THUNDER BAY - A Thunder Bay man has circumvented the problem of not having his own lakeside sauna by building one that he and his family can bring along to any camping spot.
Neal Wolfe spent nearly a year constructing a cedar-lined, wood-fired sauna on a 5' by 10' trailer that's pulled behind his wife Maarit's minivan.
The family took the unit on the road in July, and has been using it at places like the public boat launch at Surprise Lake.
"My wife always wanted to have a camp. Unfortunately, a camp's cost-prohibitive for us so we just decided we'd make something that we could tow," Wolfe told Tbnewswatch.com in an interview.
Having considered the investment and time required to get a camp and maintain it, he said, he "just picked up a trailer and some plywood and some 2 X 2s, and started making boxes."
The construction project was not quite as straightforward as that might imply, however.
Wolfe has a full-time job, so, starting last September, he had to find time outside his existing employment and family responsibilities to work on the sauna.
"The most challenging part was making everything square. That, and cutting steel on the outside, because you don't want to make a mistake at $28 a panel."
Wolfe also had some help from his father-in-law, who built the oven. "It looks like a torpedo barrel on its side, and on top of it, he put a 20-pound propane tank, and that's all welded together so it's a big chamber. And around that he wrapped copper water line, so water heats up by itself and goes into a big tank."
It takes about half an hour to heat the water and get the temperature inside the sauna to 110 F.
The 8' by 5' steambath accommodates four people at a time.
Wolfe estimates he spent about $5,000 on the trailer and building materials.
The mobile sauna attracts considerable curiosity. "We get a lot of comments. Everybody seems to like the idea. I just met a woman who's trying to convert an old RV camper into a sauna," Wolfe observed.
Saunas on wheels are not a new invention. Wolfe said there's a Facebook group comprised mostly of surfers on the British Columbia and California coasts who drive their saunas right down to the beach and use them after a spell in the cold ocean water.
He's found that his own two small children are more likely to swim now that they know they have a place to warm up.
