Otter Wind Limits

With the exception of limited ice, I am sure everyone in the midwest is enjoying this warm winter. What I don’t enjoy are these recent catastrophic winds North Dakota has been having. I don’t watch tv news to know if it was mentioned but last weeks winds reached 100 mph all over North Dakota and parts of Montana. Lakes all over the state lost ice and some shelters blew into banks.

I am currently camping on Lake Sakawea on 12 inches of ice. My only worry is how much wind can these Otter popups withstand? I came expecting 30 mph winds but tomorrows winds have been upgraded from 25 to over 50 mph gusts. I used every stake, strap, and packed snow. Id hate to have to pack up in the wind because stuff starts breaking.

I’m not sure because I’ve never had my hub out in much wind at all but I’d fear that a 50 mph wind could possibly collapse the poles and get the whole thing flapping and coming down.

Even if it withstood the wind I imagine packing a hub down in 50 mph winds could be quite an adventure!

If you go for it I would suggest setting a point of the hub into the wind to reduce the chances of the walls blowing in.

I have experience, but not that exact model.
Mine was with a Quick Fish 3, uninsulated.
I doubt my Clam XL4000I would withstand it! Them QF3’s were TOUGH!!

At 40 mph everything should be fine with every wall and corner staked.
At 50 mph everything is going to want to SNAP! Roof will want to collapse. You likely won’t be able to go in/out of the house without it tearing to pieces.

I once spent 5 hours in a hub house in a 50mph storm on Mille Lacs.
Those 5 hours i had to open a window on the windward side to “Inflate” the house. Without the window open to inflate the house, the roof would collapse. The poles were also bent in ways they shouldn’t…I waited each minute of that 5 hours for the house to snap! Inflating the house was the only thing that kept it in one piece.

The house seemed like it was going to explode without a windward side window open. I couldn’t get out of the house the entire 5 hours as it didn’t seem like the house would survive. IT was a COLD 5 hours! I also didn’t plan to not be able to get into my car 5′ away from my house for 5 hours…SO had to ride it out.

That day, they had planned 50 mph winds. I left the lake (1 hr drive off ice) by the time i got off the lake the forecast changed to 40 mph winds. So i fueled up and headed back out. Well, we ended up with 50’s and it was one of them nights i’m glad i survived. I recall hitting the bridge the next morning and meeting a resort owner- he was amazed and i was certainly called “CRazy”.

I’d advise DONT.

I had my new Otter Lodge hub in ~30mph winds once this year a few hundred yards off the river channel tucked between islands with little wind cover other than some reeds from the nearby island. It held and had no issues, but that was about the extent I’d bother fishing in with a hub (or in any type of portable for that matter). I tried to point the corner into the wind and use the down wind door. I never felt like the hub was going to collapse, but I had every stake out and snugged as tight as it would go. It made me appreciate the mainly calm days where the shack can get popped up, kick some snow on the skirt, and start hole hopping in less than 1 minute without a worry.

Survived the night great other than a couple hours of wind noise. Forecast today shows 30 mph with gusts.

Nodak wrote:

Survived the night great other than a couple hours of wind noise. Forecast today shows 30 mph with gusts.

Good Fishing to You!

I’m old enough and have had enough things go wrong under the best circumstances that I have given up on tempting fate. I don’t go work in the woods when it’s less than 0 degrees. I don’t go fishing in extreme winds. I don’t ice that I know is thin. My life is worth more than a fish fry.

smaller is better…

I’ve ran my Ice Cube in 50 mph gust winds and boy did the shelter almost take off on me. Yes, it hops up and down a few times with 4 anchors and straps and my fifth anchor on the corner.. The hubs poles were bent in weird ways. The roof collapse down every now and then.

Wow that was an adventure that I will never care to repeat ever again. Whiteout conditions and snow drifts that were like a changing landscapes and any hole you drill outside was filled in within half an hour dissappeared.

I am an Otter guy now and now more so. Everything held firm. Ive had cheaper shacks fail under far less. Worst case scenario stuff breaks or blows away in which case I walk to my pickup on the bank right next to me. Most every major trip in my life has fallen on high winds. Now that I live on a big lake, I can sit at home and just go the moment wind quits but when people make plans for a trip, its typically canceled from wind or halfway tolerable. Very annoying.

Biggest thing to worry about is that eye bolt at the hubs. I got brained by my Command Post roof right next to a spear hole. A less hard head may have fallen in.. Spent the rest of my time sitting down with a beer in one hand while staining a leather mitten red with the other.

Glad it held up. Now how was the fishing?

In my experience, fishing in winds over 30mph is just asking for damage to your portable ice house. Anything over about 25 and I’m fishing next to the truck as a wind-break or I’m staying home.

Greenhorn wrote:

Glad it held up. Now how was the fishing?

Awful. All winter. Last year on Sakakawea I could usually expect walleye near dark. This year has been tough. This past trip was 2 and a half days camping on the ice and I only caught 1 pike, 2 walleye at the very end, and a few dink perch. Hopefully Devils Lake is better. Going there next week.