New member here. Great site. Now that I own a 4 wheel drive Suburban I want to purchase a retractable wheel fish house. I am concerned about towing this on lakes that are not plowed and up some launches that get rough. 12′-14′ L 6.5′ or 8′ W. Any feedback on the weight of these shacks making for extreme challanges would be much apprieciated
Welcome to the registered side of IDA rjmac!
(just wanted to welcome you….I’ll let someone that knows what they are talking about answer your questions 
)
Has anyone seen what the wheel houses at Gander are going for?
Any idea what your house might weigh, rjmac?
between 9k and 15k were the 2 I saw on the lot in Forest lake. 
HEY how bout that traffic 
PEOPLE (mostly out of towners ) SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO TAKE A TEST FOR DRIVING IN THE WINTER!!
You shouldn’t have that much trouble anywhere….. as long as you go slow they are pretty sturdy… 
Don’t know the weight on these shacks. My biggest concern is being half way up a ramp with a heavy shack and getting stuck.
I can appreciate your concern.
I guide open water on the Mississippi River all winter long. Our river never freezes. Even when our ramps are in horrible condition a 4 wheel drive ‘burb with GOOD RUBBER can tug a 16′ – 18’ aluminum boat out of the water with little effort. These boats on the trailer will weigh roughly 1000 – 1800 lbs. I would doubt a wheel house would weight more than that… but I could be wrong.
My advice would be to stay on plowed roads or VERY close to them and access the lakes you fish thru maintained resort access points. The real exploring is best left to the portable houses.
If you want more info try going to http://www.fishhousesupply.com and email them on weights, they may even have the info listed you want. 
They tow with a 4 wheeler on the early ice so I wouldn’t think they weigh more than a small vehicle.
I don’t think you should have much of a problem with a Suburban. I don’t how much those pre-fab houses weigh, but I own a 7×10 that I built myself and it weighs right around 2000 lbs that I pull with a half ton and I have buddies that are yanking around 3500 lb houses with a half ton. Of course I have a real beefy frame and a lot of weight on the inside. Some of those pre-fabs have barely anything to them and will weigh a lot less.
There are gonna be some times when you’re gonna get stuck. That’s just the way it is when pulling a fishhouse in a lot of snow. Just watch what you’re doing and you should be alright and always have a shovel and a jerk rope with you. Another thing is if you are building one or having one built, have it so the tires of your fishhouse follow in the tracks of your truck. That will keep you from getting stuck as much.
Depending on size…3000# give or take. If it’s a Custom out of Alex., about half that.
BIRDDOG
Been up on upper Red a few times, waited in line at the landing behind some towable houses. They sure look like the way to go. We ended up in the same general location as the older guy pulling his house behind a 3/4 ton chevy. He tried to get back to a spot, but was having no luck. It looked like he was content to fish where someone had just moved off from. As most of you know, the bite may happen just a few feet from where you are set up at, so we moved three times that evening till we were happy. At the end of the evening we had everything folded up and tied down, the gentleman with the towable was stuck, and there were several people diging him out and rocking and pushing. So you will have to stay very close to the road, be patient and let the fish come to you, and make sure a big ground blizzard doesn’t come up quickly. Sure would be nice to have one though.
I have never had a real problem with a ramp pulling a fish house… hard packed snow drifts… thats another story. I dont care if you have a Humvee(your suburban a close 2nd).. If you dont have a plow, stick to plowed out areas for your house and you wont have problems. The only other areas I have had problems is where the snow got heavy and made slush(water comes up through holes).. wet ice is nothing fun and very hard to get moving on pulling weight, even with 4wd.
As someone stated earlier.. portables are good to explore with. Stay on the beaten path with a wheeled house unless you have a plow. Tire chains are good to have around in case of an emergency.
Thanks for all the useful info. This site is the greatest.
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