Float Cabin Living: Why do you live in a float cabin?

In 2001, Wayne and I discovered our float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC.  In the beginning we could only be here on school holidays since we were both educators. Now we can be in our off-the-grid cabin home about 75% of the year in all seasons.

Logging Camp Photo: Powell River Museum

During the heydey of logging along the BC coast floating cabins and shops were common. They were used for remote camps to provide homes and work platforms up rugged inlets and on large lakes. Today float cabins are used on fish farms and for remote off the grid living.

Float Cabin Photo: Powell River Museum

On Powell Lake the original float cabins were simple homes, economical getaways for mill workers, or logging camps dating back to the early 1900s.

Currently there are about 250 float cabins on Powell Lake. They're spread along the 480 kilometres (300 miles) of shoreline. That makes most locations private.

Why did we choose this lifestyle?

• It's unique.
• Float cabins are a part of coastal history.
• We wanted a place to retire that was different from our city life.
• It's remote and uncrowded. 
• We are surrounded by nature.
• We get to enjoy the seasons.
• We are off the grid. 
• We can live a simple, tiny home lifestyle.
• We like boating to our water access only home.
• Town is only 25 minutes away for resupply.
• There's a distributed community for support and friendship.
• It was love at first sight.

Here's a YouTube video produced by Kirsten Dirksen from my own footage that tells our story.

Here are some links to posts on this blog that tell our story.

Home is Where the Heart Is
The Wall
My Snowy World
Float Cabin Tours: Welcome Aboard

Have you ever discovered a place that captured your imagination and heart? -- Margy

Float Cabin Living: Can you have a garden?

My original garden log.

Float cabins and homes are surrounded by water in marinas, on lakes and rivers, or the ocean. The typical location doesn't include land. That's especially true for our cabin anchored to a steep granite cliff backed by forest. But where there's a will, there's a way.

First I tried a "garden log" with herbs and lettuce tucked into its notches. The sprouts were doing fine until Canada Geese ate them all.

The floating garden John built for me.

I've always liked gardening, so I had to think of a way. Our good friend John came up with the solution, a special float that holds four raised beds. 

A rope pulley takes the float out to the front log boom where it's protected from nibbling critters.

The solar panel for watering.

For watering there's a solar powered boat bilge pump with a hose.  It's so much easier that stooping with a watering can and gentler on the plants.

Rain and watering leaches nutrients from the soil. Each spring I augment it with compost and mushroom manure. Several times throughout the growing season I add plant food. Even out here I get pests, but I don't use insecticide. We don't want poisons in the water we drink.

Bulbs are planted for spring flowers. The daffodils are my favorite. After they die back I grow radishes in their space. I also have a strip along one side for marigolds and alyssum for colour and pest control.

My crops include onions, beets, carrots, kale, broccoli, spinach and a variety of lettuce. I leave my kale, beets, carrots and broccoli in the ground through winter to provide fresh additions for our meals.

My floating garden with four raised beds and a solar panel watering system.

Over the years I've also grown strawberries, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and peas in my beds. Crop rotation is good to reduce pests and provide variety.

In addition to my float garden I have numerous pots and large containers on the cabin's many decks for additional plants, especially large ones that take up too much space. Here you will find tomatoes, pole beans, snow peas, cucumbers, peppers, squash, blueberries, red currant, and more flowers. I also grow my herbs in pots for easy access.

Potatoes growing in plastic tubs and zucchini with a protective cage.

Now that we live in our float cabin all summer long I can keep things well watered. I've learned how to can my excess produce to use during the off season.

Gardening takes a lot of time from May through September, but the rewards make it worth it. We aren't self-sustaining, but each dinner has something that we have grown ourselves. Weekly trips to the grocery store fill out our food needs.

An early spring harvest of lettuce, kale, onions, radishes, and broccoli.

You can read more about my gardening exploits and other aspects of float cabin living in Wayne's book Up the Lake available in print and Kindle formats from Amazon, and many other online booksellers. Here are some quick references to other gardening posts on this blog,.

Gardening Category
Ready, Set, Grow
Simple Pots for Container Gardening
Simple Garden Hoop Tunnel
Protective Plant Cages
Watering with Sunshine 
9 Crops for Winter Gardening
Pressure Canning Carrots

My float garden highlighted in the Powell River Library 2018 Calendar.

Do you have any stories about gardening? Do you have any hints for gardening with unique situations? Let us hear from you. -- Margy

Float Cabin Living: How can you live in such a small space?

The living room side of the greatroom.

Our float cabin is the third built by John, hence its name Cabin #3. Each cabin has a different design, but we like ours the best. It's small enough (675 sq. ft.) to easily maintain but large enough not to feel cramped.

First Floor

The first floor has most of the living space. There are two small bedrooms (7'x10'). One's for guests (we rarely get them) and the other is for storage. In the guest room we store a week's supply of firewood (Wood Storage Shelf Construction). That's handy, especially in winter.

Sink with hand pump and propane fridge.

Downstairs is greatroom style. The kitchen with propane appliances is on one side and the living room with a woodstove on the other. We have a portable TV for Internet streaming. It's compact and functional.

Compost toilet, tub and storage.

In 2011 we added an indoor bathroom off the guest room to replace our outhouse four flights of stairs up the granite cliff. This one change to our cabin made full-time living much easier.

 Second Floor

The loft master bedroom with a king bed and view.

The second floor is a sleeping loft. When we purchased the cabin it was wall-to-wall beds (from its prior life as a rental cabin). We removed all but two twins that we pushed together to make a king. The loft and high ceiling over the living room make the cabin feel spacious. If you want to "get away" for awhile, this is the place to go. A window placed high on the opposite wall gives you a view of Powell Lake's First Narrows and Goat Island. Between naps you can watch work boats and cabin owners zipping by.

Here's a YouTube video tour of our float cabin home.

Welcome Aboard
Kitchen Kapers
Sleeping Loft and Greatroom
Bathroom and Guest Room

Really, if we had more space it would feel like work to keep it clean and maintained. If you are planning on building or purchasing a cabin, think about that. Bigger isn't always better. -- Margy

Float Cabin Living: What Do You DO?

Sometimes it's hard to find time to just relax.

What do you DO with all your time? There's never ENOUGH ! We love to be at our float cabin on Powell Lake, but there are lots of things that keep us busy in Powell River like clubs, civic events, quadding, hiking and boating. But of all our activities, we love being at our cabin best.

What do we do when we're up the lake? Here's just a few:

• 

  Bringing a cable to the dock.

  Cabin maintenance. Stay ahead of things and problems diminish.  Cables must be replaced, logs burned for dry rot, a new anchor dropped and flotation barrels added for buoyancy.

• New projects. John does most of these, but we "assist." Over the years we've added a new front deck, enlarged our log boom to reduce waves, added an indoor bathroom and upgraded our electrical system. In the next five years we'll need to replace our cedar decking and paint the cabin's exterior.

• 

  Cutting firewood on the raft.

  Firewood. We gather and split wood in summer to get ready for winter and keep it on the wood storage float until needed. We also maintain our woodstove to make wood burning safe.

• Weather Watching. Unlike the city, we are more aware of changes in weather. Our HDTV sliding glass door gives us full view day and night. Plus, Wayne has all his "weather toys" to follow the trends.

The author at work.

• Writing. Cabin life generates stories and a unique space for Wayne to write. I write grants in my consulting business and this blog about off-the-grid living.

• Reading. There's nothing better than a warm sunny day on the deck or a cold winter night by the fire to enjoy a good book. Wayne is a scifi fan and I like local books and memoirs. Using Kindles with built-in reading lights makes night reading so easy.

The Hewescraft parked at home.

• Boating. The cabin floats on Powell Lake, so there's lots of places to explore by boat and kayak. For local jaunts we like to use our 14' tin boat. Our 22' Hewescraft makes lake travel safer.

• Quad Riding: Our 24' barge lets us take our quads to ramps around the lake for quad riding and to camp overnight onboard.

Snowshoeing up Chippewa Main.

• Hiking. Loggers have built many roads to their timber lots along the lake. On weekends or when logging isn't active these make excellent hiking trails. In winter, boots can be exchanged for snowshoes. The Sunshine Coast Trail can be accessed from Powell Lake in several locations.

• Crafts. This is one activity that's a Margy thing. I like to paint with acrylics on things like jars, buckets and rocks. I crochet and hook rugs. I even made several sets of curtains.

• 

  The float garden.

  Gardening. Wayne helps me keep my float garden and containers on the cabin deck ready to produce delicious veggies for our meals in all seasons. 

• Preserving Food: When my garden is producing I've learned how to preserve the extras. I started with drying, freezing and storing root crops. Now I do water bath and pressure canning to my preserving skills. I love going to the pantry to grab a jar of carrots or potatoes.

No-knead sourdough bread.

• Cooking. Wayne is #1 cook with the BBQ going year round. I make side dishes and desserts, experiment with cooking on my woodstove and bake breads.

• Fishing. Whether it is from the cabin deck or trolling, fishing is fun. Every summer night fish tease us by jumping inside our log boom. But, oh, are they wily fish.

Enjoying the backcountry.

Of course, there's taking a sunbath on a warm summer day followed by a swim in the lake. Nothing feels better than that!

So, as you can see, the question should have been -- How do you find enough time to do all that you do at the cabin? -- Margy

Float Cabin Living: What about a bathroom?

Former outhouse with a view.

When we purchased our float cabin it was 420 sq' downstairs with a 200 sq' sleeping loft under the peak of the roof. That's more than amble living space, but it didn't include "indoor plumbing."

In 2011 we traded in our trusty outhouse up the hill for a 6'X10' bathroom with a composting toilet. The view isn't as great, but the convenience is appreciated. Instead of climbing four flights of stairs, we walk into another room. No rain, no wind - how civilized.

John during construction.

John, who built our cabin, did the construction. He framed the walls, tied in the new roof, made the old window into a doorway, added a window in the guest room, and gave us a side porch extension. He's a jack of all trades and worked mostly by himself.


Bathroom construction was a big project. Here's how it progressed:

Under Construction - Ed's video
Up Goes the Frame - walls
Site Supervisor - roof beams
Save That Nail - rain delay
Night Watchman - John and Bro
Toilets and Telescopes
Bathroom and Porch Addition Nears Completion

Non-electric Sunmar composting toilet.

We chose a Sun-Mar Excel NE (non-electric) compost toilet. It has its own solar panel and 12-volt battery to run a small exhaust fan to eliminate odour and help with composting. A handle turns the drum to mix the compost. An air circulation pipe rises above the roof line with a built-in rain deflector. The capacity works for two of us and are very pleased.

Our tub now in a real bathroom.

Our bathtub has been in the downstairs storage room for several years. Now it's part of a real bathroom. The tub, however, isn't connected to hot or cold water. Our tub is a cold weather luxury. In the summer, our natural swimming pool is all we need for a cooling swim.

Heating bath water.

We heat water on the wood stove. I fit four large pots on the surface at a time. We add cold water, and there's enough for a nice soak or soaping. And there's nothing like bathing with a friend to save water.

Bathroom storage.

The bathroom gives us additional space for storage. A shelf built by John holds towels and toilet supplies, a recycled $1 end table holds toiletries, and a commercial pantry kit on sale for $49 provides space to store my canning jars in a cool place away from the sunlight.

What a difference an indoor bathroom and extra space makes when it is used wisely. And the new covered side porch was a huge bonus. 

The new side porch and bathroom addition.

You can read more about float cabin and off the grid living at in Wayne’s Coastal BC Stories  including Up the Lake, Farther Up the Lake, Cabin Number 5, Off the Grid and Off the Grid: Getting Started have lots of chapters about our cabin life on Powell Lake. -- Margy

Coastal BC Animals: Baby Buster

Garter Snake

Baby Buster hanging out in my thyme pot.

I've written about one of my cabin regulars several times, Buster the Garter Snake. He (or a look-alike) makes an annual appearance in May and hangs around until fall. This year, he showed up on the transition float a few weeks ago. It's a little late, but things seem to be happening slow this spring. I know it isn't last year's Buster because it's smaller, hence the name "Baby Buster."

You can read more about garter snakes at my other posts:

Buster the Garter Snake
Buster's Finally Back
Buster's Back... 
Coastal BC Reptiles: Common Garter Snake
 
Having a garter snake living on the garden float is good for organic gardening. Mice like to nibble nice tender shoots. Buster helps us keep them out of the garden area. Garter snakes also like to eat frogs. That helps keep the non-native bullfrog invasion under some control.

Baby Buster sunning on the deck.

Baby Buster is only about 50 centimetres (20 inches) long. He can grow up to about 1.5 metres (3.5 ft) long. His distinctive coloring is yellow stripes on a dark brown body. Always alert, his bright red forked tongue flicks out to monitor the surroundings. If disturbed, he slides through the cracks of the float to the shelter of the logs underneath. From there he can watch and listen for a quieter time to resurface and get back to soaking up the warm rays of spring sunshine.

Or take off for an undulating swim in the lake below. Click on the video above to watch him go.

Do you have garter snakes where you live? -- Margy

Coastal BC Animals: Velella Velella

Velella Velella
(By the Wind Sailors) 

In May I had a wonderful three day trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island in Coastal British Columbia. I went with my good friend, Yvonne Maximchuk. She lives up the coast in remote Echo Bay. She's an author, artist and potter. An amazing woman!

She met me at the Comox Ferry Terminal and we drove to both Tofino and Ucluelet on the west side of the island.

Long Beach at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

In the middle we stopped at Long Beach, part of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Velellas washed ashore.

As we walked the sandy beach, we discovered hundreds of thousands of small chitinous bodies. They were bunched together at the different high tide marks and quickly drying out. These were the remains of Velella velella commonly known as sail jellyfish or by-the-wind sailors.

Velella velella are in the Phylum Cnidaria and are related to anemones and jellyfish. Velellas are small, about 4-8 cm long. They have a flat oval body made of concentric circles of gas filled chitin chambers and an upward structure that serves as a sail to transport them across the ocean surface.

Interestingly, some Velellas have a right leaning 45 degree angle sail, and others have a left leaning sail.

Below the surface are specialized polyps for feeding, reproduction and defense. In this way, they are similar to the large jellyfish known as a Portuguese Man of War. Except Velelas are so small they don't have much of a sting.
  

They typically live far off shore, feeding on plankton. Occasionally redirected warm currents and/or strong winds will bring them ashore to die in massive amounts.

Yvonne holding a dried and fresh Velella velella.

So if you're walking a sandy beach and see what looks like oval bits of plastic, don't despair. It may not be litter, just the remains of small but numerous by-the-wind sailors. -- Margy