We bought a beach...and a wetland

[GreatBigAbyss]

YES, That's awesome.  Bonus points for the bucket, and extra bonus points for the snow blower attachment. 

[Johnnymac]

I don't think you can do much better than that for $4k.  The bonus is non of the emission BS that can make these problematic to keep working.

If you need a machine bigger than that you might want to think about a professional doing the work, or at least that's what I would tell myself.

[blur911]

Leaving to go back to Ontario tomorrow.   Didn't get everything we wanted accomplished, but adding all that lenght to the driveway took some time.   I've cleared a place at the end, but will probably have to expand it.
 
Still trying to decide on a design for the cottage. 
Still trying to figure out what to do for septic. 

Will need a shed with a roof designed for solar panels as well, think it'll be about 100' from the cottage and probably about 10x24 or so, it'll also house the solar batteries and other electrics, maybe have the well there and bury pipe and power to go to the cottage.

Also pondering whether we should or should not seek permits and approvals, or just not tell and build it, which often seems to work out here. 

[Fobroader]

F@#k the government! Build what you want.

[Johnnymac]

F@#k the government! Build what you want.

As a New Brunswick government employee, I concur, fuck em and build what you want.  As long as it's not something crazy sketchy you'll almost certainly be fine.

[Johnnymac]

Leaving to go back to Ontario tomorrow.   Didn't get everything we wanted accomplished, but adding all that lenght to the driveway took some time.   I've cleared a place at the end, but will probably have to expand it.
 
Still trying to decide on a design for the cottage. 
Still trying to figure out what to do for septic. 

Will need a shed with a roof designed for solar panels as well, think it'll be about 100' from the cottage and probably about 10x24 or so, it'll also house the solar batteries and other electrics, maybe have the well there and bury pipe and power to go to the cottage.

Also pondering whether we should or should not seek permits and approvals, or just not tell and build it, which often seems to work out here. 

I don't remember but are you planning on this being "off grid"?  Only reason I ask is that our stupid power provider is changing some things where they basically penalize people who have solar panels and are part of the grid.

Considering where you are, could a wind turbine be something to consider alongside solar?  Really have no experience with either, but figured wind where you are located would be more abundant than sun due to how much wind you likely still get after dark.

[RRocket]

What about a yurt?

https://www.yurts-canada.ca/

[GreatBigAbyss]

Brings new meaning to living in a tent down by the river....

[RRocket]

Brings new meaning to living in a tent down by the river....

Because it's not usually considered a permanent building, you can by-pass red tape.

I'd love a top shelf yurt.

[blur911]

Leaving to go back to Ontario tomorrow.   Didn't get everything we wanted accomplished, but adding all that lenght to the driveway took some time.   I've cleared a place at the end, but will probably have to expand it.
 
Still trying to decide on a design for the cottage. 
Still trying to figure out what to do for septic. 

Will need a shed with a roof designed for solar panels as well, think it'll be about 100' from the cottage and probably about 10x24 or so, it'll also house the solar batteries and other electrics, maybe have the well there and bury pipe and power to go to the cottage.

Also pondering whether we should or should not seek permits and approvals, or just not tell and build it, which often seems to work out here. 

I don't remember but are you planning on this being "off grid"?  Only reason I ask is that our stupid power provider is changing some things where they basically penalize people who have solar panels and are part of the grid.

Considering where you are, could a wind turbine be something to consider alongside solar?  Really have no experience with either, but figured wind where you are located would be more abundant than sun due to how much wind you likely still get after dark.

We are planning on two builds, the first will be a basic small cottage near to the bay as possible, it'll be off-grid as it's over 1000-feet from power.  It's also what we're considering not telling the municipality about.  Probably build a shed nearby to mount the solar panels to and have storage and electrical inside.
The other build will be a small-ish house and a large-ish garage.  It'll still be about 700 feet from the road, but easier to get power to and will be needed there more.
From what I gather, wind turbines might be more trouble than they're worth, will look into it further.

[Johnnymac]

Leaving to go back to Ontario tomorrow.   Didn't get everything we wanted accomplished, but adding all that lenght to the driveway took some time.   I've cleared a place at the end, but will probably have to expand it.
 
Still trying to decide on a design for the cottage. 
Still trying to figure out what to do for septic. 

Will need a shed with a roof designed for solar panels as well, think it'll be about 100' from the cottage and probably about 10x24 or so, it'll also house the solar batteries and other electrics, maybe have the well there and bury pipe and power to go to the cottage.

Also pondering whether we should or should not seek permits and approvals, or just not tell and build it, which often seems to work out here. 

I don't remember but are you planning on this being "off grid"?  Only reason I ask is that our stupid power provider is changing some things where they basically penalize people who have solar panels and are part of the grid.

Considering where you are, could a wind turbine be something to consider alongside solar?  Really have no experience with either, but figured wind where you are located would be more abundant than sun due to how much wind you likely still get after dark.

We are planning on two builds, the first will be a basic small cottage near to the bay as possible, it'll be off-grid as it's over 1000-feet from power.  It's also what we're considering not telling the municipality about.  Probably build a shed nearby to mount the solar panels to and have storage and electrical inside.
The other build will be a small-ish house and a large-ish garage.  It'll still be about 700 feet from the road, but easier to get power to and will be needed there more.
From what I gather, wind turbines might be more trouble than they're worth, will look into it further.

Not a bad plan and having an amount of backup power available will be handy even when you get the larger structure built and the power access brought to it. 

I don't really have any experience with either solar or wind and I tend to think that wind is less common.  Is that due to the complexities and maintenance, no idea, or could it be because there isn't much industry behind it (loads of solar panel installation companies around NB but haven't ever heard of a wind turbine company).

Could be worth at least a cursory bit of research, considering where you are located I'd assume wind energy would be at least at par with solar energy access and could be a bit more considering the hours of wind energy you'd capture when the sun goes down.

[blur911]

We're planning on heading East again on the weekend. 

We have pretty much decided on a cottage plan, just have to adjust some doors and windows.
Flip-flopping on whether to go off-grid or not, have to talk to local electrician shop and get more info.

[Johnnymac]

I could do off grid if there is at least a proper septic and well.  Get yourself some solar panels, a power bank of battery storage, and a genie panel for times when you need the extra juice.  Anything to avoid not having to hook up to NB Power would be good in my book.

[Tortoise]

Our cottage is off-grid and it works well. Propane fridge and stove. With solar to run some lights and an inline pump so the on demand hot water tank has enough pressure (we pump water up from the lake into a holding tank).

From what I looked into, there's decent 12V options for fridges that are pretty efficient. The propane fridge uses a fair bit of propane and dumps heat into the cottage.

[blur911]

So last week I was at the clearing at the end of our 250m driveway through the woods, I'm sitting on my tractor pushing spruce trees into a fire. 

Along comes a side-by-side ATV, I figure it's either a friend/relative of mine or maybe someone checking on the fire to make sure it's safe (met the lady fire chief in the spring), but no...dude doesn't even slow down, just goes by me and tries to navigate through the bushes to get to the ATV trail (which at that time had my No Trespassing and No ATV sign blocking the access from the road)

I yell at him to stop, but he either doesn't hear me, or is ignoring me.  He has bass rods and buckets in the back...
I jump off the tractor and run onto the trail in front of him,  he stops, wide-eyed. (Toothless looking guy, probably 60ish) I ask him who he is and where the hell he thinks he's going.   He replies in French that he's just going to the shore and doesn't understand.   I told him to turn around, get the fuck out of here the way he came in and never come back...

Next day my sign was missing, I checked my trailcam further down the trail and nobody had gone by.
Next day I found my sign, it was tossed on the other side of the road, I put it back in then went to check my trailcam, now my trailcam is missing...

I took my tractor and pulled a large spruce tree across the road access for the trail, right in front of my sign.