Shelter???

[commandocal]

Well im going to spend a day in the limited woodland i have and i am looking to make a weather proof shelter , I.e Wind and Water proof/resistant that has an opening to a fire, But i havnt a clue which one to make or how, any ideas? I can get Bracken but its VERY VERY limited and i dont want to use up this woods recources, also the floor of the wood is very soft and loose so i could pile the roof with that and maybe their is enough leaves to make a debris one? any ideas guys i dont have much to work with in this woods :aargh4:

 

[screeching owl]

If you just want to spend a day in a limited woodland and time is of the essence then a tarp would only take a short time to set up and a hobo stove would use smaller fallen dead wood and be easier to manage. I would take about 2 hours at best to make a shelter and it would use a lot of wood. You could use BBQ charcoal for a smokeless fire. A nice comfortable shelter I like that should take a few hours to set up is a open front leaf hut with a cot-wall bed to sit/lay on (avoiding contact with the floor saves heat loss). Make sure your shelter is facing so that the fire/smoke is not in your face (if wood is wet it might smoke a lot) and get a weather check.

 

[commandocal]

Time isnt limited, i camp in these woods often and instead of tarping it all the time i would like a shelter to go to instead im going to go tomorrow make a decent one with a cot/raised bed from the floor now, its just if i throw crap loads of branches of leaves on the top its not waterproof and i dont know what to make the roof with? since there is hardly any leaves about yet

 

[dwardo]

I love natural shelters but unless there is a lot of material about then it can mean either a very small cold shelter or chopping down a lot of new stuff

Get yer self an old tarp and drag it up there for the winter and the local plant and tree life will thank you for it

Have a look at the bender we knocked up in the Out and about section. They are loads of fun and a little more rescource friendly Please watch fires aroun tarps though,,, teaching you to suck eggs i know but

 

[Mirius]

Well on the principle of a picture being worth a thousand words

 

[william#]

as said already tarp is a good idea - in reality even for multi days a natural shelter does take up a lot of recourses.
however if you go for a very low to the ground single person (measure round your body)you can make a kinda a frame lean too then using sticks create the frame then pile over the top as much leaf litter as you can muster(bivi bag handy for gathering) i mean really pile up the leaf litter ! very thick will be water proof and warm . if you really feel inclined make a small smokey fire in a tin to smoke out those insects before sleep .
advantages of doing this shelter is you can dismantle it very easy you havnt taken anything live and they can really blend into the woodland
the rays you tube (above) yes use that kinda way of way of using leaf litter though unless you have boundless energy dont go for that design it will take you a long time - im not kidding just try

 

[Eric_Methven]

If you don't want to use a tarp, but you do want waterproof, how's about a compromise?
Make a frame up, an 'A' frame would be good. Use plenty of cross pieces weaving in and out of the uprights.

Once the frame is built, use a couple of packets of builder's rubble sacks (available from builder's merchants), split open and tie the corners to the frame, starting from the bottom and working up like laying tiles on a roof, so the upper ones overlap the lower ones by a foot or so. That way the rain will just run off.

At the apex, drape some over the top. Once that's done throw a few lengths of string or rope over the top and weigh the ends down with stones or logs. That'll prevent the rubble bags from blowing up and away.

For insulation, you can then cover the entire structure in browse or leaves or detrius from the woodland floor. It's not totally natural, but you wouldn't get a permanent structure to remain waterproof for long from natural material anyway as the foliage would quickly rot down.

It is however bushcrafty and will keep you dry whatever the weather throws at you. It's a technique I have used in the past when burning charcoal and had to stay on site for three or four days at a time.

Each time I visited to do a burn, with sometimes months in between all it took was a minimum of repairing to have it habitable again.

Eric

 

[w00dsmoke]

I'm not a great fan of the culture of leaf shelters ect that folk are taught, for the effort I don;t think they are particulalry suited to us in the north. In Scotland there was a great tradition among travelling folk to use semi permanent turf shelters. These have got to be one of the quickest, most weatherproof shelters anyone can build in the UK, particulalry if a tarp is slung over the walls as oposed to turfing the roof. Unfortunatly they are not minimal impact shelters but they are very warm. When I was a young lad, I knew and visited tinkers who lived in these type of shelters all year round.

WS

 

[commandocal]

A turf shelter? is that like, Cutting squares of mud about 4 inches thick from the forest floor and laying them as tiles on a lean too? , I had a go at making a simple quick one from that ray video i will upload pics in a minute, again i couldnt find what to use for the roof there was literally no materials around.

 

[w00dsmoke]

No,

there are several methods but the the tinkers used one built very much like an igloo with sticks supports over circular turf walls, with a domed turf roof supported on sticks. Incidently Inverkeithing in West fife was once known as the divits, after the turf divits used instead of tiles on their roofs.

WS

 

[commandocal]

My attempt at Rays shelter, wasnt any material for roof

AND the best bit of 'carving' ive done in my life!

 

[woodstock]

My attempt at Rays shelter, wasnt any material for roof
What kind of wood is it and how large is it PM me and I'll see what I can do so you can get a proper experiencie of shelter building

 

[commandocal]

The shelter making isnt a problem its just i have no knowledge of what material to use for the roofing

This was on a survival course where there was a good supply of Bracken

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=518114

--- few more all these could have had a natural roof but again my knowledge of what to use and limited recources in the wood is not there

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=518115

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=518116

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=518117

 

[kb31]

bracken + wildlife tracks = ticks
they hang on the tip of bracken just waiting to jump on to you
i've only been in the woods about 4 weeks out of this year and
i've pulled loads out over 10 easy

 

[john scrivy]

comandocal -- the group shelter shown in the Tracks clip is brill -- BUT covering it.- a rule of thumb applies -- you should never be able to see day light through the roofing thatch --the roofing thatch shoud be from the forefinger to elbow in thickness --this will provide insolation and very good rain proofing - and last quite a while with little maintanance

 

[Sickboy]

Hey commandocal, nice shelter building, and i share your concerns over the use of freshly cut saplings, i try and LNT as much as possible and to me this goes against the idea, true the tree's repair themselves over time, time being the word though
Have spent this year in my hammock with all the frivalry that goes with it but fancy dropping my pack size and weight so this thread has been really interesting, many thanks :You_Rock_
I'd love to carry a proper tarp rather than my nylon one from my hammock but it'd probably weigh the same in total as my hammock so not really gaining (or losing as the case may be) anything. Thinking about using a lightweight ripstop bag cover, Alpkit do one for £25, incase a sparse shelter lets through any moisture, save on weight etc but still using natural shelter as much as possible, maybe this would be an answer for you?
I have a poncho now aswell, used it as a shelter to keep the snow off my back in Norway while sitting round the fire, this is easily converted to the job and i'd be carrying it anyway but feels like cheating :yelrotflm !

Nice hound by the way, akita? Like the way it did'nt move between daylight and darkness

 

[commandocal]

Its a shiba Inu - lazy lil thing lol, I used a cheap grounsheet in the end and just covered it with more leaves so you cant tell its there so i can feel more like a natural shelter, was going to do the mud tile method but i couldnt be bothered, Ive found a few pine tree's but still looking for one that is felled so i can use the bows from that, I cant reach the bows on the live tree's anyway