Profit-Making Tourist Homes

THE motorist of today demands more than a leaky tent under a tree for protection at night. On the other hand, he is reluctant to spend several dollars for hotel accommodations. Therefore the tourist cabin, which offers hotel accommodation at tent prices, has come into popularity along every well-traveled high­way. Building a tourist cabin is much the same as building any other cabin or related structure.

The man who is a professional cabin builder will find the creation of tourist camps a highly profitable busi­ness. One who becomes a specialist in the construction of cabins, and the related bath houses, toilets, store buildings, service stations, and community kitchens, should have little trouble in acquiring some of this money. The farmer or other land owner whose property adjoins a busy highway will find a cabin camp a source of extra income during many months of the year. Two persons can take care of 24 cabins, a gasoline station, and a store. A small night camp might easily be a spare-time proposition, requiring attention only in the morn­ing and evening.

The essential requirement of a site for a tourist cabin is that it be on a highway. A close second in the matter of requirements is the presence of trees. Good drainage is, of course, necessary. There must be a source of pure drinking water and a sanitary way of disposing of sewage and garbage—matters usually

Your tourist home would be more attractive if you built and equipped this bath house.

Floor plan of bath house that is extremely economical to build .

watched by the local health board. The presence of an attractive stream is a decided asset.

Many owners of tourist camps start with two or three cabins, and then add more as business improves. In this way their investment is kept at a low figure. A filling station, store and refreshment stand, centralized bath house, and a picnic grove will add to the profits.

Tourist cabins are not expensive structures. Being small, they can be built of short-length lumber that can be purchased more cheaply than standard lengths. The average tourist home is about 12 ft. wide and from 12 to 16 ft. long. Its windows are equipped with sash that can be opened, and fitted with screens to keep out insects. Likewise, there is a screen door. Windows and doors should be equipped with locks that can be operated without the aid of a kit of tools.

There is a growing demand among motorists for cabins that have an attached car shed. This can be open or enclosed, although most motorists probably would take the enclosed type if they had their choice. The shed frequently is a continuation of the roof, and in size is at least 8 ft. wide and as long as the cabin. An economical plan is to build twin cabins with a two-car shed between them, the car compartments being separated by a solid partition.

There are endless designs for tourist cabins. Com­monly the framed-building construction is followed. Frames are built of 2- by 4-in. studs and rafters and 2- by 6-in. joists, covered with ordinary weatherboard­ing and roofed with composition shingles or roll materials. However, it is a good idea to avoid too con­ventional construction and attempt to produce some­thing really distinctive.

For example, there is a "California type" of tourist cabin designed by Masten and Hurd for the California. Redwood Association. It looks more like a comfortable week-end cottage or hunting lodge than a tourist home. The walls are of board-and-batten construction sup‑

This cabin is designed for the use of two families. The wings are separated by a two-car garage .

Detailed drawing showing the manner of building the two-family cabin.

ported on a framework of 2 by 4's. Sills rest on red­wood-post footings, and the gable roof is covered with split shakes of the same material. The car shed is partly concealed by an attractive trellis on which a vine grows. Bandsawed verge boards, a well-balanced chimney, and shutters add to the attractiveness. The cabin contains a main room, a kitchenette, and a tiny bathroom. It measures 13 ft. 9 in. by 14 ft. at the sills, and the car shelter, which also can serve as a porch, is 8 ft. wide and extends the length of the cabin.

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