12 x 16 island cabin in Nova Scotia

Started by davestreck, July 05, 2010, 01:29:07 PM

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MountainDon

Quote from: Onkeludo2 on August 24, 2010, 01:24:56 PM
And how many pecks of peppers did Peter have to pick to procure those pickled pepper barrels?  

I crack myself up! [rofl2]

Well, let's see.... one Peck = 2 gallons.  :D  IIRC, the barrels are 60 gallon, so that would be 30 pecks per barrel.     ;D ;D

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/foreign.htm#usa


[rofl2] [rofl2] [rofl2]
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Redoverfarm

Dave some say that you can put an air bladder in your tanks/barrel and they will absorb the expansion.  Maybe use an automobile innertube portion with hose clamps on either side of the fill valve. Weight it down with a counter weight and string to hold it mid center of the container.  Just a thought.  Of course this will do nothing for any drains or valves you have which will have to be bled.


considerations

I have a couple recycled food grade pickled pepper barrels as well.  Italian salad pickles if the light scent in my hair after washing with water stored in them was any indication.   Anyway that was a few years ago and there is no scent now. 

This is not a suggestion that these barrels are the answer to your water issue....but if you have bed rock mayhaps a hewn cistern is a possibility.


Redoverfarm


OlJarhead

http://www.amazon.com/Katadyn-Power-Survivor-Watermaker-Desalinator/dp/B000F356WO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1283753012&sr=8-6

At over $3k and only 1.5gph this is a bit spendy for only 36 gallons of water in 24 hours but perhaps with a little searching you can find a less expensive desalination for your cabin.

Then you will NEVER need to worry about water since you have an entire ocean to draw from :)


OlJarhead

http://www.foreverpure.com/products_SWRO-70.htm

This one is $3280 retail but produces 70 gallons per day and is designed for use with solar, wind or other alternate power systems perfect for your application.  Again spendy but eliminates the need for a cistern since you have an Ocean to draw from :)

Quote70 GPD
ULTRA-COMPACT DESALINATION SYSTEM/WATERMAKER

    * can run on solar/wind hybrid power system
    * or can run on gas/natural gas/propane (engine driven design)
    * Great for beach homes, boats, yachts, or for emergency response.
    * Starting at $3280 Retail

davestreck

Quote from: Redoverfarm on September 05, 2010, 09:56:06 PM
Dave hope you weathered "Earl " OK

Me too! Earl was a bust down here in SE Mass. Dunno what it did up in NS. Hopefully my buddy the lobsterman will be able to get out to the island soon to check on the cabin. There are a few trees that I didnt get around to taking down last time that worry me a bit. Fingers crossed...
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Sláinte...

Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

davestreck

Quote from: OlJarhead on September 06, 2010, 01:12:51 AM
http://www.foreverpure.com/products_SWRO-70.htm

This one is $3280 retail but produces 70 gallons per day and is designed for use with solar, wind or other alternate power systems perfect for your application.  Again spendy but eliminates the need for a cistern since you have an Ocean to draw from :)


Hmmm, desalinization. That never occurred to me. But $3K+ is pricey, and then there are the costs of operation (filters etc.) I wonder what the cost per gallon works out to. Still, worth looking into. And since I work at a boat yard, there may be a marine system that would work (and that I could buy at wholesale). I need to talk to our systems guys at the yard...
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

MountainDon

Pricey?  Depends on the basis used for reference. I don't know anyone here who has spent less than $10K for a well and one person who spent $20K.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


OlJarhead

Quote from: MountainDon on September 06, 2010, 11:51:06 PM
Pricey?  Depends on the basis used for reference. I don't know anyone here who has spent less than $10K for a well and one person who spent $20K.

I hadn't thought of that!  Good point Don!  It can easily cost $10k to get a good well drilled...and then a Cistern and pump, etc put in.

With the Ocean right there....

Of course if one didn't plan for it then it's expensive maybe.

davestreck

Quote from: MountainDon on September 06, 2010, 11:51:06 PM
Pricey?  Depends on the basis used for reference. I don't know anyone here who has spent less than $10K for a well and one person who spent $20K.

An excellent point. But if I can get a working rainwater system going, I'l probably be out no more than a few hundred bucks. On the other hand, I was only planning on using rainwater for washing etc, while still hauling drinking and cooking water in. With the desalinization rig I wouldn't have to carry in any water at all. When I get up to the cabin I could use a hand pump (or whatever) to fill a barrel with seawater, then fire up the desalinator and have it feed directly into my water tank under the kitchen sink. I'd probably need to up-size my solar/wind setup to provide enough juice to run the thing for 24 hours straight that first day, then maybe once a week after that. I like it.

More stuff to think about!
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

davestreck

We just got back from our latest trip up to the cabin, and I thought folks might like an update on our progress.

The plan this year was to spend the 2 weeks we had finishing the trim, painting, shingling, and installing the through-wall wood stove chimney thimble. A fairly modest goal, we had thought, and since this was going to our son's first stay at the cabin, we figured it would give us plenty of time for relaxing, exploring, etc.

Unfortunately, this trip was plagued from the beginning with one disaster after another. Trailer problems, outboard motor problems, trees-falling-on-the-cabin problems, and MAJOR weather problems. Short story, we didn't get it all done, and we were wet and miserable for a good portion of the trip, but all was not lost. My six year old son turned out to be the biggest trooper of the bunch, never complaining once about cold sleeping bags or drowned campfires, and we did make some good progress.

I'm too tired to post a complete log of our trip, but here are a few shots to show how we left it.



North wall shingled, and the shutters installed.



South wall, showing the wood stove thimble and how far I got before I ran out of shingles (don't ask)



Front door, with a cool antique bronze handle finally replacing the rusted Vise-Grip stand-ins



The cabin as we left it. Three walls shingled, most of the trim and paint completed, but still missing some shutters and other various random bits. Tar paper will have to suffice for the west wall and the bit above the loft window until next year. The interior is still unfinished. I still have to figure out a water supply, come up with a basic electrical setup, deal with outhouse issues, and get a woodstove in. Not to mention furnish it.

But still, the views make it all worth it:




For those who are interested, more pics can be found here: https://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k182/davestreck/Nova%20Scotia%202011/?albumview=slideshow

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Sláinte...

Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

astidham

very nice!!! sorry to hear all the troubles.
"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice"
— Henry Ford

pocono_couple

great job..  nice work with the cedar shingles..  i love them!    are you going to let them weather naturally?   I put cabot's bleaching oil on mine..  one coat and that is it for life.. supposedly they will weather more evenly with it on.    you guys have a beautiful setting.   i am sure that the effort that you are putting into it, along with the setbacks, will be well worth it! 


Squirl

I forgot how beautiful a job you did.  Keep posting every now and again to remind me.  Top quality work.

Yonderosa

http://theyonderosa.blogspot.com/

"The secret to life is to be alive.  To live ultimately by one's own hand and one's own independent devices." -Ted Nugent

davestreck

Quote from: pocono_couple on July 21, 2011, 05:52:44 AM
great job..  nice work with the cedar shingles..  i love them!    are you going to let them weather naturally?   I put cabot's bleaching oil on mine..  one coat and that is it for life.. supposedly they will weather more evenly with it on.    you guys have a beautiful setting.   i am sure that the effort that you are putting into it, along with the setbacks, will be well worth it! 

No, we didn't stain or pre-treat them. I've been told that the best way to do that is to dip every one, and there was no way I was going to go through that. I figure that we'll get 10 years or so out of the south wall, maybe double that on the others. The (untreated) shingles I put on my barn 9 years ago are still going strong. The biggest bummer is that the small triangle above the loft window won't match for a few years. I may try to hide that patch behind he solar panels. Did you buy your shingles pre-treated or did you do them yourselves?
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

Pine Cone

Looks like your cabin is coming along nicely.

As for a rainwater system, I have a mix of blue plastic 55 gallon barrels, a 4-foot diameter round galvanized steel stock tank, and our latest addition is a 100-gallon Rubbermaid plastic stock tank.  Not sure about total storage, but probably at least 500 gallons.  If we can ever get our neighbor to dig a big hole we will bury a cistern tank for drinking water, but it is very nice to have gardening and washing water from the rainwater tanks.

No plumbing in most of them.  The temps here dropped to 10-15 degrees F last winter, no problems so far.  For years I have just left the stock tank out all year.   About 3 years ago I put a 3/4" pipe and hose bib on it, and that could fail, but so far it hasn't.  I put plywood covers on them to keep most of the crud out.

The 100-gallon Rubbermaid tank cost us about $70 last weekend, and a quick search of the internet found round plastic tanks for cheap including a Ace Roto Mold 920 Gallon Round Stock Tank ARM-10135
SKU: 017210534  for US$372.99.  That's only about 40-70 cents per gallon which is pretty cheap for water storage. 

If you are worried about freezing I would put a pump system on the top of the tank which could be removed when you are gone or during the winter months.  We are cheap so we just dip into the tanks/barrels with buckets most of the time and it works OK. 

It will probably cost us about $20,000 for a well, so if I had the option for a cheap $4000 system based on a desalinator I'd jump on it.

Only been to Nova Scotia once, but I quite enjoyed it and hope to get back up that way sometime...

Good luck [cool]

MountainDon

Quote from: Pine Cone on July 21, 2011, 09:22:45 PM
 About 3 years ago I put a 3/4" pipe and hose bib on it, and that could fail, but so far it hasn't.  


Our 300 gallon stock tank has the boss for the faucet threaded all the way through (1.5") I have a plug I intend to thread in on the inside before we hit heavy freezing temperatures. That way I can then open the ball valve to drain it and prevent freeze damage. Then in spring I can remove the plug and carry on without losing any water. Water is at a premium in the desert mountains.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

davestreck

I think I'm going to go with a simple 55 gal plastic rainwater barrel for catching water, then a smaller poly tank under the kitchen sink. I'll use a hand pump to transfer water from the barrel to the tank when we arrive, then drain the kitchen tank at the end of our stay. Leave the barrel full over the winter and hope for the best.

For electricity, a small solar panel feeding a couple of golf cart batteries and a simple charge controller and inverter should be all we need. Just enough to run one or two lights and recharge our phones. Gotta do some figuring to size the system right, but I'd like to keep it as small and simple (and cheap) as possible.

For a woodstove, I want to find the tiniest boxwood stove I can. At less than 200 sq ft of living space, anything bigger will be overkill, and will take up too much room.
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"


MountainDon

With less than 200 sq ft wood stoves are just about all too big for the space when clearances are considered. This is a case where a small direct vent propane heater might make for a practical solution. ???

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

pocono_couple

Hi Dave,
   i thought about the pre staining idea, but it just seemed like too much to tackle..   i have read that they should be stained front and back because, otherwise, the cedar reacts negatively with the new building papers ..   which is why some folks that i know still use tar paper..   but, i went ahead and installed them and then put the oil on with a brush..  not too much of a mess.

even without treating them, i would expect to get long life out of them..  that is the wonderful thing about cedar.. as long as the natural weathered color is acceptable...    i have been nailing mine.. stainless ringed nails..   i did just buy a compressor and a gun.. maybe i will switch to staples..  not sure yet..   good luck with your next phase..   you are in a beautiful spot !   jason

davestreck

Pocono,

I went with SS ring shanks too. Had to use 1" nails so the points didn't poke through on the inside, and I was a little concerned about holding power, but they grabbed great and should hold up well in our oceanfront location. I had started with silicon bronze nails, but they were too soft to punch through the hard spruce knots in the siding. The SS ones worked great.

I used a air stapler when I shingled my barn, and it sure was faster, but I think hand-nailing is the way to go. Better control for setting the nail heads at just the right depth: tight, but not crushing the wood fibers.
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"

OlJarhead

Quote from: davestreck on July 23, 2011, 07:18:29 AM
I think I'm going to go with a simple 55 gal plastic rainwater barrel for catching water, then a smaller poly tank under the kitchen sink. I'll use a hand pump to transfer water from the barrel to the tank when we arrive, then drain the kitchen tank at the end of our stay. Leave the barrel full over the winter and hope for the best.

For electricity, a small solar panel feeding a couple of golf cart batteries and a simple charge controller and inverter should be all we need. Just enough to run one or two lights and recharge our phones. Gotta do some figuring to size the system right, but I'd like to keep it as small and simple (and cheap) as possible.

For a woodstove, I want to find the tiniest boxwood stove I can. At less than 200 sq ft of living space, anything bigger will be overkill, and will take up too much room.

Dickson makes a 7000btu wood stove for saleboats.  I think it would do the trick!

davestreck

I think solid fuel is the way to go, simply because of availability and convenience. If I ever get a propane system installed for cooking and refrigeration, a propane heater might be an option, but not initially. So I'm still shopping options in a wood stove. Short of finding a tiny antique box stove to restore, I'm leaning toward either the Morso 1410 or my Shipmate boat stove:

The Morso (sorry for the tiny pic):


The Shipmate:


The problem with the Morso is that its $1000. The problem with the Shipmate is that its primarily a cook stove with a tiny firebox, and also that I've been saving it to put in my dream boat when I ever get around to building it.

Does anyone have any experience with the Morso stoves?
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Dave

"Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile"