Ice Shack: Part 1

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking benches auto CAD software

Ice Fishing House

There are only a few glorious weeks of good ice where we bundle up and travel into the magical no-man’s land that is a frozen lake. Drop a line down a hole and sit around with your palls in the frozen tundra. Ahh January in Minnesota: it’s officially ice fishing season.

Call us crazy, but yes, ice fishing is a favorite pass time. It’s just what we do in the north. Joe and the neighbors have been dreaming of these days since the very first leaves started to fall. And now it has arrived. Here is the neighbors’ “ice shack” that they’ve been remodeling all fall and winter.

Ice Shack Plans

And because Joe can never do anything ordinary, he took the initiative to render up some SketchUp drawings of the fish house. Essentially, all the neighbors and friends pitched in to fix it up and get it ready for action, but Joe was pretty consumed with taking this from ordinary to next-level.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking benches auto CAD software

Plans to build swanky benches and drill strategically-placed ice holes.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking benches auto CAD software

You can also see here in Exhibit B, they would like to create a table of sorts.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent blueprints

I have not the slightest clue what this one means.

Kitchenette

A big drawback from our neighbor’s perspective was having the kitchen take up too much room. Before it was large and there wasn’t much free counter space.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains

So one of their first tasks was to rip out the old kitchenetee and make a simple countertop. This will make room for more seating and more fishing holes, but still have enough counterspace under the TV for a pizza maker and some kitchen essentials.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains

Joe and I actually got this flooring for free at a garage sale. It was just a small amount of perfectly good hardwood floor boards that Joe was able to put to use here as a kitchen countertop.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains

After a bunch of measurements and cuts, he used a nail gun to secure the pieces to the 2×4 and faced the front with another board to finish it off. Not too bad, huh?

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent handle bar woodworking

You can see it in action already, just on land. We were able to use our old kitchen bar stools as well. A bit richety, but they work just fine in the ice shack. Joe just sawed the legs down and voila. Perfect fit.

DIY ice shack

Floor

They also gutted the floor. Before, there was extremely thick wood flooring that weighed the entire house down.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains floor

They decided to start from scratch and map out a new layout, since the old subfloor was rotting.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains floor

Measuring out where the new holes are going.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains floor

Doing some serious engineering.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking flatscreen tv curtains floor

Once they had the frame, they plopped down a treated plywood subfloor and marine carpeting. They cut around the holes and used these Catch Covers and inserts.

Benches

Next up, seating

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking benches

Using regular 2×4’s, they put together enough bench seating for 8-10 people comfortably.

DIY ice shack house lake ice fishing permanent woodworking benches

They built the tops of the benches with hinges so this whole thing is a storage unit. If you can see, Joe faced everything with a tongue-and-groove wood.

DIY ice shack

My favorite part of this project is that they tried using existing materials as often as possible. And how they all worked together as a team on this hobby to enjoy and share together. (Even if it was a lot of late nights and drinks later…) We’re putting together part two to show you how it all turned out!

 

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