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optimistic
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 09:42pm
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I found an incredible area that is only two hours from me and it's 5 acres at a great price. It overlooks mountains and has a large reservoir and river at the bottom of the valley with trout fishing.
I found this land in a very interesting way. Another person was selling there and he was trying to flip his land. i knew this from digging up the deed records online - which was very easy to do, and i saw that he bought it in 2010 for a 1/4 of what he was now asking. So I decided to just try to find the phone numbers of some of the other land owners there, who have nothing on their lots, and ask if they wish to sell.... Well the first one I called, which has a better lot in my opinion, immediately told me that he will sell. We are now negotiating but I will most likely buy it from him...
Questions/issues:
1. The road that leads to it is very very rough (part of the charm and what makes it even more secluded). I own a 'city suv' - Mitsubishi outlander and it was hard on the car to get there. I have never went off road in snow. How do you do that? Is it even possible?
2. There was almost no cell service there which scares me from a security stand point. I will have a random one bar to mostly no service.... I was thinking of getting one of those signal boosters and strap them high up a tree. they come with a 50' wire... (http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Extenders-YX545-Dual-Band-Booster/dp/B003VOW5WI/ref=s r_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334711891&sr=8-1)
Did anyone try to do that or anything else to improve reception?
3. I think I know (not sure) how an outhouse works but can someone explain to me what entails the construction of it??
I actually plan on building an outhouse, as they are allowed in this area, and then have a regular toilet in the cabin that will flush into the outhouse (I will run the pvc all the way to it). That should work right?
Thanks!!!!!
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 11:51pm
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If the road is very tough now, then you won't be driving in there in the snow unless you fix it up and plow it in the winter, snowmobile is the other option.
I remember seeing a thread here on the forum about the cell boosters and reading mixed results, but I have never tried one.
An outhouse is not setup to handle liquid of a flush system, potential disaster and health issue, unless it simply is made with a holding tank then pumped out when needed. But as you described the road, you will not be able to get that service.
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dstraate
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 11:01am
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1. A standard SUV with good tires will pack some decent ruts. Depending on how much snow you get, you may not have much trouble. For us, the biggest issue was when the snow was so deep that it packed up under the suspension. Also the spring. You'll drop right through. No fun.
2. A cell isn't going to save you from the bad guy, a gun is. If your place is that remote, I don't imagine the police would be out very quickly in your time of need.
3. I don't think your flush PVC plan will work. You might just want to use a standard outhouse until you have funds for a septic system.
Great job on getting the land bargain! Post pics!
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wakeslayer
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 11:30am - Edited by: wakeslayer
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I think you need to take a step back and think about what you are getting yourself in to. if just for a minute. You want land and a cabin, but you need to make sure you are getting what you want, and can handle. It would be a drag to spend a bunch of money and suddenly realize you are in over your head.
Remote cabins are just that. Hard to get to, frequently no cell service, varying degrees of difficulty removing waste, and far more than that.
It isn't for everyone.
Our cabin is quite remote, and in a fairly harsh area as far as winter goes, roads, cell service doesn't exist, etc. This is exactly what we wanted. But, we periodically will see a for sale sign on a place that was just recently purchased and moved into. These are the people that get there and suddenly realize "Whoa this is not easy". And these are the cabins where there is power, plowed roads, and such.
By no means trying to discourage you, but make sure you are prepared for what you plunk down hard earned money for. And there is far more to it than just phones, 4wd, and a place to read the paper in the morning.
Just the three items mentioned above, for us:
1) My jeep sucks in the snow, and we have to snow shoe 2000-2500' up the driveway, with food/supplies, unless my friend with the sno-cat is around. Which is getting less frequent. However, my jeep kicks ass in the other three seasons, and is nearly mandatory for my driveway in the best of seasons.
2) cell service is 5-8 miles away, and sketchy at best. But a bad guy is going to have an even worse day at my place (see dstraate's comment)
3) As nice as my cabin set up is, 7 years later, there ain't going to be an actual flushing toilet, just an outhouse. Forever. This is not as fun in January with 8 feet of snow, as it is in July.
Best of luck, and just keep that kind of stuff in the front of your mind.
Mike
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optimistic
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 01:06pm
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thanks for the info ppl.
A friend told me that tire chains make a hell of a difference. Will you agree?
I do plan on having a vault outhouse with a holding tank. Can someone post some links/plans to how they should be made?
I do want to have a remote cabin. I am against guns in general but I might get one for the cabin. There is a guy, two lots down, that lives there full time with his wife so we are not completely by ourselves. Also, it is not like you are driving through the woods for 20 miles to reach it. It is a nook with a main road only 2 miles away. Basically, I only need to do about 1500' of off-roading to reach it.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 01:33pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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Chains can make a big difference. I have a F&R set of very aggressive off road chains. They let me get into even deeper snow and mud where I can get stuck.  Sometimes all chains will do is let the tires dig down deeper until the axles and undercarriage get all hung up. Then a tractor with chains is needed.  V-Bar chains
Why a vault outhouse? More expensive, they need a concrete underground tank as a rule and a good (real good) venting system like the FS ones. Or you may need to add chemicals. Plus they need to be pumped out and the pump truck has to be able to get in there.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 03:18pm
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1. We also have a "rough road." We can actually get our minivan up there in the summer, with good, hard-packed dirt. But in the snow or mud season, we have to snowshoe in with all of our gear. We traded in our other car for a 4WD truck to ensure we can get up there more often than not. You just have to decide if it's worth hoofing it to be remote or if you want to pay big bucks to get real road development work done.
2. No cell service at our place for 20+ miles and we prefer it that way. ;P
3. We have plumbing, so no help on the outhouse. Sorry.
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2012 08:14pm
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1) You will want a "real" truck or SUV, you can pick up an older vitara or tracker or 4Runner or Cherokee or a lot of others for a few grand. With some cheap mods and smart driving you can go a lot of places you never thought possible. You might wind up with another expensive addiction if you're not careful, watch yourself hanging out in those 4WD shops 
2) TomChum has been playing with the cell phone boosters. His thread has a lot of good info.
3) No, that will not work
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 09:26am
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Opti... regarding your outhouse... are you able to use a traditional "outhouse" (basically a hole in the ground with a little building over it, that is never pumped out.)? Or are you required to use a tank- what is then known as a "vault privy" (same concept, but a concrete box, which does require pumping occasionally, replaces the open hole)?
I ask because many locations will now allow a traditional outhouse, but will allow (and even permit) a vault privy.
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optimistic
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 07:21pm
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PA_bound, how are you buddy?
I hope to hear back from the inspector on that by next week. Either way, several people here said that my plan wouldn't work -- to have a 'regular outhouse' (not vault) but to have a regular toilet in the cabin which will discharge (by 4" pvc) directly to the outhouse (with water and everything). Do you agree?
I believe with my minimal use (every second or third weekend) that this could work but you guys know better.
That will be my ideal solution.
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JoshG
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 08:09pm
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I think you would be better served with a compost toilet. You can have it in the cabin and there is no odor. They are a little on the expensive side, but if you need to have a vault privy, the cost would be most likely less for a compost toilet.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 09:17pm
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The main concern about running a flushing toilet into the pit privy is the load of the extra water. That's going to cause a lot more leaching into the surrounding soil. I don't know if that would really be a problem or not, but in locations with shallow water tables it might be an issue. Not sure though. One thing that is stressed in outhouse design is to keep out all extraneous surface water flow.
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 07:41am - Edited by: PA_Bound
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I think MtnDon nailed it. Assuming you have the downhill slope from your cabin to whatever you build for the waste to travel unimpeded, I think the mechanics would work. But all the extra water required for flushing and travel could create environmental issues in an open-pit toilet, or fill up the vault and require service much more frequently in a vault privy.
Whichever way you go on the outside, have you considered using a simple (and relatively cheap) portable toilet inside- somthing like a Thetford Porta Potti? Something like that may give you the best of both worlds- an indoor toilet (that uses minimal water), that you could just empty into your outhouse system when you fill it up or before you leave. Dumping it may be a little extra hassle, but IMHO it's not a problem.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 10:10am
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People who use porta-pottis usually use a chemical to keep the odors down. They stink to high heaven otherwise. There are two types; with formaldehyde and without. The formaldehyde works best at odor elimination but they are bad news for septic systems. The formaldehyde is also probably bad for a privy pit as it will kill the bacteria needed for brakdown. Nobody needs preserved poop. So, just saying, a porta-potti will work, but watch the chemicals.
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wakeslayer
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 11:26am
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Has anyone every tried a WagBag toilet? My wife and daughter use them at night for #1. Just a small bag that has an absorbent material in it. For #2, you definitely want to head to the outhouse, though.
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Rifraf
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 12:17pm
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what i dont like about that thing is the cost of replacement bags , it will cost you about 0.70 cents every time someone goes 
The toilet itself looks sturdy though
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wakeslayer
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 12:48pm
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Yes, there is that. However $.70 per, it keeps my wife warm and happy, and if she ain't warm and happy, neither am I.
We might go through 12-15 bags per year as our cabin is nowhere near home. She doesn't use it all the time, just cold nights. Outhouse is 100 feet away at most.
Our outhouse has a couple leeching tubes that come out of it at the bottom of the hole, and run downhill, away from anything. We get tons of snow in the winter, when it melts, it fills the hole, then when everything warms up it drains out empty, and takes most of the waste with it. 7 years and not one issue.
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