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Random tips from my own private island experience… People may visit when you are not there. In the US, the shoreline up to some strangely defined highwater mar

by jws 13y ago

Random tips from my own private island experience… People may visit when you are not there. In the US, the shoreline up to some strangely defined highwater mark (which is higher than you expect) is public. Canada has a similar deal related to crown lands (you may own the island, but the bit under the water, not so much). These visitors have every legal right to hang out, have a picnic, play jarts, whatever. When you aren't around you will get more visitors. (I have pretty good camera surveillance, mainly to enjoy from afar, but I also get to see the visitors.) These will be bolder and walk around and look at the place. If you aren't around and the local environment is right, you may get hunters. We get duck hunters and goose hunters. We generally give a few people we know permission and kind of rely on them to discourage anyone else. Hunters are territorial. One year it was posted with "No Hunting" signs nailed to the dock, but not by us or anyone we know, a good attempt by a hunting hacker to secure himself a private hunting area. Have a medical evac plan. I've used mine in weather that I would probably not have used an Amazon boat. Have a "pinned down by weather" plan with respect to food and water. I know a couple that was reduced to surviving on popcorn and bloody mary mix for a couple days. Also, know when you are pinned down by weather. A food digesting composter keeps your trash bags from getting disgusting. If there is cell coverage, but only for odd carriers, consider an "island phone" that just stays there. If there is no cell coverage, get a VHF that can reach some emergency agency.

tynan 13y ago
Thanks-- this is all very good relevant advice. Hadn't thought about digesting composter at all, but that's a great idea. I don't mind too much if people respectfully visit the island when we're not there. We told the really awesome neighbor he could visit the island whenever, so maybe he'll guard it a bit. He could certainly see from his dock if another boat was on it.
- hackula1 13y ago
  Just be careful with hunting. My wife and I have an island as well, and a couple weekends ago one of our dogs was shot by a hunter not playing by the rules. Unfortunately people will try to take advantage, and people are often less responsible on your land than they would be on their own. Also, letting people onto your land can lead to fires, garbage, and liability issues. Of course, it is always good to share what you have, just be careful.
tlrobinson 13y ago
Maybe you could install a remotely/motion activated speaker system that plays the smoke monster noise from Lost to scare away visitors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-M8P14u_G8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-M8P14u_G8)
- reginaldjcooper 13y ago
  I have a lot of second hand experience that shows this will work fine up until the meddling kids.
auctiontheory 13y ago
I know a couple that was reduced to surviving on popcorn and bloody mary mix for a couple days. They ran out of vodka before running out of the mix? Very poor planning.
- educating 13y ago
  Must be Russian! :) Not because they were poor planning- they just didn't want to waste vodka on mix.
vecinu 13y ago
Would you be able to build some sort of fence/gate system to deter visitors? Would that be legal?
- Techasura 13y ago
  You can build anything you want. It's your property.
  - jws 13y ago
    As long as it is 75 feet back from the "ordinary high water line" and complies with 126 pages of local zoning rules and several hundred pages of proprietary building codes included by reference.
  - wissler 13y ago
    Actually, no you can't build anything you want, and no, it's not really your property.
    - skriticos2 13y ago
      Yes, this is what I though too. He just bought property rights. It's still part of whatever country it's located within and they can apply all of their legal code on you. I imaging digging deeper than a few feet would be illegal on that without proper authorization first. Having a really sovereign country is kind of difficult.
      - p4bl0 13y ago
        If someone who read this get his very own country someday, please name it something that will give you the .gz ccTLD so I can finally buy www.tar.gz where I will offer visitors to download an archive of the Internet :-p.
        ovi256 13y ago
        Disappointed that you would not proposed the superior bz2 format. Just kidding :) your idea is awesome.

by jws 13y ago

tynan 13y ago

Thanks-- this is all very good relevant advice. Hadn't thought about digesting composter at all, but that's a great idea. I don't mind too much if people respectfully visit the island when we're not there. We told the really awesome neighbor he could visit the island whenever, so maybe he'll guard it a bit. He could certainly see from his dock if another boat was on it.

hackula1 13y ago
Just be careful with hunting. My wife and I have an island as well, and a couple weekends ago one of our dogs was shot by a hunter not playing by the rules. Unfortunately people will try to take advantage, and people are often less responsible on your land than they would be on their own. Also, letting people onto your land can lead to fires, garbage, and liability issues. Of course, it is always good to share what you have, just be careful.

tlrobinson 13y ago

Maybe you could install a remotely/motion activated speaker system that plays the smoke monster noise from Lost to scare away visitors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-M8P14u_G8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-M8P14u_G8)

reginaldjcooper 13y ago
I have a lot of second hand experience that shows this will work fine up until the meddling kids.

auctiontheory 13y ago

I know a couple that was reduced to surviving on popcorn and bloody mary mix for a couple days. They ran out of vodka before running out of the mix? Very poor planning.

educating 13y ago
Must be Russian! :) Not because they were poor planning- they just didn't want to waste vodka on mix.

vecinu 13y ago

Would you be able to build some sort of fence/gate system to deter visitors? Would that be legal?

Techasura 13y ago
You can build anything you want. It's your property.
- jws 13y ago
  As long as it is 75 feet back from the "ordinary high water line" and complies with 126 pages of local zoning rules and several hundred pages of proprietary building codes included by reference.
- wissler 13y ago
  Actually, no you can't build anything you want, and no, it's not really your property.
  - skriticos2 13y ago
    Yes, this is what I though too. He just bought property rights. It's still part of whatever country it's located within and they can apply all of their legal code on you. I imaging digging deeper than a few feet would be illegal on that without proper authorization first. Having a really sovereign country is kind of difficult.
    - p4bl0 13y ago
      If someone who read this get his very own country someday, please name it something that will give you the .gz ccTLD so I can finally buy www.tar.gz where I will offer visitors to download an archive of the Internet :-p.
      - ovi256 13y ago
        Disappointed that you would not proposed the superior bz2 format. Just kidding :) your idea is awesome.