BLOK Ranch cabin

NM_Shooter · June 28, 2010, 09:08:50 AM

Made my first trip in for 2010! Roads were in pretty good shape. Actually much drier than I thought it would be. Planned was to get the front porch built, get the solar panel on the roof, and start roughing in the wiring and plumbing, and get the ceiling started. Pretty good list for 10 hours of work. Plans seem to change really fast these days

I was relieved to find that the cabin was dry, uncrushed by snow, and critter-proof. As a bonus, the porcupines left the handles on my wheelbarrow alone.

I decided not to mount my big panel to the roof for a couple of reasons. First, turns out my cabin roof does not have a true south facing exposure. It is much more SW than I thought. I don't get sun on the roof I was going to mount it on until 10:30 or so. Second, I'm still a bit spooked about leaving a $500+ chunk of hardware out in the open. I've decided to put up a pole mount behind the cabin, and make it easy to put the panel up / down when I arrive. I'll mount a cheaper 20W panel to the roof of the cabin to use as a trickle charger when I'm not at the cabin. (Don, I may be begging for pix of your panel rack).

We still got a lot done. My crew is eager to help, even though it might take them awhile to drive a nail

Eventually there will be a longer deck running the length of the south side of the cabin facing the pond. But we needed a dry spot to take off boots.

Here they are getting the deck down. I know what this looks like. I do the hard work. Really.

Here is the decking done. Handrail for the right side, suicide drop on the right until the porch is done. Note the de-lux stairs for now

In the evening, we saw a small group of bull elk in the meadow grazing. We were able to get within about 80 yards and took some pictures before they spooked.

We then drove to the ridge, made a phone call home, and saw two more bull elk, including an absolute monster. Came back down from the ridge, and saw a herd of cow elk in the meadow.

On the drive out, we spotted this guy. First pronghorn I've seen up there :

We did get most of the rough in for the electrical and the plumbing done, and we got all of the ceiling sheetrock hung. I need to go back and sink some additional screws, but we got it up. I'm celebrating by having a bowl of ibuprofen for breakfast today.
Fishing was just OK, as I didn't have a chance to figure out what was going on. On Saturday night the pond was absolutely boiling, but I could not catch more than a couple. I tried everything... Adams, caddis, dead chickens... I had no BWOs, I suspect they were eating mosquitoes but don't know for sure. We caught some on green buggers the next day that looked fat and healthy. Didn't take any home, so I won't know what they were eating.

Had some scary excitement on the way out. My truck would not start. Crank and crank and nothing but lots of blue diesel smoke. My glow plug relay was pulling in, but I need to see if the glow plugs are shot. Maybe the injectors are bad. Anyway, I thought there was a good chance we were going to have to spend the night. I hooked up the generator to the block heater, my 190W panel directly to one of the batteries to try and get some sort of charge on the things, and after letting it sit for 1.5 hours the started up. I gotta get that figured out. We are a 1.5 mile hike to cell service from our cabin.

Pritch · June 28, 2010, 11:38:54 AM

Yer killin' me Frank! The place looks awesome!

June 28, 2010, 03:56:55 PM

I'm getting to a dangerous stage. I am bringing more and more stuff into the cabin before it is done. It is going to be a pain to paint it, as I will have to move everything to the center and put a drop cloth over it! I brought an old queen mattress up for my wife and me to sleep on... pure luxury. But a pain to move.

OlJarhead · June 28, 2010, 06:09:36 PM

Excellent! Looking great and I hear ya on the extra stuff! We're bringing more and more and more all the time.

I'm going to be installing solar power soon myself but plan to lock it up like Don has and have the panels WELL secured to the pole. I may even try to put the pole up fairly high but for now it will be raised wood mounting until I can afford a pole...luckily my neighbor drives by our driveway twice a day 6 days a week and notices if anyone has been by....

Tom · June 29, 2010, 05:15:01 AM

I'm enjoying your progress Shooter. Nice job.

So, YOU do all the hard work, huh?

Whatever helps you sleep at night. The pics tell a different story

June 29, 2010, 10:27:33 PM

Excellent job so far. It looks great. Really great.

About those "de-lux" stairs - are they code approved?

Hahahaha!!!

MountainDon · July 01, 2010, 02:42:52 PM

We moved 'stuff' around inside our cabin more than I care to remember. But in the end it was worth being able to sleep inside in more comfort than outside or wherever.

NM_Shooter · July 08, 2010, 11:56:42 AM

Bringing in another load of sheet rock for the walls this weekend (if the weather doesn't keep me off the mountain). I'd like to get the plumbing rough in finished, the walls up, and a coat of primer on the whole mess.

I may even install some store-bought stairs for the entry! Yee ha!

rick91351 · July 08, 2010, 02:15:57 PM

Oh please don't tell me you are going to replace the red neck chair stair!!! Say it is not so!

July 20, 2010, 09:59:00 AM

Another good weekend of work this last weekend. Luckily almost everything I had to do was inside work, so I was able to even work after dark by using my lantern. I finished the little bit of electrical and plumbing rough in. I hung the sheet rock on the walls, and got a coat of primer on them. No... I am not going to tape the joints or corners or texture. I am going to put battens over the seams and be done with it! Corner and crown "molding" too.

Here is a picture of the master bedroom. There will be queen sized bunk beds in that corner.

It's a bit of a long walk to the kitchen area, but this is what I am currently using until I can get the cabinets in..(first time I've mopped the floor in two years). You don't want to know what the mop bucket looked like!)

When I drove up, from a distance I was shocked to see that my neighbor's cows were in our pasture. Nope. Turns out they weren't cattle.

Here's a picture from the west end of the pond pasture:

This is the scepter with which I rule my kingdom (at least until my wife tells me I have to come inside. Then I gotta go.)

At night the trout feed on the evening hatch, and they like midges. This was a small one, they grow to 16" or so in the pond. :

I took pictures of these guys from my new porch. They were across the pond :

The drive home is beautiful too. This near the Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu :

Saw this rainstorm over Espanola. It was to the SE, but the sunset was illuminating it. Yeah, I just sort of hung the camera out the window and took the picture. I stayed on my side of the road. Mostly.

Whoops... I almost forgot. I have store bought stairs now!!!! (Sorry Rick!)

glenn kangiser · July 20, 2010, 10:17:06 AM

Nice pix and looking great, Frank. Thx.

Sassy · July 20, 2010, 10:48:17 AM

Beautiful area! Were those elk or deer? What a huge herd

Looks like you're pretty comfy now in your cabin - looks good & hey, the battens & crown molding will look good! Bet you hated to leave...

NM_Shooter · July 20, 2010, 11:36:50 AM

Elk in that herd, mostly cows and calves. I don't know why, but the bulls tend to group up by themselves or be loners, even when off-rut. We have a very small deer population. Elk and deer don't seem to co-mingle much. Weird.

I wish I could go up there to just hang out. I feel pressured to get as much done as possible when I go there, so I tend to work myself into a soggy heap, and then race home. I wish it were not such a long drive from my house, and that materials were not so hard to get up there.

dug · July 20, 2010, 11:50:08 AM

Man what I would give to be able to fish from my front yard!

I love the southwest but I have to work to get to a good fishing hole in my area.

Great photos!

July 26, 2010, 09:42:15 AM

Man, I'm exhausted. Another high speed, work my butt off trip. I think I got altitude sickness this time to boot.

Started out with my community work day on the ranch. We have an old abandoned cabin that is structurally sound, but pack rats got into it. We needed to reclaim the cabin so that loggers can use it when they start work. I was the only one on the advance team

who went in to do the cleanup. Literally pounds and pounds of rat feces in there. I patched the entrance holes, and bagged and tossed everything in the cabin. Swept, vacuumed, and bleached the whole place. It is close to usable.

I wore a canister breather and don't think I got all the air I needed. I finished up, then went to my cabin and painted and put down a vinyl floor, and realized I had a splitting headache and was nauseous. Still took time to catch a 15" brown trout, was not feeling better, so I drove home.

I'm taking a break for a week or two.

pocono_couple · July 26, 2010, 09:57:44 AM

your pics are great! what a neat place to build.. we also have moved a lot of stuff into our house, and we are working around it.. there are moments when i wish that the house was empty, but we enjoy some of the comforts of home and the ability to spend weekends out there.. looks like you are doing a great job...

NM_Shooter · July 26, 2010, 10:49:41 AM

Thanks...

I went a little out of order on my plan. I now have the floor down, which is good, as it will be easier to keep clean. I'm setting the kitchen cabinets next, and then will build the bunk beds. Or I may do the bunk beds first, as that is a fixed dimension that I have to work with.

I really need to figure out how to install my RV heater too. October is coming fast!

Taking a bath outside at night in 48 degree weather with a breeze is getting old. Maybe I should at least install my shower stall and drain soon and at least be able to rinse off with a bucket of water inside.

So much to do, so little time!

MountainDon · August 01, 2010, 08:26:28 AM

Good progress Frank, especially considering the distance between home and there.

Are you still thinking of placing the RV furnace in the attic space? How about under the built in bed frame?

NM_Shooter · August 05, 2010, 01:26:49 PM

I wish I had a good way of running insulated ducts under the floor! I'd have to wrap them in wire though. I'd sure like to have the warm air coming out from the floor.

The plan now is to build the heater in the attic, and frame it up in a little box that will make the cold air return through the ceiling. I'm going to run two 6" insulated ducts to the far side of the cabin and drop them down through the ceiling.

Elk season is fast approaching. My new priority list :

Bunk beds
Cabinets
Heater

I think I can get the bed and cabinets set in a weekend, then get the heater set up and plumbed with gas in another weekend.

I love having the floor covered with a smooth surface that I can sweep and mop. Looks pretty good too.

SkagitDrifter · August 05, 2010, 02:41:33 PM

Quote from: NM_Shooter on July 26, 2010, 10:49:41 AM

Taking a bath outside at night in 48 degree weather with a breeze is getting old. Maybe I should at least install my shower stall and drain soon and at least be able to rinse off with a bucket of water inside.

So much to do, so little time!

Nice work Frank- your place is looking great.

Ever see one of these shower units? Sure makes bath time comfortable. Great for a temporary set up until you get things up and running. I sleep way better if I can get the days grime off me before hitting the sack. The tank is pressurized so the flow is continuous.

August 05, 2010, 04:02:08 PM

Yeah! What a great invention. One of my neighbors has one. I have not bought one, because I thought I would have my shower installed and running by now. The temperature outside would not be so bad to bathe in if not for the wind.

Thanks for the compliment. I've been frustrated with my overall lack of progress. Having a 4 hour drive to the property, doing a lot of the work myself, and trying to get work done at 10k feet I just don't make the progress I'd like. (I get winded just carrying materials from the truck). I desperately want to have a running shower, my solar stuff installed, an outhouse built, and a bunkhouse. I also don't really have a way to store materials up there, so i have to bring them in as I need them. I have the typical American fast food mentality I guess. I really appreciate all the help that my kids have provided. Extra hands beat the heck out of clamps any day of the week.

Once I get the bunks built, I can also bring the shower stall up with me and at least rig it to the drain so that I can wash off in the cabin which will be a BIG improvement.

Wish I had the time to just work for an entire week! Last trip up I got the vinyl floor down, and the color coat on the walls. I didn't have a decent camera, only my cell phone...

Redoverfarm · August 05, 2010, 04:17:11 PM

Frank I am not real sure how your cold air return will work in the ceiling. Normally they are at floor level because cold air falls and the warmer air stays close to the ceiling. Anyway is there a way to configure your air ducts utilizing the chase that is created with the floor joist cavities. That way you could just staple a piece of hardware cloth from one joist to the other for critter control. Good luck trying to finalize before season.

NM_Shooter · August 05, 2010, 05:19:19 PM

You guys are right. I need to think about this some more and come up with a better idea. CRap!!!!

Shawn B · August 05, 2010, 06:05:23 PM

NM_Shooter,

There is absolutely nothing wrong with installing a forced air furnace in the attic. I'm in the HVAC trade and we do numerous attic installs every year. Make sure to build a sturdy platform out of plywood to rest the furnace on. Also insulate the ducts and make sure to keep the insulation away from the unit. Make sure the unit has a good source of combustion air.

Shawn

NM_Shooter · August 05, 2010, 06:37:36 PM

Thanks...

I'm trying to figure out how to get one cold air intake and two heated outlets in the cabin positioned down low. I think I could build one of the ducts into a shelving unit that I am going to use as a wall unit for the shower enclosure. But where to put the other two... Hmmmmmm.....

I could put one running in the corner of the pantry, and have the opening below the pantry door, but it would mean that my pantry would not be walk in. I would have a 1' or so step up into the pantry. Not too bad I guess. Still need a way to get one more down low.

I wanted to put the RV heater unit in the attic to try and keep the noise level down when it was running.

Using a single 12" diameter intake line and two 8" heated air lines, I wonder how much in-line ducting I could run off of my little RV furnace.

Now that I am thinking about it, I may put the return at the bottom of the pantry. I'll frame a chase into the back / bottom of the pantry. I can drop one outlet into the book case end and exhaust at floor level. Or heck, as small as my cabin is, maybe I'll just make it have one outlet in the opposite corner of the cabin at the floor. I'd prefer to have two outlets, but at 14' X20', I can probably make do with just one 12" in, and one 12" out. I may have to have some duct work junctions made though.