#Living off grid in alaska generator#

If you do not have onsite water and an easy way to heat it:.Mail was incidental and consisted primarily of online orders.

#Living off grid in alaska generator#

75% of our trips into town were for water from the community well and fuel for the generator and cooking.

Get water and adequate fuel storage onsite as soon as possible.

Jacking up and shoring the foundation was a major undertaking and extremely dangerous - DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!! Gravel and continuous/wide base!!! If you're on muskeg or iffy bearing soil, over-engineer your foundation and budget for a thick gravel pad no matter how much of an expense/PITA it ends up being! We got the math wrong on our pads (too thin) which caused them to break during freeze/thaw and the cabin began sinking the third year to the point where simple leveling with the timber jacks wasn't enough.PLOW and hard-pack/groom the snow on your driveway religiously! We didn't venture out often in winter and allowed the snow to accumulate, which got us mired in snow more than once and led to major problems with our dirt trail during breakup when we mired in mud as well.We were fine in our off-road truck when only we were driving the main trail and stayed off of it during breakup, but access became hairy-scary-dicey with more traffic. This is especially important if other people will be sharing some/all of your roadway/trail. Access is key and worth the money! Budget for a good, solid driveway first and make sure whatever contractors and resources required are available before you select your home site.Make sure you stay a year ahead with firewood! We started our first year without enough and never caught up - collecting wood daily in the winter was our greatest pain point and the primary cause of most of our arguments.Make sure you both work similarly and have the same plans, ideas, and priorities!.Make sure you both are firmly aware and agree to the same level of rough living conditions and the work/finances involved - as well as agreeing on concessions if necessary in advance!.In parting, I'd like to share some of our lessons learned to aid anyone dreaming of going entirely off-grid in the wilderness. I'm in Fairbanks this week tying up loose ends, and will be leaving tomorrow (Fri 9/2) with Ripley and Jackson to catch the Ferry to Bellingham in Haines on Monday 9/5 in the 14' box van Dad bought me to move. While he's been away, I packed up the cabin and sold all our crap (including the cabin - just have the three vacant lots left). We'll see if separate weekday domiciles while he brings in income and I bust my butt mostly alone (my sister, BIL, & Dad helping) alleviates the majority of interpersonal difficulties. I'll be beginning Farm 2.0 project in Deming WA (in the Mt Baker area a half-hour south of the border). G-man has been in UK since June with his ailing parents and is expected to remain there until after Christmas before returning to Seattle to job hunt.

Off-grid bush life posed some insurmountable problems and threatened to cause a shotgun divorce, so we decided to call it quits on the AK dream and try to save our marriage. With a heavy heart, I'm informing the few remaining die-hard fans that we're leaving Alaska and returning to Washington.