Astro to Ice House conversion

[houseofska]

I have a 95 Astro that I fear is coming close to the end of it's life cycle. I mean to say it's CURRENT life cycle. 280k miles is getting too much for me to depend on it for anything but around town.

I have a dream of turning this thing into an ice house for fishing in the winter. Either by gutting it and turning it into something I can tow with another Astro, or by leaving it drivable??

I don't know where to start and looking for ideas. Has anyone seen or heard of anyone doing this? Any pictures or sketches of ideas out there? I thought about putting an air suspension kit on so I could flip a switch and have it lower to the ground (ice). Wouldn't want to sacrifice the AWD or make it look like a lowrider however....

I don't know, throw out your ideas!

[97cargocrawler]

Now that would be the coolest thing ever!

[xit]

That is a common thing up north, it is called tubing. Cut a hole or two in the floor of the van & use PVC the size allowed, drop your tubing through the floor & mark it, move the van & drill the holes then back, up lower your tubing, now fish. Fine tune all the sizes and weather stripping, your good to go.

[houseofska]

That is a common thing up north, it is called tubing. Cut a hole or two in the floor of the van & use PVC the size allowed, drop your tubing through the floor & mark it, move the van & drill the holes then back, up lower your tubing, now fish. Fine tune all the sizes and weather stripping, your good to go.

Thought of that but I don't want to be that far off the water. Want to get it as low as possible! Or maybe incorporate a tent off the back and side doors so we could use the floor as a seat....hmmm

[SilverBullet1997]

That is a common thing up north, it is called tubing. Cut a hole or two in the floor of the van & use PVC the size allowed, drop your tubing through the floor & mark it, move the van & drill the holes then back, up lower your tubing, now fish. Fine tune all the sizes and weather stripping, your good to go.

I wish our bodies of water in WA state froze strong enough to drive my van on them.....

That would be awesome mod. lol, get drunk and high while still sitting in the comfort of my van... lol

[markmitch]

yeah drive a van on the ice now you must be high or drunk. that is illegal in most states and if by chance you fall through your insurance will not cover it at all.

[chevymaher]

yeah drive a van on the ice now you must be high or drunk. that is illegal in most states and if by chance you fall through your insurance will not cover it at all.

Please Martha.

Now take your meds and go back in the safe gated retirement community where your safe from real life.

[markmitch]

real funny your older then I am. I have been ice fishing and I have seen shacks fall through the ice and I have seen the local authorities charge the owner of the ice shack for removal of said shack. I have seen snowmobiles fall through 4 wheelers and three wheelers fall through the ice even in Maine and NH which by the way are some of the coldest winters in America other then Alaska.
And they even have ice racing in some areas in both states with cars but these are not insured cars so if they fall in they pay to have them pulled out by a crane and the lakes used for this are shallow 6 ft deep at most. Best thing to do is build an ice shack as light as possible junk or sell the van and buy a trailer.

[Herman Wiegman]

How about dropping a square frame down from the center of the van?

So the van and suspension would not drop, but an extension piece from the interior.
Kind of like a straw (extension) sticking out from a soda can (astro van) to your mouth (ice).

Then you could sit in relative comfort while having access to one of your traps.

Herminator

[CoolCat4Christ]

Here you go, so when you do fall through the ice. All for a mere 850,000 smackaroos
[youtube]Za63ltkMGGE&feature=player_detailpage[/youtube]

[markmitch]

dang

[grond]

What about something like this?

[SilverBullet1997]

What about something like this?

I have to say that motor home is freaking awesome!

But I really like the picture of the van, with the snowboarder in the background on their butt... FAIL!

[houseofska]

real funny your older then I am. I have been ice fishing and I have seen shacks fall through the ice and I have seen the local authorities charge the owner of the ice shack for removal of said shack. I have seen snowmobiles fall through 4 wheelers and three wheelers fall through the ice even in Maine and NH which by the way are some of the coldest winters in America other then Alaska.
And they even have ice racing in some areas in both states with cars but these are not insured cars so if they fall in they pay to have them pulled out by a crane and the lakes used for this are shallow 6 ft deep at most. Best thing to do is build an ice shack as light as possible junk or sell the van and buy a trailer.

LOL. Yeah I'm from MN. And on average this year we are COLDER than Alaska. Most places here right now March 3 have 30-48 inches of ice. You could park stacks of semi-trucks on that ice. Ever seen Ice Road Truckers? Those guys are wussies! LOL

BTW, I do have an ice shack that is super light. But it's not as cool as the Astro-shack is going to be!

[houseofska]

Here you go, so when you do fall through the ice. All for a mere 850,000 smackaroos
[youtube]Za63ltkMGGE&feature=player_detailpage[/youtube]

Wow that is something! I bet whoever buys that RV will take it in the lake twice in it's life. I will make a similar promotional video for my Astro-Shack when I am done!

[Lovesaskice83]

Here in saskatchewan,Canada we use campers old sheds vehicles for our ice shacks all the time. A buddy has a 29 foot Jay flight camper he uses. But we also fish in -40celsius weather routinely

[AstroWill]

Here in saskatchewan,Canada we use campers old sheds vehicles for our ice shacks all the time. A buddy has a 29 foot Jay flight camper he uses. But we also fish in -40celsius weather routinely

Gave me a chill just thinking about it :)