Access and materials handling go hand in hand. In fact, that is the essence of the access problem….’handling’ materials. There is not a single piece of wood, a screw, nail or any other ‘material’ that I have not handled several if not a dozen times before actually putting it in its final resting place. Think about it…….

You pick up a bag of Reddi-mix at the building supply store. That is lift #1. You pull it out of the trailer/pick-up/SUV/backseat at the dock (#2) and put it down on the dock/beach while you get the rest of the stuff. Then you lift it into the vessel (#3). At the other side, you lift it out (#4) and pass it to someone (Sally – lift#1 for her) and she puts it down for you to lift after the boat is put away (lift #5). Then you carry it to it’s ‘awaiting use’ place (#6). Some days later, you pick it up and carry it to where you are mixing concrete (#7) and then it sits there awaiting its turn to become useful(#8). You pour it in and mix and then carry the slurry to the forms (#9) and dump it in.

And all this assumes a logical flow of work that rain, guests, other jobs and accidents don’t interrupt. Trust me, if I lifted a bag of concrete once, I lifted it ten times. And that goes doubly so for wood because stacking, cutting and moving-it-around-to-find-the-right-piece adds to the lifts.

An architect friend of mine told me early on to ‘forget timberframe construction and go with ‘stick-built’ because it is so much lighter and you have to carry everything.’ He (Nick Kokas) was 100% right on.

It is simply not possible for a do-it-yourselfer-to have all the materials handling (mat-hand) tools and equipment at his or her disposal. Lifting is just part of the deal. Get used to it.

Having said that, there are a few mat-hand items that should be employed whenever possible and, if my back is anything to go by, use them even when you think you don’t really need to. There is a drywall lifting device for a few hundred dollars that is worth it’s weight by far. I clearly have a bias in favour of winches, too. Wheelbarrow, cement mixer, block and taykle, come-along, stone boat, log tongs, PeeVee, ropes and chains, buckets and more buckets, tarps, mini-cranes and motorized helpers are a godsend. Get some temporary workbenches, small tables, boxes, totes and I also employed an old BC Hydro steel transformer box or two. I even had a chainsaw winch that did a lot of work for me.

The point: people who build cabins are generally older. People who can lift things all day long are generally younger. If you can’t be both, get equipment and/or casual labour. We couldn’t because we were so remote but I should have ‘set up’ better mat-hand systems than I did. As it is I have a funicular on one side and a highline on the other of my site but I needed more. I really needed some kind of motorized wheel device but the terrain prohibited it.

As you can see, so far we are not even thinking about the cabin. The project is still in the preparation stage.