New lamp

Here's the setup I came up with for the three downstairs lights. New pull switch bases, frosted shades and 100 watt curly bulbs.

My stupid adapter cable

This is the cable I made up to connect the camp double plug connector to my generator. It didn't work. I blew my 20 Amp GFI outlet. I think the problem was the metal box was lying on the ground and the GFI was doing its job by indicating a Ground Fault until I pulled one of the plugs and touched it to the Yamaha frame. Big spark, no power. I managed to jury rig something so we had power Saturday night.

Temporary outlet

After I cooked the GFI outlet on my Yamaha I stuck this outlet in to allow Mike and me to have some power because we couldn't trust the camp generator at this point late Saturday afternoon.

Old switch box

The old switch box that had 30 Amp cartridge fuses in it.

Old power plant wires

This shows the old yellow wire (12/2) that used to connect the switch box to the camp. The ground wire was cutoff at the feed point on the camp wall because the old guys only used two wire runs through the whole camp. I guess that was normal in 1946!

Breaker box open

This shows the guts of the breaker box with the wires connected and the two breakers. The one on the left is a 20 Amp breaker feeding the black wire, on the right is the 15 Amp feeding the red wire. The two wires at the top are the input from the generator cable. The 100Amp switch is used to disconnect the power when shutting down the camp generator.

Breaker box and wires

Here's how we left the power plant breaker box. The white wire is the 12/3/G cable running through the steel underground pipe to the camp. The black cable is the generator double plug line. The white bag has several spare 15 Amp and 20 Amp breakers if they're ever needed.

Getting ready to leave

Mike cleaned up most everything in the camp while I messed around outside. We moved all the junk off the cooking counter and put it on the metal shelf. Mike took the curtains home to wash them.

Mike wipes table

Needless to say working with that old ceiling material was messy. Mike cleaned up inside on Sunday morning while I put in the coal bin light.

Main input box and radio.

This shows the main input connetion box where the oil lamp used to be. Mike removed the oil lamp and took it home. No need to have someone fire it up and cook the primary connection for the whole camp. The radio works nicely on the shelf and clears some counter space by the door.

Old stove light

We removed the old light over the stove, it was gunked up with cooking goo. At first we weren't going to put one in but then decided to place it over the cooking counter connected into the outlets Line 1.

Cooking area

You can see the new light over the cooking area and the outlet for the coffee pot. We moved all the boards and stuff to the metal shelf on the other side of the stove.

Cupboard outlet

The 4X outlet box over the china cabinet. The main outlet circuit Line 1 feeds this and it then runs to the furnace outlet and feeds the upstairs baseboard outlet.

Furnace outlet

Here's the outlet by the furnace for the fan. Mike discovered a gap in the wall that was chewed up by mice. He caulked it up to maybe keep the little rats out.

Upstairs outlet

New upstairs outlet under clothes rack.

Dirty oil!!! We found on the Flagpole trip the generator did this to itself. The muffler screen was plugging up with soot. Frank and I removed it.

What a mess. The oil appeared dirty Saturday evening when we had problems starting the camp generator but this is unacceptable! It was black and so thick it looked like the generator ran with the choke left on. I pulled the spark plug Saturday evening it was sooty and carboned up the engine would not fire. The muffler screen was also plugged with carbon. No log entries showed any problems. Not a good way to leave things for the next guy/gal.

Generator and double plug cable

Here's the generator sitting out side showing the double plug cable connected. I cut the other end off the cable and soldered the wires so the clamp screws in the breaker box would grip the wires better.

Generator in place

The camp generator back in it's spot. We changed the horrible oil that someone left in it and put in new synthetic 5W30. I don't know how much damage the engine suffered because the way it was run but I know it's life span has been cut short. If it starts blowing out blue oil smoke then it's bad news. We'll see.

Mike patches holes.

We sunk a box into the ceiling here and decide that would be the only one. The other two lights are wired differently. You can see the plastic counduit we ran down the center of the ceiling and the elbow turning up to the light box. We chewed up the edges of the hole so Mike patched them in.

Mike drills down.

Mike drilled down through the floor and I drilled up through the ceiling from below. We had a hell of a time fishing wires because it was hard to figure out where all the joists and extra cross pieces were at.

Lickety split

Sometimes Mike can move too fast, just like Wonder Woman! Inside joke...

What??

I caught Mike arguing with Saturday night supper. You can see the microwave behind him. We had to temporarily move it because I messed up the connection feeding the microwave outlet while connecting all the wires in the main input box. The neutral wire slipped out of the twist lock. I fixed it Sunday morning.

More porch attic wires

This shows the new wires nylon strapped to the old knobs.

New porch attic wires

You can see the new wires that run up from the inside door switch and the main lighting circuit. The section of 12/3/G jumpers the inside box to this one. Then 14/2/G is run to the outside lights and feeds the upstairs light. That Smokey the Bear poster must be a collectors item!

Porch junction box

I ran the new wire into this box and a new line to the coal bin light down through the pipe coming out of the porch ceiling.

New coal bin light

Here's the new light in the coal bin some of the guys wanted. I put in one of the smaller curly bulbs. We didn't get a chance to check it out at night because I didn't get it in till just before we left Sunday about 11 AM.

Existing connector box

This box was installed years ago by Charlie's boy Steve and me when we ran underground pipe up to the outhouse to replace the extension cords that were used before.

Power and water

Here's the ram pump storage tank and the electrical conduit before Mike and I replaced the power line into the camp on wiring trip 1.

New power line

This shows the new cover that connects the undergound steel pipe to the steel conduit on the camp wall.

More old wiring.

Here's another shot of the old wiring above the porch. You can see one of three splices at the top of the picture. This run of wire was about 20 feet long and had 3 splices in it!

Old porch attic wire

Here's the old knob and tube wiring. I didn't find any ceramic tubes in the camp. They just drilled holes thru the joists and ran the old cloth covered wire. I left the knobs in the porch attic and Ty-Wrapped the new wire to them.

Old porch wire.

Here is the old wire pulled from the porch attic. It came through the front wall of the camp and was spliced to the porch light, the spotlights and outhouse.

Junk on the bed.

The recessed light fixture for upstairs is on the bed tray while Mike fished the wires down and cut the hole for the light.

Wiring ready for new light.

Vinatge wiring cutoff and new wire from light circuit connected ready for Mike to install new recessed fixture .

New upstairs recessed fixture and bulb.

Mike installed new fixture and wanted to paint over old spot but all the paint at camp had gone bad.

New upstairs light turned on.

New light with 100 watt curly bulb gives off plenty of light.

Standpipe rack for Spring Ram Pump

The original standpipe support fell apart after 2 winters. I welded this up from old bed angle iron. It's still a little big and needs additional work to fit tightly.