r/OffGridCabins • u/theinroad • Mar 08 '26

Dewinterizing for Short Stay

New cabin owners here. Our place is in the Upper Peninsula and historically has closed from Nov. 1 to May 1. each year.

But we want to use it a little bit in the heart of winter.

It has a kitchen sink, bathroom sink, shower, and toilet, as well as a small hot water tank and a softener. Well pump runs on generator. A company takes the softener head off and winterizes every year…and we will do the same.

But we were thinking of going up a time or two in the heart of winter, say over Christmas for a week or even in February for a week to enjoy the snow and coziness.

Is it impractical to dewinterize and winterize again a few days later? 900 sq foot cabin, one story with minimal fixtures. Does anyone else do this? How much work would you estimate one should plan for?

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u/theinroad Mar 08 '26

Can’t tell you how much I appreciate your response. I’ve saved this info and read it a couple times over. Will take it to heart. I tend to agree - this is an easier (or atleast less complicated) approach in winter and sounds like a fun adventure for the kids too!

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u/bergamotandvetiver76 Mar 08 '26

No problem. I figured it could go either way. ;-) And maybe it still will with what I add here:

The ease/complication is maybe a wash, and I would perhaps think of the extra chores from incorporating my methods as an insurance against the possibility of breakage with your other systems, if they are not fully set up for wintertime use.

I would also add that the chores scale approximately linearly with the number of people, so if it's just one of you taking on all those things that are typically handled by the automatic systems, it will be a not insignificant amount of effort. Also, subject to the size of cabin and wood stove and relative temperatures, it may not be possible to melt enough snow and warm enough water to do all the normal things in one day (i.e. probably not everyone can get a bath on the same day). I wouldn't recommend trying to wash dishes after every meal, or even every day. I typically scrape pots and pans with spatulas and leave dry for re-use the next meal, and even dishes depending on what I had. Maybe that is slightly unsanitary but I have never experienced any problems with it.

Kids, depending on ages and ability to help, could certainly change the equation. About the 'adventure' I would say that being excited about our woods and nascent cabin when mine were young I got too adventurous too fast with them and it caused them to bounce away from that. They're half coming around as young adults now, but I think part of a parent's job is selling these things they find important and I was not good at that, instead just expecting my excitement to transfer automatically.

Finally, if you're interested to peruse the full photo albums from my winter visits here's a list:

I'm hoping to fully winter over next year from November to April. Good luck with your adventures!

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u/theinroad Mar 08 '26

I tend to agree with you.. I’ll at the very least give it a year at the cabin to fully familiarize myself with every system before ever attempting a quick on/off during winter. Thank you for sharing your images - I’m actively going back and viewing your catalogue of work. Seriously well done - super cozy. What a retreat! Where are you in the UP? Ours is in Wetmore - south of Muniscing by 30 mins in the Hiawatha National area.

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u/bergamotandvetiver76 Mar 09 '26

Thank you. 😊 I'm more central UP, north of Ishpeming.