Uncommon Path

Alberg designs

2012-01-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been looking at sailboats designed by Alberg, like the Cape Dory and Pearson (I think). They have some really nice shape to them, mostly full-keel and seem to have a strong following with good reviews. About a month and a half left, I get to go on a road trip and start looking at some of these boats.

Questions to ask

2012-01-07T04:13:00.000-08:00

Even though it'll be a few months before I can start looking in person. I'm looking forward to getting on some boats and getting hands-on with the search.

There's one boat I was just looking at that is listed with a broker. While researching the type of boat, I was able to find the owner and asked questions directly. I'm not going to put what the boat is just yet. When I start looking in person, I'm looking at putting pictures here along the way. The answers I got so far look promising and hope to take a look.

The questions I asked,

Does the boat have a state title or USCG documented?
How was the boat sailed before? Daysailing, short cruising?
Has the boat seen much heavy weather?
Any previous damage due to weather, collision or grounding?
Does the boat have a history with blisters on the hull?
How long since bottom was last inspected/painted?
Have there ever been any soft spots/water in the deck core?
How long since the deck hardware and windows were last sealed?
How old is the standing and running rigging?
What is the age and condition of the sails?
Have the tanks been cleaned out or serviced? (water, fuel, holding)
Any issues with water in the fuel tank?
Has any of the electrical wiring and hoses been replaced since first built?
When was the last time the Engine was serviced?
How old are the batteries?
Is there anything you would say needs to be fixed, repaired or replaced?
Anything else you think would be good to know about the boat?

Inspection Tips

2011-12-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

I've seen lots of advice on different forums. As I look through the threads about buying a boat, surveys and inspections I am getting a pretty good idea of what to look out for when I go shopping around.

I found this article on Boat inspections that look pretty good. Boat Inspection Tips. One piece of advice on that page is about getting a moisture meter like this one: Moisture meter. Looks like it might be worth it to get one for the search. I'm considering to get one as I'm sure it'll come in use even when upgrading to larger boats. I'll work on getting a little kit together of tools for doing a survey. I found some nice looking boats but I always wonder what else is hidden that isn't mentioned in the ad.

Transportation

2011-12-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

I was thinking (yet again)...

If I'm going to get a boat that is much smaller than I originally planned, one thing I need to consider is how to move the boat. Something as small as what I've listed so far are likely to be trailer sailers. Some boats I've seen do not have a trailer so that is one hurdle to overcome if/when I find MY boat. Then, another issue is to figure out how to move the whole package. I'm thinking I might end up having to get a gas guzzling truck to haul it around. Might not be too bad as it would expand the sailing waters I could explore by going to different lakes. Might be fun but I'm not too crazy about the added cost. But then again, everything costs money these days.

I was looking at the specs of different trucks. I've mainly been looking at the towing capacity of trucks. I was looking at a 2006 F-150 and found it has a towing capacity of 9900 pounds. I also found a 2008 Silverado 1500 with a towing capacity of 10500 pounds. I'm not sure if either of these numbers is the gross weight (including vehicle) or the payload weight. Although I don't like Dodge trucks, I looked up a 2008 Ram 1500 anyway and found the towing capacity depended on the size of the engine between 3400 and 8750 pounds.

So, it looks like a Chevy Silverado might be in my future. Not yet but I can at least keep my eyes open for one in case an opportunity comes up.

Which boat do I get?

2011-12-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

One of the decisions I'm looking at now is to see which boat I really want to get. I'm trying not to get hung up on specific make/model but while researching, some reviews look good and others not so much. Professional reviews are usually looking at the positive side of things so I'm looking at owner reviews - So much more honest in how certain boats handle and what the issues are. Still lots of research to do but one thing I have to remember to do is not to get "stuck" not finding something because of work that needs to be done. Boats need fixing and maintenance all the time so I don't see myself avoiding it.

Since I will soon move to a location with lakes, I'm thinking to get something smaller than my "ideal" boat. Some suggestions I've seen before say to start small and work your way up. I was thinking of that then switched to "buy last boat first" but that might be too big for me. I'm trying to stay realistic in my abilities. I'm thinking now, get something smaller with simple systems. The systems would be the same as found on larger boats but only smaller.

Some of the details I'm looking at is a boat that is small enough to learn and make mistakes and fix up if needed without breaking the bank. I don't want to start off with a project boat either.

Currently my criteria is:
Regular head (bathroom) and not a porta-potty
galley stove (propane)
inboard (internal) engine
Mostly looking for boats from the 80's

All of which are still found on larger boats. Smaller systems don't cost as much to fix/replace. Wheel or tiller stearing isn't much of an issue with me right now. I'm leaning towards tiller since that would allow more space in the cockpit. The type of sailing I'm interested in is just for cruising. Since I'm looking at smaller boats, it will probably start out with daysails and weekend outtings.

Some boats I'm looking at right now online... List may be updated over time.
Bayfield 25
Bristol 27 (not sure if these have regular heads)
Cape Dory 27
Cape Dory 25?
Catalina 27 (might be easier to sell later on)
Catalina 25?
Pearson Renegade 27
Nor'sea 27 (nice to look at but very costly)

Suggestions given to others in posts I found elsewhere:
Grampian 26
Pearson Triton 28
Newport 27

Other boats I might consider for my first boat:
Bayfield 29c
Catalina 30
Cal 31
Maybe something else around 30' (still looking)

As I look at more boats, I'll add them here but this is what I'm finding that might be suitable at the moment.

Sailing future

2011-12-12T02:01:00.000-08:00

I started this blog while looking into tiny houses. I still think it would a fun project to build one but my focus is now towards sailing. Sailing can be similar to tiny houses as it allows for a simple lifestyle. I don't need a lot of "stuff" to be happy and can be happy with what I already have.

I'm going to try changing my pages a bit. I might keep the tiny house info around or get rid of it. Who knows? I do think now that I will continue with this blog and hopefully be a bit more active with it. I might even make posts of the boats I go to look at. I'm already looking online at various sites for my first boat which I'm thinking will be around 27' as they usually have the same types of systems as larger boats, but only smaller.

Maybe sometime down the line, someone will actually read this blog, haha.

The Search Is On for My First Boat

2011-12-12T01:53:00.000-08:00

Today is a happy day.

I just got my reassignment instructions. In Apr, I'll be moving from Germany to Tenn. It'll be nice to be back in the US and I'll be able to search for my first sailboat. Personally, I'd like to be near a coast (East or Gulf). I've been looking around online at different boats and now I'm looking forward for the chance to actually go look at some in person. Even though I'll be inland, I'm still considering the idea of getting a boat and keeping it at a coastal marina.

I've seen that TN has lots of lakes and I could possibly get a trailer sailor but I don't have a truck and prefer not to get one. I've seen comments about whether to start small and work the way up or just get last boat first. I'm leaning more towards last boat first. On the other hand, I still have 6years to retirement so getting something smaller than my ideal boat to start off with might not be a bad idea. Right now, I'm thinking to reitire in the Houston areas. I've been to Kemah a couple times and enjoy the area. Once I start looking at them in person, I'll be able to get more of an idea of what to look out for. Reading the books are nice but I like the hands-on approach.

Part of what I'm considering is the size of the boats because of my height of 6'5". In my research, I've been trying to look as much as I can on reviews in articles or other first hand opinions like here on CF or sailnet. Since I'll be traveling in April, I might go take a look at a few boats if I have time.

I'm looking forward to getting out on the water. I think I hear the seas calling for me.

Lessons!

2011-08-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

I took sailing lessons during the weekend of July 23rd. It was great! It was nice to finally experience everything that I was reading about and see how the sails (and the boat in general) react to the wind. I had lots of fun. There were 2 others in my ASA101 class. It was very relaxing and learned a lot. The class was with a small office accross the street from the Kemah Boardwalk Marina in Texas. Nice group of sailers there.

Now comes the search for a boat! Looking forward to getting out on the water again.

Sailing Lessons!

2011-06-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

Finally! I have something else to post. It's been a while.

I'm living in Germany so a lot of plans I had were put on hold. I'm coming up on some time off and will be heading back to the US. I'm looking at flying into Baltimore and doing a road trip.

I'm looking at going to Washington DC to visit for a couple days. Eventually, I'm going to Houston. There's a bay nearby and lots of marinas. I called recently to one place that offers sailing lessons from beginner to advanced. I signed up for ASA101, the most basic certification offered. I have the book in hand and looking forward to the end of July so I can get out on the water and enjoy some much needed time off.

I still look at sailboats, blogs, forums etc. to learn what I can. But, I also get distracted by life, work, school and really need to get out and have some fun.

I hope to post again when I take the lessons.

Sailing

2010-10-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

I've really been excited lately about the sailing idea. I've been looking online at boats, what I need to learn and just plain wanting to get out on the water. I'm sure this blog will turn into a sailing blog instead of a tiny house blog but still... it's smaller living. I'm looking forward to taking lessons. I'm also looking at boats as to what I need to look out for when I start shopping around for one. What I've seen online, the biggest issue involves electrical problems, bad installs and wires that go nowhere. I've been searching the archives of Cruisers Forum(.com) for answers to my questions. Things are looking good so far.

I'm hoping someday to sail all over the world. As an amateur radio operator, I can still get active again in the radios and talk all over the world from the boat too. so much to learn, so much to do.

Can't Wait!

Boats

2010-09-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

For a couple years, I've been looking at learning to sail. Sailboats are pretty nice. I've been looking at also going across the atlantic and maybe other places around the world. But first, I think I need to learn to sail. I was visiting a marina in Texas and found out there was a boat show. I got to get up close and see sailboats which were better than looking online. I've been looking at ones around 35-40 feet in length. There is plenty of space to accomodate around 4-7 people (sleeping space) with a small bathroom with toilet/shower, a kitchen area and plenty of seating space for meals. The power available comes from a couple batteries and some have an interter to convert to AC. There's pretty much everything one would need to be comfortable while living on the water. I'm looking at boats mainly for recreation but the possibilities for living aboard make it a pretty good option for those wanting to downsize and live smaller.

Stuff

2010-07-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

A lot of people tend to collect many things throughout their lives. A lot of it really doesn't have much of a purpose other than to sit on a shelf or table to look good. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of stuff right now. Partly because of work causing me to move that required me to throw out a lot of what I owned. Not too bad though. The stuff I was able to keep, which is now in storage, is relevant to what I want to keep.

While relooking into the tiny house information, it got me thinking of what else I can off load. Right now, I'm away on work for several months, yet, I still pay for things I'm not using. I have rent, a car, insurance, and utilities. I'm wasting a lot of money on things I'm not even using. I don't look at this as being a complaint but more of an annoyance. I'm considering again this tiny house idea. Whether it's something I wrote about before or it's a manufactured travel trailer doesn't matter much to me. Maybe I can sell the car I have now, Get a truck (for towing) and a trailer and not have to pay a lot of money for rent/mortgage again. If I were to do that, I could save a lot more money and use it for traveling (that doesn't have to do with work) or going out to eat more often. I think the worse part about living in something so small is me being so tall. At 6'5", many interiors, especially for manufactured travel trailers, are already too short for me. maybe a good idea to just build my own like I talked about before with the Tumbleweed House.

I've looked at Solar power for a while. I thought it would be great to get a house to run off of the suns power. Having something smaller like the travel trailer would work out pretty good. Maybe I'll start looking into that again and see what I can come up with for stand-alone systems.

Right now, I'm just relooking this idea and going over the materials costs again. Still not sure if I'll ever get to do this but it's at least fun to do the planning of it.

The Ham Shack

2009-12-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for a while since I had to do some work, training and moved to Germany. So far, the idea of me building a tiny house is still on hold but I still look into what is out there for other ideas, materials and such. For my move to Germany, I was able to sell my house fairly quickly. The military limited how much I could ship to Germany so it kind of forced me to downsize by throwing most of what I own out or giving it away.

Anyway...

I've been an Amateur Radio operator since High School, about 15yrs now. An individuals radio setup, radio room (whatever you want to call it) is usually refered to as a shack. One thing I thought about with the tiny house idea was if I ended up in a "normal" sized house, where I would be able to put my radio equipment. This may not be related to living full time in the tiny house but it's another idea of its use. I thought that if I was in a "normal" house, I could build a tiny house in the back yard for use with the radio equipment. I thought it would be good to still have it mobile too by building on a trailer.

For those who are unfamiliar with Amateur Radio, there's a lot to do with emergency communications and being connected with others when conventional modern communications go down. Some people don't realize that cell phones can still go down. The towers they communicate with still require power. With cell phones replacing regular landline phones, some people will be out of luck in the event everything else goes down.

Now, to continue with my thoughts... Having the radio shack in the back of the house is good and frees up space in the main living areas. Also, in the even something happens, whether it's an emergency or special event support (like relaying messages for a race), it's possible to move the tiny structure to another site for longer term usage.

This is it for now with the shack idea...

Since I came to Germany, most of my equipment has been put into storage. Now I have a smaller setup that can go portable to a park bench somewhere and it uses lower power. The smaller radios I have are used to communicate with Morse Code (yes it's still used) and they use little power and very portable.

The Miniature Earth

2008-11-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

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Layout (updated)

2008-11-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to do this for some time but finding the time has been difficult. Here, I have the layout updated to show the outter wall thickness of 2x4's. I've been thinking of the differences between building with or without the porch. I have thought it would be nice to have a porch to sit on and relax, but also thought the additional interior space would be nice too. So far, I'm leaning toward the one without a porch. Outside sitting space is still possible with an awning, folding chairs/tables or maybe something else is possible.

Something to Think About

2008-10-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

Not sure where this quote originated from but I thought it was pretty good.

"The scale of your homes should be derived from the real needs of your daily lives, not from vanity, insecurity, or a need for public display. Home should be the setting of your life, not the measure of it."

So, are you living with what your life needs or are you showing off?

~Dan

Homeless America!

2008-10-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading an article about tiny houses and whether it was considered sane or not. In this one article I read, it said that when the Unabomber was in court, his lawyers used the size of his dwelling, a 10 x 12 foot structure, as part of his defense for mental instability. They tried to state that because of the size of his "house", he was not in his right mind. Back then, they looked at a tiny house as being something for the insane. Now, although it is a bit akward to see someone chosing to live in a small (under 1000sq ft) or tiny (under 500sq ft) house, it is now coming out to be a bit more sane than people realize.
Look at the housing market now. There are people who lived in large homes that they could barely afford and now lost them due to the alternative mortgages prevelant at the time adjusting and inflating to higher interest rates. I read this other article yesterday about families in Massachusetts are going homeless at a very high rate because of this mortgage crisis. By Massachusetts state law, they are required to find shelters for families who look for it. Because of the latest increase of homeless in the state, they are now moving into hotels. Depending on how many people seek shelters, this may be a large burden on those living in the state and the possibility of taxes raising to offset the cost.
Seeing this situation, I'm sure it's happening to different degrees all over the country. I wonder about the option of having small communities of smaller homes, even if it's temporary housing to help others get past this current situation. Having a tiny house could be built fairly cheap and have only bare neccessities to live. On the Tiny House Blog, There was a post about a non-profit group in Atlanta building shelters for the areas homeless people called the Mad Housers. This little shelters are nothing more than a single room with a bed and a place to put ones things.
I think this is a pretty good alternative and low cost to the tax payers, uses little materials so there's less waste in the building process. I'm sure places this small isn't going to do much for families but still, being able to provide a low cost alternative may help more people than anyone realizes. Some of these homeless people chose to stay homeless, others have little to no choice. But for those who are looking to fix these problems in their lives, having a place to stay could benefit them. Having a place where they have an address to put on resumes, a place to call "home" if even for a short time until they get back on their feet is important to them. There should be more groups out there seeking to help people like this who really want it.
I did have this idea once about 3 years ago. I thoght it would be nice to help others out to get back on their feet or just to provide a place for them to stay. Of course, there would have to be rules such has no drinking, no drugs and other rules that could allow for a safe environment for everyone else in the same situation.

I hope for a better future for those familes that are trying to survive in these troubled times.

~Dan

Tiny house future

2008-09-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems my project might be delayed even longer than expected. Turns out that I'm going to be going through a career change by way of promotion and advancement. Looks like there's a chance that I could stay living where I'm at now and not have to move which will be very nice.

Just a quick post for now!
~Dan

Habitat for Humanity Restore.

2008-09-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment to talk about Restore. This is an organization associated with Habitat for Humanity. I recently discovered information about this as I was looking into volunteering house building with HFH. Restore stocks building materials that were donated for use with Habitat for Humanity and also to sell to the public for lower prices. The money spent at a Restore goes to supporting a local Habitat for Humanity as they build in the areas. If you're working on a project at home and you are on a tight budget, consider looking for a Restore near you. You could find something that could be useful in your future projects. Here's an example of what they may have: cabinets, lighting and plumbing fixtures, hardware, roofing, carpet, tools, trim, doors, lumber, flooring, and windows.
If you have something yourself that you want to donate, much of what they do accept must be in good, usable and clean condition.

So, get some good materials for lower cost and help support HFH and their mission to provide homes to those who need it.
More more information, go to the HFH website.
~Dan

Layout

2008-09-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

Well, here's what my planed layout looks like. Right now, the only (good) trailers I'm able to find are 16' long flatbeds, and most of them have a 2' dove tail too. The layouts in the picture above is what I'm looking at doing for my project. Slightly modified, but still similar in layout and design of the original Epu shown on the Tumbleweed Tiny Houses website.

Random thoughts

2008-09-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

This post is not entirely about the tiny house idea. But I would say that it is related in a way. With my house that I have now, I'm always working on something in it. I've owned the house for almost 6 yrs now, but I have only spent maybe half of that time actually at home. Anytime I'm at home, I'm working on some way to improve/fix the house by doing whatever I can. When I first bought the house, I had some workers come in and grade the backyard, basically flattening it out. There was a couple tall pine trees and an oversized, ugly bush all right in the middle of the yard, that my friend cut down for me too. Since grading it, I put in a retaining wall in the corner of the yard where the mound continued toward the neighbors yard (I live in a neighborhood that slopes down hill). I've also dug up some bushes that have gone dead since I moved in. I've trimmed some trees too. On the inside, I haven't really done a whole lot until fairly recently. I painted the master bedroom and I was in the middle of taking down wall paper in the guest bathroom when I deployed.
As far as the rest of the inside of the house, I want, or rather, need to repaint the entire inside of the house. I really want to redo the whole kitchen too. I want to gut it out and start over from the floor up. Speaking of floor, I have carpet through-out the house except for the cheap tile in the bathrooms and linoleum in the kitchen. I want to get rid of all of that carpet at least (the kitchen would be redone during that project) and I want to replace it with some type of Hardwood. The main purpose for this is to get it looking nice for resale.
In a way, I don't want to sell the house and instead rent it out, but then again, I'm hardly there to take care of it and there are more costs going to something that I don't even see or spend time in.
There are a lot of costs involved when it comes to the house and I'm not even in.
Here's an example of my expenses:

House: $751.44
TV/Internet: $101.47
Water: $8.92 (it's low since I'm not there)
Phone: $31.38 (Vonage, not too expensive but it adds up over time and I don't own a cell)
Gas: $13.52 (low during summer, higher in winter for heating or when I'm home with hot water)
Electricity: $121.32 (not sure why it's this high because I'm not there)

Then there's car and car insurance.... but that's just over $1000! This trip I'm on now is 9 months (thankfully I'm half way right now) that's over $9000 going to something that I'm not going to see for a while. Although I do have friends who are kind enough to check up on it once in a while, I'd rather that they weren't bothered with it themselves. They have their own house and their own projects. They don't need to add mine to it.

Just some thoughts...
~Dan

Supplies list

2008-09-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of supplies I'm looking at getting for the tiny house.
Trailer: looking at getting it from Tractor supply. One's on hand have dovetail, so I need to ask about getting one without a dovetail.
Windows, Anderson: Home Depot
Lumber, standard 2x4's, plywood, etc.: Home Depot
House Wrap: Home depot There's going to be a lot left over, I'm thinking of donating to a Re-store
Insulation, Ultratouch 24" for 2x4's: natureneutral.com
Newport P9000 Boat heater, plus a few accessories: boatownersworld.com
RV-500: Gaswaterheaters.com, I saw a couple other sources too, so it might change
Cook top, propane 2 burner: still not sure from where.
Bar Sink: Home depot, Most likely.
Then theres, plumbing, electircal, flooring, paneling (inside), siding (not sure what kind, maybe cedar if I can find it), and roof.
I tried running some numbers and it came out to be almost 13K in supplies. maybe I can spread the cost out through the whole time I'm going to be building.
I almost forgot, I also need a front door too... I'm going to see what I can find at second hand places to keep from buying an expensive one and trying to resize to what I need.

The plans I have show the height on the inside to be about 6'4". Well, that's too short for me since I'm 6'5" so what I'm going to do is, raise the height of the walls about 1.5" and that should be good. Also, I'm not looking at having a full loft. Since the trailer I'm looking at now is 16', I'm going to extend out the size of the house, and keep an open ceiling and have a loft only above the kitchen/bathroom area. Also the plans show a built in desk, instead, I'm not going to do that, that way, I can keep the main living room open for seating. I might get a small desk to tuck away in the corner.

This is it for now!
~Dan

Downsizing

2008-09-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well, here's a view of my house now. It's about 1450 sq ft. Personally, I feel that it's too much space for just one person. Lately, I've been thinking of downsizing to one of the tiny houses on a trailer from Tumbleweed Houses. Last year (and again now) I was deployed to Afghanistan when I found out about these tiny dwellings. Now, in the last few days, I've been looking at picture of my house and began thinking about what projects I want to do when I get back. I do this during every deployment, see how much I can do before I deploy again. Well, now it seems that's all I do. I don't have time for myself, let alone anyone else. I'm a slave to the house. Now, I want to be free of that burden and not have to worry about what repairs await my arrival home. So far, I've got a pretty good list going of what supplies and materials are needed to get started on this tiny house. I still think it would be fun to do. I'm also thinking, if/when I sell my current house, I can buy the materials, build the house, and not have any additional debt. The only thing I would need to worry about is where to park it, and how to move it, since I don't have a truck. (I'll worry about the truck later.)

The Tiny House Project

2008-06-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, while searching online, I found a lot of information regarding the tiny house "movement". At the Tumbleweed House website, I've been looking at a lot of the pictures posted. I found out there was a link to additional pictures posted on Flickr. One of the set's shows their model the Weebee during construction. That's one thing I like, the process of building this creation. I did buy plans last year for the Epu model but have not been able to even start buying anything. I do have time to plan so in the meantime, I can save up and research products, materials and supplies that will go into building one of these tiny houses on wheels.

Typically, one of these houses would be built on a flat-bed utility or car hauler trailer. One with no dove tail (bend on the end) and no side rails. It needs to be a completely flat deck. The size that I am looking for is a 7'x16' trailer. I haven't found one without a dove tail so I suppose I could have one custom built or make do with one that does have a dove tail. Two places I found trailers that would suit this project is the local Lowes and Tractor Supply Company. The one at Lowes is not rated for as much weight as the other store, but it will work just as well.

Windows: I was looking for a while at a good company for doing windows for this project. The one I settled on was Anderson Windows. The local Home Depot happens to carry this brand. I'm a HD person so I'll stick with what I like.

Here is a quick list, now, of certain items I plan on using just for this project, aside from lumber.
Ultratouch Insulation
Newport P9000 boat heater
RV-500 Gas on demand water heater
Wedgewood 2 burner drop-in Cooktop
Small Bar sink

I'm still undecided what kind of flooring I will put in but the paneling and woodwork inside will be done with pine.
I would love to be able to start this project right now, but, due to work, I tend to travel a lot and that takes up a lot of time.

I can still save and plan for now.

Alternative Energy

2008-05-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since I was a kid, I was interested in Solar Electricity. Being able to turn on a light with power made by the sun. It was and is a great idea. I have links and files saved on my computer with different types of solar panels, inverters, types of mounting... just about anything I could think of (for now). Now, anytime I travel, go through neighborhoods, I look at the orientation of houses and their roof line to see what and where is suitable for a solar installation. There is so much wasted space on rooftops that could be put to good use in Solar power. Granted, a solar installation may not get rid of a utility bill, but at least it can help reduce costs.

On a recent trip to Germany, the plane I flew in, was coming down for a landing, and around the town we were coming into, I could count about 50 wind turbines. All of them were spinning away producing power for the town nearby. It was a great feeling just seeing them being used. The closest I've ever seen them was the island of Hawaii at the southern tip. But, those ones were older and a few of them not working at all.

I keep hearing that Europe, in general, have been using alternative energies (solar and wind) for YEARS! So, what's going on with the rest of the world? Personally, I think it's just the fact that these other energies are not beneficial financially as they all cost more. But, in the long run, they can save so much toxins, and in some cases, pay itself back.

I encourage everyone to do their own research as well and see what you can do with alternative energy.

Dan

Smaller Living

2008-05-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year ago since I first heard of "Tiny Houses". I was searching around online looking at alternative living, alternative energy, downsizing in the real estate market etc. I have many interests. One of them being the Real Estate market. It's crazy seeing how people are losing their homes because they can not afford them and going into foreclosure. Houses continue to get larger and larger and now, because of the swift upswing, things took a sharp nose dive. Now, people are downsizing into what they CAN afford and that's what led me to find the world of tiny houses. I find this very fascinating. One site I found in particular that I love is: Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.

Here, we have Jay Shafer, an artist that decided to downsize where he was living and next thing you know, he's designing and building them for others too. I don't have a whole lot of time to build one myself, but I still went ahead and bought a set of one of his plans. I do hope to someday. It would also seem that this idea would be for the average height to shorter crowd. Well, I'm 6'5" myself. I figure that I can raise the height of a wall an inch or two to accommodate me while I build. So we'll see what the future has to offer.

So, this is the direction I'm looking at taking this blog. I want to be able to collect ideas and resources so that when I am able to build one of these houses, I have an "all in one" list of information, alternative "green" building materials, and ideas.

Dan