The improved fish camp thread

[Sculpin]

After 5 years of owning my lot at Salmon Beach I am finally doing something with her. The missed time fishing will pay off big time in the future.

She was a very basic camp before. I put an old rammer trailer on her that was good for two full sized fisherman to get out of the weather and that was it. None of the appliances worked, no power, no services, nothing.......

Here's Bart (aka chipstealer) during our first outing last year in the monsoon rains.



This June pulling the old gal out to get ready for the blitz.



My buddy Steve and I cut down and burned as much as we could before our buddy showed up with his rig.





I had to find out where the new dump site was and drove around quite a bit to finally find it. I talked to the local guy up there that has rights to it with the Ministry etc. and had to drive our excavator buddy out there and show him the spot. We passed this bear on the way. It wasn't scared of us one bit. Weird for a young one. They usually wonder off right away when you pull up.



Continued......

 

[Sculpin]

We put in three 12 hour days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Our buddy with the rig is an animal!!! I am sooooo sore from chain sawing, running around with shovels, and rakes etc.. Felt like I was 20 something again and lived to tell about it lol.

Getting at her with the blitz......





We ended up with 8 dump truck loads of stumps and roots that had to be hauled off site.




Load after load came off the site.....



Our buddy that runs the machine is an awesome guy. Work a holic and awesome. He has been running machines his whole life. He took the old snag that I had cut down by some aerial tree guy a couple weeks back. This thing was 90' tall and was too dangerous for the excavator to push over. We took those cuttings and the final 18 foot stump that was pushed over successfully and turned them into split rail.

Here is how he did it.



Click the photo for the video.......



Continued..........

 

[Sculpin]

A view from the back after the main blitz......



Coming a long now. You get to see how much space there really is with a 60' x 120' lot!!! It was only just over half cleared when I bought it.



Digging the first hole for the septic holding tank.



Digging the second hole for the water storage tank.



We hit pay dirt digging those holes. When they developed the lots they must of put road base in on the front of my lot while building the road. This material was awesome stuff to put at the back and we stock piled it.





Continued...........

 

[jeffywestcoast]

Nice work John! the fish camp is shaping up hey!

 

[Fish Assassin]

Wow that's a huge change since I seen it last. Building the next taj mahal are ya....

 

[Sculpin]

I hired the local guy with a bigger machine to lift the tanks in place. They weigh 14000 lbs!!! Our buddy's machine is good for 10,000.



Took the split up old snag and lined the driveway with it. Nice reminder of the old dead tree me thinks.



First tank in place.



Second tank in place. This is for collecting rain water.



Looking good.



Continued.............

 

[Sculpin]

Lot's of work last weekend. We cleared, hauled, installed, and almost did it all lol.

Our buddy said we should put in a perimeter drain trench along the back and lower side of the property to keep the lot dry. I took his advice.



I still need to have drain rock brought in etc. to finish it.

How she looks at the end of a long day on Sunday.



Clean outs for trailers, water collection, water supply, and drainage. Going to have the power rigged this weekend and the supply hooked up early next week. Can't wait.

I still have to have some pit run brought in to back fill the tanks and some 3/4 crush to finalize the driveway and trailer locations. I have some old mill screen that I will put under the trailers and I have some big plans for the trailers as well. Running out of money lol. I will post up the continuation later.

Cheers,
Sculpin

 

[Enniberg]

Wow, John, that looks fantastic!
Hope you still find some time to do some fishing.
johan

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Nice work.

 

[Sculpin]

Nice work John! the fish camp is shaping up hey!

You bet Jeff. We have to get you out there once your finished working out East .

Wow that's a huge change since I seen it last. Building the next taj mahal are ya....

Yes it is. More like the red neck Comfort Inn lol . My old trailer is going to be the "Long Fin Lounge" lol.

Wow, John, that looks fantastic!
Hope you still find some time to do some fishing.
johan

Thanks Johan. Tidal Chaos talked me into fishing part time during the rest of the improvements so I will hopefully be posting some reports next weekend.

Nice work.

Thanks man. It took me 5 years of owning a piece of dirt to finally turn it into something .

 

[pescador]

Thanks for sharing. Look forward to final product.

 

[Sculpin]

Thanks for sharing. Look forward to final product.

I will try to post up when I can as the improvements come along. The trailers (cheap rammer's ) are going to get a major job done to them. I hope to have a fully functional fish camp without the cosmetics by the end of the month. When I can drive in and turn on a light switch and crack a cold beer out of a fridge.........I'm done for the year lol.

 

[bigdogeh]

sweeet!! looks great. are you going to put in a sewer and power hookup for a rv for your guest spot? would love to try it out for you... hehe.
would love to do something like what you're doing. maybe someday.

 

[ReelSlim]

Looks good Sculpin.........I feel your pain trying to get stuff done at a rec property and no time for fishing! I just spent last week at our place finishing off a small bunkhouse inside that was built last year. By the time it was powered up.....insulated.....drywalled.....mudded....taped.....flooring and painted the week was up with only a quick 2 hour morning fish. But next week the rewards will be a month of fishing and a place to stick the inlaws when they come! lol

 

[finaddict]

Hey John, Now that Toquart is closed, you should offer it up for rental when you are not there. You'd have a line up and waiting list ;-)

Looks great and I look forward to more progress pics.

very envious

 

[TenMile]

Couple of ideas for you to lower your operating costs:

- Solar hot water system: http://shop.heliatos.com/Complete-3-Panel-SW-37-Solar-Water-Heater-Kit-0770003.htm?productId=52 - pays for itself in less than a year vs. an electric system - can plumb into a used Hot Water tank for water storage. For less then $600 these are great. Operating cost is basically nothing.

- If you have a good clear southern exposure - consider taking the cost of running in the hydro and do an off-grid solar install. I did one at the family cabin on Cowichan (hydro isn't an option). We've got enough power to run lights, TV, Satellite Internet and small appliances for about 5 days with no sun. Total cost installed (by me) was $3,500. Operating cost = $0

 

[Sr SQ]

Nice place your in, my buddy has had a place in there for at least 12 years.
Nice now the power is in, looks like you will have a great place.

 

[Sculpin]

This past weekend the local guy got all the tanks back filled up to the intakes and redid the side perimeter drain ditch. He placed all the drain rock and did some more leveling. Bart and I got all the tanks plumbed up and we are ready for the final back filling.

I'm trying to get up there again this week to get the tanks finally back filled and get some 3/4 crush put on the drive way. Once this is done I can lay down some old mill screen below the trailers so nothing grows up under them. I can then start hooking things up. The new to me trailer is going to be delivered to site this week as well. This weekend the Hydro pole goes in with the meter and the 200 amp shut off switch. Next Monday the Hydro company comes and hooks it up.

Collecting a lot of stuff for the final run at this thing. I'm bagged and need to go fishing. Might make it out for a few hours Saturday morning.

Tidal Chaos is coming up this weekend to help out and git-er-done lol.

Cheers,
Sculpin

 

[FishNmemories]

Congrats on starting a new project and for accomplishing a bunch of work already. Sounds like you have a good plan looking forward to seeing how it all comes together for you. Hang in there, John you will reap the benefits for years to come!!

 

[Sculpin]

Had a great weekend up at the lot with Tidal Chaos and Firelight. We had a bit of a late start Friday afternoon due to having to tow the new to me trailer up there myself. My buddy who was going to tow it up there felt bad and bought me a used fifth wheel hitch and dropped it off at the shop just after lunch. Tidal Chaos and Firelight met me there around 3:00 and just like a Nascar pit crew we had it mounted to my truck in no time flat lol.

Tidal Chaos hauled up a whole truck load of stuff in his truck and met us up there. Firelight and myself picked up the trailer and hauled the rest up there. We got in late and proceeded to place the new trailer in it's spot. Once that was done we re-bled my new hydraulic steering ram on the boat and got her ready for fishing in the morning. We were finally done around 2:00 a.m. the next morning.

We fished the morning and into the afternoon. We stayed inside due to the weather forecast. We managed one spring, a coho, 3 lings, and a couple of nice sized rockfish. We lost quite a few nice fish as well. There were porpoises and whales around which was nice to see. I'm glad I took Tidal Chaos's advice and needed to have to some fun.

Firelight playing a salmon.



A nice ling cod caught on a Shimano butterfly jig.



After fishing we moved the old gal back onto the lot. This whole procedure was interesting to say the least lol. It all worked out and is sitting there for now.

Here are a few shots of how we left it for now.









I want to send a big shout out to Bart, Tidal Chaos, and Firelight for all their help with this project and the good times on the water. THANK YOU!. Great guys for sure. I will try to post up some more as it comes along.

Cheers,
Sculpin