After observing a neighbor on Great Island doing a beautiful job remodeling his set of cabins, we started to consider and dream about whether we could insulate our old “boathouse”. Our goal was mainly to extend our season on Great Island by creating a warm space than also might be free from wood smoke. So we spoke with Doug, who is a renovation specialist, and quite late in the season decided to do it. Here are two photos of what the exterior of the boathouse looked like before we started. And then a panoramic image of the inside of the boathouse. You can click this panoramic image (and the other ones on this page) to move to a special page that will allow you to zoom into this and other pans and explore them in great detail. This image is particularly fun to explore since there is a lot to see—and most of it will never be seen again. So take a last look.
But before we remodeled the boathouse we needed to deal with some white birch trees that threatened to come crashing down on it. Here is a view of the trees. If you want to see photos of the tree-removal process just click this image.
The challenge now was to get everything inside the boathouse outside it. Some things went on the porch and other places and a number of things went on a big pile out front. To this pile we added other items left over from previous owners that had been stored under the cabin. Here is a view of the pile at an early stage and a photo and a panorama of the inside of the boathouse.
We planned a sleeping loft, but headroom would be limited, even for less-than-tall people. So we decided to gain a bit of room above where we planned to put a futon by turning the front hip roof into a gable. It was a nice architectural touch that matched our cabin porch roof. So off with the roof front. Here is a slide show of the process.
Three days later, on October 22 to be exact, the boathouse looked like this. Click if you want to be able to zoom in.
I spent the night of October 25 on the island in a sleeping bag. We had already put the beds to bed for the winter. I wanted to help load the junk Junk (barge). Good thing. With the help of the crew we identified other things that deserved to take a barge ride. Here is a slide show of loading the barge, it heading off the island at 7:30 am the next day, and the offloading in Burkehaven.
October 26, Jennifer’s birthday, was a great day on Great Island. I watched and photographed the barge leaving in the early fog. Coming back across the lake the fog closed in and it was a challenge to find my way back. Then the fog lifted, the day warmed into the 70s, and the wind was non-existent. Here is a photo of our dock taken at 9:50 am.
The new siding and the flooring arrived. I made several trips to Burkehaven to shuttle Doug. And I circled the island. The fall colors were still remarkably good.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get better a loon in its winter garb swam by. I just couldn’t resist trying to get a photo of it inspecting the boathouse remodeling progress. Fortunately it cooperated.
Byron and Ken worked on residing the lake side of the boathouse. I figured I put off long enough climbing high up a pine to the south to remove some branches that blocked our view from our new “cozy place”. I had removed the lower ones days before but the three I need to attack today were a real challenge. I tied the ladder to the tree and climbed carefully with my chain saw. This photo shows the ladder after I cut the branches. You can see one of them sitting where it fell—onto a rung of the ladder.Here are before and after photos of our view to the south taken from outside the boathouse. I would have shot through the old windows but it would have taken a very long time to wash them. This is basically the view we will get from the much larger and much cleaner new windows. We have left the small Serviceberry tree to the right because it blooms white in early spring. We can make a decision in spring whether it should stay or go. The pile of pressure-treated boards you can see will go under the boathouse once the floor insulation is installed from below.
The great crew helping Doug with the project charged ahead. At the left is Mark, a great designer who also does carpentry. Byron and Ken put the finishing touches on the front. Byron starts to create a hole in the roof for the skylight. You can see the stairs taking shape. And then you see the hole for the beautiful large skylight Doug picked out for us.
Here is a photo of some of the folks involved in the project taken October 28, 2010. From the left, Jann is standing with Doug’s dog, Leo. Doug is on the phone trying to get the plumber to show up sometime this fall. Ken is painting the newer pieces that didn’t get painted in Doug’s shop. And on the dock the electrician, Bill, is checking his phone messages. Good we get great cell reception on our part of the island.
November 11 we were back on the island to do some work. The docks were out of the lake at Burkehaven, and all the floating Island docks except ours had been pulled. Sunapee Harbor was empty except for a few boats. Our boat was filled with water so much bailing was in store before we headed across. When we arrived, it was a beautiful day on the island.
Jann started moving boxes from the porch to the newly completed shed. I helped with the dressers and heavy items. But mainly I improved the trench for the electricity and plumbing from the house if the electrician and plumber ever show up. The trench I dug needed straightening which involved chainsawing half of a stump from a tree removed in October and moving some very large rocks. Where was Vivaldo when I needed him? (Answer, teaching at Georgetown.)
Meanwhile the crew was hard at work. Here is Mark who did the detailed and fussy work on the stairs.
Inside the insulation was installed and the beadboard was going up. The stairs were taking shape and the loft looked great. 
Here is Jann in the loft making doubly sure that Mark understands what she would like. Any flaws in the beadboard are likely due to imperfect “stitching” of this multi-shot panorama.
The beadboard was pre-stained and sat on our pouch waiting installation. Ken (with baseball cap) and Byron were hard at work installing it when we left the island completely exhausted from a hard day of work.
I returned two days later for another day of work. For a mid-November day it was absolutely wonderful—no wind and it must have been in the 60s on the island by late morning. Rick at Burkehaven Boatworks still had a spot for me, and Chris would head to the island in a week or so to pull my docks and park them with the rest in Burkehaven for the winter. I was very pleased by the fine service that let us all continue working while the weather held. Here is a 16-shot panorama of what Burkehaven looks like after the season. Because of the very wide view, there is considerable distortion in the photo. Besides the fact that my Whaler looks weird, the two sunlit walls of the Burkehaven boathouse, the one behind the flag in the center and the one to the far right, are actually parallel—they face the same direction!
Sunapee sparkled as I crossed the lake to Great Island at a bit after 9 am. Not surprisingly, mine was the only boat in sight.
When I arrived on the island, Mark was up in the loft working on the window trim. I got to work in the new shed rigging hanging straps for the kayak. They worked great, and I could walk under it without bumping my head.
Meanwhile the crew had moved some saws outside and were cutting and fitting more beadboard and trim.
I was busy at work building a porch—for the cats. I forgot to take a photos of it this trip, but it is a simple platform that will allow them to enter through the small catdoor we installed on the south wall. When the crew broke for lunch I made a 33-shot panoramic image in the loft. This show a lot of distortion (the wall that fills the center of the image is actually flat) and the defects in the beadboard are from imperfect stitching of the images, not from poor carpentry. Still it gives a sense for the space. My desk will be on the left below the skylight, the stairs are in the center, and our bed will be near the window overlooking the lake at the right. Below on the left side the bathroom is taking shape.
I heard Doug’s boat leave and figured the crew, who were having lunch in the boat, were going for a pleasant cruse on the calm and empty lake. So I got a photo through our new “living room” window with only my boat docked.
Doug’s boat returned soon, with Doug. He chatted with the crew discussing details and logistics. Then we chatted. Perhaps finish for the season by mid-week next week. Electrical fixtures? Perhaps. Plumbing? Maybe (hopefully) lines laid in the trench but certainly will not finish until spring. So with luck we will have heat and light in spring and maybe water will follow.
Here is a view of our tiny bathroom. The ‘window” at the right will hold a medicine cabinet and a small sink will be below it.
Here is a photo of Byron preparing the opening for the future medicine cabinet. Also, on the right, is a view toward the bathroom and the stairs to the loft. A refrigerator will go in the back right corner beyond the window. Under the window but out of sight is the catdoor.
When I left the island around 3 pm November 12, the place looked good. Much progress had been made on the boathouse. We are very pleased and are certainly looking forward to moving into our new cosy space in the spring. Perhaps one or two trips to the island next week—hope it is not raining like predicted—and then we will pull our boat for the season. 
You might note in the photo above that the lake is surprisingly high for this late in the season. The slopped part of the dock was angled down much more earlier in the season. We have had a lot of rain, but also some very nice days.
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving I made a last trip to the island for the season by boat—this time in a kayak. I made a few images that put the lighthouse and then a marker buoy right in front of the cabin. Note the different colors of the trees and the cabins. That is because the image on the left was actually taken very late in the day when the sun was low in the sky and had a warmer hue.
How did I put the lighthouse right in front of the cabin? No Photoshop involved. Honest. Here is a more normal photo as I approached the cabin.
I made some panoramic images inside our new “cozy space” as Jann is starting to call it. The “stitching” that merges the many individual photos that are combined to produce one of these images is less than perfect because I used a very wide angle lens to make the photos. The defects you see are not defects in the carpentry. Here are two. The first was taken from just inside the front door. You can see the “bathroom” on the left and the stairs to the loft in the center. The second panorama below was taken from the center of the “lake floor”. If you click this image you will be taken to a page of panoramas that has a version of this one that you can zoom in and pan around to see more detail.
Below on the left is a somewhat distorted view of our sink and medicine cabinet missing lights and faucets. On the right is a view from just inside the front door showing the refrigerator, cat door, and stairs to the loft. We plan to put a small table against the wall to the left which will serve as our “kitchen” counter. The boathouse will not actually have a kitchen, just a frig like it always did. Notice our beautiful cardboard carpets.
Here is the view from one of our new front windows.
Upstairs on the “loft floor” the view from where our bed will be follows. The short dresser just barely fits under the sloping roof. In this photo the lake is to the left and the interior of the island is beyond the far wall.
Here is a view from where my desk will be at the other end of the loft floor looking toward the lake. If you click the image you will get to a page of pans that you can examine in detail. Please overlook the stitching defects.
Sitting in my kayak about to leave the island for the season, I made this panoramic image. The grillwork in front of the boathouse got badly damaged during the construction work. I patched it up in this photo using Photoshop. Too bad it isn’t as easy to fix in real life.
On the trip back across the lake, I made some photos of the reflections in the water whose surface was disturbed by only my kayak. You can see a slide show of these reflections by clicking the following image.
Back at Burkehaven I loaded my kayak and before I could strap it on the car a thin layer of ice formed on its surface. I made a few last photos including the following which gives a clue of how I put the lighthouse in front of the cabin.
January 15, 2011 was a great day to burn the small rubbish pile that remained from the fall renovation work. I took skis and snowshoes but decided to use snowshoes. I found our docks safely buried in Burkehaven and made a panoramic image as I started across the ice. If you click the image below you will be taken to a page with this and other pans that you can zoom into and explore.
As I walked across the lake I found a door with nobody or nothing around. Strange. Our “new” boathouse lacked a door but I decided this one was not the door for us. As you can see, the boathouse still has the old door but it sports a new old lamp next to it. In the spring we will install a real bulb.
Arriving at the island I set to work getting the fire going. There was plenty of snow so little danger of it getting away from me. Here is a 10-shot panorama without a corresponding version you can link to. Perhaps I will add that later if the demand is great. 😉
While the fire burned I found some interesting shadows on the porch. I called Jann and told her all is well—I didn’t fall through the ice and the fire is doing fine. Back to the fire I snapped a photo with my cell phone. Not bad for 2 MP.
I watched the fire die—staying a considerable time after I took this photo, just to be sure.
By the time I departed the sky had clouded over. Here is what our little part of heaven looks like in winter.
If you click HERE you can see other photos I took on and around Lake Sunapee during January 2011.