amount of wiring to be run through the walls. I probably would have gone this route if I weren't doing the recessed LED lights.

[forcedtowork]

thanks for the response, my cosuin who is an electrician is doing the wiring for me so I should be good. I hope....

[Jigging Joe]

I have ceiling tiles in my house, they're right next to the ceiling, maybe only 1 1/2" between the studs and the top of the tiles. I love them because you can take them out to rewire things you didnt think about when building it. Between the tiles and cabinets you are able to hide most wires. Also saves some weight because you dont have to panel the ceiling, cheaper too.

[silverbulletguy]

Looks like it could be Bo and Luke's ice house with the color and the wheels. Nice work ! !

[BartmanMN]

Looks like it could be Bo and Luke's ice house with the color and the wheels. Nice work ! !

That would be hillarious if he turned it into a giant General Lee with Confederate Flag on top and all.

Already going to be one of the cooler shacks on the lake, but that would take it to another level.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Haven't had much time to work on this over the last week, but it's slowly moving along. All the windows are trimmed, all of the diamond plate is on (except one piece), and the door is in.

Once more piece of diamond plate to go, and then it's on to the inside. I can't wait!