Independent-minded, and often libertarian, off-grid types often gravitate towards geodesic domes. The domes do have a lot going for them, but they aren’t what I had in mind. At least, not for a primary dwelling. However, for a storage shed or similar structure, there is some appeal…most notably space. I was curious and started dinking around the internet and found this. As a storage building, this would have a lot going for it. Most notably, the requisite building materials…2×4’s, a saw, and a cordless screwdriver…are easily transportable and easy to work with. The size of the dome is just a matter of deciding how long you want to make your 2×4 segments.

I like the idea of something that is relatively simple to put together and doesn’t require anything that doesn’t fit in the back of a pickup truck. I also like the idea that since the construction requires a known number of pieces of particular lenght, I can easily calculate a finished cost and calculate a revised cost if I want to change the dimensions slightly.

Disadvantages? Well, they sure look weird. But Im less about aesthetics, in this case, and more about utility and ease of construction.Then theres also the matter of how to skin it. I’d be curious if covering it in layers of hardware cloth or chicken wire would allow a person to skin it with cement. There would be weight considerations, but Id think you wouldnt need a terribly thick layer to create a waterproof and durable covering.

I might need to investigate this a bit further. One of the first things I need to do at the Beta Site is get some sort of covered structure up there to enable me to stage things, have a place to roll out a sleeping bag, and act as a small workspace. As I’ve said before, the road infrastructure up there isn’t, in my opinion, up to snuff for hauling in a prefabricated storage shed. I suppose a knocked-down storage shed might work but any one wall is going to be larger than the space available in the back of a pickup truck.

Interesting stuff to explore and think about.

On a side note, I’m curious to see how many posts I need to make tagged ‘Beta Site’ before it appears as a ‘frequently used tag’ in the sidebar.

So, back to wargaming the Beta Site. I was thinking of using Uponor Pex for the basic interior water delivery needs. There are other options, of course, there’s the old-school copper piping which is going to be expensive, require a bit of work to cut and assemble, and isn’t exactly freeze-resistant. Pex, on the other hand, is easy to work with, goes together like Lego, and is less likely to burst if frozen. Additionally, it really adds itself to adding more connections and that sort of thing.

Uponor Pex connector and collar on L., regular Pex connectors and collars on R.

Uponor Pex with collars and connectors

Some plumbing experts I know have been nice enough to answer my questions and show me the various fittings and tools required to work with pex material. We took a piece of Uponor Pex, folded it in half so it had a kink that blocked water flow and then straightened it out. Waved a propane torch over it for a few minutes and the kink completely straightened out to the point that you couldnt even see a sign it was there. And, I am told, the structure of the Uponor Pex is such that when youo heat it up like that, the affected region becomes stronger than what it was before the kink in the pipe.

Connections were made by expanding the pipe and a collar, then slipping the expanded pipe over the connector, and the pex then constricted down to form a seal. The pex, I am told, will have memory that keeps it trying to constrict to its original dimension.

So I got to experiment with cutting, flaring, and otherwise playing with this stuff and its really hard to see a downside. My casual and uninformed opinion is that this stuff, if it lives up to its marketing, is awesome and perfect for my needs – its easy to use, durable, modular, allows for easy modifications, is freeze resilient, and won’t break the bank.

For a small structure, this seems like an ideal way to have an easily maintainable and flexible piping system within the structure. I need to investigate it more, but it seems like a good choice.

I wanna thank everybody who took the time to comment on my question about Starlink. For those of you who want the TL;DR version, the overwhelming consensus seems to be that the Starlink Mini, which is native 12v, is the way to go for a middle-of-nowhere off-grid sort of situation.

So, when its time to get some form of connectivity out there, that’ll be the choice.

In other news, I received the copy of the deed to the property in the mail the other day. I guess thats the ultra-official notice I need to let myself relax and consider this little adventure done, done, done.

Speaking of, I tried to get up there over the weekend and made it about 2/3 of the way there before the iced-over road conditions, on the sloping road, alongside a steep drop off, made me decide that it just wasn’t worth the risk. But it reinforced two things – first, I need to investigate alternate routes and b) I need to get a four-wheeler or side-by-side to navigate in these sorts of conditions. So, more things to budget for.

Another thing I’m working on is to locate and prepare a ‘foot accessible access point’. At the lower elevation, its not too difficult to get a vehicle in there. In that lower elevation theres an easily recognizable and locatable area that is almost exactly two miles from the property. Between that point and the property is two sections of land. (For those who don’t know, a section is 640 acres – one square mile.) One section is private, one is public. I’ll need to contact the landowner of the private section and ask for permission to ‘shed hunt’ or hunt on the property and that’ll give me the opportunity to see how that hike looks in terms of terrain and elevation gain. In a perfect world, if the end of the world occurs in a blizzard in the middle of winter and, for whatever reason, I cannot get a four-wheeler or snowmobile in through the road I need to have an ‘if all else fails’ way of getting to the Beta Site. So, my plan is, during the milder season, find a start point and hike in there, keeping a GPS track of exactly where I’m going but also trying to do it on a course thats a simple ‘follow magnetic bearing of xxx for two miles and youre there’. If that works out, then I’ll stage some simple gear at the start point and halfway point to facilitate things under a ‘worst case’ scenario.

This winter will be a lot of planning, spreadsheeting, purchasing, and staging. I’ve already started purchasing the various tools and implements I think I’ll be needing in the spring and staging them at the storage unit. First thing in the spring will be to head up there, build a deck for the tent (yet to be purchased), and get that going so I have a little base of operations for the subsequent activities. Although it’s entirely possible that I’ll be able to get up there with minimal difficulty before June 1, I am using that date as the ‘launch date’ for things.

So, for now, lotsa theory awaiting practical experimenting.

The realtor emailed me to say that the property purchase was recorded which means that The Property I Am Purchasing is officially just My Property. So I got that going for me…which is nice.

I also asked the realtor, who seemed fairly knowledgeable about the area, if she knew any vendors in the area for concrete, propane, well drilling, excavation, etc, who could handle the challenging ‘road’ infrastructure. To my surprise she came up with several, so I need to get those contacts filed and start asking some questions so I can start getting the money together for spring. June first is approximately 24 weeks away and I need to have enough cash on hand to actually get started on things.

If there is a somewhat-local vendor with a propane truck who can navigate into the boonies, then that opens up some very nice possibilities in that I won’t necessarily need to limit my propane logistics to what I can safely (and/or legally) transport up there on my own. I can put larger tanks in and have them filled onsite. And since my anticipated propane needs are pretty small, it seems like having at least a years worth of usage on hand might be in the realm of the do-able.

First order of business, though, is to clear and neaten up the unused and neglected ‘driveway’ that runs from the ‘road’ onto and into the property. I need to make sure it’s wide enough to accommodate service vehicles, and remove the small saplings that have grown in there, the deadfall that litters it, and the occasional large rock. Once thats done, I can bring in a small cargo container to use as a temporary base of operations and (more) secure storage option.

Thats the plan anyway. And we all know how plans work out.

Guy goes to his therapist and says “Doc, I keep having these weird dreams every night. First I’m a wigwam, then I’m a teepee, then I’m a wigwam. What does it mean, doc?” The doctor thinks a minute and says, “Well, obviously, you’re two tents.” (“Two tents”, too tense…)

You guys getting tired of me talking about this land purchase and my ideas about it yet?

Someone asked what one of the first things I was going to do there is. Well, I need a little base of operations while working on the place, so I was thinking of building a small deck to support a wall tent. Something along these lines:

When I’m not up there I can take it down, roll it up, and secure it in a plastic barrel until Im up there again to need it. Then, later on, if I build the platform properly on piers, I can repurpose it for a dry cabin or storage shed.

As I’ve said repeatedly, and probably will say a bunch more times, purchasing the land will probably be the cheapest part of this adventure.