[ailox]

This is awesome.

I always wanted to do something like this as long as I can remember, build something (more or less) self-sustaining in the middle of nowhere to feel fully independent. I am really curious to what extent the author plans on living there? Will there be houses next to the communal building? Solar Panels? A Generator? An on-site well?

It is this Idea of your own small ecosystem which makes Minecraft so attractive. This is real life Minecraft and I hope to do something like this one day.

Edit: Just to add some interesting Project: There is open source hardware for everything you need to build your own village in the "Global Village Construction Set"[1]

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[1] http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Global_Village_Constructio...

[tynan]

Thanks!

At first it will be a summer-only thing, but we hope over 5-10 years to make it sustainable all year round. We want to use it mainly as a place to work together and get away from cities.

Next summer we will be putting up a 30' yurt, a huge battery bank, and a generator. Water is the hardest, so we'll probably have to catch rain and use a desalinator.

Oh-- we have awesome LTE and 4G coverage there, too!

[isaacn]

Congrats on your purchase! Having 4G internet is a very nice addition to your infrastructure, and critical in this day and age. Even if you want to disconnect for extended periods of time, you still have to pay your bills and taxes.

Speaking from experience, solar panels and car batteries work very well to supply a minimal amount of power for daily use (LED lights, charging cell phones and laptops, etc), but a generator will likely be needed for the occasional heavy equipment use. I'm less of a fan of windmills, but they have their place.

Water is indeed the most important infrastructure element to get right, but the solution you go with often depends heavily with your power choices. It's one thing to leave a desalinization system running 24x7 and maintain it, but it's a whole different story if you need something that can be shut down and restarted several months later. Maintenance and long-term reliability become important factors. Maybe you'll get lucky and find you can drill a well for fresh water, but the size of your island makes me think that is unlikely.

Other fun things to think about: plumbing, septic systems, waste disposal, hot water systems, lights, cooking, and refrigeration.

Then there is always the debate of redundancy vs. simplicity. and the real cost of maintaining an often fragile infrastructure.

I am very curious to hear more about your progresses in building out your island infrastructure and have subscribed to your blog.

[tynan]

Thanks! I actually have an RV with solar and LED, so I'm very familiar with the awesomeness of running off the grid. I'm not sure we'll get enough solar to make it cost efficient, but we're still looking into it.

I haven't done enough research into desalination-- I had no idea that shutting it down for a while is a problem. Why is that?

We may also do rainwater recovery + filtration for drinking/cooking, and salt for showering. Worst case we have to bring water over every time and shower in salt.

Planning on doing propane or wood to heat water, propane for refrigeration and cooking.

Thanks for subscribing! We'll be going out in the spring to do some more work and will definitely keep people updated on progress.

[jonah]

My extended family owns a cabin on a tiny island on a lake in Wisconsin.

* You're right - having a house on an island is cooler than having a house on the shore. :)

* Probably not applicable to you, but when they need to move heavy things (Backhoe to dredge the dock, materials, etc.) to the island, they drive them in over the frozen lake in midwinter.

* The power comes in over an underwater cable. Something you might want to look into.

[Casseres]

First of all, owning an island sounds awesome. Congrats on making the leap.

I don't know how much knowledge you have about desalinators, but here is a FAQ by the company that makes the reverse osmosis unit that I use at work: http://www.searecovery.com/marine/src_faqs.html Being so close to land, you will need a way to sterilize the water. A UV attachment should work.

I also recommend taking a course in Wilderness First Aid. I took a 70 Hour Wilderness First Responder course by Wilderness Medical Associates. It was an excellent course.