The Hole

This year the shanty will have a trap door. In a traditional dark house this is used to fish through. In this house it will be used to access the ice and a hole in it. There is not a great possibility of fishing. When I was a kid in Connecticut I fished once. Down by this old mill pond. I used tinfoil for bait on the hook. As stood there on this small bridge looking down I thought about what I was doing. All be it from a child's perspective. I imagined what would draw me to something hanging from the sky. A 20 dollar bill or a candy bar. As people are not know to just catch things with their mouths, it would be something that I would have to grab with my hand. As the vision played out in my head, I saw myself walking and coming across the 20 dollar bill floating in the air. I would reach up and take a hold of it. And whoosh I would be pulled up into the heavens. Away from my family and friends with no explanation or trace. Looking down at the pond fish circling the tinfoil I pulled the hook out of the water. I was never going to fish again.
This hole could be used to reach down below the ice to any number of things. A video camera would be the most likely contestant. The hole also gives access to the surface of the ice which will keep things cold. Like beer, frozen food. One idea was to have a sled that would slide under the shanty and fit under the hole. Groceries could swapped out from the shore.

The Floor

the shanty has begun. The complete rebuild smaller and better. The goal this year is warm. I want the place to be warm. There will be 3 inch extruded foam on all the sides. Even the floor.
The Floor:
made of 3/4 inch tongue and groove plywood on the top. 1/4 inch luan on the bottom. In between there s 3 inches of the foam insulation. The R-factor is 15. I used elmers wood glue to bold the materials. On the edges there are 1 5/8 inch screws. There is a pattern to the screws but is not consistent through out. I am working a spacing. It has evolved into the span of my left hand from thumb to pinky as they are spread out. Before that it was one end of the orangr speed square plus some. There is mark on the speed square for how far from the edge, which has shifted to an eyeball placement. This could be for speed, confidence, impatience or carelessness.
I started the first one with the Luan side. 48 inches. The 3/4 was only 47.5 due to the 1/2 tongue. So I had to make adjustments. Which I then realized needed to total 96 inches to make all the other panels simpler to build. The solution was to add a 2x6 on the side of the second one, which was cut to 46 1/2.
The reclaiming of the old shanty is underway. On the back deck I have torn all but three sides apart. I did one big rip on the 2x4's. Cutting most of them down to 3". This being the same as the extruded. It is stacked on the porch under a blue tarp. The plan was to reuse the floor plywood. When I went to put the floor piece on the glued up panel. I swung it up and realized it had been cut to fit insdie the shanty. So 7 inches were missing. I had to take all the glue off and run to Home Depot. The plywood there was so warped. Someone had left 6-7 3/4" ply half one the floor half on the tongue and groove. I had to push it out of the way to get the wood off the pile. The top of pile looked like someone doing a back bend. I slipped off the top 4 thinking the ones deeper would be flat. No. The next three sprung up just like the other four. I pushed them back and took the top two. To get the bend out I stuck a board on a board that pushed up into the ceiling. Hammering it in place caused things to shake off Matt's desk. He came down just as I finished and was going up to talk to him. The second panel was done with a jack. I also clamped the panele to the wonder table. I will leave it over night this way.