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Spiker
Member
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# Posted: 5 Apr 2017 18:55
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Looks amazing!
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 6 Apr 2017 00:47
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So, the conservationists want everyone to vacate the islands so the islands will be preserved for people to appreciate. So, the only people that will be able to appreciate the islands will be day trippers on boats. More boats, more pollution. Whereas small cabineers like yourself contribute a minimum to boat traffic, do minimal harm to the environment (less than hoards of tourists). And you are able to appreciate the place over time- morning, noon, night for a week or more at a time which is far more genuine appreciation than a daytrip with a camera and a strict itinerary. "We have exactly 3-1/2 hours to appreciate this unique place so hurry up and appreciate it".
Your child's experience of living there, if only for a few weeks a year, will be a memory he will treasure for the rest of his life, whereas if you took him on a day trip he would only be sad that he couldn't stay.
Never, ever sell your place. Despite the idealistic good intentions of 'conservationists' tell them that you will not deprive your grandchildren of the experience of falling to sleep to the gentle sound of lapping waves.
They are trying to conserve some abstract notion of the land, to the detriment of those who wish to conserve the physical experience of the land.
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Absolutely
Member
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2017 22:15
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Quoting: bldginsp Never, ever sell your place.
+1000. Keep it in your family forever. It's spectacular.
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 8 Apr 2017 20:47
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Quoting: bldginsp Never, ever sell your place. Despite the idealistic good intentions of 'conservationists' tell them that you will not deprive your grandchildren of the experience of falling to sleep to the gentle sound of lapping waves.
We're not going to sell. And the Trust has made it clear to us that they don't want to kick us out, or limit our access to our property. They just want to ensure that the islands don't get developed. They have been very respectful of both the rights of the property owners and the traditions that govern the use of the islands by the local people. For example, many locals were concerned that the Trust would ban deer hunting on the islands, which has been a tradition for many generations. The locals consider the islands to be open hunting grounds, regardless of who actually owns them, and go out to hunt deer on the islands every year. We have learned to accept this, and the Trust has stated that they intend to respect this as well, and will not ban locals from their traditional activities on the islands.
I believe that we will be able to work out an arrangement with the Trust that will both protect the natural beauty and wildness of the islands while also respecting our rights as landowners to continue to use and enjoy our property.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 8 Apr 2017 21:45
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Sounds like win-win. Except for the deer.... but I suppose their numbers need to be kept down for lack of natural predators, otherwise they will overpopulate.
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Bexeler
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2017 07:02
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You have an absolute beautiful place. I hope that the Trust doesn't end up making it difficult for you and your family to keep doing what you love.
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hootnholler
Member
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2017 13:36
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Wow! I need to hire you out to help us with our place, lol! It looks peaceful and relaxing!
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Janemarie
Member
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# Posted: 19 Dec 2018 20:31
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Just a stunning piece. If you are still kicking around on this site, I would love to see updates.
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slang
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2019 13:51
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Really awesome site, great job!
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 14:48 - Edited by: davestreck
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I realize I haven’t posted here for a while, so here’s an update on our cabin build.
Since my last post we have continued to upgrade the solar electrical system. We now have 550 watts of solar and a new 1500 Watt inverter/charger. I decided to abandon my plans to outfit the cabin with 12V fixtures and have switched everything to 120V AC. So much easier. We run 2 small fridges, lights (LEDs of course) and all our chargers directly off the inverter. The only remaining 12V load is the water pump. The inverter has a built in 50 Amp charger, and I installed an exterior outlet that i can plug my 1000W generator into if the battery bank gets too low. This allows me to put the genny a ways off into the woods so the sound isn’t too bad. Although with 550W of solar we rarely need to run it.
I finally installed gutters and a 55 gallon rain barrel. We had a good rain storm the second day we were at camp last trip and that one downpour gave us all the washing water we needed for the whole stay. We still carry in drinking water.
Unfortunately we had a pretty bad break-in sometime between 2017 and 2018. We’ve had a few minor problems over the years, but this time they really got us. Stole the canoe, the water pump, pots and pans, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, tools and hardware, the garbage can…an unbelievable amount of stuff. They even took the cast iron wood stove and climbed up on the roof to take a 40W solar panel. Left us pretty well wiped out. I filed a report with the RCMP, but as I expected no one was ever caught.
We had a lot of great support from the friends we’ve made in the area, all of whom were really sympathetic. Multiple people in town approached us to say how sorry they were. A few of our friends promised to check in on the place whenever they can, which is great. I also installed a few game cameras to hopefully catch any future thieves.
All in all it was a disappointment, but we didn’t let it ruin our trip. They made a mess, but apart from one broken window they didn’t destroy anything. We had everything cleaned up in a few hours. All the expensive electronic stuff is hidden away, so we didn’t lose our electricity. We didn’t have running water, but we’re used to that and simply carried on like we used to do in the old days. I have a new water pump/filter system ready to be installed when we go up later this summer, and we have replaced most of the things we lost, although I’m still looking for a new canoe. For a replacement wood stove we’re going with the Cubic Mini Cub, and I’ll be hiding it with the rest of the valuables when we’re not there.
In 2018 we had a number of visitors, including my son’s friend and my brother with his 2 boys, so we needed more space. I’ve been wanting to build a tent platform on the cliffs a few hundred yards from the cabin for years, and this was the perfect excuse. Its just a simple 12 x 12 platform built on deck blocks, and its perched right near the edge of the cliff. The boys loved it, and once they moved in we usually only saw them for meals and for movie night at the cabin. We had to make one rule: anyone going outside the tent for a late-night pee had to do it off to the side or behind the platform. Four or five steps off the front and they would end up dropping 30 feet into the ocean. We had walkie talkies to keep in touch.
We’re heading back up in a few weeks. Projects will include installing the new water pump and wood stove, replacing the broken window, more wiring and lighting, new rooftop panel for trickle charging the batteries, and as always more clearing and firewood cutting. Can’t wait.
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 14:51
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Photo upload did not go as I had planned. I'll try to re-post
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 14:54
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Some pics:
The cabin
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Campfire crew
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Drone shot of cabin looking SE
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New solar array
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 14:57
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Pics of the tent platform:
Framing the platform
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Completed
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Setting up "Cliff Camp"
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View from the tent
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 14:59
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More pics:
New bookshelf and folding desk
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New inverter/charger
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Water system
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Outhouse
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 15:15
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And still more:
Crew taking a break to watch the dolphins
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Surprising some deer
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Cabin from the water
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Full moon
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:26
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Davestreck, thanks for taking the time to update. You have put a lot of work into this, and it shows. Glad you involve your family so much.
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moneypitfeeder
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jul 2019 17:21
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What a great location and cabin. Sorry you had to deal with a break-in, such a shame, but it looks like you have fully recovered it and/or made you place even better, kudos!
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sandman
Member
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# Posted: 18 May 2021 11:27
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Dave! We need more pictures and updates 
I'm guessing you may not have made it out last year due to the border issues but maybe you did?
This year looks even tougher at this point but I hope you guys make it.
I've been following this series of posts for quite a few years now and finally made a login so I could post a message. I bought a small piece of property on the mainland not too far from you're cabin. I started building my off grid cabin in the summer of 2017. I live in Western Canada but made it out last year for over a month! It'll never be finished but its finally at a point I'm happy with. I have looked at your posts many times over the years and they have helped me build my spot. I've heard lots about theft not only from you but others near us also. I have been lucky thus far but am paranoid about it. Its super amazing you get to see dolphins! I have lots of seals at a rock just out past my spot. I don't think its in open enough water for dolphins though. I have dug up many a stump and when I found this site I could see you struggle and it made me feel better  haha. I'm curious about your water setup as mine is not nearly as polished as yours. Would love to pick your brain sometime about that and other solar stuff and such. I am about 10km from you as the crow flies and was thinking about getting a jet ski but that might not happen till next year. Anyway, maybe we can get together and have a beer sometime and trade cabin building war stories. Looking forward to the next update. Hope all is well and you make it out this summer.
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davestreck
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2021 11:51 - Edited by: davestreck
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We haven’t made it up to the cabin since September 2019. Rumors keep swirling that the border may open soon, at least to vaccinated people, but who knows. There is also a possibility that the definition of “essential travelers†may be expanded to include people who have property across the border, but again, who knows.
Once the border does open, I’m planning on packing up and Canonball Running it up for a quick trip just to check on the place. We have heard from a couple of local friends who have looked in and told us it seems OK. Still, I’ve been losing a lot of sleep worrying. We’ve put so much money and effort in over the years.
After our last trip as a family in August 2019, I went up twice on my own in September. Once to attend a town meeting about a proposed whale sanctuary that was being considered for the area and would have abutted our island, and again after Hurricane Dorian to check on the place and do any necessary repairs.
The whale sanctuary eventually decided on a different location due to strong local opposition (read about it here), and except for one tree which fell onto the cabin we didn’t have too much damage from Dorian.
The next upgrades I’m planning are:
-replacing the old 3x105Ah AGM battery bank with a new single 12v 300Ah LiFePo4 battery, along with new Victron MPPT charge controllers
-installing our new wood stove
-putting up more trail cams, including a cellular unit that can send me live updates
I’m hoping that my brother can come up with me for the next trip, since its a long drive and launching the boat alone is a little bit of a PITA (and the new battery is pretty damn heavy), but if not I can still do it solo.
Hell yes to getting together for a beer.
Here’s hoping that the border opens soon!
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2021 10:22
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Really nice
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sandman
Member
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2021 18:12 - Edited by: sandman
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Sounds great Dave!
I have 4x6V 235ah golf cart batteries and they have been super awesome. I hope to upgrade at some point but I'll wait till these give out.
I'll be arriving at the cabin for Aug 1st ish but leaving Aug 24th and then returning again Sept 8th for a month or two. Hopefully you are around somewhere in there and we can meet up! Projects this year for me are a boat ramp/launch and a rough cut picnic bench and some more boardwalk.
I can't figure out how to send you a DM so hit me up sometime. My email is sandy.shonfield@gmail.com
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Jebediah
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# Posted: 17 Nov 2021 15:18 - Edited by: Jebediah
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I'm near Keji, south shore, NS....I use Spypoint cellular for security at my place. I have 2 cameras outside and 2 inside for redundancy as sometime not all the cameras are functioning 100% all of the time, signal issues. Funny cameras 10' apart one works and one doesn't depending on the time of day or weather conditions. It does give me peace of mind. I don't mind paying the monthly fees.....
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sandman
Member
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# Posted: 15 Oct 2022 13:09
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Dave! I need an update bro. I was in NS for 6 weeks this summer. Got lots of stuff done but spent lots of time in town visiting family too. I still don't have my water situation sorted out damn it. Bane of my existence. Do you leave a hundred or so liters in that white barrel slightly chlorinated for when you show up next time?
Hook us up man! Love your updates. Next year we gotta get a beer.
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