# Ice Fishing - thoughts on a tent-sled shanty



## Meesh (Jan 26, 2010)

So my buddy and I are gearing up for this winter, and we've decided to ditch the plastic tubs and make something more useful once out on the ice.

We have an Eskimo 949, which is about 7.8' on a side, and we're thinking of making two sleds (toboggans?) that would match up to make an insulated floor - we're tired of the slipping and sliding once the ice starts to melt in the tent. 

While our simplicity in design has become rather complicated, I believe it will be fairly straightforward; a solid bottom from sanded composite plastic decking (he actually has some of this laying around..) rounded up on both ends, plywood ribs/joists, solid foam insulation, topped with plywood. The sides will be removable, and the floor will be carpeted (he wants to use diamond plated aluminum, but I think I can convince him that this is a stupid idea..). 

The first problem is, we have differing ideas on how to engineer access to the fishing holes; it's come down to leaving a gap between the two sleds, or putting in a trapdoor in the floor of each.

Anyone have any thoughts and/or experience in building this type of setup?

Also if anyone is interested in hearing about the trials and errors this thing is going to put us through, I'll gladly share what we eventually come up with and how well it "works". 

Thanks


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Going to be heavy... what are you going to use to get it out there?


-DallanC


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## Meesh (Jan 26, 2010)

Two snowmobiles- I should have mentioned that..


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

You are going to have a rough time pulling it in super wet heavy snow. I dont haul a ton of gear (imo), but the sled is big and I've had troubles in some snow conditions. Sold that sled and got one with an even bigger track (156") that helps alot better. Hard on belts though.

With the lack of snow the past few years, I'm seriously considering selling both our snowmobiles and buying 1 set of ATV tracks for my Honda. Tracked rigs can go places a snowmobile cant, and pull a lot of weight.

"Go big or go home" ?? Maybe just do something like this, it would certainly be cool... and warm out on the lake:






The whole reason for this is to avoid a slippery floor? Can you just get a $15 outdoor artificial grass rug for RVs and just put it down over the ice and walk on that?

-DallanC


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## Meesh (Jan 26, 2010)

No, not to just avoid a slippery floor. We do haul a lot of equipment out; we sometimes spend the night, and we even went ice diving last winter, so having a high level of capacity while minimizing the rollovers/spills is really the goal. Using the sled as a floor once we're out there is kind of a bonus, but since we're building something from the ground up, we may as well. 

A tracked rig would be awesome, but I don't think I could explain the expense of that to the boss :grin:


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