Just got back from another successful trip to the cabin. It takes about 30 minutes to make the 2.5 mile trip from where we store the cat with about a 1000 foot elevation gain. Downhill is about 25 minutes. More power than the 30hp I have really wouldn't do much good. Speed is limited by the snowmobile moguls in the road. The 1402 is so short that it really pitches on the whoop-di-doos. Like a bucking bronco if you go too fast.
I got some inside pictures of the cabin. It is off the grid with 150 watt solar charging 2 golf cart batteries. We have a roof fed cistern with a filtration- treatment system and a basement storage tank. A demand type RV water pump provides pressure to the bath and kitchen. An rv toilet and fixtures keep water usage to a minimum. We average about 10 gallons a day. Range, hot water and refrigeration are propane. A remote start 2kw inverter generator provides 110 when needed for the microwave, power tools and to charge the batteries when it is foggy which occurs a lot.
My wife and I built it in 2002 with help from a high school buddy. It was a log kit out of Canada. We had it livable in one summer of part time work. I made all of the log furniture on site from bug-kill trees cut from the property.
The inside temperature was 14 degrees when we got there but my wife is good at getting a hot fire going. In a couple of hours it was up to a balmy 41 at which time I took off my jacket. It was in the 60's when we went to bed. We have to drain and purge the water system with compressed air when we leave in the winter. Ours is one of the few off-grid cabins in the area with running water in the winter.
The snowcat makes going and coming in the winter so much easier and eliminates the uncertainty of using snowmobiles when you don't know what the extent of the snow cover is. It is worth every dollar I have put into it (a lot) Plus it will carry an extraordinary amount of gear in the rear cab. The hour meter is now at 36 hours since I have owned it. A lot of that was accumulated while working on it however.
I posted another video coming down our driveway. Lots of animal tracks in the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUILQsp7wcE