Guys,

Seeing as there seems to be a lot of ice fishing talk recently, I thought I would post some info on a portable ice hut I made a year or two ago. There is a detailed thread on this over on iceshanty.com (just check out posts by me, Moonman).

Anyway, I will post some info here. The hut is based on the 'Ontario' style huts you may have seen online. Basically, a 4'x 8' plywood floor, with two end walls of plywood which are hinged to the floor. the sides are usually the blue tarp material, although some guys use canvas etc. There are runners underneath to form skis for pulling the hut. A few friends have made these in the past, but I wanted something more portable and lightweight. So I decided to build without the floor. Then, in order to have this hut fit in my car, I hinged the end walls vertically, so the whole thing would fold down and fit inside my car. Here is a pic of the original I made 3 years ago:





Here we are in the hut fishing on the Bay of Quinte. This hut is only 4X8, but we squeezed four guys in there and it wasn't bad.





You can see how I hinged the end walls in this pic. The roof is 6' high. This hut folds down nice and small to a package of 2'x 6', and about 6" thick. And here she is from the outside while on the ice:






More to come...

Moonman

So to continue. I made that hut in the fall of 2011 for the 2012 ice fishing season. It worked great, but I wanted a bit more room but still needed the compact size and portability when folded. So I decided to add a center panel to the end walls, making the hut 6 feet wide instead of 4'. Since I had to remove the tarp to do this, I decided I would use a larger tarp for the new build, increasing the length from 8' to 10'. In this style of hut (if not using a built in floor) the length is determined by the length of the tarp. When completed I would have a portable hut that was 6' wide, 10' long and 6' high.

Here is the original hut at the start of the rebuild with the new center panel off to the side:







Here the new panel is being added to end walls:






Here is the new end wall, you'll notice the rectangular vent hole at the top...more on that later.







I did the same to the other wall and then added the new tarp:






The tarp is stapled to one outside end wall edge, then the spreaders are added to to hut, and then the tarp is pulled taught and stapled to the other side.A fairing strip is added over the staples, which adds a bit of security and neatens things up a lot once the tarp is trimmed.







More to come....

So I guess I should mention more about the spreaders. This style of hut is held upright by the use of spreaders which push the ends apart. I used a 2" x 2" in each corner top and bottom. To maintain the portability, I cut each 10' spreader and half and then used plywood gussets glued to one half of a spreader, to slide in the other half. Worked really well. This hut is rock solid once set up.







You may have noticed the square cutout in the wall with the steel sheet oval opening.....thats for the portable wood stove I made for this hut. Here is a close up of the opening:







And here is what I used for the stove - an old ammo can:







If anyone is interested, I will write up a bit about making the stove and show it in operation in the hut, but for now, here is the finished hut, painted and ready for action. It was awesome to have out on the ice last season. The whole things weighs 130lbs, pulls like a dream on my smitty sled, and is only 2' x 6' x 10" when collapsed and packed up.

Great job Moonman! This is by far the nicest looking version of this portable that I have seen.

NICE JOB

You did a great job. I would be very interested in your ammo stove thread. Or added here later. Thanks for sharing. (Do you feel like blue moonman in there?)

Very nice setup Moonman.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the nice words about the hut build. Here is some info on the stove. Dimensions are 7" wide, 11" high and 18" long. First thing was to take the lid off and remove the rubber gasket. I then drilled a 4" diameter hole for the pipe, a little off to the side to maximize room for cooking, heating pots etc.






Underneath the lid was an extra reinforcing layer, which I left on for strength/deter warping etc. I then inserted a pipe collar and riveted it to the lid (Steel rivets!).






The collar has a flue:






Then started on the door. I cut an opening with a jig saw and bolted hinges to the frame.







Installed a baffle to direct heat to the main cooking area and create better combustion of gases before smoke goes out the stovepipe.






added fireproof stove gasket around edge of lid where the old rubber gasket used to be:







continued....

Added a latch to the door, and cut a rectangular opening in the bottom front of stove, with a sliding door to work as a damper. Its works really well.






added folding legs front and back:






Those two steel rods insert into holes in the legs when they are extended, which prevents to legs from moving/extending out further.






An old steel tray for barbecuing vegies was cut in half and fits perfectly inside the stove to act as a false bottom. The holes in it also facilitate better draft of air under the wood.












Assembled everything, riveted lid to stove body, installed a galvanized pipe and took it outside to give it a very good, hot burn to get rid of the paint and burn off all that (extremely toxic) galvanizing from the pipe.









continued....

Okay long story short, after two good burns, all the paint was off and the galvanizing burned off completely as well. I gave the stove 2 coats of black stove paint. Here is a pic of the stove in action last year. Got pretty hot in the hut with all the cooking - some sausages:







and a pic of the pipe going out the back wall. Thats a TV on the shelf to the left....an old battery powered unit I found in my wifes grandma's farmhouse....can't miss the hockey game!






I have a video somewhere of the hut and stove being pulled along the ice on a trip from last year. Will post it when I find it.

Moonman

Awesome set up bud, you got it going on.

That must be extremely satisfying. Very cool.
You oughtta pour and tie a couple of your own jigs, catch a fish, and cook it on that stove.

Im always amazed at the level of talent and ingenuity of people on this site, great job moonman .

Hey guys thanks.

This may have been the perfect thread for me to find. Been researching how to build a portable ice house and stove. Really lucky to have found this. Thanks

Hey BB,

I've also made one a bit smaller that would be perfect for two people - 4' wide, 7' long and 5' high. The end wall also folds in half like my original model so its very portable. Only weighs 35lbs. It also uses an ammo can stove, although a smaller unit witha 3" stove pipe. If you are making something like this I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have. Also search thei ce shanty forum, lots of cool stuff there.

Moonman.

Awesome setup, so glad you posted.

awsome design, as others have said the best I have ever seen. The tarp you used seems to be just a polly tarp. How does that hold up in the wind? is it noisy?

Could I use this design and make the frame out of PVC to go lighter?

quote heavycanoe: "awsome design, as others have said the best I have ever seen. The tarp you used seems to be just a polly tarp. How does that hold up in the wind? is it noisy?"

The tarp holds up fine and really is not that noisy at all. I always angle the hut so that the door faces into the wind. Also tarp is dead easy to replace after a few years if needed. If I could find an affordable canvas type product I would consider it though.

Moonman.

quote heavycanoe: "Could I use this design and make the frame out of PVC to go lighter?"

I'm sure that could be made to work, however if making it big, it may be too light and turn into a sail! The whole thing would then be tarp/ canvas etc so it could catch a lot of wind, but I think might be worth trying with some ice anchors to hold it down. If going smaller, say 4' wide by 6 or even 8' long then it could be a great little,shelter for you. If interested in similar home type builds, check out some of the stuff on iceshanty.com . In particular a guy named michiana shanty, and 'beeler' have nice interesting builds.

Moonman.

quote Moonman: "

quote heavycanoe: "Could I use this design and make the frame out of PVC to go lighter?"

I'm sure that could be made to work, however if making it big, it may be too light and turn into a sail! The whole thing would then be tarp/ canvas etc so it could catch a lot of wind, but I think might be worth trying with some ice anchors to hold it down. If going smaller, say 4' wide by 6 or even 8' long then it could be a great little,shelter for you. If interested in similar home type builds, check out some of the stuff on iceshanty.com . In particular a guy named michiana shanty, and 'beeler' have nice interesting builds.


Moonman."

thanks Moonman, I was thinking that after i posted You would need to get some anchors to hold things down. I was checking out some of the stuff on iceshanty.com. Is there a way to search for your and the others posts. There is alot of content. Thanks for brink this over though.

Iceshanty.com has a search function but maybe you have to join to use it, not sure..

Here is the lnk to my thread:
My shanty and stove build

You should also be able to search via google and that should get you to the other builds I mentioned.

Moonman.

so at one point you considered using PVC for spreaders and thought they had too much flex.

Yes, but that was because of the length of my shack at 10'. Thats why I mentioned 6 or 8 feet long might work. Best to hit your local big box and test different thicknesses of tubing to check flex and weight.

Moonman

This shack looks very nice. Is there any way that you could send me some more detailed plans or info so I can make one for myself? How does this fold up. More pics or info would be great. Thanks and nice job!! Me and my kids would love to be able to have one of these to fish out of, they'd love it.

I dont have any plans, but can give you any info you would like. Of note, ai just made a new hut, which is 2' x 2' x6' long when folded up, but when erected t turns into a 5' wide, 5'7" high, by 6' long hut, wth a full floor and integrated bench seating, that ony weighs 100lbs. It was designed to fit inside my car. All my gear fits inside for transport. It is also heated with a smaller ammo can stove. If anyone is interested, I could post some pics and info on that build as well.

Anyway, re the hut in this thread, I actually had it out on the ice yesterday, with my wife, son, brother in law and his two kids as well. We had the stove set up as well. A bit tight, but this was more of a fun day for perch rather than serious fishng. While out there, I did give a lot of thought to improving the build, especially comparing to the newest hut I just completed.

The big thing is weight savings and strength. If doing again, I would use 3/8" exterior ply for the panels. Stronger and lighter than the 7/16" OSB. Double the price, but still only 15.00 per sheet (compared tothe 7.50 for the OSB). The other thing is to,consider full length piano type hinges. More strength, and they then completely block out any outside air from blowng through the small opening between the panels. Downside is more expensive ( they are 7-$10), and extra weight, around 3lbs or so each.

Building tips, the main thng is to plan out the way the hinges fold attached inside or outside. This will determine if the panels press against each other, or against the tarp material. Be aware that anything attached to the walls that protrudes, will affect how flat the panels will fold. Spreaders can get heavy and bulky. If I were building this to only 8' long, I would now use 1x2 spruce. If you can find some at a small local hardware store , it will be one piece, and stronger than the slightly smaller dimensioned, finger joined Home Depot stuff. Cut your spreaders slightly longer than you think you need, easy to trim later if needed.

Ask away if you have more questions.

Moonman.

Hey, folks! Thanks a millions for such a useful information! I'm sure that you will be able to view at least one of my favorite posts available below:
http://livecustomwriting.com/blog/importance-of-education-essay

Very impressive !

excellent work moonman. the portability of a portable has always been the issue. i've owned a few different styles. a 4X8 suitcase- a brute 6800 clam UGH !(not portable at all) the pop ups style (i prefer something under my feet) if a person is looking for a store bought the shappell S3000, are as light as they get with a floor. might want to stake out thou on a windy day ;) and 1 feature i really like is a zippered door on each side. shappell 3000

This is a great reference, I have bookmarked it. Maybe someday. Thanks for posting the build!