Debris shelters

[stuart f]

Just wondering how many of you out there have built debris shelters and if so,did you use them? what type? Did you sleep ok? Did the rain leak through? etc etc.. Your thoughts please.

I have built two types myself,the first was the solo type as seen in Ray Mears book Bushcraft, i did,nt put a thick enough layer of dead leaves on the top so some rain water run down the inside, not a lot though, but that said it was chucking it down, so i count myself that i did,nt get a soaking.

The second turned into a two man job, based on the enclosed debris shelter, which needs no fire to heat the users,again as seen in Mr Mears book Bushcraft. Remembering from my last mistakes i put plenty of leaves on top this time,i took my daughter for her first ever bushcraft sleep out in it and she loved every minute and no rain got through either.

Well enough of my ramblings, i look forward to reading your stories.
CHEERS STUART F.

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Stuart, I've built several. I do take exception to that geometrically perfect illustration that gets plagiarised from text to text. Mine invariably look like a prop from Faulty Towers. This is also a perfect application for space blankets, love or hate them. When I've assembled a small lodgepole and lattice skeleton The blanket makes a great reflector under the litter. My one use of an emergency leaflitter shelter worked well. I snuggled inside a huge fallen oaktree-sandstone rockshelter during a SAR for some offroad bikers in a rainstorm. I was searching a sidecanyon solo, realised I was succumbing to a rapid onset of influensa and the canyon floor was flooding into a muddy morass. I radioed I was going to bivouc the night. A bit of esbitstove Earl Grey and fruitcake and I just burowed inside. It must have worked, I woke up with a pacific diamondback curled up nearby. :ekt: We parted company with no animosity. Debri shelters have their limits. I would read the following link for another view www.equipped.org/andre.htm

 

[Ed]

Just wondering how many of you out there have built debris shelters and if so,did you use them? what type? Did you sleep ok? Did the rain leak through? etc etc.. Your thoughts please.

I've built and used a few in my time. Now I tend to buit more debris lean-to rather than full enclosed shelters as I like to fall asleep to the sounds of nature rather than the muffle dead space from within an enclosed debris shelter. First few times I got bitten to death by bugs, but after learning the tip of smoking them out first things have been better.


Ed

 

[stuart f]

Thanks for the input lads. I don,t use them much these days as i tend to just rig up my basha and that way i,m free to do other things, but that said i built them so i would have sound knowledge on their construction so if ever the need arose,and i got into a situation where i had no kit,i could protect myself from the elements. CHEERS STUART F.

 

[sargey]

the warmest natural shelter i've used was a thermal kennel type debris hut with a fire and reflector in front. this was on the cambrian survival school intermediate course. it stayed nice and dry in spite of the rain. the wierd thing was having warm legs from the heat bouncing down the back of the shelter, my top half didn't get as much benefit till i took my hat and coat off

the only problem i had was forgetting how much more softwood than decent "fuel" wood it takes to keep a decent fire up all night.

cheers, and.

 

[theorsmeister]

I often use leaf litter shelters

great and warm

i often add green leaves and extra logs if it looks like the weather will turn

 

[eraaij]

I have built a couple of differrent types now, amongst those are the lean-to and the leaf-hut:

I liked both. The one in the second picture remained relatively dry on a week course where it rained almost every day. Not completely dry, but with some roof-patching I managed to sleep well enough to get through the week in good condition.

The first one - the classic lean-to- was not bad either. No special preference for the one or another.

I would like to build a group shelter and will probably do so in october on our upcoming course in Scotland.

-Emile

 

[moduser]

I've built and slept in a couple using different materials.

Most recently was during the Easter break when I was running a Survival Skills course for three scouts. I'll dig out some pictures. They were standard leaf debris and apart from one that a insufficient depth of debris (although not for long) did not leak through 2 days of rain.

Nice thing is that they are fairly quick to build, just ensure you know which way the wind blows else rain will drive into the opening. Don't make it so small that your head is level with the opening and don't make it too big else you'll be cold at night (a decent debris shelter negates the need for a fire at night so you can actually sleep all through the night).

Also remember to insulate yourself from the floor.

D

 

[Stuart]

this is the largest debris shelter i have ever been involved in the construction

three of us built it as our shelter for a woodsmoke course

but my favourate night in a debris shelter so far has been this one during winter in alberta canada :

it worked great and I passed the night without a sleeping bag in comfort at -20 degrees C

 

[Graham_S]

i've built a couple. i stayed dry despite fairly heavy rain but i had to put my shemagh over my face to keep leaf litter off.
i'd use one for long term but for an overnight i'd just use my basha. debris shelters take too long to build.

 

[bambodoggy]

I often use leaf litter shelters

great and warm

i often add green leaves and extra logs if it looks like the weather will turn

Why the green leaves Theo? I've never heard of this for a debris shelter....what difference do they make?

Bam.

 

[fungy]

here's a little story that might give some of you a laugh, a few years ago (now I think about it is was about 10) me and some friends used to be involved in a bb gun club, we used to spend 3 or 4 days out at a time in some local woods. We built a shelter big anough for about half a dozen people it took a lot of time and was used quite often. After a few months of use, we went up one weekend to find a eviction notice from the local council nailed to the tree, asking us to dismantle the "illegal structure", so when we stopped wetting our selves with laughter we dismantled the shelter and moved it further into cover and camoflaged it better.We managed to get some land to game on and never had any more hassle from the local gov.

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Greenleaves will be somewhat heavier and, depending on the species have a waxy surface.

 

[moduser]

Here's a picture of the debris shelter I mentioned earlier.

http://img1.yoxio.com/img/182414.jpg

 

[phantomlynx]

Slept in it too, and as a complete novice it was quite an experience!

http://img1.yoxio.com/img/187982.jpg

 

[CLEM]

Slept in it too, and as a complete novice it was quite an experience!

http://img1.yoxio.com/img/187982.jpg

Care to expand on this experience?

 

[phantomlynx]

Care to expand on this experience?

Sure...

It took about 4 hours to build it, the vast majority of the time was spent gathering enough leaf litter. I found some old dried out pine branches / limbs which I used to help ensure that the leaf litter stayed in place.

I was my first time alone in the woods, and although I live in the country and am used to the sounds of the various wildlife it was something else having nothing between me and the animals.

I had an owl hunting directly above me, and deer and various other animals calling.

I was surprised how well it worked, but I had to move very carefully or I dislodged a rain of leaves! I could hear various noises in the leaves that I ignored until the morning when I discovered I'd collected a fine collection of bettles with the leaf litter and they were still very much at home!

All in all it was great fun to be doing as a grown up what I'd always loved doing as a kid.. making a camp!