New Skid House Incoming How To Set It Up?

So I got a new bare bones 8X12 skiddy incoming. Not aluminum but wood framed. It’s spray foamed with 4 windows. Other than that it’s a blank canvas. I have a sheet of rubber flooring ready to go. No holes are drilled. I plan to paint the spray foam bright white to keep it looking bright. Don’t plan on putting permanent bunks in it. If I want to sleep in it I have a nice cot with a mattress pad. I don’t want too much mounted permanently as I want to be able to have flexibility to change things out easily. It will also serve as a bunk house in the summer months at the lake property.

Not sure what kind of power I need or want. I’d rather not deal with a generator. I’m thinking a lithium house battery of maybe 20 or 30 ah with a solar charging system. Won’t need to run much other than lights that I can think of. Going to use my DeWalt branded buddy heater for heat. That has USB charging ports for phones and a bright led light in the handle as well as a fan that all run off the DeWalt battery. I will use the fishing pedestal seats out of the pontoon for fishing seats so I will mount the the plates in the floor to accept those. I’m waffling on furing out the walls and putting some kind of finish sheeting up but I also do not want to add a bunch of unnecessary weight.

Don’t plan on putting it on the ice this year so I will have all summer to dial it in. Any ideas and suggestions are welcome. I don’t know much about solar systems so I’ll have to go to Youtube college on that.

I personally would not use boat pedestal seats that require you to screw down bases. I would see that these being designated to a specific spot would be quite aggravating for fishing. Most people will have a slightly different preference on the distance to the hole. Even with a specific person the desired distance will vary depending on the length of the rod they choose to fish with. I would consider a slider base to be a must if you plan on doing this.

Battery – if you plan on a battery (will call it a house battery) I surely would not go with a 20 or 30 ah. The prices of 100 ah lithium have come down so much that there is no way that I would go with less than a 100 ah. You may currently plan on just lights but a 100 ah would give you greater flexibility for additional hook ups. I can see a couple of small fans to move air/heat. If you decide to go with some type of FFS (Livescope) you may have a contained battery (possibly 30 ah) in your case but FFS draws quite a bit. If you spend more than a day out on the ice it surely would be nice to be able to use the house battery as a back up for the FFS.

Make sure it has good lighting and a few fans to help circulate the heat. I second the battery upsize, but just recognize the limitations of a LiFePO4 battery – namely that it cant charge if the battery cell temps are below freezing. For my skid house I made an insulated battery box that fits under the jackknife sofa with two 100Ah heated LiFePO4’s. If I plug into the generator, they will heat the cells appropriately prior to applying the charge to the battery. I plan to test it with solar to see if solar power will provide enough heat for warmth and to keep them topped off.

I’d also recommend a Harbor Freight 1.5 ton aluminum floor jack. Works well when I need to block my shack up or pop it free from the ice. Also fits nicely in a tote that slides under the sofa when not in use.

Boat seats are nice, but I prefer the four legged boat seat stand for my extra seating in the skid. If I was putting in a dedicated pedestal it might fit me perfectly but would be way too far for any of the nieces/nephews to use.

Thanks for the input. I have not looked into battery prices or solar system prices yet but the idea of bigger being better always applies when it comes to batteries so yeah an upgrade there is probably wise.
I’ve had pedestal seats in the last small wheelhouse I had (sellers regret big time) but that was set up with a trough that opened up the full width of the house and you drilled three holes in a row. There were two of these in the house. You lifted panels out of the floor to drill holes. So that design lent themselves to pedestal seats quite well. I really like the comfort of the pedestal seats compared to just folding chairs or the tripod fishing chairs you get plus I already have four nice pedestals. I hate sitting on a bunk fishing it’s a back killer. If anyone knows of any good alternative seats let me know.

Haven’t decided on the number of holes I want but surely a minimum of six. I most likely will be fishing with two other people max on a rare occasion. Most of the times my self and one other person.

Lost wrote:

I plan to test it with solar to see if solar power will provide enough heat for warmth and to keep them topped off.

Check the specs of battery and it should tell you how many amps it needs to activate heating, some of them need 10 or more amps which is about worthless for small solar system in winter.

Computer fans

Vented Heater (Housewarmer/Empire) with the DeWalt to warm up/backup

LED strip lights on a dimmer

Pedestals are sweet

CO detector, battery operated

Bluetooth Speaker

Small garbage can (like a dedicated bucket)

Wall mounted rod storage and some rod holders

Small table that folds flat up to the wall (a chunk of HDPE or plywood on hinges). Use some small cables for support instead of a leg.

A tiny cabinet/counter in a corner, loaded with a single burner camp stove, paper plates, paper towels, fine china (disposable cutlery), pot, pan, spatula, fillet knife, oil, seasonings, instant coffee, ramen noddles, frozen water bottles, etc.

Have a dedicated milk crate(s) or rugged container for the shack that you bring home and back every time (batteries, CO detector, speaker, minnow bucket, etc)

And beer.

Don’t forget the beer

I don’t know where you live but there haven’t been many sunny days for a solar charger in my neck of the woods.

Ice Cap wrote:

Thanks for the input. I have not looked into battery prices or solar system prices yet but the idea of bigger being better always applies when it comes to batteries so yeah an upgrade there is probably wise.
I’ve had pedestal seats in the last small wheelhouse I had (sellers regret big time) but that was set up with a trough that opened up the full width of the house and you drilled three holes in a row. There were two of these in the house. You lifted panels out of the floor to drill holes. So that design lent themselves to pedestal seats quite well. I really like the comfort of the pedestal seats compared to just folding chairs or the tripod fishing chairs you get plus I already have four nice pedestals. I hate sitting on a bunk fishing it’s a back killer. If anyone knows of any good alternative seats let me know.

Haven’t decided on the number of holes I want but surely a minimum of six. I most likely will be fishing with two other people max on a rare occasion. Most of the times my self and one other person.

I have a couple BlackOut Comfort Max 360 Mag Elite Blind Chairs for my house. They’re comfortable, work well and Cabela’s has them on sale right now for $100. There are many similar chairs online that may be what you’re looking for if you do a search for “hunting blind swivel chairs”.

Small Generators are sure nice Batteries alone are a constant hassle. Both is best.

Personally I’d just use a lifepo4 battery and take it home with me to charge. A 50ah is compact and weighs about 12lbs so it’s not hard to do. Don’t need the cost/hassle of solar, don’t need to worry about charging temps or pay more for one with self heating that may not even work. Wire it with 1 or 2 SAE connectors for quick connect/disconnect to your shack system and charging, have two to potentially do both at same time.

Again thanks for the helpful input. I looked at those hunting blind chairs Karry I will have to see if I can find some to sit in to see how I like them. Two things I like about the pedestal seats is one, I already have them so it’s money I already spent. Secondly you can get out of them quickly if you need to get on the floor and grab a fish from the hole. I fished with a friend this past week in his skiddy. He had his end with a built in cushioned bench I sat in an upholstered glider swivel chair on the other end that came out of his living room. Nice and comfy but impossible to get out of quickly and I lost two fish due to that.

Reef I think you may be right on the battery set up. After doing some research they are not supposed to be charged under 32 degrees. Basically all winter. So I can go with a smaller and cheaper 50ah and just take it back and forth and forget the solar set up. As Dutch mentioned the sun has not been shining much this month. I already have three lithiums of various amp hours from eight to twelve for powering my Helix 7. I have a small portable power supply of 300 watts that has USB ports and two 120 ac plug in for charging or running other things. As I mentioned before my DeWalt heater also has two charging ports a light and a fan. I can piece this together pretty nicely with things I already have.

If I just need 110V down the road I can always run an extension cord from a genny into the house and have a power strip on it to plug a few things in. Now about batteries. Are the Norsk and Dakota’s worth the significant cost above others that are out there in my small application?

If you are just running lights, fans, and a heater, you could go with a cheaper brand. I know some guys that have LiTime lithium batteries in their boats. That’d be a good option

I would wire everything to a switch panel. Run a quick connect/plug from the panel to the battery. Disconnect plug and take battery home/out to charge.