Building a cabin South West Florida

[mda3]

Hello everyone I am new to this forum and I was wondering if you guys could provide me with some guidance. I plan to build a small cabin located in the Big Cypress National Preserve to replace our structure which burned down last year.
I have reviewed some of the forum discussions and I was able to get some good Ideas but any suggestions would be appreciated. I am interested in replacing the structure with something resembling early South Florida design maybe a dog trot.

Obstacles we face for this project:
1.      Very remote location, three hour drive from the main road only accessible by Swamp Buggy or ATV
2.      No power at the location

[Jimmy C.]

#1This is a northern version of the dog trot.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/northern_dogtro.php

#2 my place has been built using only a portable $150.00 used generator

[glenn kangiser]

Welcome, mda3.  Are there any natural resources available at the site or will you be pulling a little trailer of supplies in each trip?  

[mda3]

Thanks for the responses.
There are plenty of pine trees and cypress trees on the property. I did not consider using these natural resources because I thought it would take much more time than bringing in the building materials on a trailer.
As well if anyone could provide me with some info on setting up a cost effective solar power generating system.

[glenn kangiser]

I am off grid and made my own system.  There has been some discussion of it here but never a step by step thread - possibly we can get into that as we get time.  First decide what you expect from the system - what you want to use with it.  If you get a generator for your job you may want to get one that could be your back up system also.  The inverters I use will work with almost any generator - I'd say 3000 watts or more but good quality.  Miller Welders make good generators -high quality engine and parts and many are 10000 watt generators plus the bonus of having the welder.

Keep  in mind that an Alaskan Mill and ripping chain is about $200 and will make boards when added to a good chain saw, although as you stated carrying in on a trailer is probably easier.

[glenn kangiser]

Search the word - inverter- on the search button for quite a bit of discussion on solar power here.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=search

Note - change the search time to "all posts."

[mda3]

Thanks Glenn,
Looks like I have a good bit of research ahead.

[Jimmy C.]

There has been some discussion of it here but never a step by step thread - possibly we can get into that as we get time.  

Glenn,
That's a great idea!
That would make it easy for a person like me to understand.
Step by step.......

[Amanda_931]

That would be good.

Our local guys are either serious newbies (but I can learn from their mistakes--or point them out) or have been off grid so long that they've forgotten more than I'll ever know on the subject.

and the books I've seen don't seem to work the way my mind does.

[glenn kangiser]

As  soon as I get caught up a bit I'll start a new one on Solar power.  I have wasted some money experimenting and not knowing but if you learn the right things to do it can work pretty well.

I saw a dealer over here charge a lady $35000 for a system last year -- she used it one day and had to go move back in with her daughter - not enough power to run the gas furnace.  I thought that might be a problem with their location and not knowing what to do--but what do I know??? he was the professional.  I also stood back a bit because he was their choice for the solar system and they didn't really want me to do it since they contracted with him.  Since they were a bit hard to talk to I stayed out of it.  He didn't even include a backup generator.

[CREATIVE1]

With all those trees, could you build a treehouse?