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Best way to secure a remote cabin ?

Roscoe

Roscoe

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Greetings,

I am thinking of building a remote cabin on about 100 acres near the white mountains in new hampshire. But i am curious as to how you handle the security of the thing when your not there. I cant imagine you could store anything in it...

(although i have to admit i grew up in Los Angeles where everything that wasn't bolted, cabled or chained down was stolen... )

Thoughts anyone ?

Thanks !
 
I have a friend who built a log cabin up in Maine, it got to the point he wouldn't lock the place because it just meant more damage to fix.

Outside of building something out of block with steel doors as part of the structure to put items into to reduce the chance of theft, when you are in the middle of nowhere, it gives the locals who know that the property is vacant lots of time to get in there and pillage anything that can be sold for drug money.
 
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I was kinda thinking about a storage bunker of some sort... mostly if not all under ground with a very strong door on the front of it... just a thought though...

So i guess you can't have a good stove in there... because that could get sold for scrap... even though fireplaces suck for efficiency, it would be better to have something that wont get stolen...
 
Install a 5 foot wire fence all around your cabin and campsite area. If you have a dog, it keeps them from getting into trouble and lets people passing by know to stay clear. If you have nosy code enforcement people they should not be entering a fenced/gated area without you present.

Build heavy wooden or steel covers for all windows and doors. Put the latches for the windows inside so you need to be inside the cabin to remove them. Use a pair of heavy duty padlocks and steel bar to secure the doors.

A steel job box bolted to concrete footings from the inside is pretty tough to open without tools and making lots of noise. Still would not put anything valuable in one.

I picked up some $30 trail cams from ebay that I put in various locations. I get pics of the local wildlife and hopefully any scumbags that try to break in. You might also put a hidden trail cam inside the cabin to get a good pic.

Don't leave anything that the bears would want to eat around....a hungry black bear will break into a screened porch to get whatever is there. In other places where grizzly bears are present they place spiked boards on and under windows to keep the bears from trashing the cabin. Black bears are probably not that aggressive.

An idea i heard on another board that I have not tried but seems interesting: Get an old tv antenna and cut it down to look like a yagi. Build a fake camera box with the antenna pointing towards the closest village, add a solar panel and make it look like a remote system that sends pictures to a base station (like river level monitoring stations). Put it 16-20 feet on a tree that can't easily be climbed. It should be in a place that the potential scumbag will see it but can't easily get to it. The theory being that the scumbag does not know how often the thing sends pictures and will just leave. Perhaps a nearby trail cam would get you some pics of him throwing rocks at it....who knows[grin]

No matter what you do, its a cabin in the middle of the woods and the scumbag has unlimited time and very little chance of being caught.
 
There is simply no way to protect a remote camp so matter how many fences, steel covers or security doors you bolt on. Piss off the locals enough and they will just burn it down.

We have had a waterfront cottage on Lake Ontario for thirty years that has never been an issue. Boats, fishing gear, electronics for the charter boat, Waverunners, etc. sit there year after year without getting touched. I pay for a lawn service and I have GOOD year round NEIGHBORS. That makes a huge difference.

We own a huge swamp in Upstate NY. The camp was one mile in from the nearest road behind a locked gate. The damn thing got broken into so many times we finally gave up. We now tow a trailer in when we want to use the place for hunting or fishing. The locals use it as their own and stole everything that wasn't nailed down as soon as we pulled out every trip. Now there is nothing left for them to take and I sleep a lot better.
 
My situation is similar; when I have the cabin built, there's not going to be anything especially valuable in it until I'm living there permanently. It will have a wood stove, but it'll be the no-name brand, not the Vermont Castings. I can populate the kitchen with cheap stuff from yard sales. It'll have cheap/old yard sale furniture. I don't plan to board up windows, that way anyone can peer in and see a big empty shell without much in it.

Suggestions such as fake or real cameras could have some value, but I won't count on them.

A hidden bunker is a possibility, just as long as you do it in a way that doesn't require hiring locals who will then know where it is. I'd build it away from the house, out in the woods somewhere. Although, you'll probably scar the ground getting to/from it as you do the work, giving people a path to wander down to see what's there. There are probably some tricks you could do to cover up your tracks some. My land is 200 acres, so there are plenty of places that I could in theory put something that is unlikely to ever be found... just as long as I minimize any paths to/from it. I would imagine that the vast majority of areas of my land have never had a single person stand on them in the last 100 years. So, hiding should be possible just as long as there aren't any natural paths around it that would give people a reason to try to walk along it (those logging skid zones are good for walking, so that's a problem hiding anything near them). Although, even once one is built, a path will naturally form to it if you need to use it. Hmmm. Well I'll likely never do this, just something to ponder.
 
I used to own a cabin in Maine for 4 years, somewhat remote but there were neighbors. It had stuff in it, but no one ever broke into it. I always worried about it though, not sure what I would find when driving there. The worst that ever happened were people ignoring the "no ATV" sign to go down the path to the brook. (I didn't mind if they WALK to the brook, just didn't want them tearing up the path.)
 
MrTwigg said:
Make some friends in the area, have them look in on your place every so often.
Click to expand...

That's one thing I like about where I'll be building. It is VERY remote, but the other land owners in the area are good folks with a similar mindset. I've met all of them so far except for two. No one is living there permanently yet, but one of them told me this past fall that he's planning on moving up to his off-grid cabin and retiring this year. And, he likes to meander around the logging roads on his ATV to check up on other people's places. Although, at this time, it is still very remote and anyone wanting to do something bad has all the time in the world to get it done, without detection.

There is a shared locked gate, and 2 miles to get to my lot, but there is a mud trucker problem. Idiots with giant pickup trucks have an alternate way in, ripping up the road each spring, plus some of the hunters in the fall have a similar level of a-hole-ness.
 
Make it out of reinforced concrete (including the roof) with steel doors and steel overlays over the windows.

Has anyone ever seen concrete burn?
 
I thought about concrete, but then my cabin wouldn't look very "cabin-y" or "retreat-y".... and everyone in the town would soon know about it because it would become a curiosity to the locals.
 
I'd seriously just like a "cabin" thats buried... ive seen some web site that sells them as shelters in Oklahoma for tornaders' ... but im pretty sure the wife unit would 'nix that idea... ;)
 
Add this tot he list as a deterrent.

Put Cameras pointed in all directions. Some signs about monitored property and a few antennas.
 
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MrTwigg said:
Make some friends in the area, have them look in on your place every so often.
Click to expand...

This. Also comes in handy to have someone plow for you once in a while. Bring them presents from the "flatland".

Also, don't leave any food unless it is in cans or maybe tupperware, because the mice WILL find it.

I say don't leave anything valuable there. A simple lock would do to let them know they are not welcome, but don't make it so they have to break the door jamb to get in.
 
This was in the Springfield Sunday Republican today:

Mountain Man In Utah Out to Steal Cabins’ Coffee, Alcohol, and Guns

If you’re planning one last winter getaway before spring approaches and your destination is somewhere in southern Utah’s wilderness, you might want to bring an extra deadbolt for your door.Chances are you might have a visit from a particular “mountain man” who will drink your booze and your coffee, eat your food, and steal your provisions before heading out to the next house. Authorities have been chasing after this man with no success over the last five years, the Associated Press reports.

Said to be “armed and dangerous” by authorities, he’s covered more than 1,000 square miles of wilderness and is responsible for more than two dozen burglaries of luxury cabins near Zion National Park. He’s not just quietly stealing things, either, but rather leaving a mark—he left a note in one cabin, warning, “Get off my mountain.”



Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/19...cabins-coffee-alcohol-and-guns/#ixzz1msQ0fl11
Click to expand...

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/19...cabins-coffee-alcohol-and-guns/#ixzz1msPqh300
 
The definition of Secure is a variable:

How to Tell the Difference Between the Branches of the US Armed Forces!

If you give the command "SECURE THE BUILDING", here is what the different services would do:

The NAVY would turn out the lights and lock the doors.

The ARMY would surround the building with defensive fortifications, tanks and concertina wire.

The MARINE CORPS would assault the building, using overlapping fields of fire from all appropriate points on the perimeter.

The AIR FORCE would take out a three-year lease with an option to buy the building
 
This:

Cabin4-sm.jpg


http://hepaestus.com/hepaestus/2010/12/14/steve’s-shipping-container-cabin/
 
Mountain man has been known to upper deck the water closet and drop a deuce in the kitchen sink.

Oh wait, that was a Mass state rep. My bad.
 

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