Dieter and Anne collecting moss in Alaska

Dieter Klose was one of the featured builders in Builders of the Pacific Coast. He recently sent us photos of him and girlfriend Anne Lee collecting moss for a living roof in his boat out of Petersburg, Alaska. He writes: “It’s a renewable resource, and doesn’t house any creepy-crawlies, none that bite anyway.…”

They also collected bark, as a base layer, for moss food. I asked about the boat and location: “The best harvesting comes off of downed dead trees, and boulders, but low branches often have a good load, and even hold what we call “Boa’s”, which are about a foot wide, 6″ thick, and 4′ to 7′ long. They’re the best!…Location is at Scenery Cove, about 18 miles from home by water; total wilderness, although theres all likelihood they will put a hydro plant in that otherwise untouched cove.

The cruiser is custom made for me by a friend, of welded aluminum, and her name is FANG (named after my daughter, Wrenna, whos nickname is white-fang, or Fang for short).

The boat is 21ft long w/ a 150hp outboard, a double bunk, small settee and mini galley. Its a perfect rig for around here, as it goes up to 40mph, comfortably 30mph, as this is not the best place for sailing: too much or too little wind, with lots of tidal current.”

More pics tomorrow…

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

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