Cowracer
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2017 11:25am
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We are finding out that we grossly underestimated the amount of storage we need at our cabin. Actually, I didn't take into consideration that my wife would go nuts on thinking we need to decorate the cabin for every holiday, but if that's what keeps her happy, then so be it... But there is other thinks like lawn chairs, shovels and rakes, water floaties, and the like that I want to get out of the cabin, but also to keep reasonably secure and out of the weather.
We decided to build a small lean-to style 'locker' on the side of the cabin. Just about 4X8 feet. Seeing how my cabin is 16x16, that opened up the possibility of putting in an outside shower that the wife desperately wants as well. We have a community shower house at the lake, but its kinda yucky.
The plan was to set some poles 4 feet from the sidewall of the cabin. The first 8 feet will be used for the locker, the back 8 feet will be the shower. The locker will be fully enclosed, but the shower will just have a shadowbox fence around it. Enough to maintain the feeling of showering in the great outdoors, but also to provide a measure of privacy.
My usual master carpenter buddy Mike was unavailable, so I had to do it myself. It may not be exactly perfect, but it fulfills the function.
Here you can see how its going to be divided up. I eventually realized that I will need one more pole, for the shower area door. But that's an easy fix for later on. The shower head will go on the far wall (right hand side of the picture). The propane tanks will be relocated to inside the locker.
My roofing tin got delayed, so I decided to press forward and put it on last when it gets in. I got the sheathing up, and made a door, and got it all mounted.
While there are some meth-head thieves at the lake, they generally leave stuff alone unless its lying out in the open where they can walk away with it easy. 20# propane bottles and camper power cords are their favorites. In 5 years, the only thing we had stolen was a little trailer that was the chassis of a small 50's camper that came on our lot.
I'm not expecting 100% security. Hell, 5 minutes with a cordless sawzall would get you into the locker. I just want to keep thing tidy, and out of sight. I did have some security style torx head screws handy, so I used them to attach the hinges and door latch. I'll get some gravel down for a 'floor' just to make it nice and keep the mud at bay. I also have some shelving units that I will move in as soon as I get the roof on.
One side effect of this project was to show me how bad the cabin has been weathering. I have been (stupidly) putting off doing any kind of stain on the cabin siding. I wanted to let it weather a bit (everyone says let new wood sit some before you stain it) and I just keep kicking that can down the road. I was hoping it would age into a nice golden color, and it did under the overhang, but anywhere the rain hits it looks as grey as an old mans elbow. Not attractive at all. But, an afternoon with the power washer will clean it up, and then I'll get some stain on it.
At least with the locker finished, I can get the remaining stuff out from under the stairs inside.
Tim
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