Wanigan is borrowed from Ojibwa word for “storage pit” as a name for a storage box like the ones shown here. In some regions a houseboat, temporary hut on a log raft, a small house, bunkhouse, or shed mounted on skids may all be called a wanigan. Rob built the wanigans shown above and decorated them with woodburned illustrations from the book Cache Lake Country;
here’s a few more shots of Rob’s work:
This page of the July 1953 edition of Boy’s Life describing how to build a wanigan and a tumpline was posted at Paddle Making.