# permanent house, what's more important?



## northerndave

I'm thinking about building & selling nice permanent houses out of my home shop. Everyone is selling the 6 to 6.5 wide houses with the boat winch crank down wheels. They look pretty slick but I would rather fish in an 8' wide house. If I put together an 8' wide house that you could still set down on the ice but with out inside wheel boxes, without comprimising inside floor plan.... would it sell? I've got some good concepts, thinking about building one & seeing how it sells. I think I can do a steel frame 8 X 12 with removable torsion axle/wheel units, house frame doubles as a skid with mitered ski toe ends, hinged trailer tongue, trailer lights, mill finished flat alum sheeting, nice insulated windows, 2x2 wood frame walls, 2x4 ceiling frame, outdoor carpeting on floor, styrofoam insulation in walls, mohogany interior...... I would have to have $3500 for them, do you think they would sell?


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## leadshot

Is it legal to pull anything that wide down the highway? I'm not for sure, but I think I've heard something about it not being legal.


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## NDJ

you can go 100" width for the road, think you'd need marker lights though.

if you need a prototype tester...


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## northerndave

Well, the new style snowmobile trailers are legal width, I'd be narrower than that. They are 8 & 1/2 ft wide. I'd be 8.


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## drjongy

You would be 8' plus the wheels. I think this would be too wide, I know all the 8 footers I've seen have all been with inside mounted wheels. The price you are asking seems reasonable enough, I know nice ice houses in your size category are going for 4-6K from other companies.


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## northerndave

wheels would be under the house. Either removable independant wheel/suspension assemblies that are quick detatch or gullwing assemblies that could fold up flat with the outside of the house allowing you to set the house down on the ice. Going down the road it would only be 8' wide.


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## mallardhunter

I know you can rent moving traliers that are 8x12 I am pretty sure.


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## Quackkills9

as i know the legal width of trailor is 8' wide... i have a 8x12 permanent house. Good Fishin' :beer:


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## mallardhunter

Heck a camper is 8ft wide...Your idea sounds good too.


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## JignJab

Legal width is 8' 6"


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## northerndave

that's what I'm sayin, 8' 6". That's what all of the new sno cat trailers are.
I think I'll give it a shot, now all I need is time.


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## northerndave

hey guys, when I titled this post "what's important" I forgot to get to my main question, what's more important? the Nascar pit crew speed set up tear down or the comfort, room, layout oportunities inside the house & the fishing experience itself? My plan might call for a minute or two more set up (or in this case, set down) but the house floor would be a full 8' wide & you could put the holes anywhere you want, no interior fender boxes etc. To me the fishing time spent in the house is more important than a few seconds shaved in house set up time.


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## drjongy

Only drawback I see with wheels under the house is that it is going to ride very high when towing. Going down the highway with it might no be that fun. Also, the house has to come down a long ways to meet the ice. I don't think there's too much wrong with wheel boxes on the inside of a house--you need counter space anyway. In our 8x20, on one wheel box is the four-burner stove and a shallow sink, above the other is our vented, radiant 25,000 BTU heater. You need space for these things anyway.


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## drjongy

On a house such as that size, more than likely it is going to be used as a permanent house and therefore I would say comfort and amenities are probably most important. We use our house as a "base camp" and if we want to go mobile we just grab the portable.


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## northerndave

8x20 huh? that's what I want to build for myself, my wife thinks I'm nuts. If I went that big I would definitely use at least tandem & I would go with wheel boxes exactly like you said. I would probably also go hydraulic with the lifting power. You are probably right with the height thing, the tire O.D. I was going to use was just under 20" & I wanted to give 5" clearance for suspension travel. So my floor would be 25" off the ground, the outer rails were to be rectangular steel tube, 2"x4" with the wheel assemblies tucked inside the main outer rails & under the house. The bottom of the outer rails would ride around 20-21 inches of the ground with the house up. I don't think that's too bad, it is a very good point though. I was planning on a self hiding lift mechanism in the front & back of the house. This would use one square post heavy trailer jack up front & one in back each in the center of the house. These would apply lift pressure to pivoting/retracting leg assemblies that would multiply lift range of the jack posts for quick deployment & retraction of "landing gear" up front & in back. You crank down the landing gear with a single crank up front & a single crank in the back of the house, use the "landing gear" to lift the tires off the ground then either pull release pins & pivot wheel assemblies gullwing style up & out from under the house or simply unplug wheel/suspension assemblies like taking the ball mount out of the receiver hitch on your truck. Then crank the landing gear up allowing the house to drop to the ice. It works in my head & on paper, I just need the time to build it.


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## drjongy

Indeed, that might be nice for a smaller house where space is limited. Other than the height thing your idea to maximize space sounds real cool.

I can't wait to get our house out...we just bought it a couple weeks ago so I have never used it before. Like you said, this length requires tandems, and we have a hydraulic system as well. The thing I liked most about this house is the versitility in the systems. It has a 12 volt lighting system, 110, and even gas lights. The ceiling fan runs off 110 or has an inverter to run off 12 Volt. The heater is direct vented, but has no fan. Basically you could have heat and lights even with no generator or battery power.

Now if only the ice in Zipple Bay was 15 inches right now!!!


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## northerndave

haven't heard a thing about LOW ice conditions. I supose it's starting to make ice. I usually hope to get out before x-mas to the east side to catch that first big rush out by pine island. (portables)


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