Tom Lake Cabin

Tom Lake Cabin
Cabin at Tom Lake

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Not Much Progress




Images: Top: Tom and Chuck at Wolverine Lodge with Tom's big breakfast. Can you tell he was tired of MRE's after 4 days?

Second Image: Snow storm in late April. We were wrapping up when a squall hit.

Bottom Image: From the inside of the top floor looking out through what will be the access to the roof area of the first floor bath and Arctic entry areas.


Tom, Chuck A and I went back in to the cabin by 4 wheeler. We went in late July. After a trip across Lake Louise on a houseboat with our wheelers aboard, we landed at Cameron Cove. It took a bit of doing but we arrived at the cabin and set up camp.

The wind was a bit brisk and the ladders a bit short. We put up a ridge board and started on the rafters. It was a bit shaky on top of the ladders and we just could not get everything plumb and square. After fighting the weather, lack of long enough ladders and seeing we were probably going to sustain major injuries if we proceeded further, We called a halt to the roof. It was a mutual decision, Tom and Chuck were as worried as I was.

With a couple days left and no roof going up we turned to squaring away the inside and outside of the cabin and grounds. We inventoried the tools and lumber, re-stacked and squared away all the OSB, lumber, tools and equipment under the structure and Chuck A filled in the gaps in the OSB sheathing between the first and second floors.

We also cleaned up the many old stumps left over from when I cleared the site off. Tom did a lot of chainsaw work. We cut down some brush and small trees on the East side of the cabin and rerouted the snow machine trail so it is wider and easier to go round the cabin with the freight sled.

I got the tools inside inventoried and re-stacked the lumber there too.

Next trip up will be in November. Only about 6 weeks or so away. The leaves are falling quickly here now, it's October 4. I have to tune up the snow machines and get them ready. I found the rest of my 8" stove pipe for the wood stove on Craig's List. A lady sold me $500 worth of pipe for $30. That was a good day.

When we get up in November the roof will be first priority. Getting the propane direct vent furnace installed is right up there on the list, then installing the wood stove and installing the front and back door. Once the place is dried-in I can get to wiring, insulating, installing windows, building stairs and all the other fun stuff. At least it will be fun with heat in the place and a dry warm bunk.

The single story 16 x 8' deep front will get rafters built for it's roof. I need the room under the roof for water barrel storage and for the pump and water filters too. the access hole we framed in the north wall will let me get above the bathroom and arctic entry to change filters or work on plumbing. If I put commercial trusses up there I don't think I would have room for storage. The rest of the rafters we cut for the second story will be used for a 16 wide by 12 deep storage building / workshop.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Back Up To Cover The Structure



Tom and I returned two weeks after the second floor went up and jerry rigged a couple tarps over the top walls and over the floor above the bathroom. The tarps won't last long. We intend to get back in by 4 wheeler as soon as the lake is open and we can float to the head of the Tom Lake trailhead. I hope the winds don't get to frisky. I would like to keep the floors as dry as possible.

This is going to be a busy summer. Lots of friends and family coming up to visit and fish. The cabin needs the rafters installed and a pit dug for the outhouse. I would like to mark a 4 wheeler trail in around the north side of the lake and up my property line too. With travel for work, visitors, fishing, clam digging and dip netting coming up, this may come down to only having a couple weekends to get up and put the roof on. I will be happy to get rafters, sheathing and 30 pound felt up. Getting the tin roof on would really be nice but does not look doable for the summer months unless I can find another 4 or 5 man crew to go in. Travel is much more difficult in summer though. Bogs, mosquitos, bumpy trails and slick mud all make a trek into the cabin an adventure. A winch on the ATV is pretty much mandatory. Ten minutes by snow machine or several hours, after a boat ride, by 4 wheeler.Summer is nice and warm but just like Winter, it has it's own seasonal difficulties.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Top Floor Walls Are Up

The weekend before Easter five of us headed back up to Lake Louise. It was a sunny but fairly cold weekend with temps running just above 0 at night and up to 15 above during the day.
Chuck Ardizzone, my brother Ed, Tom Kron, Tom Pelfrey, and myself were the crew. Tom P and I headed up to the Lake on Friday morning. Ed worked at the uncle's cabin all week and also cut bracing blocks, rafters, and puttered around getting things ready and all cleaned up and sorted out. It was a big help to walk onto the site and just get to it without having to look for materials or tools.


On Saturday Chuck A and Tom K along with Tom P laid out sill and top plates and started nailing walls together. We went to work about 1 P.M. and by 7 we had 2 walls up and one built and ready to raise. On Sunday we got started about 9 A.M. and had the fourth wall up before noon. We stored the materials and tools then fired up the snow machines and headed back out the trail 6 miles to the road. Now I have to get back up quick as possible and get the roof up. Tonight we leave at about 6 P.M. for Lake Louise. We will haul in a 100 amp panel and a bunch of other small materials for the wiring. The cabin will have 115V AC and 12 V DC throughout. A solar panel and batteries will produce the DC, a gen set will produce the AC.

This will probably be the last week we will be able to access with the sleds. The snow is going fast. In about 2 weeks the trails up north will be mushy and have bare spots. This summer will be walk in or 4 wheeler.

I will upload pictures as soon as I get the digitals from Tom and from a roll of film I am getting developed.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Cabin Coming Along....Slowly

Tom Pelfrey and Chuck Ardizzone have been up to help with the cabin, as has my brother Ed. He has been up about from Seattle for about 2 1/2 weeks. He stayed up at the lake this past week to finish cutting out the rafters and to put BCI blocking between the joists. While staying at Cousin Fred's place he declared war on squirrels and nests. He has been chasing the wildlife out of the cabin and tossing their nesting materials out too. He has been boarding up holes the little varmits have chewed through the walls and generally aggravating the pests as much as he has been aggravated by them.

Last week Chuck A, Ed and I put down 4 sheets of new 3/4 T&G. I had to run to Glennallen, a 93 mile round trip by road, 12 round trip out to the road and back. Four sheets of the OSB had swelled about 1/8" to 3/16". We nailed down the flooring and adjusted the floor around the BCI josts where the stairwell is framed out.

When we went to pull the tarps up, they are 30' x 40' the wind came up. For awhile we were wondering if we could get them laid down and tied in place. The four bad sheets of OSB were good for something.

Ed worked on Cousin Fred's Honda gen set. He gets vexed to find gummy rusty goo in the sediment bowl. I think he may buy Freddie a filter which takes out water and contaminants when fuel is added to the Honda tank.

Two weeks ago Susan, Tom P, 7 year old grandson Isaiah, and the wife, Susan, went up. It was 30+ Saturday and we got quite a bit of organizing and hauling done. Sunday morning we woke up with the cabin at 48 degrees and the main propane tank empty. We thought it would make it through until morning. Got up and changed it at 0530. It was -34 degrees. We left for home as quickly as Tom and I could haul the loaded freight sled from Fred's to my place and back. I'm glad we had the foresight to load the sled and haul it to Fred's the evening before.

Tomorrow Tom picks me up at 0900. We are leaving the Jetta for Chuck A and Tom Kron to drive up to the lake. They will be up Saturday. We are hoping to get up a couple of walls. Four would be nice, but would be a push. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If I can get the wall up I will try for the ridge in a couple weeks and then can go in to put sheething, felt paper and tin on later.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Feeling Beat Up

My friend, Tom Pelfrey, and I pulled two sleds (snow machines) and some freight up to Lake Louise the last day of February. It was a slow and slippery trip. The roads were iced over. I got out of the truck and slipped on the ice. This was on the driving surface. It was 4 wheel drive all the way up.

The snow was fairly deep, loose and just a little mushy feeling. It was, as the old saying goes, "tough sledding."

We broke trail into Cousin Freddie's place on Lake Louise, more on this miscreant cousin later, and opened the cabin for the Spring. Freddie needed 4 one hundred pound bottles of propane for the cabin's 2 gas furnaces. We had to break trail to my place on Tom Lake to retrieve my big freight sled in order to haul the bottles. Breaking through 3 to 5 feet of loose snow between the edge of Tom Lake and up hill to my place was an onerous chore. I'm rethinking this trail and will probably follow my brushed out property line up the hill and down the ridge in order to drop down into the cabin from the west side of the property. That will be a summer project.

Tom and I were planning on going back up this weekend. I'm feeling a little tired and beat up from the last trip, so is Tom. I'm thinking of going up the weekend of 14 March instead. We need to haul up the insulated chimney and a whole lot of other "cabin stuff" which is stored under the house too.

The weekend of 21 March we will be looking for 5 of us to be at the cabin site. We will begin building the second floor and if time allows, get the rafters up too. I'm planning on 3 weekends but hope to do this in only 2. If I can get the sheeting up on the roof and put felt paper down then the place will be "dried in" and I can haul cabinets and lots of other cabin necessities up too.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Finally, Time To Build

The third week of March will be building time again. Five of us will take sleds into Tom Lake and put up the second floor walls and the roof.

I have a few more 12 foot 2 x 6's to haul in and about 2 big loads of other materials, (stove pipe, felt paper, roofing screws, windows, a hearth, romex wiring, wire nuts, junction boxes, a new generator, chainsaw and a direct vent propane heater) all the large and small things you need to finish off a remote cabin. The nearest building supply store is 4 lakes and 7 1/2 miles to the road and then 50+ miles into Glennallen. It's best to be prepared and have all materials with you. A trip to town and back is a day long event.

This trip the 7 year old grandson will go with us. He has plans for his own cabin, right beside mine, and he wants to see the best place to build. March looks to be a really productive and fun month.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ready To Build Again

Almost time to head back up to Lake Louise. The -45 weather seems to be gone.

My brother comes up from Seattle in mid-March. Five of us will journey up and begin to build the rafters and the second floor. Then the tin roof goes up, the front and back door and the gas heater. The wood stove will move from under the cabin and be put into place. By end of summer I hope to be aboe to camp there while installing the cabinets and wiring for 120 and 12V.