Spending time at the Cabin is all about relaxing, and fishing, and maintenance, and yard word, and recreation, and family visits, but let’s talk about multiple seating areas.

Depending on the situation, we have created multiple seating areas, each with their own purpose. We don’t count the inside. Outside we have the Main Deck, the Upper Deck, the Waterfront Patio, the Fire Pit.

The Main Deck

This is where we spend most of our time. We can subdivide this into further areas and as you can see from the images, we have a sun lounging area, an eating table area, the BBQ area, and the shady side-by-side area. The lounging area is for the sun lovers, or when we have a family group here at the cabin and the group spreads out all across the Main Deck. When it’s just two of us, we usually spend some time soaking up the rays in the afternoon. The eating table also serves the purpose of being a games table and anything else that needs to be done, including a woodworking carpentry table when needed. The shady side-by-side is our relax area, a morning coffee area, and sometimes my office. We call it the side-by-side, or the two-seater, which is normally a term for an ATV, but we don’t have one of those, so when I built the side-by-side table, I named it the side-by-side for fun and it just stuck. I added a laser-printed center table top to give it a bit of personalization. The BBQ area, it not a sitting area, just a place people head towards to grab a beverage from the cooler, throw away some garbage, or grab some eats from the BBQ.

The Upper Deck

It’s all about the view. This area is more for the two of us. It’s a morning coffee spot, an afternoon sun seeker spot, and an evening drink spot. It features the best view of the lake, especially the best view of sun rises and when fireworks are happening down the beach from us it a good viewing spot.

The Waterfront Patio

This one came about via happy accident. We had bought some new dock sections and we had a few old dock sections no longer needed, including legs. We couldn’t figure what to do with them then one day we were kayaking down the shoreline and we saw another cabin with a deck section stretching out towards the water with legs to level it out and we the idea that we could do that, just put the legs in the water. Our Waterfront Patio idea was born. We have modified the way the sections fit together, added an umbrella, and it’s a great spot for mid-day when the breeze feels just right and one-too many beverages make operating anything with a motor less legal.

The Fire Pit

The Fire Pit is now in it’s third location and third design. We started with a pit dug into the front yard and ringed with bricks. It was in the way every time we went up and down the hill, from cabin to dock. So we moved it to another spot, in the front yard, in front of the Main Deck and built it with large concrete fire pit blocks. It was better, but in the way of playing some game in the front yard like corn hole and testicle toss (I just looked it up, the proper name of that game is ladder toss). So we carved out a section of our tree/bush area, added some fill and topped with gravel, and built up the fire pit blocks ringed with the bricks from design version 1. In the following year we added some lattice and lights to make a slightly sheltered gathering spot with ample seating.  It’s a nice spot for the cool evenings. Some logs blazing, smores melting, cool drinks. While not as often as summer, we do put it to use in the winter as well, just needs some snow clearing.

The 1st day of summer is here, was here, and has come and gone.

The Prep Work

Every year we go through the prepping for summer tasks. Getting the boat and Sea Doos out of storage, filling the gas cans, moving furniture from storage to the deck, to the lake front patio and to the firepit. Its not the prep work that we look forward to, its what we are prepping for, summer glorious glorious summer.

Repositioning the Dock

One of the extra tasks this year was moving the dock after the high water flowed out of the lake. We are positioned as the headwaters of the Carrot River system. Any water that flows over the dyke at the far end of the lake flow into that river. This year, with heavy snow, late thaw, and a couple of May snow storms, water levels began about 12″ – 15″ higher than normal. I had help in late May putting out the dock and the boat lift. It was my hope, without any real knowledge to base that hope on, that the dock would be good for a few months, until it inevitably would need to be moved out from shore as the water levels drop.

Later came sooner. I went out to the cabin, solo trip, to spend a few days. Shortly after arrival, I discovered the front Sea Doo not floating but with the nose end resting on the shore.

Solo trip = solo effort to move the dock. I had this all worked out in my head, how two of us were going to do it. I decided to give it a shot.

• move the Sea Doos out of the way
• remove the aluminum channels
• remove the deck board sections
• think, think, think
• unbolt the far 2 sections from the mid-section (I left the deepest 2 sections connected)
• think, drink a beer
• use float barrels to hold the deepest legs above the lake bed and marvel at the ingenuity
• position the deepest sections
• bolt on the mid-section
• drink a beer
• remove the float barrels
• pull out ramp section #2 to the mid-section
• take ramp section #1 out from under the cabin deck and connect to ramp #2
• take a break, until tomorrow
• pour a whisky and pat myself on the back for being 80% done
• put the decking panels back on
• reattach the aluminum channel
• put the Sea Doos back

By the time it was all done, probably about 3 to 3-1/2 hours of work. Give me one person, younger and more agile than me, and we could have done in an hour and a half.

Glorious Summer Time is Here

Now it’s summer time. I took the boat out, caught a Northern Pike on my fly rod. I took a Sea Doo out, cruised half the lake and enjoyed the scenery. Wow, there are a number of cabins that still do not have their docks out, many that have the dock out but not the boat yet. Summer will be shorter than usually, work hard to cram in all the relaxing we deserve.

Today’s lesson in remote boat repairs was definitely a lesson learned through recent experience. The lesson is pretty simple, if the boat is in a remote location (such as at your cabin, especially your dock, not your driveway at home), bring all the parts, including extras, and smaller and larger.

It’s expensive and time wasting to have to drive 100+ km to get a few $3 parts because the dealer told you the wrong part initially, really its a lesson in any remote work, bring extra. You can return the unneeded parts at a later date, if they are expensive.

This learning experience started on the day we finished putting in the dock and boat lift. With those in place, time to launch the Sea-Doos and boat. The boat was sluggish, very heavy feeling, like it was weighted down in the back. Flipping the back bench seat up to expose the engine compartment revealed it was full of water. Several possible reasons, that I could think of.

1. Drain plug damaged or not screwed in. I had checked it and my wife had checked it. Unlikely.
2. Engine drain plugs damaged or not replaced. I’ve never not put them back in, so also unlikely.
3. Loose or damaged coolant hose.

I ran the bilge and that helped reduce the amount of water and I was able to get to the cabin and park on the lift. Some investigation followed and I ruled out the main drain plug as well as the engine drain plugs. When running the engine with the leg in water for cooling water intake, I could see water spraying from the right side of the engine (when facing the front). To me, this meant most likely a loose or damaged hose. I lowered my phone down to take a video of the area and I could see it was entirely something else.

IMG_0761

That the hole left behind when an engine frost plug (many other names) blows out. Likely due to a bad job of winterizing by me. I needed a part.

The boat motor is a Chevy motor, branded a Tahoe Bravo but it’s a Chevy 4.3 litre engine. I was taking my wife’s Chevy to the dealership for a free oil change so I figured I would get the part there. They did not have one but suggested Bumper to Bumper and provided me a part number. So that was my next stop and then off to the cabin later in the day for some fishing and work around the yard.

Inexpensive part. Tough spot to get at, underside of the engine, restricted area. That didn’t matter as the part spec’d by the parts expert at the Chevy dealership was the part that would fit my wife’s truck, not the much older engine in the boat. Yes, I told him what I needed it for, and he gave me the wrong part number. Of course, I only found this out when I attempted to test fit the part, on the boat, at the cabin. So it was back to Saskatoon Bumper to Bumper to get the proper part. A 2 hour round trip, plus time in store, so 2-1/2 hours of unproductive time. I did prior to the trip, call other suppliers closer but nobody had then in stock.  I did think ahead a little bit.  It’s a really tough spot on the engine to access. Probably far easier if not for all the fiberglass of a boat in the way, say if on a vehicle on a lift. Impossible to get 2 hands down there and to see what you are doing. So the repair process was going to be awkward and most by feel rather than by sight. So, again, thinking ahead, I bought the next 3 sizes of the part, 1-1/2″, 1-5/8″ and 1-3/4″, and 2 of each. Only a few $’s each part and much less of an expense than another trip to get another size.

After many attempts that day to get the part installed, I realized that there was no way I could think of to get enough force on the part, at the right angle, to tap this into place. I constructed a few elaborate mechanisms to hold the part in place, most consisting of a wooden stake so I could position the part, duct taped to a ratchet extension, to a socket, duck taped to the part I was trying to tap in. I simply cold not get a long enough hammer swing to provide enough force, to get the part to seat into the hole. Many other combinations of shorter shafts, and my max swing range was about 2-1/2″ inches. I gave up for the day, but began to devise new combinations of pieces and wood, and tools to try again the next day, that day was a failure as well.

Finally I decided to extend my parts search on the wonderful tool of Google and came across another part that showed some promise. It was a rubber based piece that expanded when the nut was turned.

This looked like the last possible solution, but it was Saturday evening, no time to get to the parts store, which was closed on Sunday. I had a buddy coming to town on Monday, to go to the cabin, to go fishing. So Monday morning I went to the parts store and bought the recommended size, based on the other part that I knew was the right size, plus on smaller, plus on larger. Within 15 minutes of arriving at the cabin that evening, all supplies had been unloaded and we had the part in place and tightened with a socket wrench and the boat was running, no extra water gushing out of the engine block. The Fishing Trip, which had been in jeopardy, was on. We fished. We ate well, and I was relieved, after much frustration, and an important lesson learned.

Next time I have a boat repair, or any repair of any type, at the cabin, I will have all the parts, in a range of sizes, bring too many tools, and hope I can get the repair done.

From yardwork cleanup to taking furniture out of storage, the start of Spring is also the start of the work season.  This season has seen a huge delay in getting started. I usually aim for being one of the first to get the dock and boat lift set up so that I can take the boat fishing on May 5th, Opening Day.  Here’s the lake, April 28th, May 1st, then May 8th this year.

Fast forward to May 16th and my neighbour sent me a video of the blizzard currently happening. However, he did report the ice was off our end of the lake.

may-16-blizzard

Fast forward again to just a week later, May 21 and May 22nd and all was clear and the dock / lift staging was finally happening.

Got the ramp in, the start of putting out the dock, about as much as I want to do just by myself. But it did give me room to do a bit of casting and catch this mighty perch, along with some others.

But progress was made towards the delayed start to spring. The water is open! The lawn was power raked, the lawnmower is set to go. Wood is stacked, firepit is cleared.

The weather forecast for the next 7 days looks like we are just going to jump right past the lateness of Spring and right into summer.  30 degree days are coming so park the snowmobile, set up the deck furniture, and get the dock, lift and water toys launched this coming weekend.

We will add an update, or a new blog post, after this weekend once we get the dock and boat lift set up and the floaty toys floating.