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They don't look like crappies dave!! i've seen a house like that out on LOW. should work nicely. always wondered about frost on those panels though. How many holes you putting in that shanty? FISH ON!!

Looks like Ryan is fishing for something other than Crappies.

trollin' for suckers.

hahaha she has ten holes, the fishouse that is, I knew where you were gonna go with it.

and she might make it up to LOW too. its got 3 2x6 runners under it and next season will be fitted to a trailer frame that will lower it to the ice. then for sure she will be going to LOW.

I'll let you know when the crappies start biting well and who ever wants to come is welcome to. I guarantee that little house is warm!

Nice Shack,!!!!!!! Better put some camo on it or you wont be able to find it after you go out for a ten one hundred. lol

we're trying to come up with a catchy name for it

so far we have the "crappie shack" or "crap shack" for short

and some others I probably can't post but those were suggested after a few beers for a good chuckle

Nice house Ryan, good idea with the garage door panels.

I finally got to paint in the fish house yesterday. I borrowed a 25 lb. tank from the neighbor for my sunflower heater. I should get it finished today. I got the 1x2's on the ceiling done but I might have to wait with the rest of the ceiling till this summer, because it is going on the lake tomorrow.

yeah I need to finish the 1x2's on the inside that go around the insulation, we glued it up there but want it held tight to be sure.
next is the 12v wiring, which shouldn't take long at all.
I've been toying with an idea on heat. i have the little sunflower heater on the stand in the pic, and it works amazingly well. but I was wondering about using a solar panel and a 12v car auxillary heater/defroster to keep it above freezing all the time, maybe keeping the holes open as well.
any ideas? will it work?
the heaters are about 25 bucks and so are the solar panels, which we will need one for the 12v lights/battery anyway.
is it one of those ideas that just isn't feasible but sounds cool? or does it have the potential for working?

Dude there's just no way those little panels can run those heaters.... can they?

LOW is a long way to skid that thing...You'll probably have to trailer it.

Looking pretty good Ryan. you should build a bench across the middle with insulation inside of it, and a flip top seat, you could fit a TON of cold ones in there.

"shaggin' shack", "church", so you can tell your professors you can't make it to class today...because you need to go to "church"

Man I donno. those things work pretty well...

"The Clap Trap"

We have a winner.....

LOL
I was checking the amp usage on the little heaters, and I can get a solar panel to match it so powering it would be fine, I'm just wondering how warm it would be able to keep it, we will have a good sized south facing window so there will be some passive solar heating, we just need to give it that little edge to hopefully keep the holes open, or keep the ice thin enough we don't have to run the auger every time

You might be able to keep it pretty warm in there, but I think it would be tough to keep the holes thawed. I would think in order to do that, the ice would melt all around.

Keeping the ice thin on them might work if you go a day between trips, but much more than that and you'll have at least some freezing. A hand auger might work then, instead of firing up the gasser everytime.

I haven't had a shack in years, these other guys will be able to answer you better.

You aint gonna be able to keep the Minnesota out of your fishin holes without some pretty good heat inside the house.

Sometimes I'll get by for a day or 2 with just keeping a pilot light lit but to keep the -40 from freezing them holes over is pretty tough.

If the house is insulated well you can sometimes go a couple days & get by reopening holes with just an ice chissle.

yeah its insulated really well, I thought this little heater would augment it just enough to keep it above freezing

let me know if it works, I'll be doing the same thing with mine if you think it makes a difference in yours.