Olaf Update & Schneewagen's Maiden Voyage

According to Olaf's Snow Tracker, Stevens Pass is experiencing a lighter-than-usual snow year. We've even set some new minimum snow fall accumulations in November and December for the past handful of years.

Here's how that amount of snow looks at KnArrow Haus:

Abbie, Katie and Colin shoveling the KnArrow Haus walkway.

We used Schneewagen to transport a gaggle of family and friends up to KnArrow Haus to inspect our progress over the past year. Schneewagen worked like a champ.

Inside Schneewagen (with 6 people in 4 seats)

Then we spent the day in Leavenworth.

Lunch at 'South' in Leavenworth. Mmmmm.

Leavenworth Selfie

The compulsory group picture.

No progress on KnArrow Haus over the holidays. 

Next on the punch list are paint, installing the remaining 3 doors, installing wood on the ceilings, sanding the concrete floors, and constructing and installing the staircase.

I'm getting ready to order cabinets and sinks for the kitchen and kitchenette and all the bathrooms. And Katie's planning to begin painting. 

8-hour snow tracks install on Schneewagen

When we got Schneewagen (our Honda Pioneer 700-4) home, I drove it off the trailer and in to the garage -- no problem.  The next week I ordered the roof, windshield, and doors. After they arrived it took a Saturday afternoon, evening, and another weeknight evening to get everything installed.

We realized after everything was installed, that with the roof on it was now too tall to drive out of the garage....  Our solution to the height challenge is shown below.

Deflated tires to back out of the garage.

The last view of Schneewagen with wheels.
(Notice the rear tracks leaning on the garage door).

Thankfully, it didn't really rain on us. But to hedge our bet,
we setup the pop-up shelter, just in case.

After taking the wheels off, the first install step was installing brackets on the A-arms.

Tightening up the A-arm bracket on the left side. 

The A-arm brackets took a little convincing, wedging, physical (and verbal) persuasion.

My able gopher took a selfie.

A-arm brackets installed. 

Installing the tracks was also an adventure in frustration. Each track weighs over 100 pounds, and figuring out which holes to line up with the bolts and actually lining them up -- not enjoyable. 

Lather, rinse, repeat on the front wheels/tracks, although the A-arm brackets were a little easier to install. 

Working in this position further exacerbated my should pain, which I learned last week is caused by a torn labram in my left shoulder. Not in the mood to schedule that surgery, at least yet. 

Installing the stabilizer bars and steering limiters.

Installing the stabilizer bars and steering limiters.

Torquing everything down.

Torquing everything down. 

We started at 1 pm and finished a little after 9 pm. My only breaks were to watch some quick YouTube videos showing how to adjust angle of attack and the steering limiters.

A week later, I finished up the final modifications, which included adjusting the rear shock absorber pre-load to firm and cutting back the step bars so they don't accidentally hit the rear tracks.  Just waiting for a towing cover to arrive on Tuesday, at which point we'll trailer it up to the pass for the season.  Stevens has gotten about 2 feet of snow in the last few days and is expected to open this week. (No more untracked vehicle will be able to drive in to the cabin until Spring.)

Primed, Textured & Heated

The drywallers were able to finish the Saturday after Thanksgiving (using chains on their van).

BEFORE: Family room wall with 2 coats of mud

AFTER: Family room primed and textured.

BEFORE: Kitchen wall with 2 coats of mud.

AFTER: Kitchen wall primed and textured.

Now that the drywallers are done making their mess, I took the opportunity to hookup the infloor heatwing on the main floor. Of course, I forget to take a picture of the "after", but here's a picture of the wires and rough-in box.

Main floor thermostat rough-in box.

The thermostat box was a little challenging to wire up. All the copper grounds wired together and stuffed in the back of the box. Three sets of wires from the heatwing matts on the lower right were hooked-up with the capped 10-gauge wires on the upper right. 12-gauge wires on the lower left to power the thermostate. And the 10-gauge wires at the top from the termostat to the relay that switches the matts on/off.

I'm scurrying to get the snow tracks mounted on the side-by-side. Our final 3 doors are completed, and we need it to haul the doors from delivery truck (that can't come up the road now that there's snow) to the cabin.

We're also getting ready to place a kitchen cabinet order.