Dreaming of a little cabin

[Don'tkillbill]

I have a dream of taking off into the wild woods.... Well maybe a creature comfort or two.... I watched alone in the wilderness one too many times a few years back.

Fill up the truck with gear and split... Make a hide-away for the family.

I'd want to be able to do it with a few canoe loads (less the family) a month in the woods alone to be with myself and set up the camp. Either that or hike in a 5k+ from the truck that just couldn't cross another stone.

I'm in Canada so there are still places like this to find and dream about but how fair would you make your cabin from the busy world?

What tools will you bring ? Besides your knife and pots....

2 Tarps ( water proof roof)
pencils
tape measure
square
level
plumb line
string
2.5 and 4 pound axe
hatchet
Various nails 10 pounds
Pliers
One man cross cut saw 36"
Hand drill 6 bits
draw knife
Ripping saw 26"
1 Jack plane #5
hand plan #3
Bucksaw 2 spare blades
Chisels 2 Inch 1.5 " 1" 3/4...
Gouge 1.25"
A few hinges and screws (need my pocket tool)
Metal Files and sharpening stones Honing oil and tool oil.

Thats 60-65 pounds of tools if you include the nails.

How big? Well a family of 3 could do on something small but 12x18 inside would be a nice space to work with and not too much to heat. (I hope). I'd need an outhouse and woodshed....

I guess I better pack a nice 24x36 window maybe several.

I'll need a stove and some pipe, a cap and some flashing.

Who goes for a dirt or stone floor and who chooses a wooden floor?

I'm going to sneak in 2 solar panels a power pack, battery charger (headlamp, other AA battery gear) and 12v light.

What would you use your cabin for?

Build and shoot a few bows. Berries and jam? Bake bread in the Dutch oven... Paddle a canoe. Hunt with a bow or a camera. Maple syrup production?

Add to it, criticize it or dream along.

 

[sam_acw]

I don't think anywhere in Europe has a much space as you do in Canada - we'd simply never get the seclusion you'd have. I have read about the tax services managing to find little cabins and put property tax on them in the USA by using aerial photos though!
I've also done a fair bit of reading on cabins but in my case it's be more of a small wooden house as SWMBO wouldn't like somewhere too rustic!

 

[Mungo]

Now that's my type of dream - I would love to escape and do that! I'd choose the wooden floor - in fact I am considering building a shed in my back yard - it would be good practice if I ever wanted to emulate Proenekke's journey!

Cheers,

Mungo

 

[big_swede]

I would make the cabin a bit of the ground to get rid of the ground chill and dampness. Wooden floor. Peat, grass or straw roof. Log timbered walls, reduces need for nails and tools. A couple of axes and a good saw could do the job. Would try to use dowels as much as I could. That has been used a lot around here.

Maybe like this

or like this

 

[Don'tkillbill]

I like the upper level. Likely need a big hand to get the log up nice and high. Still imagine the view on a crisp winter day from the upper window! I guess the bottom coarse of logs needs to be cedar or juniper to hold off the rot. I love the living roof.

Have to be careful because the more rustic the more woman proof the cabin will get. Not bad for weekend but we need our other side.

 

[spamel]

You could do with some good rope and block and tackle equipment, pulleys, snatch blocks and the like. You'd be able to hoist the logs up yourself by using a mechanical advantage on the pulleys. Do one end, tie in position, hoist the other end, job done!

 

[Silverback]

I am just buying a house and have had the cost of one of these added to the mortgage. It's a barbeque hut and is going to be the official HQ for The Bucks Bushcrafters

 

[SnaggleTooth]

I've heard nice things about PEI. I own an 8 acre island right near Red Lake Ontario. It's a beautiful spot and is a hop, skip, and a jump from Woodland Caribou Provincial park. Unfortunatley if we were to build a permanent residence on the island we would be SLAMMED with taxes. Maybe a yurt could be somewhat...portable . How are the winters in PEI? I'm wondering because I'm fascinated by the east coat, but have never made the effort to get out there (it would be nice to avoid a Winnipeg winter )

 

[Lee_shanahan]

I have had this dream for a while, i loved to have enough money to never work again, buy a log cabin beside a large lake in Canada with nobody for miles, fish and canoe the lake in the day and relax at the night in front of a log fire with a nice glass of single malt.

 

[Tengu]

Thats a nice hut Silverback, how many moomins does it house?

I think I would prefer to be portable and have a cushy caravan.

But I `have` staying in a scandanavian log cabin, many years ago, it was when I went skiing in the cairngorms, and we had a self catering cabin.

it was very snug.

 

[big_swede]

Thats a nice hut Silverback, how many moomins does it house?

I like the upper level. Likely need a big hand to get the log up nice and high. Still imagine the view on a crisp winter day from the upper window! I guess the bottom coarse of logs needs to be cedar or juniper to hold off the rot. I love the living roof.

I think that if the bottom logs are as free as they are in the bottom picture, rot wouldn't be a problem. If you look really carefully and sort of half-close your eyes it looks as if the bottom logs actually resides on stones. Now that would be a good idea, now wouldn't it?

Living roofs are really good isolation, both during summer and winter. It's is a big (well maybe not big, but it's not uncommon) trend here in scandinavia right now to put living roofs on modern buildings, as it also dampens noise very well.

 

[rik_uk3]

I have had this dream for a while, i loved to have enough money to never work again, buy a log cabin beside a large lake in Canada with nobody for miles, fish and canoe the lake in the day and relax at the night in front of a log fire with a nice glass of single malt.

Be careful what you wish for Lee, it does not always work out.

My mom and step dad (a great guy) rented a weekend cottage in mid Wales from around 1966, then, in 1971 bought Penlan, a wonderful 3 bedroom farmhouse inland from Aberystwyth. All well and good, massive open fire, wood burning Arga stove, petrol generator, pretty much an idyllic setting.

However, when step dad sold his office equipment business around 1973 and they moved there full time, things changed. Mom was a busy district nurse, now she was in the farmhouse all day, Frank (step dad), through being a radio ham and radar tech with the RAF in WW2, got a job at Aberystwyth University where they were carrying out upper atmosphere research; so Monday to Friday, he went to uni and a couple of times a year, flew to South Uist in Scotland to shoot off rockets. He was a 'born again Schoolboy' but sadly, mom did not adapt to the cold, wet, dark winters of mid Wales plus more importantly the isolation, and had a complete breakdown within two years. The upshot being that they had to move to a smaller house nearer people, and within a few years move to London because of physical medical problems which needed attendance.

The wonderful weekend lifestyle of splitting wood for the fire and stove, the fun of having a power blackout and starting up a generator is great for a weekender; its a whole new ballgame when its a full time way of life, especially for those not born and raised that way. I loved my time there, but by then was living with my dad so only visited Penlan at weekends or a week at Christmas/new year. Yes, it was great when the power failed and we would start up the generator to keep the freezers going (3 in total, they were self sufficient for veg), Frank would talk to Raynet (radio ham emergency thing) as GW5IW, paraffin lamps would be lit if needed, and mom cooked on the woodburner, but would I want this isolated lifestyle? I don't know to be honest. It was great fun to grow up (and kill and prepare) chickens, ducks, geese etc, but to be truthful I think I would crave company if it were full time

 

[Don'tkillbill]

Wow.. So many replies.

Rope with a block and tackle a big mistake forgetting to pack that bit of gear!

Its true it would be a lonely life even with a family it would be for them as well. Its something that you crave for until you have it then try to escape from quickly then embrace as it becomes a reality. I think for me I'd only handle a month a year maybe 2... Perhaps on retirement a 3 month journey.

PEI is great and the winters are mild but like the post above its something that has to truley lived. Your on an island and a bit of an outsider if your not born there. Its slow paced and very flat and very open with some standing wilderness between wind farms and potatoe fields, great people and strange economy. Its generally hard to find good work unless your over qualified as the market is so very small. YOu'll have to drive out. My dream location is also in the martimes a few miles north of the Fundy national park. Water falls lots of canyons and big trees!

 

[Don'tkillbill]

Ok now that your in your cabin you have to eat.... Lets stock it with some grub for the winter. Good thing the canoe can haul a lot of weight!

Close to 450 pounds but if I had a rifle and got luck with a moose, or a buck I wouldn't need the much canned meat.

Think I need a garden and lots of mason jars.

My big crops...

Green beans
tomatoes
carrots
onions
turnips
potatoes
squash
pumpkins

Suppy list for Food list

Fresh meat, cheese and eggs, carrots and potatoes (enough to last a few days of good eating)

Flour 60 lbs
Lard 20 lbs
oil 4 liters
Milk powder 20 lbs
sugar 10 lbs
honey 1 liters
cornmeal 10 lbs
Oatmeal 20 lbs
brown sugar 10 lbs
pancake mix 6 boxes
jerky 10 lbs
peanuts 10 lbs
sunflower seeds 10 lbs
chocolate 10 lbs
Syrup 4 liters
coffees 15 lbs
rice 30 lbs
Pasta 20 lbs
spices 5 lbs
yeast& misc baking 5 lbs
salt 20 lbs
Baking beans 20 lbs
Instant soups 5 pounds
Dried fruit 5 lbs
Dried veg 5 lbs
Canned ham/spam etc 24 units
Canned tomatoes 12 jars

Two bottles of 15 year old single malt.
Two bottles of cheap whisky

I'd need to plant a few apple trees near by not too far from the berries.

 

[Don'tkillbill]

I wonder how much of a cabin a few guys could build in a few days with a chain saw and a few tools. A little out back hunting shack with a few solar panels and a dish so you could watch the game

 

[spamel]

I reckon if you built it with canvas walls, it wouldn't take that long at all! I seem to recall seeing something similar in a thread about farms in UK where you can stay on them and do the farmer thing. I posted the details after finding them myself once, but cannot remember the name. You can roll the walls up and have an open are with a proper roof still above your head.

 

[Eric_Methven]

I wonder how much of a cabin a few guys could build in a few days with a chain saw and a few tools. A little out back hunting shack with a few solar panels and a dish so you could watch the game

You could put up a decent cabin in about a week with four fit and strong helpers and two chainsaws (one for felling/limbing, and one for squaring the logs as they go on the walls). This wouldn't include chinking or building camp furniture which could be done reasonably at leisure once you are in it. It would also not include a shingle roof but could include a living roof of sorts. You would need to haul in a couple of rolls of DPC for a living roof, but it would make your cabin less visible from the air (solar panels would be the main give away).

It's certainly doable. I've always fancied visiting PEI ever since my daughter got all the Anne of Green Gables videos for Christmas and I was forced to sit and watch them with her. Looks like a lovely place.

Eric