Ice camping shelter. Hex style or “double wide”

Selling my old clam hub and looking for advice for an ice camping shelter.

I don’t often use a shelter on day trips as I run and gun walleye a lot by myself. the time I will use one is chasing flags for pike and in that case I usually have a friend or two along.

I was looking at the Otter Monster Lodge and the Resort. What are your guys thoughts for a solo ice camping shelter. Thoughts on wind on the bigger monster lodge shelters, where I fish can get pretty windy.

Some insight would be great.

Thanks.

I had this same question last year and came across some YouTube videos that compared the two with staying overnight in. The consensus I got is that the Resort style ends up having more room and feeling less cramped. It’s easy to think the Monster Lodge is better especially for overnighting in as you can put your cots and stuff at one end and fish out the other, but I think Resort style ends up working better. Either will do the job though.

I would go with the double-wide style because it is easier to deal with putting a floor down. Watch Clayton Schick he does a great job showing the setup he uses. I used my Otter Vortex lodge last year for ice camping with a square floor pattern and it works great for two cots me and a buddy.

Some things I would recommend you don’t see in videos. I put a tarp underneath my foam mats. This helps keep the mats dry and prevents ice from melting underneath and creating a puddle. Second instead of shoveling the snow off the ice pack it down onto the ice and make it level with a shovel. This helps like you wouldn’t believe it creates an insulating layer that prevents the bare ice from melting and creating puddles of water. Last tip would be bring one of those hard floor mats with a lip for your boots. This was a great idea and kept wet boots off of the floor. Doing these things was great and we were able to be in our socks the whole time comfy and dry. It also all helped a great deal keeping warm we had a thermostat and we never really dipped below a 60-degree temp in the shack the whole time we also never got a wet floor in 24 hours of being out there.

Aboxy17 wrote:

I would go with the double-wide style because it is easier to deal with putting a floor down. Watch Clayton Schick he does a great job showing the setup he uses. I used my Otter Vortex lodge last year for ice camping with a square floor pattern and it works great for two cots me and a buddy.

Some things I would recommend you don’t see in videos. I put a tarp underneath my foam mats. This helps keep the mats dry and prevents ice from melting underneath and creating a puddle. Second instead of shoveling the snow off the ice pack it down onto the ice and make it level with a shovel. This helps like you wouldn’t believe it creates an insulating layer that prevents the bare ice from melting and creating puddles of water. Last tip would be bring one of those hard floor mats with a lip for your boots. This was a great idea and kept wet boots off of the floor. Doing these things was great and we were able to be in our socks the whole time comfy and dry. It also all helped a great deal keeping warm we had a thermostat and we never really dipped below a 60-degree temp in the shack the whole time we also never got a wet floor in 24 hours of being out there.

I like the idea of packing down the snow. I could imagine that would help a lot with insulation. I will be trying that this winter.

I have the Otter resort hub and camp in it both ice camping and fall camping when fishing for a few days at a time. I can set up a cot and leave it all day, have my camp stove, heater, a couple holes and stay organized for a few days at a time. I’ll do 3 to 5 days like that comfortably. I bring a tarp and the foam puzzle pieces for a floor and I enjoy it. I keep the heater up on a old milk crate and same with my camp stove. Highly recommended, the shape of the resort works well. We do 2 cots in it on the rainy river for ice off but that would be tight for ice fishing. The big nets in the resort ceiling are priceless when camping

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It is for sure something I am glad I got into. Just did some basin crappie last year but just going to stick to walleye this year ice camping and probably head up to Mille lacs a couple of times. Catching fish in bed is always fun.

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Not an Otter guy, but have the equivalent Eskimos. One guy, the hex style is fine, but be prepared to not have as much room to manuever as you might like, depending on how long, and how much crap you bring along (in my case, WAY more than I ever need). Personally, since getting the 850, I find myself using the hex 6120 less and less, mainly due to having the ability to have a “fishing side” and “sleeping side” and keeping the fishing area free of extraneous crap. Also MUCH better for a second guy, for the same reason, ice camping or no. By the time you look at the size of either one, the weight is basically a wash, so I’d go for floorplan.