This homestead
is going down.
When the beam that
holds up the center of your house
is swinging in the air,
you know you might
have some issues.
This is what your creek
water looks like.
That's the creek water.
So, you guys have been sick.
There's no guarantee
they're gonna succeed.
Why? Everything wants to sink.
- Have any livestock?
- We don't.
- Oh, wow!
- Disgusting.
- Okay, pull me.
- Hold up!
Man down.
To share this moment
with them and to be a part
of the helping hand
is what it's all about.
Oh, yeah!
We can actually turn
this from junky boat
to the world's
greatest turkey coop.
If we can pull that off,
that's impressive.
This is so pretty!
Yeah, look at the size
of these trees.
- It feels like Washington state, Oregon, you know.
- Yeah.
For the first time ever, we're
starting a homestead without my dad.
Unfortunately, last week he was
exposed to somebody with COVID.
So, he won't be joining us until
we know that it's safe to do so.
- Can you hear me?
- Dad!
What was your test?
What was the result?
- They were negative.
- Dad, that's good.
So, I'm still in
the quarantine mode.
I'm hoping to come down there
but I can't guarantee it.
That's not good.
So, you're in the
third largest city in Alaska,
but Juneau is a wild place.
Misty and Matt
are in route to Douglas Island,
a remote fishing village
surrounded by the Gastineau channel
in the heart
of Tongass National Forest.
As the largest intact
rainforest in the world,
the region is teeming
with apex predators.
Besieged by 71 inches
of annual rainfall
and covered in swampy wetlands,
The Raneys have received an
SOS from rookie homesteaders
on the verge of washing out.
- I'm Kevin McCray.
- I'm Joshua Wilson.
And we live in Juneau, Alaska.
Our homestead is about four-and-a-half
acres of dense, old-growth forest.
There's a salmon stream
running right through the heart of it,
which is really awesome.
But it's not a safe
place to live.
Our house is at
the brink of collapse.
We live in a rainforest.
So, it gets pretty wet, and pretty
muddy underneath our house.
And the foundation is sinking.
It's bending down in the middle
which is tearing apart the walls.
And it's about ready to fall.
We need help
with our water.
It's brown, it's dirty.
We're in over our heads.
We don't know how long we can
live here with our house, like it is.
We don't have another option. We
need the Raneys to come and help.
This is about
ready to get real.
- And pray that Dad shows up as soon as possible.
- Yeah.
- -
All right, let's do this.
It's pretty.
Look at these buildings.
- This is really cool.
- Really cool.
I really like
this bridge.
- Hi!
- Hello, Welcome.
- How are you guys?
- Good. How are you?
- Good. Misty.
- Jake.
- Jake, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, Misty.
- Joshua.
- Josh, nice to meet you.
- This is really cool.
- What a pretty place.
I mean it has to be beautiful,
right, in Juneau.
- You live right here?
- Ah, yeah.
I live over at the little cabin that's
out on the far side of the property.
Okay.
I'm Josh's brother. And in
the past, we weren't close always.
But we always had that
connection with one another.
With my dad and my mother, both
passing and being his older brother,
I definitely feel responsible
for helping my brother
and you know, his husband
accomplish their dream.
- How many acres?
- Four and a half acres.
- No city lights, no cell phone coverage, no internet.
- It's a no-man's land.
So, why are we here?
Three years ago, we had a
two-story home, kind of the typical life.
We're quite the city people.
We wanted to do more
with being self-sufficient.
But very quickly, the
reality of living in the wild set in.
Our homestead
is beautiful on the outside,
but the reality of it is that there's
other issues that we haven't addressed.
The center of the house
was built on a old stump,
that is beginning to rot away.
Actually, see some of the
sagging underneath here.
We get our water from the salmon
creek that runs through our property.
The water is brown
and making us sick.
We all have had
gastro-intestinal problems.
I went in to the doctor and she's like,
"Okay, do you have any lose stools?"
I'm like, "Yeah, that's
normal, like, hey."
I drink from the creek but she was
telling me, "No, that's not normal."
Our outhouse is at its limits,
it's filled to the top and
it's about ready to fall apart.
This is not living.
This isn't thriving.
This is not what we dreamed of
when we first set foot on this property.
Five and half years ago, my
dad passed away from cancer.
He was my best friend.
My mom passed away...
two years ago.
And they are both buried
out there in the orchard.
This land,
these two people here,
my family,
that is all I have left.
There's days I just sit and wallow
in the weight that's on my shoulders.
There's things that we've gotten
into that are above our skill-set
and our knowledge and we've
been working here for three years
to make this into
our homestead of our dreams.
But it doesn't feel like
we're living, it feels like...
we're just at the brink
of destruction.
Elephant in the room.
We don't have my dad.
He had a potential
exposure to COVID-19.
- And he is in a 14-day quarantine.
- Oh, no!
And he has about five
more days to go.
I mean, the best-case scenario
is he shows up in five days.
Worst-case scenario is he
doesn't show up at all.
There's no reason to be sorry. We're
grateful that you guys are still here.
So, thank you guys for coming.
We're here for a reason, to address the
problems and know how to best help you.
Okay, great.
- How about you and I take a look around.
- Yeah.
- Brothers, go this way.
- Let's check this house out.
I have respect
for Josh and Kevin,
because they have such
a good attitude.
They see themselves
here forever.
And you can see the longevity
and feel that love.
And those are the people
that you wanna help.
Okay, so what
am I looking at here?
Okay, so this is our water pump.
It goes from the creek through
the pump and then we get a hose
and run that to our tank over
at the house and fill that up.
- This is what your creek water looks like.
- That's the creek water.
Even the clear rivers in Alaska are
like, you don't want to drink out of those
and this one's not even clear.
Not the prettiest of things
to be drinking from.
- You're bathing in this too.
- We are.
- So, you guys have been sick.
- It's affecting our quality of life, yeah.
You guys have obviously, if you're in
Alaska, you've heard of beaver-fever.
And we have a beaver dam a
quarter-mile up the creek too.
I can tell you right now, if you
have a beaver upriver from you,
the potential of getting
giardia is real.
- Do you have an indoor bathroom?
- We do not.
- Where are you going to the restroom?
- We have an outdoor outhouse.
- You wanna show me that?
- Yeah, I'll show that to you.
It's kind of falling apart.
It's getting full.
- The outhouse is right there.
- Holy crap!
Doesn't look that great,
and it's been pretty full
since we moved here.
So, we don't know how much
longer we have to even use that.
Okay, so, hold on.
What is the ground like
when you dig here?
Mostly, couple of inches of top-soil
and then you get to lot of bedrock.
- It's gonna be hard to dig another hole.
- Mm-hmm.
The hole's probably really shallow
and then it filled up really fast.
And then, what's the alternative of
that, digging another shallow hole?
We don't know.
This outhouse is a shallow
hole that's full.
It's uphill from
the water stream.
So, there's a good chance that
there is contamination
and waste running
in to this water supply.
I think I need to do a little
bit more yoga for these tight spaces.
As you can tell already, it's
disgusting underneath here.
It's a little bit wet.
Southeast Alaska gets
insane amounts of rain.
And with that, the ground
is completely saturated.
It makes it really hard to find a
proper place to build a structure.
If you don't know what you're doing
and you don't know how to build correctly,
in a rainforest,
then you're setting yourself
up for disaster.
Look at this.
This one's in the ground here.
This one's doing nothing.
Wait, put that back.
What the heck!
Look at this down here.
Look at that peer block.
It's just, it's just
tilted completely.
See this beam here.
That right there is the support
beam. And this is sagging like crazy.
I mean, this is the main
support for your house.
When you look underneath this
house, nothing is holding it up.
If we don't fix this fast,
this homestead is going down.
How's
your food situation?
We built up the land over here,
so we could create a garden.
Wow, looks amazing!
Oh, my goodness.
- We're doing something right.
- You are.
We're getting vegetables
and food for us.
Obviously, when it comes to growing
your own food, you guys are nailing it.
But as far as livestock,
do you have any livestock?
We don't and we've been
very hesitant about that
because our neighbor, she had,
I think, like 20 chickens that
were k*lled by an ermine.
To buy chickens and just
put them out in the field,
it just seems like k*lling
them all for no reason.
But we feel like we wanna
do more with our land.
Providing food for ourselves
and being able to
bring more to the community
with our land.
Ermine are these short-tailed
weasels that look all cute and cuddly.
And they're all over
in this part of Alaska.
But actually, they're quite
deadly when it comes to livestock,
in particular, birds.
So, for myself,
Joshua and Kevin,
we need to figure out how we
can keep them safe, long-term.
How it will be sustainable
in this homestead,
and how we can build some kind of
livestock pen in this soggy condition.
I'm gonna try and talk with Matt and my
dad and see what we can come up with.
I'll call Dad. We'll
figure this out together.
- Hey, what's up?
- We need your advice.
They're totally up a creek
without a pedal.
They're drinking out of this
creek with a beaver dam
right upriver. It's--
- Has anybody gotten sick yet?
- Yeah, numerous times.
And there's possible
surface contamination.
I wanna test that
water first thing.
And then I'm gonna look at the storage
system and figure out the alternative.
And they wanna bring livestock
to their property
and their neighbor's livestock
got k*lled, all of it, by ermine.
But their property is marshland.
It's standing water,
it's super wet.
So, anything we do here,
you're gonna be dealing with that.
The support beam down
the center of the house
is not being supported
by anything.
What?
- So, the cabin's falling down.
- Yeah.
We need to do a lot of
work and we need to do it quickly.
And the river is between
their house and driveway.
Can we get any
equipment back there?
I can't even start to help that
cabin until I gain access to the house.
So, I have to figure out a way to get
across that river. I mean, it's insane.
- The drinking water is number one.
- Yeah.
That's gotta
be addressed.
And a cabin that's about to fall down
is probably, just as equally as important.
Right now, you got to build
a road and a bridge.
We know a little bit about
that kind of stuff.
And to get it done in seven
days is it a pipe dream,
especially since I'm not there?
It's a huge undertaking.
Matt will build
a log-access bridge
to haul vital build materials
across the creek to the cabin.
Then he and Misty will bolster
and level the cabin's foundation.
To provide safe drinking water,
Matt and Misty will upgrade their storage
tank and build the sanitary outhouse.
Misty will construct a marsh
and ermine-proof poultry pen
to boost the homestead's sustainability
and provide a possible revenue source.
We need to fix the house.
If we don't address it now,
you might not have a home.
- But first hurdle is access.
- Whatever it takes.
- Okay.
- That's good to hear.
Your water situation,
it's horrendous, you guys.
In fact, I'm gonna
do you a favor.
- I'm gonna condemn...
- Oh, no!
...your water
situation altogether.
In the meantime, you're
drinking water that we haul.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
And really at this point,
there's so much going on
I'm calling my family in
to just kinda fill the shoes
of my dad and to fill that void.
And all fingers crossed together,
you know, he'll show up at some point.
- Sound good.
- Sounds great.
We're willing to do what's
necessary to get us clean water,
to get this house to a place
where I feel safe in it.
Trying to save this homestead
with my Dad not being here, is
gonna be a massive challenge.
Okay, so, got a lot
of work to do.
- You know what the plan is.
- Let's go.
- How are you guys?
- Good. How are you doing?
Hi, Ted!
- So, we recruited family.
- So did we.
Glad to see
more help here.
- Who's this?
- This is my Dad, Casey.
Nice to meet you.
This is Maciah, my husband
and my sister, Melanee.
Oh, great. Hi.
This is a huge project.
There's no way I'm gonna
succeed on my own.
It's great to have Melanee here.
I'm gonna pass up
the water project to her.
She can use her sourcing
skills and figure it out.
Clint's on his way to
help Matt build this bridge.
And that frees up Maciah and I to
give this homestead a poultry pen.
You have all of Marty's kids
on the homestead.
- Family reunion.
- Yeah.
It's gonna take about ten
people to fill the void of my dad.
Yeah.
Hopefully, he gets another test
back and we get the results soon.
And he'll be here, next couple
of days, hopefully.
- Perfect.
- Best-case scenario.
- Okay, ready to work.
I have concerns. All parents
want the best for their kids.
They're young
and they're ambitious.
They want to pursue that dream
but they're struggling.
It's tough for me and I can
get a lot of things done,
but I've never had a homestead,
so, it's great to have
the Raneys come in
get this place to what
their dream, I think really is.
I think this is a pretty solid
group of people.
Okay, let's get to it.
Across
the homestead...
So, here we go.
Matt must bridge the divide between
a cabin and the crucial build materials.
So, this path right here,
you guys brought gravel in.
And it's pretty good.
- But the only thing about this path is it's pretty narrow.
- Yup.
Is there a better way to get
on the property?
I think it will be really cool to build
a old-school, kinda logging bridge.
- What do you think?
- Let's do it.
Matt will construct
an access-bridge over the river
using felled logs and fasten
them together with a strap,
allowing for build supplies, weighing
up to four tons to reach the cabin.
So, I mean, they bought
this property three years ago.
- I said, don't do it.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Why not?
Well, just because I,
you know, I think I had
a vision of how much
work it was.
And I didn't think those guys,
you know, had the gumption to do it.
But they proved me wrong.
They have a goal, which is, you
know, make this place their dream.
- Yeah.
- I couldn't be prouder of them.
To me, from what I know,
these guys are real capable.
And I'm really glad that
we're here to help them out.
I'm really glad you're here
to help them out too.
I'm glad they took this route.
It's awesome.
And I love coming out here.
Even though every time I come
out here, all I do is work.
Let's get back to it.
We're using a old-school
trick my dad showed me.
The old pressix chain
on the cable.
The coolest part about this is,
every wrap that you add around this
with the chain,
it bites in there.
- Okay.
- Okay.
But as the chain needs
to be moved, you can,
move it one way
and it bites the other way.
- See how that moves.
- Yeah, I do. That's awesome.
Exactly.
Now, we need to get them
across this river,
Clint's dragging from
the other side of the river
and we're rigging as we go.
Okay, so, Clint!
We're ready to drag.
Nice, it's moving.
That's awesome.
That log, it's gotta be some
amount of turns.
That log is a big log.
Okay, Clint.
Keep going, yeah!
- Yeah!
- All right, over the top.
Whoo!
Okay. Next!
One down, six more to go.
I have not built a bridge
like this before.
Oh, yeah!
All right, Clint.
Whoa! Yeah.
That's good stuff
right there, guys.
All right, go up.
All right, we're making
progress now.
Yeah! Look at him go.
Whoo! Nice.
Okay, good.
Yeah, baby.
Hopefully, this bridge
is structurally sound.
I'm not gonna nail anything until
I get this thing slapped together
and get on there,
and come out the excavator,
and then from there let
At
the local harbor...
- How's it going?
- Hello.
Misty presents Josh
and Kevin with a unique solution
for the homestead's
lack of livestock.
- We're confused.
So, I had this crazy idea.
Wouldn't it be amazing if we could
make a coop out of an old boat.
- It's very southeast Alaskan.
- Yeah.
We're in Juneau. Obviously,
there's a ton of boats here.
It's a huge fishing community and
these boats, they only last so long,
and then they're junk.
So, why not turn one of them
into a coop.
This just might not be
the boat, which is okay.
Or maybe it's the perfect boat.
- Don't scare him.
- So, follow me.
- Okay.
- And I'll lead the way.
- Awesome.
So, it's this beauty,
right here.
That's a cool one.
- 20 bucks?
That's awesome.
This is the perfect boat
for what I plan on doing.
It has really good bones
and there's still a ton of
life left and it's watertight.
And in area where it's so wet,
I believe that this is the perfect
structure for a livestock-pen.
What are your
first thoughts?
- Well, one is, I would like to paint it.
But I think, this could be
actually, a really cool thing.
I'm excited to give
Kevin the coop,
and have him take care
of the livestock that we have.
Kevin's really good
with animals.
Kinda have it be
his own little thing.
And my thing is the garden
and the orchard.
And Kevin, I would hand
Kevin over the livestock.
I think he's gonna love it.
- They call me the bird-man.
I think it's a good option
'cause it has good protection
for like, animals and other
critters will be safe in there.
Are you guys open to what livestock we
bring, as long as it's like in a bird form?
Yeah, anything.
Misty daydreaming up
something like this,
I mean, this is perfect
for our style as well,
lot of people call us crazy 'cause
we have these big, crazy dreams.
To be able to re-use this boat, instead
of just letting it weather and rot away,
that speaks to
Misty's resourcefulness,
her creativity
and bigger vision.
I'm welcoming all ideas on how to
make this the best it can possibly be.
I have a few of my own, Maciah
has a ton too. Sound good?
Josh and Kevin,
they're just all in.
And really it's gonna be left up to me
to make it into something spectacular,
'cause it is a sight.
That is for sure.
So, yeah, we're stripping
this thing in place. Let's go.
- Cool.
- Cool.
First thing we do,
is rip off the decks.
Ah!
I've never missed my dad more.
At a harbor
in Douglas Island, Alaska...
Okay, big day
on the boat.
Misty and Maciah set sail
on the conversion of an old fishing boat
into the homestead's
new poultry pen.
So, I'll be digging through
trash all day.
- Don't worry about me.
- I'll be sending trash your way.
- Okay.
Misty and Maciah
will strip the boat down to its shell,
remove the roof
and add in new flooring.
Then, they'll transfer
the boat to the homestead
where they'll construct
a new roof.
Inside, they'll build shelfs
for roosting,
create a secure doorway to
separate the chickens and turkeys.
And build a perimeter of fencing
and netting around the boat
to create a predator-proof
outdoor chicken run.
This is kind
of the strip-the-boat day.
So, we're stripping the paint.
We're stripping the guts. We're
trying to keep stuff that's salvageable.
I love these boxes. I am
keeping these for feeders.
I've never built a boat
into a turkey coop before, have you?
No.
That thing would end up floating
in the ocean and rotting away
or seeping into the ocean
from the dump.
So, if we can build it into
a useful part of the homestead
that's gonna function for their
benefit, then that's a major win.
With us combined, we can actually
turn this from old, giant, junky boat
to the world's greatest
turkey coop.
Yeah, it could be epic.
I think we should take
the roof, piece by piece
'cause obviously once we cut
it off it's not going back on.
- Yeah.
- Okay, here we go!
You're looking at a roof which
is not water-proof.
And try to find where the holes
are at and building over the top of it.
Or try to build off of... The whole
thing just seems like such a nightmare.
Oh, my gosh, it's heavy.
So, trying to make this thing
water-proof, predator-proof...
It's easier just to cut it off
and start again.
There it is.
Nice shift.
This is crazy.
I got some boat.
All right, we're on the ground.
Whoo! No going back now.
We just stripped the boat
down to the bones.
And if you look at all of this
wood, look at it.
Nothing is rotten,
which is amazing.
The integrity is solid.
So, we're gonna put
a new floor in.
So, just start moving it over.
- All right, watch out everybody.
- It's heavy.
- There we go.
- Okay, thank you.
We put in a layer of
insulation and we added, on top of it,
some upcycled treated lumber.
And now, these animals have a safe,
warm, out of elements place to live.
All right, first,
sheet of plywood on.
Feel how sturdy it is.
What are you thinking? Is
it starting to look like a coop
or is it, still look
like a boat?
Looks like a boat.
At what point do you think this is
actually gonna look like a coop?
Ah, I don't know.
Do you think it will ever look like a
coop or do you think we need the birds?
I think
it needs a little work.
It still definitely just
looks like a boat.
I'm excited for building the
chicken coop out of a boat.
Because Joshua has the garden,
so being able to bring
livestock to the property
will give me more projects
that I can call my own.
Yeah, it's perfect. Whoo!
I think this is our last piece.
Looking good, looking solid.
- Floor done.
- Perfect.
Looks good everybody!
With the flooring, you can see
this thing transform
from boat to coop.
We're ready to move this thing
to the homestead.
At the cabin,
Melanee and Josh assess the
cabin's drinking water storage.
All right, we drain
the tank of water.
- Should we tip it over and see the sediment?
- Yeah.
Oh wow, brown stuff
just flying out of the hose.
Disgusting.
Is that a little darker than
you usually see coming out of that?
Oh absolutely, I
think it is definitely the sediment.
It's just a really
concentrated sediment.
Where the water is coming
out of the tank,
actually looks
kind of a bit corroded.
All right, well,
let's peek inside.
It looks little slimy in there.
Really gunked up and corroded.
Kinda smells like
dirty, wet socks.
This was the top of the tank.
What's really strange about it
is that it's pushed in,
instead of bellowed out.
- The shape I was thinking of was more like a dome.
- Opposite.
I've never seen
a water tank shaped like that.
It is warped, we
can't get a good seal on it,
so we can't keep
contaminants out.
That just to me looks
like a red flag.
If we take what you've got
and we put it all back together,
and then we just fill
it with rainwater,
I don't know how long this
is really gonna last you.
- So, it might be good to just start anew.
- Mm-hmm.
We're gonna condemn
this damn thing.
Cool, let's condemn it.
That would mean so much,
you have no idea.
Like clean water, I can't even
supply that with my family,
and I feel responsible to give
Kevin clean water.
I feel responsible,
it's embarrassing.
So, when Melanee disconnected
the water source to our home,
it kinda hit me a little bit.
Makes me feel sad that
I've allowed my family
to be consuming
this water for so long.
But I'm really excited to get
down to work, to fix it.
- Let's get to work and get this done.
- Let's get it done.
At the harbor...
Ready to move a boat. Whoo-hoo!
So, we did the dirty work. We
stripped everything back, we prepped it.
Now, the exciting
stuff starts, man.
Here we go!
We have this massive boat
that's 32-feet long.
It's 50-plus-years old.
We're delivering it and dropping
it off right on the driveway.
And then it's gonna
be left up to me.
So, first thing, move the logs in,
next thing, hook on to the chains.
So, when we take it off
the boat stands and the blocks
it's gonna, kind of sink
into the sand
and then we're just hoping
to pull it through the marsh,
which has water.
Like, this is like
a floating island, look.
If I could just get it off
of that pad, in to here,
I would just be like,
it would be amazing.
Misty's a workhorse,
her abilities are incredible.
She just goes full speed
and she gets a lot done.
She's awesome. Love her.
If anything, it will just plow
in and hopefully bury it...
- It will be stuck forever.
-...in the middle forever and make it bigger.
I think it's gonna be good. I
can't wait to see it go down.
All right, pull out
the needle, boys.
We're basically using
logs as a ramp
and we're gonna hook on
to the boat and start pulling
and drag it across
the homestead.
That looks good.
I say we hook on to this thing
and see what happens.
My idea was to create
a boat ramp.
And now I'm gonna just push
and slide this massive boat,
with the skid steer.
Oh, God. This looks really
intimidating from here.
We're gonna start
inching that way, okay.
I'm ready.
Here we go. One, two, three.
We're synchronized
swimming in pieces of equipment.
We have the skid steer
and the excavator,
and we have to move
in perfect unison.
I was literally, like staring
at the Titanic.
I couldn't see one thing. I'm
going into it completely blind.
I am the iceberg
and didn't they collide?
Didn't that end bad?
Stop, stop.
What? Stop.
- The back of the boat came apart.
- Oh!
I heard a little crack
when it came around.
Might have been just the backward
movement that pulled it apart, yeah.
- It was. I saw, when you pulled it this way.
- Oh, yeah.
So, the fact that we have a
little damage on the back corner,
it's one of those things where we
can literally add one piece of wood
and just sure up that corner.
Now we're gonna crop it up on
boulders and get it level and stable.
I say, pine-wedge that sucker.
We've done a lot
with giant rocks,
but this will be the first time
where I use them for a boat stand.
Because with how wet the property
is and how heavy this boat is,
I think that's the perfect
boat stand for this boat.
Okay, stop.
- Okay, good job.
- Awesome.
Across the homestead,
Melanee has a simple solution to
the homestead's lack of clean water.
The whole point of living
off-grid is to get your energy
from all of this awesome Earth.
- And the environment around you.
- Exactly.
- You have this awesome rainfall.
- Mm-hmm.
Some people think of rain
as a negative,
- but don't you think of it as a positive living here?
- Absolutely.
So, if we catch rain we can have
all sorts of clean drinking water.
This is a smaller example
of what we want to do.
I just used a little umbrella,
cut a hole in it,
and then I left this overnight, so
that I could show you this morning,
um, how much rain it caught.
And it caught quite a bit of
rain, not a very large surface
- and we were able to almost fill the bucket.
- And it looks clean.
Yeah, so we got rainwater
and we got creek water
and look at
the difference in color.
- It's pretty amazing.
- It's pretty disgusting.
So, if you were to choose, bucket A,
creek water or bucket B, clean water,
which one would you just
visually want to drink?
- Bucket A, to dump out. Bucket B, to drink.
- Yeah, totally.
We get so much rain here,
Over the surface of that house
that's all the water we'll need forever.
So, have you thought of an idea
on how to do the rainwater
collection system?
- Um, yeah, just utilizing your roof.
- Mm-hmm.
It's a metal roof.
It's pretty clean already.
If we pressure-wash that, that'll be
like a really great surface to catch it.
- And then a new gutter system that routes to the water tank.
- Okay.
That's a lot of surface area.
That gutter...
I mean, you should drain a rainstorm
and be able to collect a lot of rain.
Absolutely.
I wanna do whatever it takes to make
this safe for Kevin and for my brother.
So, I'm super excited
about the water catchment.
To have clean drinking water,
it's gonna help out tremendously.
- I guess, the next is just to get to work.
- Let's do it.
On the other
side of the river...
Yoo-hoo, hey!
Matt's access
bridge is ready for a stress test
from a four-ton excavator.
You guys have done a ton
of work. This is amazing.
That excavator has to go across the
bridge, so we can start on the foundation.
I hope it's stable.
That excavator
weighs 7,500 pounds.
So, I have a very
small margin of error.
That's like,
two full-size trucks,
that have to be able to
get on the bridge, fit on it
and drive across it without
snapping the thing right in the middle.
The worst-case scenario is
this whole thing just crumbles
and I just flip over,
which I don't want to do.
All right, let's do it.
All hands on deck.
- Okay, I'm firing it up.
- Sounds good. We got eyes on you.
Oh, my God.
- Gotta keep coming, Matt.
- There's movement.
There is a lot of movement.
This is crazy!
How does it look?
So far,
so good on my side.
- I'm going for it.
- Go, go, go, go, go.
- Whoo!
- Yeah!
Yeah!
- All right!
- I made it!
What seemed like an
insurmountable task, is finally done.
And now, finally,
the work can start.
Oh, man. Okay, that was awesome.
Dude, it wasn't sketchy at all.
Yeah, I mean we can bring,
like materials, everything.
- Anything is possible, because that bridge is solid.
- Yeah.
Yeah, you think this is nuts?
It's gonna get crazier.
- What was nuts about this?
With
four days remaining,
Matt prepares to bring heavy
supplies across the creek,
as Misty and Maciah formulate a
plan to save the collapsing cabin.
All right, guys, let
us show you under the house.
Oh, my gosh, you guys
have so much water.
- So mucky...
- This is like horrendous.
- You guys, this moves.
- Yeah.
This guy is swinging.
The first thing we do,
is rip off the decks
to really get a good look
at what we're dealing with.
And to get it out of the way, so
that we can put in reinforcement.
- Awesome.
- What do you think?
I like it, yeah. Let's do it.
- Okay, I'll get the tools.
- All right.
- I've gotta go get the tools.
- Oh, I'm stuck.
Oh man, we're gonna
be here all day.
This is crazy.
Uh, this is a big job,
and I think,
it's such a can of worms.
Ah. Okay.
I've kind of fallen in
the shoes of my dad,
and left with what
he would have been doing.
And right now the foundation
at the house is such a big job,
and honestly,
it's really overwhelming.
- Hold up.
- Oh, just to the chest.
- You can take it.
- Love you too.
Okay, grab on.
- Got it.
- Got it.
Pop that plywood off.
Look at that framing.
I think we're dealing
with some weird stuff here.
I can reach here
as far as I can.
I can't feel
any structural support.
What's happening
is the middle is failing.
All the supports are floating,
the whole house is going like this.
It's collapsing in on itself.
That's not good.
That foundation, it's dangerous.
Once you start
touching it in one spot,
you're gonna see, you know,
something kinda fail in another other spot.
So, we were gonna focus on
the center of the structure first.
But obviously, all these posts,
and the floor itself,
have major issues.
There are crazy problems,
with crazy fixes.
And the only person that I
know that can do that, is my dad.
So, the fact that
that person isn't here,
and the foundation that
we're looking at
is the worst foundation
problem I've ever seen,
I just really need him
to show up.
- So what do you suggest we do?
- Um...
I wish my dad was here.
I want you guys to
follow me up here for a second.
- We have lots to talk about.
- Okay.
Okay guys,
this is pretty crazy
but I'm just gonna
come out and say it.
My dad, he had one more test
that we're waiting on to find out,
um, whether it's positive
or negative.
And it's taking so long, I do
not think he's showing up today.
It's a bummer but I think we
got the A-team already, so...
Oh, look the ramp
Hey!
Oh!
I've been in quarantine
for 14 days.
So, if I feel happy to see
human beings, I am.
When Marty showed, it was
a pleasant surprise for us.
Misty and Matt are great and I
know that they have the skills.
But we need Marty, we need the
guy who can make the magic happen.
Ready to go to work.
So, what's going on?
The most important
thing is the house.
I started with Maciah and I
actually want you to just take over.
- Well then, we're all going together.
- Let's do it.
- Follow those guys.
- Good to have you here, Marty.
- What's that?
- Good to have you here.
Enlighten me of the
scope of the insanity here.
Maciah and I ripped off the
whole deck and then we wanted to see,
get a better look with what we're
dealing with for the foundation.
Dad, they have three inches...
They have more than three inches.
But at least three inches
of sag down the center.
Look at all these peers, they
all kinda have the same lean.
Looks like a b*mb went off
in the front of there with mud
and you're sinking,
you slip, it's crazy.
And it's hard
to make it like new
when it was not done right
the first time.
And you're inheriting all of
the water for 30 or 40 years,
that have compromised
the foundation.
- Okay, so you tore the deck off.
- Yeah.
We have water running
underneath the house, which,
it's literally running
like it's a spring.
It's no surprise there's a lot of
water on a property in Juneau.
But building on stomps,
someday you'll pay.
And right now you're paying.
This is a mess.
But I got a plan.
Marty will dig a
also known as a French drain,
to divert water from flowing
underneath the cabin.
Then he'll stabilize the foundation
with temporary scaffolding.
And build a new support
footing out of cement and steel.
Finally, he'll install
a new support post,
jack-up the sagging
substructure to make it level,
and replace the deck.
All right, so, I'm gonna
start digging.
You guys want to move the wheel-barrow
and anything that's in the way.
- Let's get started.
- Okay.
Thank you.
I landed, I listened,
and I was anxious to get
something started.
My first thought was maybe
dig a French drain,
and drain at an angle
and try to diverge
a million gallons a year,
away and around the house.
You've made a lot of progress.
Get that water
running away. Exactly.
But I found out quickly that
there's no guarantees
they're gonna succeed.
Why?
Everything wants to sink.
You going through those silky,
muddy, quicksand.
We're gonna get this stuff
stuck and we're screwed.
My dad is going through
a crash-course.
An excavator, mud-bargain,
like he's never experienced.
And he's realizing how crazy
this ground truly is.
- This ground sucks.
- It's the absolute worst.
This muskeg makes everything
more challenging.
Tried to do a little job
with an excavator,
turns into one
of them nightmares.
That's it.
Okay, can't even move
the excavator to do any work.
Once you get through that
phase root system,
it's just all in silt
and muck and...
To be able to get
this foundation fixed,
and safe and done,
especially in this mud
and craziness,
it's gonna be
a really hard task.
Now, I need to get
that excavator out.
Later that day
Marty, Joshua and Jake
explore the property
in search of resources.
- What's in here?
- This is the orchard.
- Beautiful.
- Thank you.
I spend a lot
of my time in here.
My parents are both buried
underneath two of these trees.
- And my dog is buried underneath another tree.
- Where?
- I can go show you.
- You sure?
Yeah, watch the trenches though.
All of my mom's ashes
are underneath this tree.
- What kind of a tree is it?
- This is a plum tree.
And part of who my mom is,
is probably in this tree.
- What kind of a tree is this?
- This is a pear tree.
My dog is buried about
four-feet down underneath here.
So, this one's very
important to me.
And my dad's tree
is this apple tree.
- What was he like?
- My dad was awesome.
- He was.
- Tell me about it.
Oh man, he was the one who taught
us about camping and living outdoors.
He's really the one who kinda got
me into this lifestyle of homesteading.
- Are there other siblings?
- Just us two.
Oh, so, I'm actually standing
with the whole family right now.
You are.
That's why it was so
important for me to get Jake up here,
'cause he was in the Navy,
I was up in Alaska.
There was a seven-year period
where we barely saw each other.
Yeah and that was a big reason
why I came up here
was to get to spend time with
him and help him develop this land.
To hear them reflect on their
past and their lives,
and their parents,
and their family,
and how it all helped them
to get here
was fairly poignant.
This is a unique homestead.
Uh...
That's the amazing thing about people
'cause you never know their backstory.
You never know what
they went through and...
What they had, they would
come to get whatever they had.
Seeing the emotion that Marty
shared with my brother and I,
just tells me that
he is a real individual.
They seriously care about what's
going on here at this homestead.
I'm happy to see you
two brothers get along.
And when I listen to my kids
interacting with each other and
they're all laughing or whatever.
I just, in the back of my mind
say it, "The world's okay."
'Cause that's really the main
thing that matters to me the most,
- they love each other.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's clear to see that when they interact with each other.
- Yeah.
- And they see the value of family.
- Yeah.
And that is manifest on this
homestead. You know what I mean.
I think it was important for Marty to
know how much this land really means.
And it just goes to show that,
you know,
all the struggles that you
go through in your life,
you can come out of it
in a positive way at the end.
Your whole family is here,
right now in this orchard.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
And walk down memory lane
with you, it was a good thing.
I'm glad we did it.
It was good to just break
a little bread and bond
with the people that
you're working with.
- But I can't help you if I keep talking.
- Mm-hmm.
So, you guys wanna
get back to work?
Let's go back to work.
I'll come with you.
- You're coming with me?
- Yeah, I'm coming...
- No way. Oh, cool.
- Yeah.
- You guys want to try a gooseberry?
- I'd love to.
- It's epic.
- Isn't that good?
So, I feel like
today is a big day.
We got the water test back.
And basically you have
coliform and E. coli in the creek.
- As well as giardia, we know those beavers.
- I know.
Um, and, at the tap
you have E. coli.
So, both of those things are
from human and/or animal feces.
So, it's definitely nothing
to mess around with.
- I'm just glad that you found this out...
- Yeah.
- Before we just kept doing it.
- Yeah, it's crazy.
So, now what it's about
is starting anew
with new tanks
and rain catchment.
It was kind of daunting talking
to Misty about everything because
she's saying how bad it is
for us to be drinking our water
and she doesn't even
recommend showering in it,
and it's like, "Oh, what is
this doing to my health?"
Do I not know how bad
the situation is?
And talking to her just made
things seem even more scary
and more intense
than I even imagined.
Obviously, I just drug
a giant boat here.
So, Maciah and I have to make
sense of that.
That thing is really gonna turn
from a boat to a coop, today.
Working with this ground
is a challenge.
- But we can't quit. So, we will continue that trench.
- Okay.
And our goal, I think is,
to pretty much finish
- the leveling of the cabin before we go home tonight.
- Okay.
I have to say goodbye
which is a super bummer
but I'm leaving you in super
capable hands, obviously.
- We're gonna miss you.
- I'm just a helper.
And we're so grateful that you came out
and spent this much amount of time with us,
helping us out, so, thank you.
It's my honor.
We have a lot
of unfinished projects.
- Talk is cheap. We're gonna make it happen.
- Cool.
- So, we gotta get back to work.
- Fair enough.
Go team!
This ground
is the worst material
you can ever try to move
around in the excavator.
My dad came in here
like a bulldozer. Boom!
Now we're stuck.
Now I'm coming back in
throwing in branches and logs,
get this unstuck and hopefully
dig in this trench.
And I'm saving the day.
Bust you out of this ride.
Every trick in the book, guys.
With all that rain non-stop,
the land just...
just rips right off
and disintegrates.
So, seeing their land so tore up after
all the work that has been put into it,
it's a little heart-wrenching.
But on the back side of it,
the house is gonna be setup
for success.
To navigate around all these
stumps and twigs
and vast quantities of mud,
you basically have to do
a juggling act.
You have to not just
move the tracks,
but you got to use the arm
and the bucket and everything,
all that once, keep all
the plates spinning.
Okay.
That marshy tundra,
it's like silty, quicksand.
You have to drive around
with the greatest of care.
But to save the house, divert
the water, it had to be done.
My favorite project
is solely the house.
Not for myself,
but for my brother and Kevin.
And I know that that's going to be a huge
life changer and game-changer for them.
So, that means the most to me.
Looks good, Matt.
Is it running downhill?
- Yup.
- It's doing its job.
That's a lot of water.
I think this is a really good start to
making it dry underneath that cabin.
Looks good.
Looks good, I like it.
Across the homestead,
Misty and Maciah race
to complete the final steps
of their innovative boat coop.
Right now, we have
a lot of work left.
We're trying to sheet the roof
and get it watertight.
Meanwhile, me and Maciah
are framing in walls
and we'll try and get half
of this closed in for the coop.
And we're gonna leave the
other half open for dry space
so that they can get out
of the rain but be outside.
- It has sharp corners.
- Okay, I got me gloves.
Misty's got it.
Misty will do it.
Yeah!
Perfect.
So, this came off of the boat
and it was like, old tool boxes.
But I think what we'll do is just stack
them and turn them into nesting boxes.
I think, time-wise it'd be amazing
if we didn't have to build anything.
So, maybe we just tack
these two together,
fill them with straw
and call it good.
- Perfect.
- Yeah.
So, why don't you give
these a little scrub down
and then we'll tack them together
and then we'll shove them upfront.
That just saved us
a ton of time.
At this point,
every second counts.
All I care about is to cover
all of the holes
for the ermines, that's all.
Just get
the predator-proofing done
and then you can move
the birds in.
My goal is just to get livestock
here to keep them safe and alive.
And if we achieve that,
that's better than nothing.
Last one.
The beginning
of this week,
Kevin seemed unsure
of what his role was here.
And I think to see him go from,
how he was in the beginning
of the week to now,
like, he's super capable,
super competent
and he know that boat
inside and out.
And so, if there's a repair,
there's a fix
or he wants to modify it
and make it his own,
he's gonna be able to do that.
Okay, let's see if it works.
Whoo!
Yeah!
Yeah, that's awesome.
- And then you got...
- Oh! I like it.
This is why I love doing
what we do.
To turn a 32-foot long boat
into a coop.
And to be able to give them
something they'll use forever,
it makes it all worth it,
in the end.
Yeah, so I'll have to sure it up a
little bit, for sure. But that's cool.
- Cool.
- I like it.
In Juneau, Alaska, the
Raneys have just three days left
to save the Wilson-McCray
homestead.
Misty and Maciah are making
progress on converting
an old fishing boat into
a poultry-pen.
But the property still lacks
clean, drinking water.
Really gunked up
and corroded.
And the fate of the whole
homestead hinges on the Raneys' ability
to fix a cabin that is weeks away
from crumbling into the soggy earth.
I mean every single thing
in just six-feet,
is a total accident
waiting to happen.
Looks like a b*mb went off.
So, when the beams that hold
up the center of your house,
is on a post that is
swinging in the air,
you know you might
have some issues.
Gotta start somewhere.
We're gonna start right here.
The first order
of business is to try to
jack on this cabin
and get it semi-level.
And then we can address
the supports
that are needed
to keep it level.
I can dig it. So, now to see
if we can lift it up.
We want it... We want it it
crowning that thing a little bit.
Hand me a little piece.
That's level right there. At least we have
something in case something goes wrong.
See this? A gravel mix.
We're gonna add some
Portland cement to it.
Then put it in this form.
This will serve as
a very serious
footer if you will.
Then we're gonna set this
massive seven-inch thick,
four-foot long treated timber,
probably from some old bridge
around Juneau, on top of that.
And cut out this menagerie,
get a good post in here
and this will establish a footprint
that this house will never crush.
- Right there. I love it.
- Thank you.
Good?
And then dried rebar
into a concrete pedestal,
put a large creoseal beam
on that.
- That feels solid?
- Little solid.
That's good.
That makes me feel really good.
Good job, buddy.
Now we cut out the old supports.
Here you go, man.
And then put a post
up underneath.
Let's slide this. Ah!
Oh! Okay head that way.
Put that on the edge
and then slide it back.
Yup.
Yup, keep coming.
Put a level on it, please.
Now that's gonna
be there for eternity.
And just making a b*mber
anchor for this house.
Is it working?
Is it working?
Is it working?
It's... yeah, you're
in. You're into the metal.
I think what we've done here,
albeit, a cowboy rodeo,
if I ever have seen one...
I think we got this cabin
to a place
where they won't have to
worry about it settling
or shifting for
the next 50 years.
This is the easy part.
Trust me.
We're gonna jack this up. Start
leveling the center, meaning,
bringing up the sagging
center of the home.
Gonna get kinda crazy.
This is probably one of the most
challenging homesteads ever!
Because crawling under a
dangerous house is risky.
Look at the beam down
through here.
I can't see if its twisting,
and that's bad.
Houses fall.
You start cutting them loose
and jacking them up,
you never know
what's gonna go wrong,
especially if your ground is
unstable like this homestead's.
Okay! We're gonna do
another half inch.
So we've taken this
building up one inch guys.
That's a long ways.
Friend of mine got k*lled
in this town, Juneau,
working under a house.
Long time ago,
but I've never forgotten that.
Still going up?
Okay. This is it. This is great.
We've raised it
an inch and a half.
We succeeded.
After jacking, and levelling
and shimming,
that cabin is as good
as anybody can get it.
Safe, secure, level
and good to go another...
I think we're at a point now,
guys, where that beam is straight.
Its flat, it's vertical
and its sitting on pretty darn
good supports.
But this is full concrete
- Mm-hmm. Awesome!
- Rebar and lots of crazy stuff in there.
This is frankly an anchor
and it's in a much better
place than when we found it.
Oh, yeah. I don't
think we could do any more.
I am to the point where
I feel confident and safe
in my house now,
because of the work that you,
Casey and Jake have put in to this.
This house is a lot more
steady and secure
Okay then, we're gonna attach this
concrete beam monolith to the house,
anchor it.
We're beginning to wonder how
much we were really gonna get done,
but Marty showed up.
Now, everything's gone
as well as could be expected.
We still have tons
of work to do.
But, I'm hopeful that
we can turn this place into something
that my son and son-in-law dreamt about.
Now we're gonna start
cleaning this up, build the deck.
Hey, guys!
Come on over!
This is going to be the
footprint of the bathhouse.
It's gonna be eight-feet wide.
It's gonna be 12-feet long.
It's gonna have a shed roof
like that.
Maybe we'll put
a rain catchment on it.
But it's gonna be a miracle if we
get this done and get a toilet in here,
and make this functional.
Let's get this guys here
so you have a visual.
Right here.
You got a set of stairs
that'll have to come off here.
All right.
Hold on to this thing.
- Hey, guys.
- Will you get into position? I'm gonna notch this.
It's exactly where
I wanted it.
- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
My only concern is, we do get
high winds couple times a year.
- Yeah.
- Is there a plan to like...
...cinch it down in some way?
There can be...
We're very late in the game.
And there's a lot of work to do.
But, we'll get it done because these
are legitimate Alaskan homesteaders.
Even when it gets tough,
there is no whining.
What I would do is,
I would just put a couple,
I'd auger a couple holes,
put an I, hang it in
and anchor it in in some,
you know...
Well, listen. I'll tell you straight
up why there's not two tubes there,
'cause that's a day.
Digging the hole and pouring,
can't build.
- Okay.
- There's that.
- But what I was--
- I don't have a day.
What I was saying,
we could drill the holes
and you know, we could get a
couple of sacks of Sakrete tonight,
fill them up with
just the night.
Bolt hanging out
and just leave it.
Done. We'll come back later,
anchor it however we want.
Or you might even be able to anchor
it to the tree or the root or whatever.
- But a giant I-bolt right into the root.
- Yeah.
There's a bolt-- There's a
root right here, we could.
There's a root right here.
That'll probably be enough.
And so, now you have the anchor.
Now we need... what do you
think, a turnbuckle or something?
Yeah. Something
with a turnbuckle.
- We can tighten it however we want.
- Oh, yeah. Good idea.
So yes, if we need to anchor
it with some kinda big I-bolt,
logged into the wood,
I think that's
a really good idea.
On this homestead
everybody is a worker.
Everybody has good ideas.
Everybody's invested.
That's it. Done.
Let's make it steady.
Done! Perfection!
With the cabin
foundation secure...
Don't move it.
...Matt and Joshua
get to work
on the homestead's revamped
water catchment and storage system.
So what I want to do is
we're gonna just
lay down some flatties.
- Mm-hmm.
- And then, we'll put our deck on top of that.
- Cool!
- This is a project that could save this homestead
like nothing else.
Every piece of work
that gets done on this
water catchment build,
it's gonna benefit everybody
in the biggest wat possible.
And it's my number one priority,
so it's gonna be a race
to the finish
to get Josh and Kevin perfect,
clear drinking water for years to come.
The water system will
have an insulated freeze-proof base
at the back of the house.
A pair of 2,000 gallon water tanks
will attach to the houses gutters
to create a natural
rain catchment.
Entirely eliminating
any further reliance
on the homestead's
contaminated creek.
Next! Thanks for playing.
No parting gifts.
This is pretty long, isn't it?
Yeah. Given those tanks,
they need to pump this back.
Probably a bit more
is gonna be cut.
How long is it?
Is it six feet?
-'Cause if it's-- - No,
no. We want this actually.
We want this.
I do want it so I can frame
it in and insulate it.
Exactly. Okay.
What I like about working
with Josh
is he's got a lot
of really great ideas
and it's more collaborative,
and we're just kinda like
bouncing ideas of each other
and building this thing
as we go.
And it's going real smooth.
So once you get this
thing pretty levelled,
we'll just slap
the planks on top.
And then...
we'll set those tanks up here
and get them plumbed first.
- Cool.
Then we'll see if we can get
that water going inside.
On the other side
of the homestead,
Marty races to complete an
outhouse before time runs out.
I like the sound of that.
Right there.
Fix that ceiling, guys.
Seems fixed.
Perfection.
Thank you!
Putting in these windows can
be a real "pain in the glass."
Thank you!
And now, this is an open and...
...shut case.
Check that out!
This is...
an electric toilet.
"Honey, I'm home!"
This is one of the rare times you'll
ever see me near one of these...
with the lid down.
Who wants to go inside?
- Yeah! I do!
- All of us.
Okay, let's go.
Ooh, nice.
Wonderful!
I'm really excited about
the bathhouse.
That's been a dream of ours
forever!
With the toilet in the corner,
you have all that room
for whatever.
You want a sauna,
you want a...
you want a hot tub,
you want a shower,
it's all here.
These things are affectionately
called turd burners...
-...in Alaska.
And now, you guys are
the proud owners of...
turd burner.
Just a few amps.
Operate this thing
on 12 volts, right?
It's all automated.
It fires its own hot plate
and it cooks it,
and you guys can use this
on that little bottle
of propane.
The bathhouse is going
to improve my life drastically
because, before I was
having to walk,
you know, 300 yards across...
across-- through the woods,
across a field in the middle of the night
to have to use the bathroom.
Now, it's gonna be, you
know, 75 yards from my cabin.
So, I'm very excited.
I'm excited 'cause my mom,
she's visited a couple of times
and her biggest thing that she
hated was going to the outhouse.
The outhouse is back,
behind the house.
And so, she didn't like
walking through the swamp
and the roots and everything.
Right here,
with the centralized location,
it's quick and easy
to get to too.
One week ago,
the homestead was plagued
with an unsanitary,
overflowing, poorly
located outhouse.
Now, Marty has built the
homesteaders an indoor bath house
with an electric toilet, alleviating
any need for a new outhouse
to ever be dug again.
What I need is...
your stamp of "a-poo-val."
It's "poo-fect."
You guys are too corny.
Let's get out of here.
Across the homestead,
the chickens and turkeys for
the boat-turned-livestock coop
have come home to roost.
- Hello!
- Hey! How you doing, Misty?
- Hey, Doug!
- I got your turkeys and your chickens for you.
- Welcome home!
- Ooh!
These are your turkeys!
Hi, babies!
These are Novogens.
They are a cross between
a leghorn
and a Rhode Island Red.
Hey! Voila!
Your first chicken
on the homestead!
- What shall we name her?
- Um... Misty.
- Misty it is!
Thank you! Yay!
Okay, I'm gonna grab
the chickens.
The turkeys is probably
a two man job.
- Yup!
- Boom!
Welcome
to Shipyard Farms.
All right, ladies.
- Tight squeeze.
- Tight squeeze.
He's like, "Nah!"
Okay, I'll let you do
the honors of opening it up.
They're excited to get out.
Got one red one.
Aww!
This was intense, this build.
- Are you okay?
- We're good.
It took a lot of work and...
it took a lot of predator-proofing
to get it to where it needed to be.
But I think, we finally
have done that.
And now, you have livestock
for the first time here.
- Oh, yeah.
- And there's enough space
to do pretty much whatever
you want to do,
and you convert this into
whatever dream you have.
I think it's the coolest
thing ever.
One week ago,
Misty procured a boat
that lacked water protection,
proper roofing
or predator-proofing.
Now, the homestead is equipped
with a 32-foot long coop,
and outdoor chicken run,
and 17 chickens and turkeys
that will be a vital
protein source.
People probably look
at that and they're like,
"Oh, it's just a turkey coop,
it's just a chicken coop."
But to Kevin, it's the beginning
of his homesteading lifestyle.
So, to share this moment
with them,
and to be a part
of the helping hand
that could get him
to this place,
is what it's all about.
This is why I love doing
what we do.
Do you think they're gonna
stay alive their first night here?
- I think they're good.
- I mean, you spent like days
filling every single hole
on this boat.
And I'm almost positive,
Knowing that Misty
has faith in me,
helps me know that I can do it
and make it happen, and take
care of these chickens and turkeys.
So, with Misty's
confidence in me,
it helps me realize that
I got it.
- At sea.
- Get some rest!
Good job. That was awesome.
One, two, three.
Okay, hold me.
Hold on!
Man down!
What you guys
came to help us do...
That water tank
they had was outdated.
We got them
a couple of new ones.
And...
there's only one way to get it
across to the other side.
Going across this bridge.
Whoa!
I don't know if I can
get this thing up!
She's going down!
That was epic!
Whoo!
The Raneys
are down to their final hours
to complete a rescue
that will save the dreams
of a desperate
homesteading family.
It's all hands on deck to finish
securing the cabin's foundation.
I like that.
But,
with time running out,
they must work quickly so that Matt
can finish the final, crucial project.
This deck is going
to be eight feet out,
which is where
this tape is right here.
Let's go get a beam.
We've got it to the point
where we need
a 26 foot long beam.
The three of us cannot
carry that beam. It's heavy.
And we need
all hands on homestead
to come together
and carry that beam.
It won't go on the bridge.
It's too long.
So we have to go across
the log bridge.
Fingers under it.
One, two, three.
Okay!
Welcome to my life, folks!
Slippery bridge!
Log rolling! Whoa!
All right. This is gonna be
really fun!
We had to go across country
across a wooden homemade
bridge that Matt built,
turn the corner, go between
two trees like a goal post...
I don't know.
It's real mucky.
We're gonna swing across!
Stay! Stay!
- Whoa!
- Go, Matt! Go!
Grab my arm. Pull me in.
Hold on!
Man down!
Somebody fell.
Not to mention any names.
Holy crap!
That you very much!
So yeah, my dad fell.
Just follow me, please!
What's my favorite insect?
Centipede!
We got it there safely
and everybody was cool.
Wagons h*!
Okay. On your place.
- Are we on?
- Little further.
Sliding down now.
Half an inch!
Stop!
Done! Thank you!
So the only thing
left to do now is
re-deck the whole thing.
Brand new, treated lumber posts,
all new joists,
These guys will be able
to walk out of the safe cabin
on to a safe deck.
One cool, original,
salmon-stream facing deck!
Not bad for working a muskeg.
Here we are!
Look at this place!
Yeah.
Out in this area, I noticed when
I first came here on day one,
it just felt--
You could just feel it walking
- because it was doing that.
- Absolutely!
Not even noticeable.
At this point, I think
it's definitely more solid.
- Definitely more level.
- Yeah.
Ready?
Does it feel soft?
Yeah, it does.
It definitely feels
a lot more sturdy.
Before... right in this area
especially, was very spongy,
and now it's a lot...
definitely a lot more sturdy.
I feel comfortable jumping
up and down on it right now.
Then now we can start doing
more stuff on the inside
without having to worry about
the floor sinking anymore.
I like it.
It makes me feel good, really,
to hear you guys says that.
It's better.
Thank you!
Seven days ago,
Joshua and Kevin's cabin
was sagging
due to unsafe footing.
And one earthquake away
from collapsing.
Now, for only $600 in materials,
the cabin is level
on solid footing,
and will stand tall
for many years to come.
I'm super excited
about the water catchment.
It's something I've been dreaming of
pretty much since we moved in here.
Um, so... it's gonna
help out tremendously.
Just being able to shower
as much as I want,
to have clean drinking water.
Making sure that this
homestead has potable, drinking water,
stuff they can cook with, shower
with, is my number one concern.
And if we don't do this
for Josh and Kevin,
it could be the one thing
that makes them pull up stakes
and leave this property forever.
Measure once, cut five times.
This is Alaska.
If you have a water bottle
and you leave it in your car
overnight, during the winter,
it's frozen solid.
That same thing can happen to
water tanks left out in the elements.
And so, putting two or three
inches of foam insulation
as a base,
can really insulate the tank
and make sure that it doesn't
freeze all winter long.
We were able to source
some water tanks
from a local salvage yard.
And all we have to do is
hook them up
to the rain gutter system,
and this massive rainforest will
provide water forever on this homestead.
I'll start putting these
fittings on.
Primer first, bolt fittings,
then glue.
Then, push it in
and then do a quarter turn.
All right. What do you think?
- Awesome!
- Okay!
- You made it happen!
- Yeah!
We made it happen.
Right at the buzzer.
So what do you think about
this guy?
I like that a lot.
So it's gonna just, boom,
go right in there.
These straps are freaking
b*mber proof.
They're never going anywhere.
I really think it's gonna
stand the test of winter time.
'Cause we put this foam in and
this is like an inch plywood on top.
- Yeah.
- This thing is really rigid.
And I think it's gonna
totally work for you guys.
Think so.
A lot of the projects that the Raneys
helped us work on here and complete,
are projects that just were
way over my head.
I didn't know how
to accomplish them,
I didn't know how to do it
in a solid, productive way.
And they were some of the most
important things on this homestead.
You're set up
and honestly,
- this is a sweet system.
- Yeah!
I could tell that Josh
is excited, so...
you know, I'm happy.
- We did it!
- Yeah!
Sweet!
One week ago,
Joshua and Kevin were drinking
from a contaminated creek,
and using an eroded
water storage system.
Now, they've got
a rain catchment system
feeding into two brand new tanks
that provide up to
I'm really confident
this is going to work.
And I'm super happy that
you guys finally have water.
- Yes, we do!
We first got here,
you didn't have water,
your house was falling apart,
and there was no livestock.
Now you have food,
shelter, water.
And for me, those are, you
know, the three basic necessities.
And this homestead
deserves this.
This is all I have from
my family, this land.
There's days I just
wanted to give up.
But you guys came
and helped us to...
...really set us up, and rescued
me and allowed me to dream again.
Gave me hope that this
isn't gonna crumble.
Just want to say
thank you guys so much
for coming out...
Not only that. I just had
a blast with you guys!
It's just been
such a great week.
So, thanks, guys.
You're a family.
And it's pretty cool.
Father and son working together,
brothers, two partners,
working together.
You know, I'm... I'm...
I'm impressed.
And I think that we can take that
away from this homestead frankly.
And look at your faces
right now.
- You're smiling, you know.
- Yeah.
So, that's what
I'm gonna remember
when I get in that truck
and drive out of here.
That's it.
I showed up on
this homestead late.
And I saw the amount of work
needed to get done
and told myself,
"It's never gonna happen."
And it wouldn't have happened
without the persistence
and the determination
and the homestead dream
of Josh, Kevin,
Jake and Casey.
Hey! Do you know the way
to Hatcher Pass?
That's funny!
Well, there they go!
- Hey, guys. It's Kevin here.
- And Jake.
We just want to give you an update
on how everything is been going.
Our house is solid,
and the water catchment
has been doing really well.
There is our water.
It's nice and clear.
We've expanded the coop.
- Quite drastically.
- So they have a lot bigger area to run.
And then we...
we got little ducklings.
Anyways, that's it, guys. Thanks
for everything you've done!
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08x04 - Stuck In The Mud
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City slickers get schooled by awesome hosts on their last chance to succeed off grid & survive off the land... among wildlife predators & natural disasters
City slickers get schooled by awesome hosts on their last chance to succeed off grid & survive off the land... among wildlife predators & natural disasters