A friend of mine just bought a new Ice castle and he was trying to figure out how much ice he would need to get it out. It is a 8×16. We looked up the weight this afternoon and looks to be 4100lbs and another 1500lbs for the ranger pulling it. How much ice does it take before you guys pull your wheelhouses out?
If it was mine i would wait until I had 16″ to 18″. Just saying.
I would drive a 1/2 ton truck on GOOD CLEAR 12″ of ice but no less. I believe most 1/2 tons would weigh about 6000-7000lbs empty. Years ago we started by the boat landing with 12″ of good clear ice and could see other vehicles out on the ice so we took off and drilled holes for the first several 100 yards. Kept seeing 12″ of ice so we went all the way across the lake and started fishing. When I drilled holes at our fishing spot I noticed we only had 9″ of good clear ice. That was too thin for my liking but we were already there so we fished. I have never done that since.
To answer your question IMHO 12″ of GOOD CLEAR ice for me.
I felt comfortable saying 12″ being pulled out by his ranger but was curious what other people venture out on. I usually push it when on foot but always err on the side of caution when heading out by vehicle.
My 2004 F150 with a fiberglass topper, 24 gallons of fuel, and me in it scales at 6450lbs and I have drove on 10″ of clear black ice quite a few times but 12″ makes me feel better.
You guys have bigger ones than me. Although I have seen a Ford F250 4 door loaded with guys on less than 8″ of ice. We checked the ice depth and decided to use the snowmobile. We went out about 1 1/2 miles on Lac Vieux Desert and setup. About 2 hours later these yahoos came flying up, jumped out and asked how the bite was. I told them to stay the hell away from us.
With the Ranger I would say 10″ of ice. With the truck I prefer a foot of good ice.
One ton and 21′ castle was out with us last weekend on 12-13 inches and we had no issues going a couple miles out.
I am finding 13.5″ everywhere so far. I can’t seem to find a way to any of are spots because of pressure ridges though.
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