ALMOST bug proof!

We didn't leave Fairbanks until almost 11am on Saturday, but it was a gorgeous day....sunny and hot. Once we got to the river there was a bit of a breeze on the river that kept things bearable.

That afternoon we got one of the gable ends enclosed, started on the soffits, installed REAL stairs and got our used windows all cleaned up before a big thunderstorm moved through in the evening; lightning and everything. The kids and Tekla holed up in their tent and played cards while Mike and I sat up in the cabin and enjoyed a bottle of wine while watching the sky show.

completed soffit & gable end

Sunday morning started out cloudy and then it started to rain pretty steadily. We worked in raingear for a couple hours, but by 1pm it was clearing and it ended up being a quite pleasant afternoon/ evening. We finished enclosing the gable ends, almost finished the soffits (our Dewalt batteries ran out of juice), installed the last two windows and the door. Piper even helped me plant my irises I hauled out from Totek Lake a couple weeks ago. They should grow great on the DCR!

Inside1

Inside2

We also had some Fairbanks friends show up Sunday afternoon, they were nice enough to lend an extra pair of hands for the windows & door installation....they also took all the kids out for a boat ride & a little fishing....nice!

June 26

We've been having a great time building this month on the DCR, but we are definitely looking forward to the July 4th weekend on the Teklanika!

Shingles & Windows

We left Fairbanks about 9am on Saturday, then after a not-so-quick stop at the bakery/ coffee shop we were on our way to Delta. This weekend's expedition was quite ambitious: getting the shingles on and installing the windows. We had no idea how long the shingles would take since we had never done that before (we put a metal roof on the Tek cabin). After getting the boat unloaded we got the tar paper installed quite quickly & then began the rows of shingles. We found that they are relatively easy to install, but definitely take some time.

At about 8pm we decided to have some dinner and call it quits for the evening. It was such a beautiful night that after dinner we went and did a little fishing. there was a HUGE midge hatch going on, we had better luck with the fly rods rather than jigs.

Fishing under the midnight sun!

Sunday morning we got up and surprised Mike with donuts & a Fathers Day card; then got straight to work on the shingles. The morning started out hot and sunny, but then it clouded up and sprinkled a bit in the afternoon. Luckily we were able to finish up the roof, and it turned out great!

Travis also finished up the new outhouse hole he has been working on the last few weeks. Once he hit groundwater we told him it was deep enough.

Travis dug the whole hole himself!

After finishing up the shingles we managed to get two of the four windows installed. We held off on the other two because they are the ones a friend gave us and they need a little scraping & cleaning before we put them in (they have some old silicone & spray insulation still stuck to them)....we just ran out of time....but once we get them cleaned up it'll be a quick install.

June 19

...we also wanted to make sure we made it to the Delta Buffalo Drive In before they closed at 9:30pm! We made it! Burgers & shakes.....YUUUMMMMMY!

So we were late getting home last night, but well worth it to have the roof totally done.

Rafters & Roof

Once again we had a productive weekend on the river - we managed to get a ridge beam manufactured onsite -- basically made a homebrew "glu-lam beam" with multiple full length 2x8's, a caulking gun tube full of Liquid Nails, and about 3 dozen regular nails courtesy of the Paslode nail gun.  Built up a model of the gable end rafter supports and calc'd that we were going to do a 3/12 pitch roof, the minimum needed for good drainage of asphalt shingle, but yet easy enough to run around on w/o worry about slipping.

Once the beam glue dried we pre-hung the rafter hangers (metal brackets) and hoisted the beam up, them commenced with cutting rafters to pitch and hanging each one individually.  We had to use an old fashioned hammer as the Paslode doesn't have a way to drive nails into the brackets. 

After rafters went up we broke for lunch then went back to it and sheathed the roof as well.  This is different than our last cabin as we used purlins rather than sheathing as the nailing surface for the final covering - on this one we're planning on simple shingles so needed to change plans.

We ended up being a bit short on tar paper so decided to just re-tarp (what is an Alaskan building without at least a little blue tarp showing?) the whole shebang and actually sneak in a little fishing at the end of the day.  A final stop at the Buffalo Diner for a burger and malt on the way back to Fairbanks was in order and we got back to the house around 9 PM or so.

Walls!

Great weekend progress on our new fishin' shack.

When we got to the DCR lot on Saturday morning we found that the wind had totally destroyed our big tent that we had left up on the platform...it broke the eyebolts we had the tent tied down to, bent & broke a bunch of the poles, and ripped a couple huge holes in the nylon. Bummer! Luckily we were able to scab together a makeshift bug free shelter for Mike and I out of the salvageable parts and the kids used our emergency tent that we keep stashed in the boat. So not a huge deal. 



Broken Tent



MacGyver Tent

After we unloaded all the 2x4s (65 @ 2x4x8 + 6 @ 2x4x12 + 6 @ 2x4x16), we boated back up to the launch and met some friends of ours from Fairbanks, they had come down for the day to see our lot and do some fishing. They helped us load all the siding (14 sheets of T-1-11) & our camping gear into the boat and then we put EVERYONE in the boat. We were testing to see if we could get on step with that much of a load...and YES, we could!! 4 adults, 5 kids, 2 dogs, all the siding & camping gear!! WOW!!

We headed to the lot, unloaded all the gear than our buddy Tim SUPed down the river to the lot (Stand up Paddling...on a SURFboard!), I don't think I have ever seen a surfboard on the DCR.

Piper and Nora had a great time playing on it too...although they were careful not to fall off....the spring fed water in the DCR is literally ICE cold!

They boys went down river and did a little fishin' it was pretty hot so there weren't a lot of bites, but Mike caught a nice golden colored grayling...

After everyone left in the afternoon we got a start on the walls & had 2.5 of them framed up by 10pm (with a dinner break for bison chili & cornbread)....gotta LOVE our LONG summer days!

Sunday we worked all day to get the wall framing complete. The kids are big enough now so they were able to help lift & brace the walls, they also took camp all apart while Mike and I were finishing the framing & sheathing. Big helpers!!


Tekla the Supervisor

View from River

Our Delta friends Brandy and Ross were nice enough to invite us over for a BBQ after we were done....musk ox steaks! Sooo tasty! We got home about 11pm....