I’m excited about my latest project: a woodburning mobile sauna.
Unlike all of my other projects, which I design and build to meet the needs of my customers, this one is for myself. Over the past five years, I have been without my own sauna. It’s a long story: basically, I sold my house (and sauna) expecting to buy another and build a new sauna, but because the lending rules changed after the housing crisis, with a bias against self-employed folks, I have been stuck in renter’s hell. So, while my customers have been basking in the warmth of my creations, I have been languishing in a sauna-less purgatory, dependent on the generosity of my clients for the too-infrequent sauna. Like the proverbial cobbler whose kids have no shoes, I have been the sauna builder without my own. For renters like myself, the mobile sauna is the perfect solution.
It is a 5×8 sauna built onto to a commercial utility trailer. It is lined with northern white cedar and fired by one of my custom Lämpimämpi wood stoves. It has an arched roof using laminated bent cedar supports and aluminum sheet. It feels a lot roomier inside than you would think and comfortably holds 4 people. And, yes, it meets the 2,000 pound gross vehicle weight restriction of the trailer so it doesn’t require a huge truck to haul it.
I’ll use this sauna for promotion—look for it at various venues, festivals, including the Ithaca Festival parade (again! with our first appearance of a mobile sauna back in 2014). I’ll be taking this one with me on vacation or to my favorite park or forest stop. So, if you see it, feel free to stop and ask me to show it to you. Who knows, if it is hot I might even have a few spare towels.
