optimum one person natural shelter

[Man of Tanith]

All my camping trips bar one this season have been done using only the clothing I plan to take on the course. I did take a tarp and a foam mat to save stripping my campsite of all resources. The one where I took luxury of sleeping bag bivi bag etc was a social get together and I was relaxing after an jnsane few weeks at work.

preparation is an important part of this. Its not a wander along and muddle through affair

Mind the winter one I ended up sleeping well without the wool blanket which was on the kit list.

 

[Quixoticgeek]

All my camping trips bar one this season have been done using only the clothing I plan to take on the course. I did take a tarp and a foam mat to save stripping my campsite of all resources. The one where I took luxury of sleeping bag bivi bag etc was a social get together and I was relaxing after an jnsane few weeks at work.

preparation is an important part of this. Its not a wander along and muddle through affair

Mind the winter one I ended up sleeping well without the wool blanket which was on the kit list.

Lucky ***. I found I was cold in my sleeping bag in august, even with a Synmat underneath me.

It's a problem for most women, we sleep colder than men, so need a warmer sleeping bag, or more blankets. I couldn't even think about doing these 2 blanket challenge things, I'd be frozen.

Julia

 

[Toddy]

The bender and basket type round shelters go up very, very quickly. Much quicker than stablising an A frame and finding all that timber to 'roof' it.

They have a very long provenance, archaeologists often find the small stakeholes on sites that later have much larger structures, but they're believed to also be the quickly erected 'homes' of hunting camps.
They were in use right up until the middle ages in rural Ireland, so it's not all square, and crannogs (with their round houses) were only finally proscribed in Scotland by James VI....and those structures were still sound by the 1745 uprising because there are reports of them being used in the retreat after Culloden.

Dr Chris Lynn did a lot of research into those basketwoven type ones in Ireland, but the links I find are either in subscribed archaeological journals or pdf files.

If I were caught out, and couldn't find a suitable hedge, bush or bank to coorie down dry in/under I'd put up a bender of some kind, not labour myself into exhaustion building an A frame.

I think folks are stuck in a groove on an rather scratchy record on this.

No, we didn't take photographs, we were just playing around but with a small fire it was very snug indeed.

Interesting topic; and I don't think it's cut and dried just because it's become 'de rigeur' for the bushcraft/survival schools to teach it that way.

Mary

 

[londonscrub]

Interesting. The thing with round shapes is you get the most volume to surface area, all other things being equal that should make them more thermally efficient. Depends on material to hand. Stay flexible and adapt to the hand thrown!

Sent from my RM-941_eu_euro1_262 using Tapatalk

 

[Tracker NTS-054]

Sorry man of tanith I don't have any photos :/

Some interesting points made here, and I'm particularly curious about the benders you mentioned Mary..

However personally I would steer clear of the bender because I've never woven anything before in my life! Weaving a basket would be enough to make me run a mile never mind an entire shelter!! And because a frames are what I've been taught and practised with, I'd say the time it would take me to put one up could be competitive with your bender! (Now that would be a good challenge eh Mary?) so really MoT what I'm trying to get across here is to see what the situation permits and go with what YOU feel comfortable with... If you're more confident with benders then weave away! I bet you could even do a bender type shelter in phases...

And Mary can I ask what you mean by withie? I was under the impression they're a type of cordage?? thanks!

 

[santaman2000]

Interesting. The thing with round shapes is you get the most volume to surface area, all other things being equal that should make them more thermally efficient......

Round, or nearly round, is also more wind resistant (although I doubt that will be a major concern) That's why the Plains Indians Teepees were round and also the Navajo Hogans; they could withstand the prairie winds.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Lucky ***. I found I was cold in my sleeping bag in august, even with a Synmat underneath me.

It's a problem for most women, we sleep colder than men, so need a warmer sleeping bag, or more blankets. I couldn't even think about doing these 2 blanket challenge things, I'd be frozen.

Julia

yup this is true and is demonstrated by Lady of Tanith every time we go camping.
I have a theory as to why too. But its all supposition

Tracker no worries was just curious. Withies to my understanding are just flexible thin shoots. Usually used as rough bindings so I assume they'd work for shelters I'm with you basket weaving isn't my thing
Mary the research sounds interesting even if its pdfs.

Santaman winds not the highest concern for me

 

[sandbender]

"...Simplicity. You can throw up a simple A frame or lean to in pretty quick time. If you just want a simple shelter to get you through the night, it's simple, fast work..."

That and that it needs no tools to construct, if you have no knife, saw or axe you can still put together a decent a-frame with what you find around about you.

Man of Tanith, if it is still wet and not too cold, a down side of living in a debris shelter is that they will attract slugs, lots of slugs.

 

[Man of Tanith]

These last couple a three years everything has attracted slugs! I swear there's been a boom in their population.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

There is at least one good video on YouTube showing how to make and the history of the bender, just go to youtube and search 'Tinkers Tent'. It isn't the be all and end all of shelters and like A Frames, Lean to's and most other 'survival' shelters you are dependent on what is available, it is however another weapon in the armoury so to speak when it comes to 'knowing how'

 

[verney]

In a unheatead shelter unneeded volume is something you don't want. What you want is snug shelter and A-frame is similar in shape to a person. Especially A-frame where foot-end rests on ground (or lower than head-end) has only very little unneeded volume that needs to be heated using the sleepers body temperature.

 

[cbr6fs]

Have to put my hand up and admit i really don't understand why anyone would mess about building a shelter in the UK in 2014, BUT if i was to build a shelter then personally i'd wait till you are there.

Scout around and see what resources you have available around you, maybe there is a small cave, in which case you're sorted.
If there is very little good wood but lots of ferns then a lean to might be the best option.
If there is a wall then you could use that to build off plus it'd deflect a fair bit of heat if you have a fire.

How long you're likely to spend inside would make a massive difference to me as well, for 1 night i'd just want to make sure i'm out of the rain and fairly warm.

If it's going to be over 2 nights then i'd put a fair bit more effort into the shelter and i'd try to get myself off the floor so build a rough bed structure with a A-frame above.

 

[Toddy]

In a unheatead shelter unneeded volume is something you don't want. What you want is snug shelter and A-frame is similar in shape to a person. Especially A-frame where foot-end rests on ground (or lower than head-end) has only very little unneeded volume that needs to be heated using the sleepers body temperature.

If you want to shelter in a coffin shape fine; me I want shelter I can both sit up in and work in and sleep in; to keep me and my kit dry in, with as little effort as possible. Lying on your belly is a blooming awkward way to work, and most folks sleep in a curl of somekind.

http://earlymedievalarchaeologyproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dsc_0337.jpg
http://www.pygmies.org/rainforest-pygmies/photo-gallery.php?photo=8
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/f5/04/90/f504903d0f31030cc78dcc197893539b.jpg
http://www.scottisharchaeologicalforum.org.uk/roundhouses_conf.html
http://nativeamericanshelters.blogspot.co.uk/

If you're there for more than a night..... otherwise why doesn't someone teach how to find the best wee dry places to curl up just for a decent sleep ?

Toddy

 

[mountainm]

Have to put my hand up and admit i really don't understand why anyone would mess about building a shelter in the UK in 2014

Same reason people go for circular walks, climb mountains, explore caves ...

it's fun.

 

[Man of Tanith]

^^^^^^what he said.
and t test the theories methods and skills.
And because it beats sitting there wondering if I can do it and never finding out

 

[Quixoticgeek]

The Tinker tent video I found gives me a better view of what Toddy is talking about. The question I do have tho, if you don't have a tarp to throw over it, what would you use to thatch it? Being that the top approaches the horizontal, the rain shedding properties of thatch are compromised?

J

 

[Toddy]

I hadn't thought to look for a link to a tinker's tent nice one Julia

Rushes work....tie them into a cone and splay it out over other bunches. You can happ it up with leaves too. It works the same way if you pull the willow rods up and into a kind of bunch at the top. Rains inclined to run down the rods and into the ground. If it's heavy just scrape a drip trench to encourage the water away from where you're sleeping. In the past folks used (like the native Americans did in their recent past) bark, or hides to cover the top of their frame. Now ? I'd just pull over one of those two for a £ survival blankets and tie it into place; I know someone who used her cheap plastic unbreathable cagoule, and slept in the bender for three nights quite happily. Natural materials are best bunched and folded like scales up the framework.
Heavy duty ones folks used to use besags.....long thin turfs laid like slates.

If bushcraft is anything it ought (at least in our constantly changing seasonal climate) make us adaptable. I reckon it's all too easy to get stuck in a mindset that says, "This is how to do it properly", when in reality properly depends on so many variables.
Like the fellow who couldn't make fire because he couldn't find a long straight stick as advised in so many bushcraft books as the ideal for a firebow the technique works just fine with a wee short bent stick....ask me how I know ? I've been doing it that way for near twenty years now.
It's always interesting hearing about a different method, or materials to use

It's a good thread Sam, I hope you have a brilliant time

M

 

[Man of Tanith]

Oh i shall.
you can expect a long full and involved write up of it all when I get back.
I've been working on assorted projects for it as well..should really do some posts on em.

 

[sunndog]

if i was to build a shelter then personally i'd wait till you are there.

devilishly difficult to do BEFORE you get there......unless you've got some sort of ultralight remote titanium shelter drone

 

[rg598]

For me it would depend entirely on what's in the area and how much time I have. I would look for naturally sheltered areas like a rock outcrop and then try to throw something around it.

Generally speaking, there are two ways you could go. One is to use a shelter that uses a heat source (fire), and the other is to use a shelter that relies on conservation of heat.

If your plan is to conserve your body heat, then the shelter has to be tiny. If you want a large shelter that you can stay in comfortably for the week, then it will be very hard to keep it warm with just body heat. If it's warm enough though, so that is not an issue, then any shelter will do. You just need something to block out the rain. Again, I would look for a rock outcrop or a dense group of trees.

If you plan on using a fire, then keep in mind that you are only collecting it with a small saw and knife. I find things like long fires to be impractical under such conditions. I would go with a small fire and stay close to it.

Generally, I find that all the planning goes out the window when you actually have to start building, especially when time and resources are limited.

Here is a short one I did last winter. I had an emergency blanket for shelter from the snow, and more materials than you will have (like a lighter), but gathering materials was a slow process:

[video=youtube;Gp4uGQgwdWM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp4uGQgwdWM&list=UUHwq pNW2tAasbtQnm8SipjQ[/video]

If I was going to stay in the area for a longer period of time, I would look for a fallen over tree, or a large rock and build up around it. I wouldn't spend too much time on it because I would rather focus on gathering other resources.