Restoration Project Doubtful Hut: Lewis Pass

I walked in for an inspection and measure-up with team member Nigel Grant and found a 1950’s tin two-bunk bivvy with a corrugated iron roof in a nice little flat clearing above the stream. It had a rusted out and bent fireplace and chimney that had been built on the ground. It had one opening window opposite the doorway, a home-made sliding vent hole in the back wall, and a recently installed fibreglass ECO toilet approx. 40m away in the matagouri. I returned a few weeks later with Zeff Veronese (a man with relevant metal trade experience) to assess whether the fireplace and chimney was repairable. One look at it and he said, “no way”!

The thinking was that we could improve the hut by fitting in another bunk and new mattresses plus installing a very small log/twig burner using a locally made (Spiroloc) stainless steel Thermette burner designed for boats and caravans/motor homes.

I then contacted the Amberley office for a permit for the wood burner. They asked for the burner registration details and an application form. They then wrote asking for a letter from the DG of Conservation requesting a dispensation for not providing a means of wheelchair access.

I thought – HELLO – HELLO – this is not a good start!

Parallel to this I had been designing a replacement fire unit to attach to the hut where the old metal fireplace/chimney had been. This soon became a ‘nonstarter’ when I was told that the new policy for small huts was now – no fireplace!  About the same time, I was advised that a newly formed Heritage Committee had decide to place the hut on the Heritage Hut list. This meant that little or no alterations could be made to the original hut. This resulted in our off-site construction of a timber-framed fire-cupboard in member Jack van der Knapp’s workshop in Amberley having to cease. We flat packaged it up and gave it to the DOC Rangiora workshop for possible use on their Mainland Island predator control project in the South Branch of the Hurunui River.

A huge amount of work was carried out over a long weekend giving the Doubtful Hut another lease of life in an area that sees a lot of hunters and trampers travelling the Doubtful Valley.

The corrugated iron sheets were given a wire brush and a first white coat before reinstating onto the roof purlins with galvanised hex screws after repairing a few broken roof beams. A thin sheet of polystyrene was slipped under the iron before the ridging and end flashings were re-installed. We dug a shallow trench around the hut perimeter to drain the water away from the new timber bottom plate.

Roof repaint – Myself and Lynsay Savin walked into the hut a fortnight later, in fine weather, and put a second coat of paint on the roof, door and walls. There is still plenty of red paint left in the hut, plus some cement.

Post project repairs – somebody reported to DOC that the hut door had been wrenched open the wrong way and wasn’t closing properly. Myself and Warren Hall went back in on a fine frosty May day with a length of 3 x 2, saw, hammer and screws and installed a second door stud, and created a door stop.