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cabingal3
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2012 10:47pm
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thats dog gone cute as can be.thanks for sharing.love it.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2012 10:02pm
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Thanks Cabingal.
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Force_Multiplier
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2012 11:34pm
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Bzzzzzt,
have you regretted not going bigger than 12x12...
I'm about to start building this summer and the plan is a 12x12 w/ a loft....
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2012 05:38pm
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Force:
Sometimes 12x12 is a little cramped but for us the only thing we really do in the cabin is sleep and bathe. It gets a little complicated sometimes but we are technically still in the construction phase even though we haven't done any real work on it for a while. The inside is what is left to do, and some minor stuff on the outside. When we get finished we plan to have the bed in the loft and then we should have plenty of room in the lower portion for whatever we want.
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Force_Multiplier
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2012 09:16pm
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Bzzzzzt,
good to hear, my plans are a 12x12 w/ a sleeping loft, simple shed roof, 8ft ceiling on the main floor, 6ft in the front of the loft to 4ft in the rear...
outhouse w/ a composting bucket toilet, shower, and sink...
12x12 screen house, w/ outdoor kitchen...
I recently bought a 325 gal IBC, a 5500 watt generator, and a few other supplies...
when I bought the property the seller took a dozer in and put me in a "road" ( really a jeep trail, for about a 1/2 mile ) then a decent drive up to a the cabin spot w/ a circle drive at the end. So now I need to enlist some help to go cut a few trees. pick exactly where I want the cabin, and start building. it'll be a slow process for me, seems everyone wants to use the place, but nobody really wants to help get it ready.
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MJW
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2012 10:11pm
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Quoting: Force_Multiplier Seems everyone wants to use the place, but nobody really wants to help get it ready.
Sounds like my experience with boat ownership. 
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Bzzzzzt
Member
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2012 10:18pm
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Haven't updated this for a while. Been busy with other stuff. Recently I installed drain pipes in the cabin with a sink (minus the faucet) and a shower basin. I also installed a pull chain switch over the shower to turn the fountain pump on and off so as to isolate the person taking the shower from the electricity. It's also a LOT handier than the crude switch I had before.
Also we had a friend give us a little roll around kitchen island that we are using for the water jug to sit on over the sink so it's like we have running water.
And we have set up Harbor Freight 45w solar cells and a 70AH battery for the lights which works adaquetly.
We just love this place even though the ragweed is driving our sinuses bonkers this week. Oh..... I forgot to mention we're here on vacation for a week.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 10 Sep 2012 09:42pm
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On vacation for a full week...sounds like heaven! Enjoy your time there. 
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 16 Sep 2012 09:40pm - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Here's a couple of current pictures
The cabin:
The Shower, the sink and the rolling counter:
(Also see the "Luggable Loo" 5 gallon bucket by the shower)
The solar cells and the box I have been using for the battery, charge controller and inverter:
We stayed at the cabin for 8 days and the solar cell and battery setup worked very well. We didn't run the battery down until it rained for 2 days and no sunlight came out to recharge it. We ran the generator at night to use the water heater and pump so as to take a rain water shower but when we were just running lights we used the battery. We ran the lights 2 to 3 hours every night on the 70AH battery with the 45watt Harbor Freight solar cells recharging during the day. On the days we were just lounging around the cabin I would go out every couple hours and help the cells by tracking the sun but on the other days I just put it out at south by southwest and it did well. May expand this system a little next year.
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bzzzzt
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# Posted: 20 Oct 2012 12:43am
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I ordered a couple 9 watt LED lights from Amazon and we just installed them tonight. They are noticably brighter than the 26 watt CFL's we had in there. Gonna try these out for a while and report back about their quality.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 20 Oct 2012 01:17am
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Be interesting to hear about their performance, bzzzzt.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:13pm
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One thing I don't like about them is that it's shaped like a regular incandescent lamp but only the top half of the bulb gives off light. Several of the others I have seen seem to have a larger area that pushes the light out into more areas perpendicular with the lamp. I'm not dissatisfied with it so far as it didn't seem to use up any of my battery last night. I'll post a limk to the particular lamp when I get home tomorrow.
Had good sun today but the solar cells didn't add much to the battery since it didnt get drained much to begin with.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2012 08:51pm - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Here is the link to the LED Bulbs we got:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Lumen-Replacement-G7-Power/dp/B0064AE2K4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT F8&qid=1350867199&sr=8-1&keywords=g7+900+lumen
We went to Lowes in Rogers, AR and found this paneling that we MIGHT use for the inside of the cabin. I just thought it'd be cool to wake up in the morning and feel like we're out in the forest.
$20.51/ 4x8 sheet. The price you see is for the sheet above it.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2013 08:47pm
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Just an update on the LED bulbs we got. They have done very well. They are brighter than a 28W CFL and have no cold issues the way the CFL's do. They come on almost instantly and provide adaquate lighting to read by and we can run just those on a battery that's fully charged for a couple of days through an inverter. Very satisfied with this purchase.
Also, I have discovered that charging my battery while using my generator for other purposes is a lot handier than the solar cells are and uses power that I'm generating anyhow. It's nice to get up in the morning and have quiet electricity to light up the cabin.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:08pm - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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I stayed at the cabin this last weekend and started working on my water tower. I have a container that is 300 gallon and plan to fill it with rain water that I catch in 55 gallon drums. I'll use a small pump that I'll run off of my generator to pump it up there then let it gravity flow down to have full time water pressure.
I'm interested in anyone's input about building the plumbing connections. I'm interested in the pipe not freezing but I don't want to drain the tank in the winter if I can avoid it. I wont have electricity available to keep it heated but I'm thinking 300 gallons of water would take being <20° for an extended period to freeze solid. In NW AR it only dips down that cold for 3-5 days at a time and usually only 2 or 3 times in a winter. Mainly I'm concerned about the plumbing between the tank and the cabin.
It is my intention to also use the water tower as a storage shed as well so I'll be covering it with plywood which will give it extra support.
here's some pictures of what I have so far.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 5 Apr 2013 09:51pm
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So we made an offer this week for the adjacent 3 acres to ours from the same guy we bought our property from. We offered $1000 less than we bought the first 3 acre plot for and he took the first offer! I was really surprized but these plots have not been moving so maybe he's just happy to get rid of any of it. I'm half tempted to offer him a rediculously low offer on the next 3 acre plot like $1000 total just to see if he would reject it. LOL in any event we close on it next Friday so we'll have 6.28 acres here in beautiful Northwest Arkansas.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 6 Apr 2014 09:45pm
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I haven't updated this in quite some time.
We added a shower and a sink late last year and a deck a couple weeks ago. But we're looking at adding on to the cabin as seen in the drawing.
The sink has running water that gravity feeds out of a 7 gallon container that sits in the loft currently. We mainly use it to wash hands and brush teeth so it takes 4 or 5 weekend trips to empty the tank.
In the drawing, the area in pink is existing. The area in yellow is proposed. If we do this, it will be to the left of where Mrs. Bzzzzzt is sitting on the deck and will involve removing one medium size oak tree and 4 slightly smaller ones. The larger one is currently about 8 feet from the side of the cabin. I'm just wondering how to get those stumps out of the ground without some piece of machinery out there. I suppose I could go rent a bobcat track hoe but that seems like a heck of an ordeal.
Also, my water tower pipe froze up and busted over the winter. I knew this was a potential problem but I didn't even go out there from December until late March because it was so cold and icy here at home. The only thing that actually busted was a 1½" plastic ball valve but it was enough to make me lose the entire 150 gallons of water. C'est La Vie.
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keastvol
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2014 03:21pm
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Do you have more pictures of the water tower in use? How is the pressure?
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Bzzzzzt
Member
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2014 04:55pm
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Well, I had only been using the tank for storage at this point. I hadn't gotten around to plumbing it in quite yet. Which may be good since it froze up and busted. I had a valve set up so I could let water out to filter it easily and have intended to make it get into the cabin so as to have some running water but alas, it has yet to come to pass. I may have a pic of the tank up on the tower that I can post later on when I get home but I'm not for certain.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2014 08:29pm - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Ok, here is a pic of the tower semi-complete. I filled it and emptied it through the same opening at the bottom of the tank. I used a garden hose out of the 55 gal rain barrel with a small pump to fill it up. Then, I have been using the valve to empty it into the temporary sand filter I have in the 5 gallon orange bucket. I painted the plastic black to try to reduce sunlight exposure to eliminate algae problems.
When I get it plumbed into something where it would actually use pressure I'll report back.
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stickbowcrafter
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# Posted: 8 Apr 2014 08:12am
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Great looking place. I am interested to see how your water tower works out.
-Brian
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 8 Apr 2014 09:15am
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We are also working on a way to get the water from the tower we built to the cabin. Interested to see what you come up with.
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Bzzzzzt
Member
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# Posted: 13 Apr 2014 08:26pm
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So I was out working this weekend at the cabin. The new addition required the removal of ONE tree. Well, to get THAT tree down I needed to cut down 4 others that were it it's fall path.... or so I thought. So I cut down those 4 trees and then went to get the main one in the way and it fell 120° in the wrong direction despite my having 2 ropes tied to it pulling it with come-alongs and notching the bottom to fall the way I wanted it to. It did NOT fall on the cabin (Thank God) but it fell on 2 large cedar trees we were not wanting to cut down.
So all in all, I cut down 7 trees, well, 8 if you count a smaller one that I cut down just because it was in my way.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 13 Apr 2014 08:28pm - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Here are some more pics. I had to do a lot of clean up in order to walk down the path shown in the last picture.
I used some muscles I had forgotten about this weekend!
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2014 11:29am
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Well, this weekend the wife and I got 90% of the tree debris cleaned up and also got the water tower pipes fixed that had frozen and busted. Dumped the first 50 gallons in it so it'll be ready for us next trip.
This has been a good Easter weekend for us.
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