This weekend we are back in Central Newfoundland to continue renovation work on Slaney's new backwoods camp. This is my third trip to Terry's new digs and we have quite a lot of work planned. Terry headed out over the highway early Friday morning to put his 2018 Argo Huntmaster 8x8 to work hauling in more materials including plywood, light fixtures and new kitchen cabinets.

If you haven't seen the first two articles check them out:

1. Heavy Hauling, New Cabin Work Weekend April 14-16, 2023

2. Back to Slaney's New Camp More Renos April 28-30, 2023  

Stroh left town mid-afternoon while French and I got tied up with work commitments, we finally headed out over the highway Westbound suppertime.

It was after dark before we arrived to the parking area in Central NL. We had all of our gear already strapped aboard the bikes so we were able to quickly unload and head into the camp. Tonight we would take the longer but dry ATV path through the woods eliminating a tangly run across the flooded marsh in the dark.

French and I first used this woods trail this past weekend when we left camp. The main direct route trail has become too tangly due to spring thaw and a beaver dam in the area.

LED light bars and hand/thumb warmers on both our bikes were certainly appreciated on this cold dark ride through the country!

Stroh arrived earlier that afternoon and had his famous homemade chilli already started by the time French and got there, a welcome treat after a long day at work, driving and ATV riding! We also got to test out Slaney's new propane camp stove which will be the official cabin stove for the time being until a range is sourced and installed later down the road.

While French stowed away our gear, Terry and I lugged all the new kitchen cabinets inside.

While supper simmered on the stove, French and Slaney got to work installing a few more rows of v-groove pine ceiling boards.

Supper was absolutely amazing, Stroh's homemade chilli never disappoints. There was even enough leftover for lunch the following day.

Breakfast Saturday morning consisted of our Slaney Camp traditional feast of: homemade moose sausages, homemade apple wood smoked bacon, white fish puddings and fried eggs.

Slaney enjoyed a fine feed of his favourite homemade Newfoundland toutons heated up in tinfoil on the woodstove.

After Breakfast while we all set into our renovation project tasks, Stroh went flat out clearing & burning brush on back of the cabin.

The previous owner fell a lot of this while making the property ready for sale, this dried out debris needed to be burnt in a controlled manner before it became its own fire hazard.

French continued work in the utility room installing sheeting on the remaining unfinished interior walls.

Meanwhile, Slaney and I made great progress installing the rest of the ceiling boards, we needed that job completed before moving on to the next project in the kitchen.

For lunch we heated up the leftover chilli and served with some buttered homemade bread for a quick, easy, absolutely delicious mid-day break!

Attic access hatch installed, French continued on with some more electrical rough in then vapour barrier on the ceiling of the utility room.

Living Room & Kitchen ceiling finished! Another big job checked off the list, the final board had to be ripped to fit, the whole ceiling ended up being dead square!

Prior to installing kitchen cabinets we screwed off the OSB subfloor on 6" squares to bond it tight against the 3/4" plywood below. This will make cabinet installation much easier as the floor wont warp, squeak or move.

Figuring out the layout & orientation of the new cabinets started by finding the high spot in the floor. This was found to be in the centre of the cabin to the far right in this pic.

I borrowed a laser level we regularly use for doing tile work and found the floor dropped over 3/4" from the high spot over to the window, some creative shimming will have to take place!

Next I dropped the laser line and set it right to the top of the cabinet laid in place at the high spot in the floor.

I started the actual installation with the corner cabinet, shimming up all corners to perfectly meet the laser line, this will make levelling the rest of the cabinets much easier.

To make up the 3/4" difference in height along the window wall I used one long board under the backside of all these cabinets. I made final adjustments with wooden shims. There is nothing worse than stuff rolling right off the kitchen counter!

The bottom cabinets finished, they were screwed securely to the wall studs then to each other using cabinet grade screws and washers. Now we were on to the upper cabinets.

To accurately locate these I used dual lines on the laser level, a horizontal to level the row of cabinets, and vertical to precisely align the very first upper cabinet with the matching lower cabinet.

Rather than getting someone to try and hold the cabinet as I made adjustments, I stacked up a bunch of stuff to hold it steady. This kept it at the perfect height and for as long as I needed while I made adjustments, marked wall stud locations and screwed the cabinet securely in place.

Just as I did with the lowers, the upper cabinets were fastened to the wall only on a stud then screwed to each other near the face of the cabinet. 

With the ceiling and cabinets complete French swapped out the construction grade light for a beautiful LED fixture.

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