Crater Lake, Oregon vacation property build thread - BASE CAMP ⛺️

[Hojack]

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.

What he charge? Portable sawmill guys in Oregon are $90-$100 an hour.

 

[snobdds]

What he charge? Portable sawmill guys in Oregon are $90-$100 an hour.

That is so cheap. I wish we had someone that did that around here.

 

[iptman]

What he charge? Portable sawmill guys in Oregon are $90-$100 an hour.

$75/hour +$25/blade. I think he has a mobilization fee as well but he's based only 20 minutes away from me so he waved it.

 

[Hojack]

Got an early start and left home at 4:09am to take Snowball and Reload down to the property to start construction on the bathroom structure. An absolutely amazing sunrise in central Oregon.
Mt. Jefferson 10,495’ seen in the background right, Three Sisters Peaks to the left.

Made it to the property in just under 4 hours. My only stop was in Gilchrist to get some food and support local business.
A customer of mine got me some Aspen trees to plant on the property.

Getting the Aspen water from the hand pump on the well.

Getting ready to start the bathroom structure.

One wall was quickly up but my pumphouse structure needed some organization.
Haven’t felt rushed today like the time when I built the pumphouse structure in the cold and snow. It’s been way more relaxing and enjoyable with temps in the 70s and a nice breeze.

Really needed to organize the pumphouse materials as the rest of the 2x4x8 were under metal roofing panels and both doors.

Built a shelf to get the metal panels out of the way and was able to get the doors up right. The green Doug fir was still damp as the bottom door had a bit of condensation. The mild weather and wind outta help dry everything out.

Dog days of summer!!!
Reload and I went on a hike around the property. Had some food and I actually a nap... that never happens

Back to work, don’t you love it when man’s best friend lays down right in the work zone

Getting ready to knock the door wall in.

Got the door wall knocked in and it was time to camp! Headed back down end of June to finish the bathroom construction and camp with the family.

Rooftop tent up in less than a minute!

Some after work refreshment

Temps dropped into the mid 20s, the 1/4” of ice in my bucket shows just how cold it can still get east of Crater Lake National Park.

Planted 7 of the Aspen trees. These will provide some nice fall color and also break up the monotony of just a pure stand of Lodgepole Pine. Finished burning some slash and racking cleaning up the place after all the excavating. Best project I’ve ever had, but Project Snowball’s is a close second. Fun projects ahead will be a disc golf course and a mountain bike track.

As soon as I get this bathroom structure finished it’ll be time for cruiser campouts!

Crater Lake is amazing but so is a 32oz steak at Cowboy Dinner Tree!

Next trip planned for end of June. Currently getting pricing for power from the grid. Looks like $2-2,500 to get a transformer, wire and meter base with 100amp Service.

 

[snobdds]

Material management is the hardest part about building. Building is the easy part.

 

[nonstopbike]

Great update @Hojack .

MTB track and disc golf sound like a blast to cut in. Does Reload run mtb trails with y'all?

 

[Hojack]

Material management is the hardest part about building. Building is the easy part.

Especially in this COVID scamdemic

 

[Hojack]

Great update @Hojack .
MTB track and disc golf sound like a blast to cut in. Does Reload run mtb trails with y'all?

Reload does run trails with us.

In other news getting electrical plans in order the past week with the utility provider. Since I’ve got 3” conduit already installed on my well lot from the pole to my pumphouse I’ll be moving forward on that lot. I ran a conduit from my pumphouse to the bathhouse structure last year so will be able to supply power to that lot through the conduit. Power there is really cheap.

 

[aussie75series]

I pay $0.22 kwh and I live in town. Bastards only pay 7c for my solar.

 

[Hojack]

Headed to my property next Thursday for about week and a half.
List to remember to bring
Mini Excatator
5000W generator with 240v whip
CU-301 Pump Controller
4.4 gallon Pressure Tank
Pressure Tank Manifold
Plumbing/ electrical fittings
18-2x6x8 DF rafters
8-1x6x8 Cedar fence boards
Hurricane Ties
Nails/ Screws
1- Roll 30# felt paper
Frost proof yard hydrants
10’ step ladder

 

[samatulich]

I’ve enjoyed following along. Love seeing the progress, keep up the good work.

 

[Hojack]

Loaded up… it’s go time!

Left just after 4AM

Amazing sunrise… no surprise here in Oregon!

 

[boots4]

Perfect, time to dig a pool on your property with all this heat we're getting this weekend.

 

[Hojack]

Perfect, time to dig a pool on your property with all this heat we're getting this weekend.

I’ve got a galvanized water trough I bought last year for the horses I’ll be soaking in for sure!
Also bought 100’ of hose and 2 sprinklers

 

[boots4]

...Also bought 100’ of hose and 2 sprinklers

I can just see you setting up those sprinklers and running through them like a big kid smiling the whole time

I know you adjust to the weather pretty well due to your work but it's definitely smart that you'll have a way to cool down if needed. Sleeping out under the stars?

 

[Hojack]

I can just see you setting up those sprinklers and running through them like a big kid smiling the whole time

I know you adjust to the weather pretty well due to your work but it's definitely smart that you'll have a way to cool down if needed. Sleeping out under the stars?

I brought my chillax hammock

Amazing night under the stars and a huge full moon.

 

[Hojack]

Got to the property and setup the new rock crusher drum campfire pit

Started filling the galvanized water trough so I had a place to cool off. Also setup the sprinklers.

Installed the 4x6x16 beams, used the 2x4s to make sure the beams were all centered correctly.

Cooked BBQ chicken in the new campfire ring.

Kocked the front door into the pumphouse.

Just another enjoyable day at the property.

 

[Hojack]

Started early sheeting the walls before it got too hot.

Plumbing in the well pump pressure tank manifold and the hand pump supply line. The 45psi of pressure on the gauge is pressure from charging the system with only the hand pump.

Cut and threading the 4 - 1-1/4” S80 PVC lines that go to each of the 4 lots.

After installing the valves I decided to install a cartridge filter housing. I wanted a 20” bag filter housing but forgot it at work. Turned on the well and had 75 psi with 2 sprinklers running. I am running the pump direct of the generator. I love these SQE Grundfos 2 wire pumps because they can run off 240v without a controller. Tomorrow I’ll wire in the CU-301 constant pressure controller.

During the heat of the day I played on the mini excavator and cleaned up the piles of firewood.

 

[Hojack]

Even out in the woods there’s nothing like the sound of sprinklers.

Got water going on the lines out towards the bathroom structure.

As the heat of the day passed and was shady and a bit cooler it was time to start hand cut rafters.

Mocking up my pattern rafter.

Quickly knocked in 3 before it was time for dinner

 

[Hojack]

The full moon was amazing to see last night. Got up about 4am and had light breakfast before hand cutting more rafters. It’s amazing when I got the lumber in April it was wet enough that the lumber didn’t split… well it tends to split easy now. One split birds mouth notch and decided to pre drill the holes through the rafter to prevent more splitting. Worked great.

I know they say, “Diamonds are a women’s best friend”… well a fine tool is man’s best friend!

I ordered 4x6x16 Doug Fir beans but was delivered 18’ for the same price. Not bad but I only had 2 of the 6 that were straight. Working with twisted lumber especially beams sucks because there’s not a lot to do. That’s where the fine tool came in super handy on the birds mouth cuts.

Fiddler on the roof in the hot sun already… it’s not even 8am…

But that summer sun is blazing hot

Knocked out all the west side rafters and started working on wiring in my pump controller in the pumphouse where it was much cooler.