Survival cabin

dipbait

dipbait

Joined
Feb 9, 2008
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Ive been thinking about a cabin a lot lately. Someplace to spend a lot of time in the outdoors and also a place to stay if the elctrical system has shut down.Small but big enough for a family of three .It should have electricity,propane and water
but also liveable without them. Something inexpensive and low maintenence. No basement to leak. One small bath/utility room. Kitchen, dining,living ,all one room. Two small bedrooms.I stayed in one like this near the Black Hills and been thinking of it ever since. It was small but laid out real nice


Id like a spring nearby,or a well. Two full propane tanks to heat a whole winter. A wood stove ,root cellar,outhouse...Located near a river.Kerosene lamps.Septic system.

Do any of you own something similar?If designing one what features would you want?

I may be able to purchase twenty acres cheap . It may never come to pass , but if finances take an upward turn it may.
 
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Some good friends of mine have something like that in northern MI. We have had a lot of good times there. It has electricity, wood heat, propane for cooking, a pump for water and a hand pump backup. There is an outhouse in back, a spring nearby, and it's on a river. It is perfect.

A camping trailer would be easy and cheap to make into a cabin, I think. There is an abandoned Airstream in the woods behind my house that someone had done that with.
 
Sounds like my grandfathers cabin. He used cement batch test cylinders for the foundation. Has a propane stove, fridge and water heater. The stream nearby stays pretty cold year round though if there isn't propane. Spring fed water supply. It is wired for electricity and in the evenings we used to run a generator. Several years ago my father and his brothers set up a Pelton wheel generator w/ a battery bank. It works really well for light in the evenings. No phone. Cell service is spotty at best. Perfect place to get away, except for the line of million dollar "cabins" down canyon.
 
I've got a cabin on my place. It has a drilled well with a hand pump.

It is wired for electricty and has an apt size electric stove but no indoor plumbing, but it does have a sink to wash dishes. It has a huge wood stove without a blower that has a huge flat top you could cook on in a pinch.

But my own house across the hollow while modern I also have 2 gas refrigerators that run on gas from my gas well on my land, a dug well I can get water from if the public water is cut off, and kerosene heaters and my house is heated with gas space heaters that require no electricty to run.

My house from my lower hayfield
snowxr.jpg


Fire cooking pit in my back yard:
mp3cx.jpg
 
dipbait said:
Ive been thinking about a cabin a lot lately. Someplace to spend a lot of time in the outdoors and also a place to stay if the elctrical system has shut down.Small but big enough for a family of three .It should have electricity,propane and water
but also liveable without them. Something inexpensive and low maintenence. No basement to leak. One small bath/utility room. Kitchen, dining,living ,all one room. Two small bedrooms.I stayed in one like this near the Black Hills and been thinking of it ever since. It was small but laid out real nice


Id like a spring nearby,or a well. Two full propane tanks to heat a whole winter. A wood stove ,root cellar,outhouse...Located near a river.Kerosene lamps.Septic system.

Do any of you own something similar?If designing one what features would you want?

I may be able to purchase twenty acres cheap . It may never come to pass , but if finances take an upward turn it may.
Click to expand...

Take a look at the Owner-Builder Forum over at countryplans.com. There are lots of guys building projects like that so it is a great place for inspiration and to get questions answered.
 
I wanna build something similar out of straw bale construction with a rocket stove for heat/cooking.
 
I've been reading about those shipping containers more and more. I would love to submerge one and seal it for "DOOMSDAY". Lots of inexpensive options out there if you're willing to put in the work for your own cabin. They can be built for a few grand too (cabins, not shipping containers-those are cheaper). I hope you're able to secure the land.
 
Sounds like a slightly upscaled version of a cabin I have in Southern Ohio. There isn't any bedrooms in it, other then that.. it is pretty close to what you want. Although if I were to live there I would make it a wee bit larger.
 
I would add a wraparound porch partially for the extra space but mainly for the extra cooling from the extra shade the overhanging roof would supply.
 
You need 2 books, that will explain it all for you. The 50 Dollar Underground House, and The Wilderness Cabin. Between the two of em (cover to cover reads in one sitting) you will discover a wealth of information that will get you started on the right foot.
 
There is a caboose used as a cabin outside Colville, WA. I used to have a picture of it. I will look for it and post it if I can find it.
 
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