Crater Lake, Oregon vacation property build thread - BASE CAMP ⛺️ (2 Viewers)

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I posted the previous post late Saturday night. I need to update after those pics on Friday.
Afternoon on Friday I was talking to my neighbor Justin at my lot when Travis called me and said he fell off his ladder and may have broke or majorly sprained his ankle. I cruise down to his property and take him back to my property. Fill a bucket with ice cold well water and have him soak his ankle.
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Travis could move it but had serious pain. He didn’t feel the need to go to the hospital so I ran down to his lot and picked up all his tools. Got back and Travis said to just finish working on my roof. He was very upset about falling and hurting himself. He said he tried to keep working but knew he couldn’t.
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I laid cut the center ridge for venting and laid the metal Loc Seam panels. This color is Hunter Green.
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Travis hanging at the campfire as we prepare dinner.
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Elk brawts and chili.
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After dinner I finished the west side panels. Then had to trim the panels off with angle grinder on the north side to fit the drip edge flashing.
 
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We planned to campout at the property but with the condition of Travis’s ankle we felt it was better to sleep down the road at the Whispering Pines Motel. We’ve stayed here several times when we’ve come down to slash burn in the winter.
The owner resembles Kathy Bates from the movie Misery. With Travis’s ankle being busted up just made it even more coincidental. She has only VHS movies that you can pick from. The motel isn’t horrible but Travis and I always joke about it being a perfect place to film a horror movie. The mixed matched color fluorescent lights outside give the place that slasher movie feel. Inside each room is different. We typically get the typical mountain motel room #6. She handed me the keys and said room #7. Go down to #7 and open the door. Inside has a cottage feeling. The beds were stripped so I walk to the office. She says, “silly me, did I say 7, I mean’t 4.” Well she put us in room 4, the honeymoon sweet. Everything from the bedding to the decor had honeymoon era 1970s written all over it. Thank God it had 2 beds!
Travis took some ibuprofen and went out like a light. I eventually fell asleep to wake up to a thud and and owe! As I barely see Travis in the dark fall to his knees and baby crawl to the bathroom and manage to take a leak. After that it was off and on sleep and him sawing terrible logs. Morning eventually came and I was somewhat ready for another sleep deprived work day. We did score Travis some crutches at the Whispering Pines. The owner was kind enough to let him use them for the weekend.
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Travis and I making breakfast, I liked this pic because it captures what he really was feeling inside. We did have a great time and it helped when I made him laugh.
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Poached eggs and bacon. Right after breakfast Travis threw up and then threw up some blood. The Ibuprofen was making his stomach bleed.
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Installed the foam to help vent the roof under the ridge cap.
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Travis snoozing on his cot, poor guy. I felt so bad for him. We are a lot alike and he was hoping to have his roof finished this weekend also.
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Completed metal roof.
 
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This weekend I was really wanting to get started on the bathroom structure but having Travis get hurt I decided to finish his roof too. As far as Travis got before he got injured.
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The ditch to the right is where we ran the waterline and conduit from the well into the building. I didn’t have a wirsbo connection so had to leave it open until I could connect the pipe. My bathroom structure is the same. Unfortunately this is where Travis fell into and caused his injury.
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Travis also had many low hanging branches so used the Stihl pole saw to cut the limbs above his building.
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Working on his metal roof lifted his spirits and he was like a new man helping cut the panels while I installed them.
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View of Travis’s lot.
 
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That's what its about right there! Buddy system paid off in dividends on that. You can't have a horror film without some cheesy room decorations. And he already halfway hobbled himself, kept Kathy at bay.

Heal up Travis, what color are we calling his metal roof?

Successful trip down there, albeit with the injury.
 
It sucks to get hurt while building a place. I tripped on a rock once and I had my impact gun in my hand so I didn't want to break that so I tied to use my other hand to break my fall. I broke my hand and that shut down building for the day. Sometimes it's better to not be in a rush. I know it's hard when your place is far from home and your trying to get things done.
 
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Saturday night and a relaxing campfire after knocking in the front door in Travis’s building.
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What a great project. Travis injury was far from his mind looking at his new building.

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Cooking burgers over an open fire.
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First night camping out in the pumphouse.
 
That's what its about right there! Buddy system paid off in dividends on that. You can't have a horror film without some cheesy room decorations. And he already halfway hobbled himself, kept Kathy at bay.

Heal up Travis, what color are we calling his metal roof?

Successful trip down there, albeit with the injury.
His metal roof color is brick red
 
I’m jealous of your progress, I have so much to do before I can build anything. You have a very level, clean, sparse forest. Ours is none of that.
 
I’m jealous of your progress, I have so much to do before I can build anything. You have a very level, clean, sparse forest. Ours is none of that.
Unfortunately I love to work. The previous owner of my well lot did a great job limbing the lower limbs on the trees and cutting down the brush. My septic lot has a lot of downfall. I need to bring my tractor there with the bearcat wood chipper and chip the wood. The back 2 lots I have not really spent much time back there other than building a bike trail for the kids. I’ll be taking a week off here soon and starting the bathroom structure. Plan to fence the property. Build a ranch style entryway and gate. Setup a Bosc golf course and build more trails. Really enjoy just thinking of what to do next.
 
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While my dad was at his property in eastern Oregon he found these rock crusher rings from a plant near his property. He set it up on the patio along the Columbia River and it made a perfect fire pit.
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While he was up there last weekend they had another one in great shape so he brought it home to take to the property.

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Talk about heavy duty. Takes our mini excavator to be able to move it. Solid steel and must weigh 800 pounds.
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The only way it works, is to love work.

I lost count of how many days we started at 7 and ended at 7. Going to bed with a leg twitch because your muscles were so fatigued. It's amazing how a body can adapt to 5 days of that. Then I went back to work to relax.
 
Went onto the Woodmizer site and saw the LT28 had a free log deck upgrade. This package has log ramps and a pulley system and log turner that will make handling logs much easier. The construction and trailer are also more rugged than the LT15. The log deck upgrade is normally an extra $1095.
Since visiting my buddy Jason with his LT15 and hearing how it’s a chore to rotate the logs I decided to change my order today to be better equipped to handle logs. Another plus is that the LT28 unit comes fully assembled unlike the LT15 with trailer upgrade that has to be assembled when it arrives.
LT28 Portable Sawmill | Wood-Mizer USA - https://woodmizer.com/us/LT28-Portable-Sawmill
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LT28 Portable Sawmill​

Starting at $14,135
Road-ready portable sawmill with manual log handling, crank feed, gas/diesel power, 32” log diameter, 21’ log length and production up to 350 bf/hr.
As Low As $288/Mo Payment†
BUILD & PRICE
Request Catalog

Improve Manual Log Handling with FREE Log Deck Package($1,095 Value).




Road-Ready Portable Sawmill with Patented Cantilever Sawmill Design​

Combining the patented Wood-Mizer cantilever sawmill design with manual log handling, the LT28 portable sawmill allows for minimal leveling during set-up, easy off-bearing with the trapezoid shaped bed, and sawing of odd shaped logs. The LT28 is completely portable and ready for road travel with a standard single axle trailer. Six adjustable outriggers allow for quick set-up and simple leveling of the bed prior to sawing.


Operation​

Logs are loaded and turned manually with a cant hook. An optional log deck package includes a manual winch, log turner, and toeboards to assist with loading, turning, and leveling logs on the bed. Once loaded, logs are secured by four side supports and one fully adjustable log clamp that tightly clamp the log and allow for cuts within 1" of the bed. To prepare for cutting, head height is precisely positioned by a quick turn of the up/down dial and the blade is effortlessly engaged with a handle. Cutting is accomplished by steadily advancing the sawmill head along the length of the log by turning a low maintenance, hand-crank feed system which runs on a rope instead of a cable. A power feed is available as an optional upgrade. Once the cut is completed, the head is raised up, pulled back and lowered into position for the next cut. A water tank feeds lubrication directly to the blade to improve cutting performance and keep the blade clean. The adjustable blade guide arm keeps the blade well supported while cutting various sized material. Blade tension is easily adjusted, and keeps the blade at the proper tension for cutting.
 
A friend just picked up a new LT15 last fall and we had a chance to play around with it a bit before it started snowing. Pretty impressive machine and very cool to be able to mill your own lumber. He has a ton of old growth pine and cedar on his property. He did regret not going with a trailer for the log deck. Manually turning large logs can be tough too, especially with just 1 person.
 
I just had some red and white oak logs milled a couple weeks ago. Found a local sawyer who comes onsite for an hourly fee plus blades used. He had an LT40 with the full hydraulics package. It was amazing how efficient he could be with the hydraulic log loader, log turner dogs, log levelers and supports. So impressive to watch this guy work. He said he just put an order in with Wood-Mizer for an LT50 with the diesel option and was told November at the earliest. It took me a month to get on his calendar and he said he's now booked through August. He just started this side gig a year ago, clearly this was an untapped market in our area. If you have any thoughts about using the mill as a side gig you may want to consider one with hydraulics. It took this guy about 12 hours over 2 days to mill this pile of logs and he used up 5 blades. Also, offloading the milled boards would have SUCKED without the tractor.

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Edit: The log on the ground with with 2 sides cut had a lighting strike some time in its past and was checked and burned up and down the inside of its trunk. Pretty cool to see but sucked to have to turn an otherwise beautiful white oak log in to firewood.
 
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