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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2012 12:18pm
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Just wanted to introduce myself.....
I've had the use of a 2-acre piece of land and an ancient little cabin, and am starting the ball rolling on getting my own little spot to kick back.
The current place never gets used by the owner but in exchange for looking after the place (shoveling off the roof, cutting the grass, general upkeep) I have use of it whenever I want. He's now given me first dibs when he decided to sell, but there's a camp nearby that's become a party spot... it's far enough away that it would never bother me but it's full of 20-30 kids every weekend and music blasting until after 2am. One weekend they actually brought electric guitars, amps and a full drum set.
it's unfortunate that those people have ruined the current piece of land for me...it's perfect, already partially cleared with some nice lawn and spots for company to put tents, nice firepit area built, etc.
Also, the current camp has a beautiful wood burning kitchen stove with an oven and a warming cabinet on top, and there's a 1/2 size oil tank and an oil furnace...a pot burner, I think they're called?
The camp previously had power but it was unhooked sometime ago....i've wired the fuse panel with a generator hook-up, and switched all the lights over to low-watt CFL bulbs...I can run every light, the laptop, and the fan over the oil furnace and not even kick the Honda 1000 generator out of eco mode.
Anyway, I'm working on a patch of land around that area but far enough away from those folks that I can forget about them.
Right now I'm shopping for a small (cheap) trailer or slide-in truck camper that I can stay in while I build a camp, after I find the right piece of land. (We call cabins camps up in these parts...lol)
The camp will mainly be used as a get-away place for me, I love ATVing and fishing, and that area is prime for both. I've been using the borrowed place for nearly two years now, and I like it so much I couldn't imagine not having a place to get away now.
Anyway, just wanted to say hello....I've picked up lots of info here already so now to start reading through the forums and gaining more.
Any questions or comments, fire away....
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manny
Member
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2012 01:20pm
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Welcome GTTC. Got a question for ya. where in N.B are you? Im in N.B too.
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cabinbiscuits
Member
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2012 01:28pm
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Welcome and good luck with your search.
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2012 01:32pm
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Quoting: manny Welcome GTTC. Got a question for ya. where in N.B are you? Im in N.B too.
Replied by email.  lol
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2012 10:30pm
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Welcome to the forum....Can't wait to read more about your progress!!
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:51am
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Well, still working on the piece of land...might be a while...so I got permission from the landowner to put a trailer/camper on the property.
An actual roof will be in the works for the fall, but for now a big tarp and a wooden frame will keep the weather off the camper (because they all leak) and provide a sheltered place to hang out outside in rainy weather.
Sorry it's not an actual 'cabin'... 
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cabingal3
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2012 01:32am
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looks like a tidy campsite.looking sharp.
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2012 02:29am
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Welcome. Thanks for posting.
Owen
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MJW
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2012 09:50am
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Welcome!
We are planning on doing much the same as you. We full time right now in a 5th wheel on the road and when we get our land we will live onsite while we build.
I am very fortunate as my wife and 5 yr old are both very excited about doing so. 
Looking forward to following your progress!
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turkeyhunter
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2012 10:34am
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looks like a nice camping spot...any pic of the old cabin????
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TomChum
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2012 11:42am
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Quoting: turkeyhunter looks like a nice camping spot...any pic of the old cabin????
Yeah we want to see if it's something that we're going to tell you to tear down or restore. If it's a classical cabin you will have to restore it ya know.....
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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 06:57am
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Thanks for the comments folks.
Well it's working out very well...I just started vacation and have been there since Sunday. Came home yesterday and headed back up this morning for a week or so. Even on very hot days, the tarp keeps the sun off the camper so it stays cool inside...and bring able to leave some windows open when I'm away is great too.
Like I has said, it needed to be something I can move if need be since the land isn't mine. For now this works out, and if I do find a little piece of land I like at a good price, the whole setup can be moved and set up again in a day.
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 07:04am - Edited by: Gone2TheCamp
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Here's a few pictures of the old cabin. These were taken when I first started going there, but it's been cleaned up quite a bit since.
I can take more if anyone's interested in something particular....It's old, and has character for sure...
The roof over the living room is nearly flat so those braces stay up in the winter for the snow load.
Took some pics the day I got the old pot burner going...had a small fuel spill...oops.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:07am
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Welcome...I think I am just as excited as you are about your progress now and in the future! 
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Sustainusfarm
Member
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:50am
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Oh yeah...and I love the cook stove...i am looking for one as well...trying to find one that is small like yours....
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exsailor
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:10pm
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Is that a warming box added to the cook stove? There is a kettle setting on it. To me, it looks fabricated and added to fill a function. We use boxes similar to that, set over a campfire as an oven. Only the ones we use set lot closer to the fire. Your right the place has character that only surviving so long could build. A nice little place.
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DaJTCHA
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:23pm
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I share your anxiety surrounding the rowdy kids nearby. In our little piece of Heaven, we have to contend with some nearby crowds that party a little bit too hard and late for our tastes. I don't mind the barely audible laughing, screaming, clinking of bottles and the faint fire-light of their huge bonfire through the trees, but when they crank the bass up on their stereo system and forget about it until 3AM...that's another story! Sadly, there really isn't anything we can do about it. After speaking with the Sheriff, there really isn't a "noise" ordinance. We've been lucky as the last dozen times we visited Trout Camp, they have not...but I'm always leery of showing up with our hearts set on quiet star gazing and have the same sort of noise we drive 2.25 hours to escape from up at camp...
I like your cabin!
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:55am
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Oh I love that old cabin. It has lots of character!!!!
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cabingal3
Member
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# Posted: 22 Jun 2012 04:23am
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now that is the best cabin i have seen in a long time.now that is cabin!
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 21 May 2013 12:56pm - Edited by: Gone2TheCamp
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Hi again folks. I just managed to sign back in...I hit the site a few times for ideas here and there but could never remember my username...
So...the folks a couple lots over continue to make lots of noise, but I've decided to just let it go....in a couple years they'll likely quiet down...
@exsailor - It's a warming box, yes, but it was originally part of the stove, not an add on.
Well.....the work on the slide-in continues. Well, actually, it's pretty much done..... Since I was here last, I built a roof, patio, and lastly, a porch.
Here's the camper as of now:
The roof needed to be able to withstand our winters, so for me (not much of a builder) it was a lot of research, and planning. It seems like a small project, but with the exception of one afternoon that two friends came to help me shingle, everything you see in the picture was done by myself with no extra hands.
I built the roof like a regular roof, With 2x4 trusses 16" on center and plywood gussets..... the same way it would be built if it were to be set on top of 4 walls. That way, if I decide to pull the camper out from under it and build a 10x16 building, I can build the floor and walls, then drop the existing roof on top of it.
The front and back of the roof sits on 16' beams made of sistered 2x8s. How much fun is placing a 16' double 2x8 beam on top of two 4x4 posts? A LOT....
The wall with siding is just braced in behind, but has no wallboard or anything...I sided that side because the 'front' of the camper is a lot closer to the gable end of the roof than the rear. The camper sits forward under the roof so you can step out onto a patio walkway and still be under the roof. Because the front would still get rain coming in at an angle, I decided to close it in with siding picked up from the side of the road during someone's house reno.
I built the porch the other weekend. It's economy 2x4's spaced 2' on center, then covered with a mixture of every size of scrap OSB and plywood I could scrounge. Obviously it would never survive 4' of wet snow sitting on it, so it's mounted to the roof beam with 4 heavy duty hinges. I can remove 2 screws each from the 3 2x4 posts and it folds down flat against the 4x4 posts. I can fold it down when the snow flies, and it'll also act as a protecting wall for the camper. There's still about a 3' space between the fold-down porch and the camper wall, so if I did want into the camper in the winter, I can walk behind the folded down wall.
Oh, and the porch is covered with a heavy tarp, which is actually highway billboard. They take a rubberized white tarp and screen-print the advertisements on them. They're so big that you can't even tell what the image is when the tarp is spread out on the ground, you have to walk a ways away before you can see what it is.
A friend's father puts up and takes down the billboards so I was given 3-4 huge heavy duty tarps.
And I thought the beam was fun to do alone....I built the porch roof (14'x6') and then thought "Okay, now how do I get it UP THERE..?"
Between the 2 double 2x4 beams and the stringers, there's 104' of 2x4 and 84 square feet of osb/plywood. I don't know how much it ended up weighing, but it was a lot more than I could lift. 
Some patience, and creative use of 4 ratchet straps...and voila.
If I posted pictures, I'd have to include a disclaimer "DO NOT try this at home....."
I have a 1000w invertor mounted under the sink that clips onto the truck battery outside, and that runs the laptop, an ipod dock for campfire tunes, and a single CFL bulb that lights up the patio. The lights in the camper are all 12v, so I don't need to leave the invertor running unless the laptop or music are in use.
The propane stove, fridge and furnace work great...the furnace is able to keep it comfortable even when it's a fair amount below zero, and having a fridge with a small freezer eliminates food being ruined in coolers full of water, and I no longer have to drive 1/2 hour to get more ice to keep my food from spoiling.
I still need a cooler for about the first 12 hours I'm there, because it takes that long for the fridge to get cold...but once it's cooled down, it works great. I think that if I decide to slide the camper out and build a 10x16 camp, I'll gut the camper and re-use the 12v lighting, and the propane furnace, fridge and stove.
So, originally I didn't really feel it qualified as a 'small cabin' since the camper part wasn't something I built. Several pints of blood, sweat and tears later, I think it belongs here. 
For someone who couldn't nail a birdhouse together a few years ago, it's been a great learning experience.... It's great to come out in the morning with a coffee, sit on the deck in the sun and listen to the brook down over the hill...
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 21 May 2013 02:32pm
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Gone2TheCamp-welcome and your cabin is grand.love it.good luck.
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2014 09:51pm
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Haven't been here for a while...was nice to read through the thread again and see the kind words you folks had to say.
So, not much new at the 'cabin'....I've been gathering up materials for the spring...I'm hoping to slide the camper out, jack that roof up a bit, build a floor (on skids) and walls, and drop the roof back down, and make an honest 'cabin' out of it.
Early this summer I woke up and went to that propane fridge that I love so much, opened it up and I was greeted by a blast of hot air reeking of cat pee. I still can't understand how you make ice by burning propane, so even attempting to fix this issue was beyone me. It's 30+ years old, and anyone I ever talked to that had one fixed paid more for the repair than I paid for the entire camper....so, no more fridge.
I'd love to post all sorts of pictures of my fabulous improvements over the summer....but there weren't any. Ha!
I really enjoyed this summer; enjoying the cabin and everything that goes with it, and not spending all my time there building stuff.
So far, I've been able to gather more than enough free siding, starter strips, etc, to side it if I go ahead with that idea. I also picked up the 3/4" T&G OSB (on sale half price) to sheet the floor, and a friend has secured me a couple good windows.
I've been watching Kijiji for other things like more windows, an outside door, and so on.
If it doesn't get done this spring, I'll do the spring after that... no hurry really
So....nobody has told me that I have to restore the old cabin. (See comments above..)
For it's age, and the Canadian winters it's been through, it's done very very well. I just use it for storage now, the mice situation is...bad. It was taken over all those years it was vacant, and I'm afraid the damage is done. The walls in places are packed FULL of mouse stuff...over the kitchen table, the walls are so full it's pulling the heads of the finish nails THROUGH the wall paneling and pouring through the cracks out onto the table. For 3 years I've been cleaning off the table, only to have another pile 2" deep sitting there a week later.
To reclaim the place and have it inhabitable, you'd have to strip the place to the studs...and maybe even replace the studs too....so, no. There's has to be a half a ton of stuff packed into the walls.
My noisy neighbours are still through the woods on the other side of the brook, but they are getting better. The parties are less frequent, and the LOUD music is stopping a lot earlier. I saw some construction in the woods down the road on the other side of the noisy camp, and I think someone's building an actual house, so they're pretty close...could be that's the reason things have gotten better.
I don't mind people having a good time, but it's just kind of maddening....the Mrs and I had a particularly rough week once this summer, and we retreated to the camp right after work Friday. We were just sitting there listening to the quiet when we heard the "Pok! Bzzzz" of huge amplifiers being plugged in through the woods. I kinda lost my sh** a little. Wife said she never saw me so mad.
I was out on the ATV and stopped to chat with another person I met on the trail..."Where's your camp, etc etc" the usual. Anyway, he said "Oh, you're next door to the partyers..." He said he's heard them from his place...and he's nearly a mile away, on the other side of the river. So yeah, they're way louder than they need to be.
One night it was 4:30am and I was laying in bed listening to the camper shell vibrating from the bass..and I wish I was kidding.
Anyway...my camp has never been touched, and their partying has never caused me any problems except the noise, so..reading about issues that other people have with theft, vandalism and the like, I don't have that much to complain about.
Okay, that's about all for now...Off to read some new posts and come up with some grand ideas...hehe
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creeky
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2014 10:55am
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"I really enjoyed this summer; enjoying the cabin and everything that goes with it, and not spending all my time there building stuff. "
I did the same thing this summer. Ain't it grand.
Nice job on the cabin to be. I'm enjoying watching it grow.
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cabingal3
Member
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2014 01:17pm
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welcome and i love the old cabin.its beautiful
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2018 07:34am - Edited by: Gone2TheCamp
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Well, the old camper served me well for quite a while. We've had a couple people build just up the road, we've gotten to know them and they're all great folks so my wife said we should spend some more time there.
So, Mid-October a good friend and I threw a piece of logging chain around the camper, hooked it to the winch, and we got underway.
Building a floor and walls under an existing roof is easy and fun...said nobody, ever. It did eventually work out the way I planned it years ago when I built the roof. But, my planning had just hit the high spots..."Lift it a bit, build under it, set it back down, easy peasy..." Until you go to DO IT and you find out there are a few more steps involved. Anyway, it got done.
The siding will have to wait for spring....I'm not messing with siding in the cold (-24c wind chill this morning), and then I can re-attach the patio and everything.
One of the new neighbours is buying a bunch of the land behind them, and I donated the old camper to their son. I considered stripping out the furnace and maybe the stove, but they're old, and the furnace would need to be built-in, with outside venting and everything, and likely the first part that failed would kill my plan because of parts availability...
The windows and door were bought on Kijiji several years ago, and tucked away in the barn until I built. The 3/4" T&G OSB for the floor was also bought several years ago for a super deal. I found a guy that collects rigid foam insulation from large construction jobs, and scored all the insulation for $168. 3.5" in the walls, 1.5" in the ceiling. I also lucked into a trailer-load of T&G cedar...a friend bought a large quantity for a few jobs and had some left...he's moving and said it's easier to just give it to me than to move it. So, I did the full interior in beautiful cedar boards. Well, I'm sure that some people would rather have drywall, but not me. I absolutely love the cedar.
I can post some pictures if people are interested....and I posted a link to a google photos album, but it looks like all the family members that it's shared with now get notifications when someone views it...so, I took that down.
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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 10:34am - Edited by: Gone2TheCamp
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Okay, time for some updates.....
I just went through all the pictures of the build process, and here are some of them.
This is day-1...My friend Rob is super excited because he gets to play with his jeep and his winch. Rob was there almost every day until life called him away once the framing was complete. A HUGE thank-you to him for all his help.
So far, everything is going as planned....
And now...I just have to turn this into a cabin. Easy!
Finally standing on the first piece of floor of the new camp! Reflectix is down, first half sheet of OSB screwed down. The OSB was bought on clearance around 6 years prior....
I do not have any pictures of the process of building walls on a floor that's sitting on the ground, standing them up, using a scary amount of ratchet straps running to tree trunks in all different directions, and the hours of prying and pounding that it took to get these walls under the pre-existing roof....because if there was photographic proof, our wives wouldn't have gotten anything from our life insurance after the whole thing came down and killed us.
Pro tip when framing: In the videos I watched, they said to do you layout on your plates, and mark each stud. I did that. When I framed in the windows, I looked at where my cripples were supposed to go and I said, "Well, no...I'll space them evenly above the header and sill." Great idea!!! Until I started sheeting and the seams had no studs to land on. Crap. So, if it's your first time framing, do what the experts say...there's always a reason, even if it doesn;t make sense right away...it will...
So, the astute of you might be starting to realize just what a pain in the arse it is to take a finished truss roof and decide to build under it. Not having a crane, we were pretty much stuck dealing with the roof at the height that it was when we started. Because of that, the floor had to be built right on the ground. Since this project was my idea, I went underneath while we jacked and blocked to install the beams, while Rob stayed out and took pictures and laughed at me.
After the framing and beams were done, I was alone from that point. I started the sheeting, and luckily only had 2 sheets on before my neighbour came by and told me I had put them on inside out. Easy fix. For you noobs reading this...3 things: 1. The nailing lines face out. 2. The 'weather-resistant' coating is on the same side as the nailing lines. 3. The printing and written details about the product is on the inside so the inspector can see it (if it's on the outside, it's covered by the house wrap....)
In the spirit of being thrifty, here's the insulation that I mentioned previously...enough for the walls and ceiling. Talk about something catching a lot of wind on the highway..hehe
Walls and ceiling insulated!!!
Another huge shout-out to my buddy that gave me all this tongue-and-groove white cedar. He was doing reno-work, had it milled for some projects, life went in another direction. He offered it to me if I wanted it, I just have to drive to his place and lug it out of the basement. He and his wife have an open invitation to use the camp anytime they like.
The cedar worked out absolutely incredibly. I love it. The dogs also approve!
A friend from work was changing out the flooring in the in-law suite in his house...it now has a new home....
I took a couple vacation days and part of a weekend and did the siding...and used more of the cedar on the gable ends. I still need to replace the gable end fascia boards with 2x6, and add some trim and soffit..the patio is just sort of plunked there for now, and I'm planning on adding a porch....but I'm finally at the point I can just go and sit there and relax.
I didn't have any actual hands-on experience with any of the aspects of the build, be it framing, installing windows, insulating, flooring, siding....but I'm not afraid to make mistakes, and learn along the way. I can't even begin to add up the hours I spent watching every instructional video on youtube, reading articles, and absorbing everything I could from the small-cabin site.
I'm sure there are some things that would make professional builders sit back and laugh...but when you're a home-gamer, you have to improvise. Also, I had to take what I already had and use it. Like I said...if you every want a challenge...start at the top and build DOWN.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:00pm
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Wow. Great progress!
Let me guess, your tow vehicle is a Corolla? Looks familiar to me.
Great feeling to get to that point where you can relax and work on projects little by little.
Thanks for the update
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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:04pm
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Mazda 3, not the current body style, but the one before.
Yes, it'll be nice to relax and do projects as I feel like it, rather than out of necessity.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:30pm
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Oops my bad. Now I see the gas lid is on the right side, not the left. Time to retire from forensics now.
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Steve_S
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 01:06pm
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Ohh My FLASHBACK !
When I was dragging lifts of PolyISO & that EPS-II foam from 250kms+ away out here.... At one point, I had 6' above the cab of my pickup truck and a trailer behind it... Boy did the wind ever blow me around on the highway... FUN TIMES !
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