141–150 of 405 posts
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Why do you assume he'd want to prevent locals from visiting?
You never met a bored teenager... have you? Of course it is Canada... maybe they aren't as awful.
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Yes, next summer we'll have a drone to survey everything. This trip was just to inspect before purchasing and explore a little bit. The mainland neighbor we met was pretty confident no one would ever go to the island without permission. He's lived there his whole life, works as a fisherman in the bay, and has never seen anyone else on it. Even so-- we'll put up signs and not mind too much if people use our fire pit w…
I've spent a fair bit of time kicking around Maine islands over the years, which are a lot more likely to have random visitors. One really weird phenomenon is that locked cabins tend to have more vandalism problems than unlocked cabins with a guestbook for visitors. I've never quite figured out what this says about human nature. Maine's liability laws are excellent. They basically say, "So you hurt yourself? And you…
An old joke is this: If you have something you want to get rid of, put it by the curb with a "FREE" sign on it. If it is still there the next day, put a "For Sale" sign on it and someone will "steal" it that night.
A few years ago I was looking into this as well, but in the Philippines -- there were a ton of amazingly beautiful and affordable islands in the Palawan region... the problem was getting stuff/services onto the island. Getting power, water, sewer made the cost extremely high. Even with Solar/Septic - getting equipment and suplpies was just far too much for me to undertake and afford. So CONGRATS on succeeding. How mu…
Do you have more precise details on the costs involved with that Philippine island idea? What kind of numbers?
There were islands in Palawan fro sale at the time that were uttery perfect for ~$35,000 USD - large enough for a house, had a really nice beach etc...
The problem was that in the northern part of Palawan, you either need to ship from Manilla, or fly stuff in.
The islands were too small/rocky to be able to have a well, so water was an issue - as was power - you'd need to basically have solar/wind/generator (which meant boating in fuel regularly).
So - I don't have exact numbers - but it made buying an Island for ~35K really mean that you'd need ~$250K+ to really accomplish something.
Lots of widowmakers there judging by the pictures, better be careful. One thing you learn quickly when you live remote is that the nearest hospital is very far away both in space and in time and stuff that is routine in a city can get serious (or even kill you) when you're living remote. Still, congratulations, I can really relate to how you guys feel. In case there are more island enthousiasts here: http://www.priva…
A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.
Bonus is that you'll get some good maps out of it:)
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> Sweetwater well on a saltwater island this size is a rare thing. Not at all. It's not uncommon to have a fresh water table beneath the surface of an area dotted with islands. If you doubt this, ask yourself where the tree's roots go, and how those salt-intolerant trees survive. I live 100 feet from salt water in Washington State and I have a perfectly reliable fresh-water well.
Living on the mainland near the sea is not the same as living on a very small island more than a few hundred meters off-shore. See, the mainland has sweetwater running under it all the way to the sea shore and even a little bit beyond, depth and density will vary but it is always there. But a small island surrounded by ocean need not be like that, more than likely it is of a rocky composition (otherwise it would simp…
Not really. It's a matter of drilling carefully:
http://geography.about.com/library/misc/ucghyben.htm
"On low, small islands that are largely composed of coral or other porous materials, salt water intrusion into the underlying interior is quite common. The drilling or digging of wells on these islands and especially on along the shoreline must be done with care [emphasis added]."
Notice that the author didn't say "pointless."
Most reasonably-sized islands have a subsurface fresh water source. The presence of salt-intolerant trees tells you there's fresh water available beneath the surface.
> ... assuming you can get at it in a useful quantities, will need a lot of processing before you can use it.
If that were true, it would kill the trees. I know a number of locations in Alaska near salt water where, because of geological changes resulting from the 1964 earthquake, even though the surface is dry there's no subsurface fresh water at all, and all the trees promptly died. Those locations are rare.
It's not nearly as simple as drilling a well far from salt water, but it can be done.
This is awesome. I always wanted to do something like this as long as I can remember, build something (more or less) self-sustaining in the middle of nowhere to feel fully independent. I am really curious to what extent the author plans on living there? Will there be houses next to the communal building? Solar Panels? A Generator? An on-site well? It is this Idea of your own small ecosystem which makes Minecraft so a…
Thanks! At first it will be a summer-only thing, but we hope over 5-10 years to make it sustainable all year round. We want to use it mainly as a place to work together and get away from cities. Next summer we will be putting up a 30' yurt, a huge battery bank, and a generator. Water is the hardest, so we'll probably have to catch rain and use a desalinator. Oh-- we have awesome LTE and 4G coverage there, too!
I don't know how much knowledge you have about desalinators, but here is a FAQ by the company that makes the reverse osmosis unit that I use at work: http://www.searecovery.com/marine/src_faqs.html Being so close to land, you will need a way to sterilize the water. A UV attachment should work.
I also recommend taking a course in Wilderness First Aid. I took a 70 Hour Wilderness First Responder course by Wilderness Medical Associates. It was an excellent course.
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I suspect he meant "widowmakers" in the "bits of tree that can suddenly fall and kill you" sense, not spider sense: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widowmaker_(forestry)
Yep. And suddenly fall they do (gust of wind, guy playing around with a chainsaw at the base, random chance).
I was struck by the "climate does not matter" part - I have always assumed Canada will be one of the 22nd century's big winners in climate change terms (lots of nice melted permafrost agricultural land and an extra 6 degrees would be balmy) the upshot of this is I assumed land north of Toronto is always going to be a good buy for grand children. am I thinking too small?