Cabin Fever Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Puts cabin into "Cabin Fever"! Always thinking about being at camp! It's very rustic and nothing fancy! No electricty or water. We use propane for lights and cooking. Plenty of wood around for heat. Sits back on our 1/2 mile lane, very private. The guy that built it lived as a hermit. Found out he had cancer and his time was limited. Always wanted a log cabin, so he built this one himself. Logs are all rough cut and were cut there on the property. He notched out the logs, just using a chainsaw, for placement and for cutting openings for door and windows. He lived in a tent until the cabin was built. He died soon after. My father bought the property 10 years ago. His big thrill was "Now we'll always have a place to hunt together." The cabin had been vacant for years before my father bought it and it appeared that coyotes had been denning inside of it. There were turkey feathers and various bones scattered inside! The cabin was structurally as solid as a rock! It was just in need of TLC. The guy had rags and old clothes shoved in the gaps between the logs to keep the weather out and it had a dirt floor. My father origionally planned on burning it down and told me it would be a LOT of work to fix it up. We worked on it together and insulated in between the logs, dug the dirt floor down and put in a wood floor, replaced some windows, etc... It was a lot of work, but sure worth it! Makes me appreciate it a lot more! My father and I shared many hunts and good times at the cabin. He spent his last night on earth at the cabin, probably wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Passed away unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. This will be my 4th hunting season without him being at the cabin with me. Still sucks walking by his empty stands... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyslowhand Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 WOW! That's really rustic & very neat!!! Great hide away deer camp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr VJP Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Great Hunting Cabin. I'll bet the old guy who built it, and your Dad, are both proud to look down on it and see it as it is today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phade Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I'm jealous. Do you have a meat pole? I'd love to hear about the other "amenities"...Went turkey hunting in Chenango Co. with a friend this year who had a cabin set way back. I enjoy turkey hunting, but it doesn't hold a candle to deer hunting for me...yet that weekend hunt was right up there with the most memorable hunts ever. had one heck of a thunderstorm the first evening there...fired up the wood stove and I slept like a baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Enjoy your weekend Cabin, and good luck. Hearing your story about the camp again, makes me really focused on enjoying this season with my Father while he is still here. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantail Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Cabin? That's a house! Nice building skills there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geno C Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 i love it! it looks very cool, rustic is right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasteddie Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Great job on the fixer-up ! http://www.downsouthhuntingforums.com/images/smiles/beer.gif[/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WNYBuckHunter Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 That is a sweet looking cabin. Im sure you will create man many more memories in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabin Fever Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 Thanks for the kind words! I do love it there. Rustic, but I wouldn't have it any other way. A log cabin is something that has appealed to me since I was a kid watching Jerimah Johnson and old westerns. Just something nostalgic about an old log cabin tucked back into the woods. Knowing how much it meant to my father and the work that we put into it together, just makes me appreciate it more. Do you have a meat pole? I'd love to hear about the other "amenities"... Amenities... Hmmmmm... Well, NOT many! If you ask my wife, NONE!! We take water over in several 7 gallon jugs for handwashing, take cases of bottled water over for drinking, woodstove for heat, use propane (for lights, stove, and refrigerator), good 'ole outhouse, and sheds for storage and hanging deer. I also use an marine battery hooked up to an inverter to power a small TV and charge cell phones. I have a small NOAA weather radio that I use to get the latest weather forecast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 I'm looking at the size of some of those logs, and I am totally amazed that they could ever be lifted to those heights required and placed into position no matter how much help was around. This guy that originally built that cabin, did he have a lot of help or special equipment? It seems like a super-human feat. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 FYI Cabin----Harbor Freight has a 45 watt solar panel with charge controller on sale right now...150 bucks ...was normally 250. It would give you about 3 amps per hour...... 5 hour average of sunlight to charge the batteries put about 15 amp/hours back on your batteries. I just put one on our camp last week. My wife doesn't think what we ave done with ours equals any type of comforts either,,,lol. But she never hunted out of a tent in November...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Doc, as teenagers me and 2 buddies built a rustic 12x16 cabin....we had logs up to 18" diameter we got up 8 feet. all we used was a block and tackl...and a log a fram ....and a snowmobile. Really was that hard to do....took a long time but not too difficult Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Doc, as teenagers me and 2 buddies built a rustic 12x16 cabin....we had logs up to 18" diameter we got up 8 feet. all we used was a block and tackl...and a log a fram ....and a snowmobile. Really was that hard to do....took a long time but not too difficult Yup ..... that would be the kind of equipment that would be necessary. I was picturing some guy on each end of the log trying to pick it up and lift it higher than they could reach ;D . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabin Fever Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 ] I'm looking at the size of some of those logs, and I am totally amazed that they could ever be lifted to those heights required and placed into position no matter how much help was around. This guy that originally built that cabin, did he have a lot of help or special equipment? It seems like a super-human feat. Doc I have no idea how he did it. I can't imagine that he had any big equipment. The lane wasn't even there going out to the cabin, until my father purchased the place. The neighbor across the road said the previous owner would park out along the road and walk all the way back in to the cabin. FYI Cabin----Harbor Freight has a 45 watt solar panel with charge controller on sale right now...150 bucks ...was normally 250. It would give you about 3 amps per hour...... 5 hour average of sunlight to charge the batteries put about 15 amp/hours back on your batteries. I just put one on our camp last week. My wife doesn't think what we ave done with ours equals any type of comforts either,,,lol. But she never hunted out of a tent in November...lol THAT'S an idea! I just recently ran into a little situation with a new/bigger inverter, that has an automatic shutdown mode when the battery drains below 10.5 volts. I hate like that feature for what I need the invertor for. I charge a marine battery up that I take into the cabin and it's sole purpose is for a little juice to operate the small TV and charge cell phones. I could care less if it completely drains the battery in between charges. That means I'll have to haul the battery back and forth from camp to keep it charged above 10.5 volts much more frequently. Even at 10.5 volts, there's still plenty of juice left to operate the things that I need it to for several hours. A solar panel might be the answer!! If someone was using their car battery, I can certainly understand why they would want the automatic shutdown feature if the battery got down to 10.5 volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 FYI...I ahve done a lot of research on the solar charging systems and if you drop your battery below 50% of it's capacity you start damaging the cells. The Gels are more resistent to it but it still happens. If you are using a marine battery with 100 amp hour reserve never draw over 50 amps off it before charging. Inverters are an issue for 12 volt systems. there is a 15% loss in the conversion so if you have to figure the usage when adding things remember that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentStalker Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Wow Man! Sweet looking place. Photos of the inside please... I love seeing how folks have their camps set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantail Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 I don't mean to side track this thread, but Culvercreek; lets say someone was to buy that solar charger and a decent marine battery, are you talking about powering an inverter or dc lights etc? Because right now if I want to recharge the radio batteries I have to run the jeep w/inverter for an hour. And yeah right now it's hunting out of a tent but next year I'm going for a small pull behind camper to set up at camp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 I have one Marine battery 105 amp hours. I run 2 DC lights in bathroom and bunk room so those are only used on occassion. I have a 12v water pump that runs the shower/toilet/sink(this is our main power usage) 7 amp hour pump. I also run my fathers CPCP machine on 12v. I will burn about 30 amps a weekend so I kick the generator on to top off.....now I won't have to because the solar will top it off while we are gone. I also have an inverter for guys that don't have a 12v plug for cell phone charger, but that is seldom used. Showers burn our most power because the water pump runs non stop then. You get a solar panel and a battery and an inverter and you are golden...especiall for that minimal draw....depending on the draw of the charger you may be able to get away with a 15 watt panel to top it off but you have to have a controller if you are leaving it hokked up all the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabin Fever Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 What size inverter do you have? If I could run a couple lights (150-200watts) and the small TV (~75watts) with a battery charged by a solar panel, that would be great! I really only use the lights for ~30 min. in the morning while I'm throwing on my camo, then another 30 minutes while I pack up at night. (Unless I stay overnight, then it might be on for a couple hours. Cut down on the propane use and save me from having to bring the battery home to charge it. I like it!! Interesting!! So if I didn't leave the solar panel hooked up all the time, I wouldn't need a controller? How long would it take to top off a battery? Wondering if I could plug in a solar panel and leave it on for the day while I'm there hunting anyway, then disconnect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Where you are going to run into a problem is using and inverter...it burns way more energy. If you run 200 watts of lights and 75 watts of TV and have a 100 Amp/ Hour rated Battery. It will only operate at 2 hours...full draw down and not good. 12 volt lights directly off the battery will do better for you. If you don't want to haul the battery the controller is the way to go. Say youkeep the set up above and use it for an hour....50 amp ours will be gone. 45 watt pannel will give 3 amp hours per hour of exposure...average of 5 hours a day....means 15 amp hours per day going back in...you need a little more than 3 days to replace what you will burn in a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 I think my nverter is 1200 watt but I rarely use it...all my stuff is 12 volt....lights....pump...and I have a 3250 watt generator I bought at Aldi's for 200 bucks (runs like a champ for last 3 years) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabin Fever Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 I am electrically challenged/stupid! So I don't need an inverter? Guess I never realized there were different lights (12v?). How the heck would I hook up the TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culvercreek hunt club Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 That I would run on inverter just because 12 volt TV's can get pricey....that is only 75 watts though....the main draw you listed are lights...I use my propane more than electric. If you can drop the wattage of the lights and it will really help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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