N.W.T. man rescued his sinking cabin with the help of friends and a fleet of snowmobiles

With a little ingenuity, a man can move a house.

Take it from Bruce Noksana, a man from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., who rescued his sinking cabin with the help of some friends, some logsand a small fleet of snowmobiles.

"Just took us a few minutes to move it," said Noksana.

Noksana built his cabin by Husky Lakes a series of five interconnecting lakes that span about 150 kilometres to the south and southeast ofTuktoyaktuk more than two decades ago. His cabin was 30 feet back from the lake at the time, but over the last few years, thawing permafrost and shoreline erosion has pulled the water closer and closer.

"This year it was time to move it," he said.

He had already built some skids out of timber and plastic pipe. So he rallied some friends and five Ski-doos to help him haul the cabin further inland.

They laid down a bunch of logs, jacked up the house onto the skids, and rigged up the Ski-doos with a few lines of two-inch rope

At first, said Noksana, "we budged it about two feet," but with the help of two more machines, they were ripping.

"We were really surprised when it took off," he said.

WATCH | Noksanaand friends pull his cabin by snowmobile.

Rescuing a sinking cabin by snowmobile

4 years ago

Duration 0:23

Bruce Noksana, a man from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., who rescued his sinking cabin with the help of some friends, some logs and a small fleet of snowmobiles.

He guesses the cabin weighs between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds.

"It's a pretty heavy home," he said, adding that the only things he took out of it was stuff he thought might fall down during the move.

They were able to drag the cabin about 50 feet.

"We had a lot of fun," he said.

Still, he conceded, it would have been easier to pull in the fall when the tundra is more frozen, he said. Noksana uses his cabin for fishing and hunting.

He hopes he never has to move it again. But, he said "we'll see in 20 years."