One-man shelter/ATV

I searched past threads but didn’t find anything specific to this topic. I’m looking for a one man, sled-style, house that can be pulled by an ATV without serious modification. I have an Otter Pro Lodge but I need something that can fit in the box of my Ram 1500 and can be lifted by me alone. I’d be happy with a Cottage or something similar in size, but was wondering about the true one-man shelters. I’m not loyal to any one brand, but I don’t feel like doing a heavy modification. Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions?

I have a eskimo 2600, how I load mine in the back of the truck, I made a ramp using 2 ladder sections of a old ladder tree stand, I bought a ATV winch from harbor freight (65.00) mounted it to a 2×10 and made a bracket to the front of my truck bed. using a battery from my boat to run it. the winch come with 2 wireless remotes loading and unloading couldn’t be easier.

I use an otter cottage. It’s the Taj mahal of one man’s. I can load it in the bed of my truck pretty easily and I’m not a big guy at 5′ 8″

I have a Kenai pro. It’s light at 48 lbs. but I wish it was just a little bigger. It is easy to load. I like it ok. Im a big guy at 6’5″ and 250. Clam makes 1 a little bigger and taller with extension frame that I like but it is around 80 lbs.

I’m in the same boat. Have had multiple shacks and haven’t found the perfect 1 man. This year I bought a shappel fx200i. It’s a small 2 man. Should give me plenty of room for me.
I tried the Otter hide out and that was a great one man. Shouldn’t have sold it. Had the cabin that was a sweet shack as well. Frr right now I think a eskimo is the best bet just because the seats as the best out of any shacks and the 1 man looks roomy. If I don’t like the way the shappel is ill probably go back to the cabin.

Otter Pro Cottage will only need hyfax if pulling by machine.Sled will stand-up to more abuse than the other 1-man sleds.Plus it is hitch ready,the Clam ones you have to buy/fabricate hitch brackets and the Clam hyfax runners are crap.Mine are pretty worn after a few unavoidable parking lot drags,going to put stainless skid shoes on areas that took the most wear.

I have two Cottage Xt’s

I use them for myself and my GF.

Tight squeeze with a heater, LiveScope, and two holes but it works.

Clam legend for this guy. Plenty of room for a one man and you don’t feel cramped. Lifts in bed solo with ease. Can’t stand how narrow other one man’s are. Attach tow bar and done.

At one point in time the Otters tubs were the king of the hill for being towed behind a snow mobile or ATV. Are their tubs still king of the hill? I really do not know because my Otters have been so good I have no reason to look at another brand.

I ran Otters for many years with out Hyfax runners and they held up well. Just avoid dragging them on gravel and such. With that said I have put Hyfax on my current Otter Cottage.

There are lighter units than the Otter Cottage which are better designed not to be dragged behind a machine. There are smaller one man units but I prefer the little extra room that my Cottage gives me.

Otter Cottage hands down. I load it into the back of the truck using just one ATV ramp.

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I love the Jason Mitchell Legend from Clam (65 lbs). Plenty of room for 1. The Otter sleds are heavier, 80-90 lbs. .ore room and sturdier to handle dragging them on the ice. I use 6 ft 2×6s with a Home Depot ramp kit on the ends to grip tail gate.

I had a pretty cool setup when I had an Otter Hideout with cover.
I had the Hideout ratchet strapped across the back of my ATV. 1/2 on the back of the seat and the other 1/2 on the rack behind the seat. I also had ATV ramps for my Ram 1500. I could get everything loaded up in the back of my pickup. Once to the lake, drop the ramps down, back the ATV down the ramps and take off since the Hideout was already strapped down to the ATV.
Once on the lake and started to hole hop & bounce around the lake, I would just tow the Hideout behind the ATV. Worked great.
Wish I would have taken pics of the setup.

Another Cottage fan.

Mine came with the bench seat that was ridiculously heavy. I never weighed it (the bench), but it has to be somewhere around 40 pounds.

The shack is a so much lighter now.

Right now I just use a Helinox camping chair in it, but have always thought about making a boat seat that would fit onto a bucket or something similar.

I have a Clam Legend XL and it fits between the wheel wells of the truck. I can fit mine and the wife’s both in the back of my 6 1/2 foot box. At 60lbs they are not too bad to load.

I noticed that they are now the XT because of the taller front section.

I might have a otter cottage pro up for sale shortly. Model before side doors

PmB wrote:

I might have a otter cottage pro up for sale shortly. Model before side doors

Message me when you do

Beast, could you post a pic of the winch and mount please? I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing for a while now.

I have owned just about all of them over the years and some thoughts. Otter cottage was a good unit, but I could never get the canvas to fit properly. Alway too short and the front would not drop to the ice. Really heavy to drag around by hand. Frabil Recruit was good but not tall enough. Always found the Eskimos and Clams too short in height. Ended up with an Ice Runner Explorer and while it’s considered a two person, it’s light enough to load on the ATV rack and roomy, it’s also easy to heat being thermal. Lots of other features sold me on it. Very happy with the house, but unfortunately will be selling a whole package as soon as I can get out and check over all the equipment due to an injury.

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Beast, could you post a pic of the winch and mount please? I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing for a while now.

will try tomorrow to post a pic, allot of trucks have built in slots in the box to slide a 2″ thick board into, I mounted my winch to that.

the only things I didn’t liek about owning a Cottage was 34″ rods would hit the front/ceiling fabric when setting the hook and it was still relatively heavy…I now own a ProXT X-Over Cabin and only pull with an ATV, but if I went back to a 1 man, I would go with a Hideout stored on some sort of trailer hitch platform (liek the ones used for mobility scooters)

Beast wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ron Burgundy wrote:</div>
Beast, could you post a pic of the winch and mount please? I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing for a while now.

will try tomorrow to post a pic, allot of trucks have built in slots in the box to slide a 2″ thick board into, I mounted my winch to that.

this is my setup

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Another view

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The ramp

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JoeMX1825 wrote:

the only things I didn’t liek about owning a Cottage was 34″ rods would hit the front/ceiling fabric when setting the hook and it was still relatively heavy…I now own a ProXT X-Over Cabin and only pull with an ATV, but if I went back to a 1 man, I would go with a Hideout stored on some sort of trailer hitch platform (liek the ones used for mobility scooters)

This is a great idea, if I were to go the one-man route. For your Cabin, are you able to load it into the back of the truck by yourself?

tmyboy2001 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
the only things I didn’t liek about owning a Cottage was 34″ rods would hit the front/ceiling fabric when setting the hook and it was still relatively heavy…I now own a ProXT X-Over Cabin and only pull with an ATV, but if I went back to a 1 man, I would go with a Hideout stored on some sort of trailer hitch platform (liek the ones used for mobility scooters)

This is a great idea, if I were to go the one-man route. For your Cabin, are you able to load it into the back of the truck by yourself?

I have an 11’ Floe Cargomax trailer, I drive my Grizzly ATV on and then slide my Otter Cabin up the ramp sideways, they both fit perfectly, the Otter is easy to shimmy up the ramp by myself.

B-man wrote:

Another Cottage fan.

Mine came with the bench seat that was ridiculously heavy. I never weighed it (the bench), but it has to be somewhere around 40 pounds.

The shack is a so much lighter now.

Right now I just use a Helinox camping chair in it, but have always thought about making a boat seat that would fit onto a bucket or something similar.

Not super cheap, but here you go.

Pro Jump Seat

Will an atv battery work? Less than $100. I’d only use it for my shack and hopefully loading deer.

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Will an atv battery work? Less than $100. I’d only use it for my shack and hopefully loading deer.

it might, lawn mower battery might be a better option. you could check with a junk yard to see if they have any from a newer model crash or a marine dealer that may have one that someone upgraded to a larger battery.

tmyboy2001 wrote:

I searched past threads but didn’t find anything specific to this topic. I’m looking for a one man, sled-style, house that can be pulled by an ATV without serious modification. I have an Otter Pro Lodge but I need something that can fit in the box of my Ram 1500 and can be lifted by me alone. I’d be happy with a Cottage or something similar in size, but was wondering about the true one-man shelters. I’m not loyal to any one brand, but I don’t feel like doing a heavy modification. Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions?

Do this with an Otter Cottage best setup ever don’t beat the crap out of your flip over ! My Otter Cottage is the best one man I’ve ever had and if someone wants to go with you got the room for them. I load mine in my truck by myself and I’m 5’8 and 67 yrs old. I don’t haul the machine in the truck anymore but still haul the shack around on the hitch rack.

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glenn-d wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tmyboy2001 wrote:</div>
I searched past threads but didn’t find anything specific to this topic. I’m looking for a one man, sled-style, house that can be pulled by an ATV without serious modification. I have an Otter Pro Lodge but I need something that can fit in the box of my Ram 1500 and can be lifted by me alone. I’d be happy with a Cottage or something similar in size, but was wondering about the true one-man shelters. I’m not loyal to any one brand, but I don’t feel like doing a heavy modification. Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions?

Do this with an Otter Cottage best setup ever don’t beat the crap out of your flip over ! My Otter Cottage is the best one man I’ve ever had and if someone wants to go with you got the room for them. I load mine in my truck by myself and I’m 5’8 and 67 yrs old. I don’t haul the machine in the truck anymore but still haul the shack around on the hitch rack.

That looks great. What kind of cargo rack is that that will fit a Cottage?