Lifting a 28 Foot Log Ridge Beam and Purlins onto My Cabin Alone in the Wilderness, Ep 18

Continuing my off-grid log cabin build Alone in the Canadian wilderness, I install a temporary loft floor to use as a working platform while building the roof of the cabin. Using chainfall hoists hung from cables strung between the trees, I lift three 28 foot purlins and a ridge beam into place, weighing several hundred pounds each. I frame the gable ends with milled logs and 2" lumber, leaving notches for the logs to fall into place. Hoisting the logs and sliding them into the notches was hard work and took several hours each, but it worked exactly how I had hoped.
While I work on the roof, I grill sausages and steaks on the campfire overlooking the meadow in front of the cabin. Cali, my golden retriever, watches me work and chases squirrels and chipmunks between rounds of fetch. To cool off, we go for a long walk along the cobblestone beaches and exposed Canadian Shield bedrock along the shores of Georgian Bay. Wild food is abundant so we snack on raspberries, sour cherries, blueberries, cranberries, winterberries, serviceberries, fireweed and St. John's Wort. Wild food, fish and home grown fruit and vegetables are everywhere now so I'm harvesting and storing daily, including my first tomatoes of the season from the greenhouse by the cabin.
Later in the week, my dog spends the day in my red cedar and canvas canoe out on the water with my friend Nate and I while we explore a new lake, catch fresh fish and fry it on a campfire on a beautiful island. Perch and bass are plentiful in this small lake so after a tasty shore lunch, I take a few back to the cabin for the solar powered freezer in the cellar. Cali practices her deep water dives and swims after her frisbee for hours, always wanting one more retrieve.
Back at the cabin, I build a wood mitre box and saw small trees into 45 degree corner braces for the log posts, beam and purlins to keep the cabin roof from racking. With a solid roof structure now in place, I start installing the first roof rafters, an exciting process as I can now see the final structure of the cabin and within days, the roof will be complete enough to keep the cabin interior dry.
In the next video, I'll be working on those rafters, but I'll also be taking a few days off to go on a backcountry canoe trip with my daughter Emily. Tune in to her channel to see her perspective on the trip as well as to see what other projects she's working on.    / @emilyaisling  

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VIDEOS:
2022 OFF GRID CABIN LIFE:    • 2022 Off Grid Cabin Life  
OFF GRID LIVING:    • Log Cabin & Off Grid Living  
COOKING:    • Cooking at the Cabin  
BUILDING LOG CABIN WITH HAND TOOLS:    • Building a Log Cabin with Hand Tools  
BUILDING OFF GRID SAUNA:    • Building an Off Grid Sauna  
BUSHCRAFT & SURVIVAL:    • Bushcraft & Survival  

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