Thought Experiment: build retreat on an island

[All Talk]

Has anyone investigated, pursued, or rejected the notion of building a retreat on a small island? I'm not talking tropices here -- i mean a very small island in the middle of a lake or a bay.

Things to consider -- security (pros and cons)
Expenses (especially transport or supplies/building materials, and construction if outsourced)
OPSEC
unforeseen difficulties

genral good or bad diea, in sum?

I am starting this thread to invite speculation and discourse. Not currently a plan of mine, but a thought that crossed my mind this weekend.

[Lowdown3]

A bunch of us had talked about this back in the long, long ago in a far, far away place. ;)

Pros-

In theory you can see people coming a far way off and of course without a boat no one is probably getting to you.
Water supply likely o.k. if freshwater and a reliable long term way to purify

Cons-

No/very little place to run
Long term sustainability a problem
Vulnerable to "pirates" aka Bubba with a boat and assault rifle


Construction is obviously a problem for anything more than a simple shed.

[eeyore]

Construction is a problem, but that is tied in with the idea of resupply. The island would have to be big enough to support the group, alot of simular questions are asked "well how big does it have to be"? That depends on the size of your group and the make up of the land.

I would not out source a thing, the less people know you are there until weeks after Badtimes arrive, the better.

A pontoon boat is a must if it did nothing but ferry supplies to and from.

[All Talk]

I agree on the outsourcing, as in not. In northern climes (on a lake) you could cart construction materials over the ice (but then you eliminate the boat-only problem for raiders). I think the most burdensome material would be concrete.

On sustainability, I suppose you could in fact hold productive property ashore, and stockpile/store on the island, using that as a citidal for personal physical security (I think ancient tyre and medieval Mont St. michael may have worked on this defensive principle).

My main thought was in physical redoubt saftey, so we're talking about a very small island, a couple acres at most(?) if we were to consider the "plantations ashore" model.

You could definitely see them coming short of a scuba or snorkle attack during the day; I wonder if low-cost marine radar would suffice to pick up bubba in a canoe at night or in fog?

You could also put some fouling stakes under water level to disrupt boat landings, the route through this "shoal field" limited to retreat members (marked using subtle "range markers", in which you line up two objects on shore to get a bearing).

I suppose in a TEOWAKI situation, you could actually deploy some contact mines (not that I'd know how to construct).

You're also astute on the bug-out issue. I imagine some kind of hidden speedboat and a secure place to land it covertly ashore, or maybe my crew is all scuba qualified and have drysuits?

Just musing hear.