Building a Remote Cabin

In 1998 I built my third cabin in a remote wilderness. The new site is accessible only by boat. It was quite an adventure, combining camping, boating, boat building and cabin building...

We answered an ad in the local paper, for a parcel of land 4Sale. We toured the land and it didn't take long to decide to buy it. 

First we established a camp, as a place to live while we built the cabin.

We brushed an access lane, and built stairs up the bluff.

I designed the cabin and estimated the materials to be purchased and hauled.

We discovered that the materials were too many and too heavy to haul effectively with my boat. So, I had to build a freight scow.

I designed the scow, assuring that I had the needed displacement to haul over 5000 pounds worth of building materials.

Then I built the scow. I employed simple wood-framed, plywood-sheathed boat building technics. Since the life and usefulness of this scow were limited, I used cheap common lumber

We loaded the scow with lumber, towed it across the bay and up the fjord to the cabin site. Towing the scow had to be accomplished at late-night, when the day breeze slowed and the water calmed enough to tow. We towed at 5 to 7 MPH and it took 2 to 3 hours to tow the scow one-way.

There, we beached the scow and waited for low tide.

At low tide, we built an aerial tram to lift the lumber, from the beach, up the bluff to the cabin site. The lumber was pulled up the tramway by hand.

It took two of these trips to get all the materials delivered. Each trip delivered about 2500 to 3000 pounds of lumber.

First I built the foundation. Below-ground all-weather wood 6x6 posts were sunk. But, I could only dig thru 2 feet of peat before I hit bedrock. So, lots of cross-bracing was needed. Due to the slope, the posts in back are cut-off at the ground level while the posts in front are as high as 6 feet above ground.

Then we built the first floor deck

Then we built the two main walls

Then we installed the roof.

I built the last gable-end wall and installed the windows

With the door installed, the inside is sealed from the weather. I built a sleeping loft and installed a bunk bed.

A small woodstove provides just enough heat to take the chill off of the air in the summer mornings and evenings. We can finally stop sleeping in tents and stop eating at picnic tables.

It is the end of August and winter will soon be here. The cabin is sealed from the weather and heated just enough to be comfortable in spring, summer and fall. Maybe next year I'll finish the outside and paint it. But, for now, we'll just enjoy.

It is not much, but it is warmth and shelter in God's country. It is far from the rat race and our only neighbors are huge spruce trees, knee-high ferns, spawning salmon, curious seals and care-free sea otters. And clams, more clams than you'll ever want to dig