Cabin timbers finally fall into new home

POULSBO — The Martinson cabin has made the move from storage to its new home at Nelson Park.

Granted, it’s in dozens of pieces, but it’s there.

And despite a short stop-work order last week, Bill Austin said Monday that good progress has been made so far on the project.

“It should start going pretty fast once we get some equipment up here,” he commented.

Austin and the non-profit Bight of Poulsbo were cleared to reconstruct the 100-year-old cabin at Nelson Park by a council agreement Aug. 11. The project is taking place on a small plot of land in the west side of Nelson Park that is visible from Viking Avenue.

Bight of Poulsbo volunteers were out at the site shortly after the Aug. 11 agreement but work was stopped before any logs could be placed when a change had to be made to the agreement.

The city attorney pointed out that Austin’s insurance was for Austin Sign Company rather than for the Bight of Poulsbo. Council voted unanimously Aug. 18 to change the wording of the agreement to be between the City of Poulsbo and Austin Sign Company instead.

“So it’s the Austin Sign Company doing the project for the Bight of Poulsbo,” Austin explained.

Now that a concrete foundation has been poured, Austin said the next feat will be actually placing the cabin’s timbers back into place. They will be secured with steel bolts and then allowed to dry before sandblasting to remove overly rotted areas occurs.

“Then we’ll fill it, fake it, whatever it takes,” Austin commented.

Austin said the cabin’s pieces weathered the nine-month storage well. With the exception of one corner that was already in bad shape, the timbers still appear structurally sound. Austin is planning to replace the lost corner, which faces Viking Avenue, with plexiglass for easy public viewing of the artifacts he hopes to put inside.

But for now, Austin said his biggest challenge is finding strong volunteers during weekday afternoons who can help him place the heavy, cedar logs. He said he’s also hoping for a big turnout at the “Cabin Fever” fund-raiser, which will be taking place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Central Market. Looking around at the numbered pieces on the ground, Austin admitted it was somewhat of a daunting task.

“But I figure, if the Egyptians could do it, so can an Englishman,” he joked.

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