Becker Skills and Information Thread 04 - January/February 2014 - Outdoor Shelters

[DerekH]

Alright folks, this one is going to be a month and a half long. We have covered how to use your knife safely, how to build fire, and now we are going to cover building a shelter. This contest will run a bit differently, and I will go into that a bit more later. First off, this thread is to give everyone the info needed to build a successful shelter, and this is important because in any situation you might find yourself needing a shelter, the better you can build it, the better it will serve you. Also, given how cold it is outside in many places, it is important that you know what you are doing before you attempt to actually sleep in one in temps that are as low as they tend to be in most places this time of year. Because this will encompass many different types of shelters, I am only going to post up some info from a previous challenge thread that was shown by Bladite, but by all means feel free to add in whatever info you have on the subject, I know I will.

Per Bladite many moons ago:

it's 11 degrees F*** outside right now.

not a SINGLE grain of snow. nope. none. compared to last year? when i had 25 foot MOUNDS i could hollow out and stand up in? oh myyyy.

a true igloo is ... tricky. forget making it with a bucket or pail. it's a LOT of work.

a speed quincy is easier.

or you could use a special tool

built well, they don't even actually collapse... they slump. slowly, then hollow out like shells.

even then, this was the last snow on the grounds for WEEKS:

but giant snow sculptures are more fun

Here are more pics stolen from his ginormous photo stash:

(That last pic is just adorable, but does illustrate suitable headware.)

This is only one type of shelter mind you, there are several more that can be made that will work, however, we waited until there would be snow around so that people might attempt an igloo or some type of snow shelter, so keep that in mind. If you don't have no snow, no worries, you can still participate, and here is where this one is going to run differently. The contest will start on March 1st, however we will accept entries from any time from now until the end of March. The pictures will be required to have a time stamp showing that they have taken place in that timeframe (between today, January 16th, and the last day of March) and the contest will require you to spend a full 24 hrs outside, sleeping overnight in your shelter. Such a long amount of time will give a lot of people the chance to participate, as well as hopefully make sure there is snow around in areas that can get it. However, keep in mind that sleeping outside in freezing temps is incredibly dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. If at any point it looks like you are out of your element, in danger, etc... I cannot stress it enough, GO INSIDE. No one is required at any point to partake in any of these challenges or attempt any of what we cover in these information threads, but if you choose to do so, do so because you are capable, and if you find out you are not, do not hesitate to call it off. Life is more important than free stuff, or winning a contest, or anything like that.

That being said, any shelter will do, show Becker knife usage, spend 24 hrs outside, overnight in the shelter, and show timestamps to prove it. 24 hours gives one a lot of time to work on making a shelter, and it is not too long in terms of finding a day off on the weekend.

Feel free to add to this thread any and all pertinent info on any type of shelter you have knowledge of creating.

 

[DerekH]

Reserved

 

[Murphnuge]

I've been waiting on this one since the overnight last year, woohoo! The only advice I have is, when you think you're done, you're not. I was taught this in the Marine Corps when digging fighting positions and I've seen it ring true over and over again in my time outdoors. Continuous improvement in your current shelter will make your stay a lot more enjoyable/comfortable and help take your mind off of the shitty situation you're in. This could mean beefing up your overhead cover, strengthening the frame work or adding more insulation. Last year my regret about 2 a.m. was that I hadn't added enough pine boughs. 2ft of pine boughs will get you about 4in of insulation when you add a couple hundred pounds to it.

Last year's challenge.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1022452-Can-you-take-the-cold-UPDATED

With accompanying Q& A.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1022455-Cold-weather-Q-amp-A

 

[Tdhurl1103]

My son Ryan attended a 3 day Wilderness Survival School with his 6th grade class last May. Yes, I realize its not this January but I thought you all might like to see this anyway....maybe not.

They built shelters (as seen here, sorry for the crappy pic), made fire with fire steel and bow drill, learned some orienteering, learned about edible plants and learned a host of other useful outdoors skills. Outdoor cooking was not practiced due to liability and safety reasons. I chaperoned but was not allowed to help very much as it would defeat the purpose of the school. He had an absolute blast.....hell I had fun just watching!!! Yes my BK2 and 14 were along for the ride but they didn't see much use.

 

[DerekH]

Something that I see a lot of people not put time into is making a proper bed type platform. Obviously this is harder to do with say a debris shelter, but having frozen my rear off sleeping directly on the ground, I think a little bit of effort into making a raised platform for sleeping, even a few inches, can make a world of difference. Something that really showed a fairly simple way of accomplishing this that can be adapted to a single shelter is this video here:

[youtube]Up8Vgm5aGT0[/youtube]

With a few poles and a few logs, you can make something that will allow you to get off the ground as well as give you a space to put heated rocks, and with a little creativity a bit of the heat from a long fire could be directed to flow up through the bottom of your platform, greatly increasing your comfort and warmth. Add spruce or pine boughs and you have something fairly comfortable to sleep on, which makes a world of difference in terms of morale and energy whilst staying in a shelter.

 

[Murphnuge]

I hear a lot of folks talk of a cold air sink. We dug them in our fighting positions. Every time we dug in, unless it was a ranger grave, had to have a grenade sump and a water sump. I suppose that could've trapped some cold air. I usually see cold air sinks in snow shelters though.

 

[tradewater]

Getting the bed up off the ground is worth the effort if you can. A few rocks heated up in the fire and rolled under it makes a world of difference.

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

Here are some I made for a monthly challenge.

I am dusting off the skills!



This is my first challenge and I had a lot of fun working on it. I learned a lot working on each piece of this challenge. I had to do some research and try things I have never done before and it was worth it. Jeremy has been helping me with my skills so I wanted to go for it. I am going to school for a science and biology so I picked things that interested me in that regard.





The knife I used for this challenge was my BK 11 I got at the Northeast Beckerhead gathering. Remember boys it is not the size of the tool it is how you use it!

Shelter



We have been getting a lot of snow in Maine recently so I wanted to use it to make shelters, The first one is a snow trench. This was easy to make and didn't take long at all. In A real situation I would have entered head first and all the way in. But for the sake of the pictures I didn't.

The next shelter was a Quinzee. This one took a lot more shoveling but it was worth it. The snow was very insulating and warmed up quick with just the candle. I also added air holes and the BK&T logo.

Jeremy wanted to check it out too.

The third shelter I couldn't decide on which tarp shelter to make so I made 4. The Adirondack, Lean to, A frame and the Plow.





The ground was still frozen so I had to beat the stake in the ground. The lines have prussic knots to adjust the tension.

Finished product with my bivy in it for scale.

The tensioners for the lean to shelter.

Finished lean to. Me hanging with Princess.

A frame.

The plow.

Lots of room inside this one!

 

[1066vik]

this afternoon's fun - this is one of the snow piles in my drive after Tuesday's snow.
took about 1 1/2 hours to dig a cave large enough for 2 plus some gear using an e-tool and a skillet.

if it survives until the weekend I may try sleeping in it - if not, I may make a snow trench out of it.

 

[dresnor]

My take on shelters.



Shelters are meant to control your body's core temperature by controlling these three things. Conduction, convection, and radiation.



Conduction is the transfer of heat through direct contact with an object. The direction of heat flow is always from a warmer to a cooler temperature. Example: If you sit on a exposed rock on a cold winters day your body heat is transferred into the rock cooling you down. Sit on the same rock in the direct sun in summer and the heat from the rock will warm your up.



Convection is the transfer of heat through currents in air and water. Example: sitting in front of a fan or rolling your car window down has a cooling effect because it is transferring your body heat away from your skin. In the winter this effect can also be known as "wind chill".



Radiation is the transfer of heat through radiation. There are two forms of radiation, long wave radiation and short wave radiation. Long wave radiation emits from the human body, fire, and anything else that is warmer than absolute zero.

Short wave radiation come from the sun and varies in intensity according to the time of day, altitude, latitude, surface reflection, atmospheric pollution, ozone levels, and season.



Depending on the season depends on how much you need to pay attention to one or all three of these factors.



Basically what I am saying is, the colder the temperature is the better your shelter has to be. In the summer it might be to your advantage to lay on the cool ground for a better nights sleep. In the winter that same action will make for a long night.



When making a shelter you must, insulate yourself from the ground. Stop wind from cooling you too much, or in warmer conditions allow convective breezes to flow through your shelter so you don't overheat. It also has to reflect radiation away from you in warmer conditions or trap radiation on colder conditions. On top of that it has to shed precipitation.



Here are a few shelters I have made to combat Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.



Debris shelter. These are easy to make and are warmer and more waterproof than they look.



Start by making a tripod.







Add branches to form ribs. The more branches you add the better it will support the leaves and other debris you add on later.











Before you start throwing the debris on top get inside and make sure you have enough room and that your whole body fits in the shelter. Remember the less space you have the easier it is to keep warm. After you get the size squared away line the floor with leaves, ALOT of leaves. They will compress more than you think.. Somewhere around 6 inches compressed is a good rule of thumb. Add more in colder conditions.







Now you can start throwing on leaves, bark, moss, anything you can to help trap heat and shed precipitation. Add as much debris as you can.







Check for any light shining through into your shelter. Add more debris if needed.

 

[dresnor]

You can also bring some simple items to help you make a debris type shelter even better. In this instance I used two 55 gallon drum liners and one space blanket. One drum liner split open to help waterproof the shelter with the space blanket underneath to reflect radiation from a fire. The second drum liner was filled with leaves to create a sleeping pad insulating me from the ground.









Getting ready to fill the other drum liner and fit testing.











Time for bed.

 

[dresnor]

I used the same type of shelter in the winter but with much better insulation under me. This time I used logs and bows from fur trees. I kept under the logs open so that the convective heat from the fire would help keep me warm.



Same design.







Starting to make the bed platform and fire reflector.











Bow bed complete.







Space blanket hung and fire burning.







I hung my watch inside the shelter to measure the temperature inside. 60.6 inside the shelter and below freezing outside.

 

[dresnor]

This next shelter I have not slept in but I carry the components with me in the winter. This is a shelter based on Mors Kochanski's super shelter. If you don't know who he is, google his name.



This shelter relies heavily on long wave radiation. With a long fire in front the long wave radiation will pass through the clear plastic and reflect back off of the reflective surface of the space blanket. If sealed enough the heat will be trapped and circulated via convection. If you have taken care of conduction this will be a very warm shelter.



Here I am messing with this setup.



Component list: 2ml plastic drop cloth 9' x12'. Reusable space blanket. 550 cord, 55 gallon drum liner and duct tape.







Find two trees about 10-12 feet apart.







Make a loop in your 550 cord and loop one end around one tree about waist high.











Loop the 550 cord around the other tree and test the hight.







Loosen the ridgeline and put it through a corner grommet. Then insert a stick to hold the space blanket in place.







Make a loop in the line before the tree and feed the 550 cord through that so you have a way of tensioning the ridge line.







Tie an overhand knot by the loop to hold it in place. Now you have an adjustable loop.







Run that lop through the other corner grommet and insert another stick.















Now tighten the loop by pulling on the tag end. This makes the space blanket taught.







Tie off or steak down the back two corners.











Drape the clear plastic over the space blanket. Steak down or tie off the back section and roll up the front around a log to keep it tight and make it easier to get in and out.











For the sake of this demonstration I did not want to cut a lot of bows to line the ground since I was not going to sleep in it. If I was I would have make a nice thick bow bed and layed the 55 gallon drum liner on top to further reduce conduction.







Use the tape to help seal off the sides. Do not seal them up too much because you don't want to fill the shelter up with carbon dioxide from breathing and make your situation worse.



Make a long fire in front of the shelter and keep it going all night to keep this shelter nice and warm.







If there are any questions feel free to ask.



Jeremy

 

[Murphnuge]

Hey D, gear list for this challenge?

 

[DerekH]

Nope. Consider that less equals more and the rest is up to you.

 

[Murphnuge]

Nope. Consider that less equals more and the rest is up to you.

That's what I needed.