After a minimalistic Ice Fishing trip last weekend, this time I wanted to get back to our usual style of adventures where comfort and convenience are a top priority. This morning I loaded up Project Powertek REV with a pile of equipment including my hot tent, heater & cooking supplies and headed out for an ultimate winter's day on the pond.

In order to make this work I needed to fabricate a tow bumper for my sled so I could haul a Pelican Sled load of gear into the country. You can check out the entire build on my Project REV 2026 page.

The new hitch worked great, the ponds are were very slushy today so taking the sled was definitely the right choice over the Argo. Even with tracks Argo's do not like deep slush and tend to bottom out when it gets too deep. I managed to find a fairly dry spot to set up my Woods Arctic-4 ice fishing shelter and new diesel heater.

Outside view of my tent/shelter zippered opening exhaust adaptor. I bolted a stainless steel through wall exhaust adaptor to the plastic zippered opening adaptor which fit perfectly and never got hot or even warm all day. For more details on the diesel heater and installation parts & pieces follow the link: Vevor 8kw Diesel Heater

Once again, this Woods drill adaptor for screwing in shelter ice anchors was a definite time saver!

Shelter set up and Automatic Hook Setting ice fishing rigs all set out waiting for fish.

Other than a quick test run in the garage this was my first time running the diesel heater. Heating my ice fishing shelter was one of the main reasons I wanted to get one of these units. Along with the tent exhaust adaptor I also ordered a longer exhaust pipe which worked great inside the shelter connecting the heater to the wall adaptor. I stuck the shorter pipe that came with it to the outside of the adaptor to direct exhaust away from the shelter.

A couple zip ties kept the zippers pulled tightly together which really kept the zippered opening adaptor much more secure.

All diesel heaters require a 12vdc power source, research online said a deep cycle battery will run these units for a couple days so that's what I went with. I left with a full charge which powered the unit along with my LED interior lights trouble free all day.

With everything set up and warm inside, it was time to boil my Dr.Si collapsible kettle and make a cup of fresh brewed coffee in my GSI Commuter. For boiling water I chose my GSI Pincacle ISO Butane backpacking stove as it boils water much faster than my MSR backpacking stove.

Of course my Gearline organizer worked great once again to keep items off the snowy/wet floor and allow items to dry out that got wet in the slushy ride in.

The heater can be controlled via the display itself, an included wireless remote or via a Bluetooth app.

Mid afternoon one of the hook setter rigs triggered and I found a small trout on the end of the line.

At least I wasn't skunked today but this juvenile trout was returned to the water. One of the great things about the auto hook setters is that trout get hooked in the top lip and don't swallow the hook. This makes hook and release a breeze.

Next it was time for a cook-up,  I was by myself today so I didn't get into anything fancy made from scratch.  Instead I took advantage of a great home cooked meal usnig my own Meal Ready to Eat or MRE.

Back in December Sandra and I made a stuffed pork tenderloin with gravy. I saved a couple portions, vacuum sealed then froze them with a blob of frozen gravy. Today all I had to do was reheat the meal in the bag in a pot of boiling water.

Just after Christmas I picked up this dandy MSR utensil kit.

It came quite adequately equipped but I still added a bunch of my own gear and silverware from my old kit. The best part of this new kit is the zippered container which is leaps and bounds way better than my old kit. This one can't pop open so nothing gets lost.

Let there be light!

My MRE reheated in about 20 minutes from frozen using ice cold pond water. The frozen chunk of gravy covered the steaks of stuffed pork perfectly.

While I ate my first course, my second course was placed in the pot, homemade turkey soup to be reheated just like the pork.

The Sea to Summit X-bowl & Cup was my introduction to their collapsible camping cookware to which I've added their pots and a kettle to over the years.

After a busy afternoon of tending lines my last feed for this trip were some of my homemade Wild Game - Jalapeño - Cheddar Cheese moose sausages which to date are still my absolute favourite. This batch features smoked cheddar for an extra special and absolutely amazing flavour. 

To cook the sausages I swapped the GSI Pinnacle for my MSR Superfly stove which has a wider burner that can be turned down to a nice simmer. The MSR is much better for frying or reheating sauces than the incredibly hot Pinnacle.

As dusk arrived darkness wasn't far behind so I began packing up for the ride home starting first with all my cooking gear. Dirty dishes were bagged up separately from everything else.

I brought everything to the pond in one large top heavy load, for the return trip I made two trips, taking out my cooking, fishing and diesel heater gear.

I returned shortly to take down the shelter & folding table.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing day in the woods. I'm very happy with the diesel heater, it worked flawlessly all day burning less than 3L of fuel. The heat is dry like a wood stove with out the mess or smoke inside the shelter. Fishing today was lacklustre compared to past trips, but being able to sit back and relax in the warm and cook up some wonderful meals just absolutely made the trip.

Security kitty supervising my unloading operations back at the house!

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith