SITE VISIT

View from the water. The site and the neighbors.

Two months ago we were about to pour when hurricane/tropical storm Gonzalos came through and put everything on hold.  Since then various combinations of Boyson's barges have been pulled for service and there has not been a window when we could get concrete and barges on the same page.  The first +/- 40 yard cistern pour will be exceptionally complicated:  the barge will need to first bring the pumper truck over and leave it on the beach.  Hoses will be rolled from there 150' up the hill (60' vertical) to the site while the barge goes back and picks up 5 concrete trucks that will be shuffled around the deck to allow each to feed the pumper truck from the barge.  Somehow the footers and 10' walls of the cistern will be poured at the same time.  Dan Boyd's baby.  Beyond me.

View from the site.  No change in the last 2 months, but looking good.  St John in the distance.

So, after rebooking the plane ticket twice in hopes of being there for the pour I stuck with the November 17-19 visit even though the barge was not available.  I got a chance to walk the site with Dan, review prints and plans, and open a bank account on island.  Also figured out what we'd need for a boat, and a place to buy it and store it on St Thomas.

Running the roads with Dan.

Boat of choice for Lovango: 15' Caribe inflatable with 70 hp motor-  light weight and will carry up to 8 people.

STILL TAKING FORM

Forms for foundation/cistern await concrete.

Dan is back from vacation and things are beginning to move again.  Steel that will reinforce the walls and cistern floors has been put in place, as have the external forms.  Things are basically ready for the pour which in and of itself will be an enormous challenge.  We need to get about 40 yds of concrete on a barge from St. Thomas and then from the barge +/- 250' up the hillside and into the forms.  We are looking to come up the learning curve that left 12 yds of concrete on the beach when the pumper hose failed on our neighbor's pour 10 years ago.

Re-bar laid out for the cistern floor.

 
Good news- the site survived 4" of rain on Friday with no major sloughs or slides.

BEGINNING TO TAKE FORM

The cistern taking form.  Note all the steel in the foreground... a ton (or more) of lugging.

Dan was busy this weekend getting things to a point of stability before heading for an off-island break.  The cistern is pretty well formed and will be poured when he returns.  In addition to holding 24,000 gallons of water in two separate compartments, this will serve as the base foundation for the cottage.  A slab will be poured as a cap and back into the excavated hillside for the ground floor which will have 3 small bunk rooms.  The main floor with kitchen/dining/living and another bedroom will be built above the slab.

The box that is being built into the forms will create a spillway between the two compartments of the cistern.  When the slab is poured over the cistern, this is where a through-hole will be left so both compartments will be accessible from one point.

BRINGING IT

The first pieces of steel arrive at the Lovango dock.   This video cam from Dan this morning- unloading the boat is the third of 5 handlings that move the rebar from St Thomas to the site.  From the dock it gets loaded on a truck to get hauled up the hill and unloaded at the site.

BACK AT IT

Cistern taking shape.

After finishing up another project, Dan is back on the job, beginning to set the forms to pour the base footers and foundation which includes the cistern that will hold about 23,000 gallons of rainwater.  Local regulations require that all new construction have rainwater water catchment and containment.  Every square foot of roof has to have 1 gallon of water storage built in to the house; 1.5 gallons per square foot for roofs on 2 story buildings.  With our mix of single and two story build we need cistern capacity of somewhere north of 12,800 gallons.

Hoping to have this base poured before Dan leaves for vacation late July.  The challenges of the (remote) island build are being felt- all material- forms and steel- need to get touched 3-4 times to get them from St Thomas to the dock, to the boat, off the boat, to the site.

Hoping to get all concrete work done in two pours- First = cistern footers/walls; Second = back retaining wall, first floor, and cistern cap.  Seems like alot to juggle in two pours but the challenge of getting concrete to the site (pumper trucks on barge) is driving the math here.  Much still TBD.

DONE DIGGING

Digging in paradise.

The digging is finished and the trac hoe back in St. Thomas.  Four days of work to get things where we wanted:  Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and then a Saturday mop up.  Good news that there were no major impediments or pitfalls- all went according to plan.  A week off while Dan gets other projects finished up and then we should be setting footer and foundation forms beginning  the week of June 2.  Plan is to do it in 2 pours- one for footers and walls, and then another for cistern cap.  Getting concrete pumped up from the beach is going to be a challenge but hope is that learning curve has flattened since Capt Phil's pour left 12 yards between beach and forms.

Drive that will meet with top level of cottage with living/kitchen/master bedroom.

Looking down from drive.  Flat for lower level living area, and beyond that, the cistern which will be under the porch off the bottom level.

Boyson's barge leaving with trac hoe.

COMMENCEMENT...

Olive Oyl and Eeyore contemplate change in the neighborhood.

While Tira was shifting tassel from right to left in her commencement, my cell phone was lighting up this weekend with Dan sending progress reports in another.  The plan was to get silt fence set over the weekend and off-load the trac hoe for a Monday start.  By 9 am Sunday the silt fence was long set and the excavator was already moving dirt for drive (zoning requires parking for 2 cars minimum even though there are no roads), foundation/cistern, and septic.  I'm not sure I've ever had a project that was ahead of schedule!  I'm sure we will remedy the situation soon enough.  

Digging seems decent- no surprises or unforeseen obstacles.  Everything appears to be ready to fit where we hoped it would.  Looks like we can even add a foot of depth to the cistern which is blessing.  Dan is saving cuttings from Frangipani tree that had to go.

Trades are consistently from the ESE so the aerobic septic system will be below the south-facing cottage and to our west.  Downhill because that's the way shit flows and downwind so we don't have to smell it.  The aerobics system is highly functional (i.e. works like standard, not composting, toilet), requires less fresh water, and provides nutrient-rich irrigation for plants.  Win-win for our location.

Clearing for drive/entrance to lot on the high side.

Silt fence installed below and around excavation. 

Digging begins (St John to south).

Last shot before finishing for the day, Sunday.  Far right is area for aerobic septic system.

BEFORE...

View from the community (6 lots) dock.  The famous Love Shack in front, Alison and Capt Phil's place upper right.  We will be building to the left of Capt Phil's, above the Love Shack.

So... this may be really happening.  We stopped by Lovango and met the place when sailing in 2011.  Also met Dan Boyd, master of many things, who lives there and gave us the tour.  A year later we made an offer on a half acre lot one back from the water (and 60' above it) and finally closed about a year ago.  Since then we've been trying to get the permit to get a building permit .  A 2 month process (or so it says on the web site) that took 8.  Supposedly the building permit is imminent but, regardless, we can start digging on the basis of the first (czm) permit and so we plan to do.  Dan has the trac hoe and silt fence arriving May 18 and we may be in the dirt by the 19th.  Long journeys and that first single step.

Eeyore chairs the Lovango Welcoming Committee

We had a chance to swing by and see the place when sailing this past April.  Sadly, Dan was in California but his dogs Eeyore (Basset Hound) and Olive Oyl (Great Dane) were there to welcome us.  Walked the pucker-brush but couldn't stay long.  If we were supposed to perform a ceremonious act or recognize an omen, we missed it.

Before... Randy beats through the pucker brush on the lot.