Frozen in Ice Castle ideas?

[raider]

we had this happen about 20 years ago on sak... we left it and went back after it had warmed up... the ice around 3 sides of it had almost melted away as our spud bars when right through when we tried to chip it out... sun reflected heat down to the ice...

i went in and took out the stove and windows - everything we thought we could salvage, and called game and fish... we told them we couldn't get it out - they said "oh, we will, and you're gonna get a bill for removal" - it was after march 15th...

went out there the next weekend and didn't see the house... found the 1/2 burned up steel roof pulled up by the boat ramp... never got a bill as they prolly figured the fiasco had cost us enough...

i've owned an ice castle and zack shack since, but sold them both... i fish out of a thermal portable now, but it comes home with me every night, and i sleep really well...

don't get too brave out there... realize also that in a skidsteer you have at least the same weight as a pickup in 1/2 the footprint which is BAD on ice...

hopefully he has good insurance, cuz he's gonna need it 1 way or another...

stay safe and good luck...

 

[all4eyes]

Get a 100lb bottle of propane and turn the heat on. Move snow away from it as far as you can and let time work in your side. If you can get a jack under it and create pressure on it to help it all the better.

 

[wby257]

I would put the heat to the inside, As hot as you can get it with fans pointing down and thaw the ice inside. And I would chip out the 4 corners and get good floor jacks under the frame. And slowly jack up the corners. Where the frame starts to bind I would start chipping at that area. A big bertha heater will help a lot. I would also use the wheel system also as there is lots of leverage there.

I don't think it will budge till you get the inside thawed out. If he as spray foam under the floor it will separate easier.

 

[eyexer]

I haven’t read all the posts on here. But rent a big tow behind flameless heater. Take out some big ass tarps and cover it up and give it the heat for a few hours. I’ve is thick enough to not bother it.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Roofing companies use pressured steam to clean ice out of gutters and ice off of roof to stop ice damning wonder if that would work? You would be adding heat without a lot of water

Prairie Supply in Bismarck has a small ground thaw that two men can load in the back of a pickup and runs off a 20 amp circuit so it would work off a generator. Maybe a guy could run the coils around the perimeter of the house and let them melt in an it should also heat up the frame to release it from the ice

 

[Fisherman25]

Rock salt and methanol. Be quick and pray.

 

[Rowdie]

Any method that doesn't use dynamite will not work

 

[NG3067]

Rock salt and methanol. Be quick and pray.

Go to the Ice Castle Owners Group on Facebook, lots of ideas there for you to read, some good and some very red-neck. Waiting for warmer weather makes sense, the damage is already done. Good luck.

 

[CatDaddy]

I feel for him. NDA "Ice House Rescue" in need? Will he provide food and beer for a crew to come knock it out? Of course, we'd all GPS the coordinates of said spot too.....

10 years ago I spent my bachelor party weekend chiseling out a fish house with friends. We were supposed to fish, but kind of hard when there's ice 18" up your walls inside. We ended up getting it out and the owner mailed us all keys because he would have had to burn it if we hadn't helped. Wish I had a silver bullet, we just used good ol' fashioned determination and elbow grease with the spud bar....and a few bottle/floor jacks.

 

[tikkalover]

3 to 4 cases of beer and 15 to 20 guys with spud bars and axes, a few jacks and chains and pickups. Heat the inside to 110 degrees a couples days before. Once you start the chipping\chopping out process, it has to be chopped out in one day. Be careful as I have heard stories of guys being in to big of hurry and separating the walls from the floor and leaving the floor frozen in the ice. Depending on when and where I would be willing to help but I am gone the next 2 weekends. Good luck!!

 

[Jm1986]

Man I feel for your friend. I don’t Know how he can sleep at night. I would be stressed to the max. I’ve read all the posts on here and the best one sounds like taking a mixture of a lot of ideas.
i honestly think the key is chipping away to get to your catch covers and get those things open
step 1 waiting for a warm day,
step 2 clear as much snow as possible away from the house.
Step 3 Heat up the inside of the house, as hot as possible and try to get your catch covers so when the ice melts it has a place to drain into. The idea being that hopefully the warm(ish) water will be enough to melt the ice that’s over taken the frame.

it may take more than 1 warm day. It might take the whole weekend. To me it sounds like that thing is buried and there is a lot of ice that needs to turn into water in order for it to break free with keeping damage to a minimum
i wish you guys the best of luck

 

[PrairieGhost]

Could a person use a chainsaw 3-6” away from the house and essentially make a “chip-strip” around the house that’s easier for a spud bar to break bigger chunks at a time away from the house? Going down in “layers” as needed?

That sounds like the best idea so far. At least it doesn't involve loosing the whole thing down a huge hole.
It always makes me nervous involving more water. A couple fellows I know got stuck by Smokies going on the ice. They spun their tires until they blew one. So they had to shovel to get at the spare under the pickup. The other guy figured he may as well fish so he drills a hole right next to the pickup. With all the weight on the ice he about created a geyser. The guy under the truck nearly needed an oxygen tank to survive. I made the mistake of taking one of those guys squirrel hunting once. I would tell you about that, but remembering would piss me off to much to sleep.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Sell it “as is” on the lake it’s on. Advertise it as “ready to fish”

 

[AR-15]

Owned one, never again

 

[shorthairsrus]

Call the guy with article in the forum. I am thinking They used snocat to yank it out

- - - Updated - - -

Where is the house at?

 

[shorthairsrus]

To all the guys who say turn on house heat. Where is the wires in those things? Camper generally has heat ducts in floor and forced air system on the floor. Aka under water. Where does a castle have heat? Just curious

 

[AR-15]

The heater in mind was by the door, it blew air over the floor, if the heater will work, set it on high and clean snow away from house and get plywood and set length wise all around the house and get a forced air heater and a generator and start heating, also crank the wheels and front hitch down for leverage, did he use a slush bucket when drilling the holes or did he push the slush under the house when drilling the holes

 

[Opie11]

Not sure about the slush from drilling holes. We have several sunflower type heaters we can use to heat up the inside when we do that part. Lots of ideas here. A guys brain starts to get "one tracked" after you stare at a situation like that for a while!

 

[Bacon]

Some people are up for an adventure. Maybe if you get together 20-30 people with spud bars and jacks and all go out and help. Where is this? Maybe could do an NDA rescue party like someone else mentioned.

 

[shorthairsrus]

https://www.twincities.com/2019/03/01/mn-lake-of-the-woods-blizzard-snow-stuck-ice-fishing/