Keeping Fire Going When it's Raining

Buck268 said:
Man, I didn't read anything but the posted question, and all I can say WHAT?

I've been camping my entire life, and I've kept many, many fires going through rain storms. Even started a few in the rain (granted, I did use my spare stash of dry stuffs). I've never really had a hard time, either. Of course, if all you have is wet wood to work with, it'll take a lot more work, but its not impossible.

Practice is the only way to get good at it.
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I too have spent lot of time outdoors in the past 46 years , and I thought I asked a fairly legitimate question, and asked it in the correct forum and the correct manner.

I did NOT say that I didn't know how to keep a fire going in the rain, nor did I say I had never done it. I asked a question in order that we could share some information, maybe hear something different.

We learn by doing, but we also learn by asking and listening.

I find it interesting that you offered none of your obviously "expert" fire skills in answering the question, merely a critique of the question itself.
I read what you have done, but, nothing in terms of any substantial information that would help anyone reading approach your lofty level of firecraft.

All I can say, in return, is the same as you, WHAT???

It's similar to asking someone how to fish, and having them answer by telling you how many fish they've caught.

So , I am curious, just how have you kept all these fires stoked through spells of rain?
 
A tarp lean to over the fire. Or better yet two tarps both lean to fashion but overlapping each other about a foot and seperated about a foot. Did that make sense? The tarps lean in from opposite sides of the fire.
 
2dogs said:
A tarp lean to over the fire. Or better yet two tarps both lean to fashion but overlapping each other about a foot and seperated about a foot. Did that make sense? The tarps lean in from opposite sides of the fire.
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2dogs, perfect sense. Making a place for the smoke to rise.

I should have been more specific also, not a breif shower, but, a rain "event".
Which is typically accompanied by low barometric pressure, which also makes keeping a fire going more difficult due to not only the mositure, but lack of draft.

I've been waiting for someone to suggest a blue tarp with about a 1 foot hole cut in it. Place the hole slightly offset, so it's not raining on top of the fire.
Once the smoke starts channelling up through the hole, you may find you could actually pull up a chair, under the tarp, with a nice little fire going.


Wet Wood:
i can remember constantly placing soaked wood around the fire, practically making a fire ring out of wood, rather than stones. We would rotate the wood, 90° every so often, after about an hour, you would have dry wood to place on the fire, and start the drying process all over with the next batch of wood.

I've never done the full tarp trick, would like to hear from anyone who has.
 
Jeez Skunk, you really know how to run a thread. So far you've confused or pissed off everybody or answered your own question :D

Okay, in that situation I would try to keep the fire going as hot as possible...throw on evergreen branches and birch bark and all the dry hardwood I could find...keep more wood stacked around it, if possible, to dry and then throw that on...if I had a blue tarp, it would make sense to try to suspend it over the fire without melting it...cut a hole, sure...other than that, I think you're going to have a wet cold camp and at daybreak you better beat feet back to civilization.

This is a great thread, thanks ;)
 
Coldwood said:
Jeez Skunk, you really know how to run a thread. So far you've confused or pissed off everybody or answered your own question :D This is a great thread, thanks ;)
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I may only be here to entertain you, Coldwood. :p :thumbup: ;)


you really know how to run a thread...you forgot the last bit.....into the ground. :rolleyes:
 
Let me start this off by saying, "I'm sorry Skunk" (just in case I screw up :) )

This isn't probably a direct answer to the question, but over the years we have developed a certain strategy when canoe camping or whatever. First of all, we dump the tent fly and replace it with a hugely oversize tarp. We do this for a couple of reasons - 1. When the rain's coming in horizontal, a lot of flys aren't worth a s**t. 2. If it's raining when we get to where we're going to make camp, the first thing we do is string up a ridge rope for the tarp and once up, we can remove our rain gear and put up the tent in relative comfort. The tarp is big enough to sit in front of the tent and still be protected from the rain. If we're going to have a fire, especially if there are more than 2 of us, we have a separate rain tarp - once again a fairly big one, so that we can hang it fairly high allowing the smoke to get away and still have adequate coverage to sit around the fire without getting wet (and the fire stays dry, of course). I know some people would object to the size of the tarps, because of the weight, but we like it.

BTW, good idea, Cliff, about the rotten logs - will have to try that. (If I forget my tarps, of course.)

Doc
 
WHat about stacking larger rocks around the fire? I have noticed that when I do this the coals last longer and heat stays ambient alot longer.
 
Careful, if those rocks are wet inside they will pop.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Let me start this off by saying, "I'm sorry Skunk" (just in case I screw up :) )
Doc
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OK, DOC, I'll let it go, just this once! :thumbup: ;)

As always, experience speaks volumes.

I am a novice BBQer, and he read of old-timey BBQ pits (where the name came from) that were trenches dug in the earth, so the earth wuold keep the fire burning consistantly, despite winds and such.

It has me thinking, for a survival situation, if a Dakota pit fire, or something similar wouldn't help maintain a fire during wet times (or windy times).
that being said, not in a flood plain, or it would prove to be the best attempt at underwater fire-making. :rolleyes:

How bout under a sizeable leaning log/tree, where pouring rain could be diverted away from the fire?? Like a "lean to" built specifically to house the fire?

My apologies to Coldwood, for once again trying to answer my own question. ;) I don't talk to myself , not when I can reply to my own posts! :D
 
PS: I bought some beer in order to relieve stress and avoid attacking fellow forumers. My apologies to Buck for laying it on a little too thick,
I had a burr up my butt.
 
I see temporary shelters made in the bush around here by natives all the time. Just find some apropriate sized evergreens and give them a whack with your axe or knife, then snap/bend them to the direction you want. Usually, larger brush is bent from two different sides, toward the middle. This is the main support. Now overlay this with as many evergreen bows as you need. Make your fire under that. When your fire gets big enough, pull the branches back, or toss them in. I've seen large temp shelters made this way with minimal effort. Again, Just bend them on the left side, then the right side, toward the middle. Now overlay the back with more branches. It's easy and fairly quick. A temp shelter when you include a bed of evergreen branches on the floor, or a fair rain shelter, as need dictates.
 
What ?!?! Skunk! I also have a burr up my butt!! But then I always do. :D

I think Doc and Upnorth probably have the best ideas.

It's a good question, how to keep a fire in a driving rain, and I agree it would be a real challenge.
 
My burr is gone, temporarily, just got home from a Christmas party down the street.
Several Loose Cannon Ales rinsed the burr right out. :thumbup:
Wanna see? :eek:

But, like a trooper, I came home and marinated/brined the pork ribs and tenderloin we are having tomorrow on the BBQ smoker.
They'll soak all night.

OK, so, I'm well "hydrated" and thinking about a shelter for my fire. (What's wrong with this?) How does everything tonight (hic) tie into this thread?

What is he rambling about? :confused:

Well, our neighbors made a campfire out back, for those who wanted to be outside. Approximately 50 people were there.
They took 3 or 4 good sized logs, and made a teepee out of them, then built the fire underneath. it started small, confined, but once it lit the underside of the teepee logs, it was blazing.

So, it made me think.... would 3 or 4 good sized chunks of wood, in a teepee shape, shed a good deal of the rain water away from the main part of a fire, and it's precious coals??

I think it is a viable possiblity based on what I saw tonight.
 
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