FoxholeAtheist
Basic Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 2,329
So, in response to a thread about space blankets, I decided to run a little test of my Adventure Medical Kits Heatsheets. Details on the item are here....
http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/kit_detail.asp?series=1000&seriesNav=&kit=2&kitNO=0140-0222
Here's my "gear" for the test:
I had a book to read, a small candle, some rope to fiddle with, and note taking stuff.
Dressed in clothes similar to what I would expect to see someone hiking in on a slightly cool day, I went out on the back porch.
Cotton jeans, cotton t-shirt, cotton overshirt, socks, shoes.
What's the temperature here in Canadia?
42°F at the start of the test (went down to about 39° by the end). There was just a slight breath of a breeze, but no real wind.
So, I sat there for about half an hour reading. I had thought that by being pretty sedentary I would get cold quickly. By the end of half an hour, I decided that this would take WAAAAY too long. I hadn't even really started shivering yet.... so I decided to kick it up a notch.
That did it! It's really amazing the difference between being wet and dry. While dry, I was pretty much okay, but as soon as I dumped a gallon of cold tapwater over myself (being sure to soak my clothes as much as I could), I was immediately shivering and could tell that I wouldn't have very long before my ability to do fine tasks was compromised. Out came the space blanket!
If you look close in that pic, you can see the look of "cold!" on my face. Just wrapping the blanket around my shoulders took some of the chill off, but was still cold. In keeping with the "lost in the woods, so hunker down to try to stay warm" concept, I sat down and tucked the blanket in around me.
Once I pulled the blanket over my head and managed to get it somewhat sealed, I started to warm up. I stopped shivering, and although my back was cold, I could definitely tell that there was a pocket of warm air around me. I sat like that for about twenty minutes, and it wasn't bad at all. Not what you would call "comfortable", but definitely better than sitting there without the blanket.
I then broke out the tea light to see if that would make much of a difference.
After getting situated, I could tell that the heat of the candle was definitely adding to the total warmth in the space. In fact, when I stuck my head down in the blanket to look at the candle, I could see steam coming off of my clothes.
After coming in and drying off, I thought that folks might like a visual reference to how large this blanket is...
Conclusions:
From what I found tonight, I think a quality space blanket is a very good addition to any survival kit. I was much warmer sitting under the blanket than without it. It packs down small, weighs less than 3 oz, and costs $4. In fact, I can't think of any reason not to splurge a little and get the "two person" model. It's one foot longer and a few inches wider, but that could definitely help keep the warm air in. In fact, adding something to the kit to help hold the edges of the blanket together would be a big bonus. I was thinking about clothespins, but I think one of the folding chip clips (like the ones in the upper right of the photo below) would work. You could slip two of the smaller ones into the plastic package the blanket comes in and not add appreciable weight. This would free up one both of your hands so you wouldn't have to keep holding the thing together, which would be a real benefit if there were any kind of breeze blowing.
Going from soaking wet to under the blanket did show me how well this thing worked, but the real kicker was when I had been under it for 20 minutes, then got out to get the candle and fetch my photographer. In the 2 minutes (max) that it took to get that set up, I was shivering again and really feeling the cold. Once back under the blanket with the candle going, I started warming up again.
Highly recommended!
http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/kit_detail.asp?series=1000&seriesNav=&kit=2&kitNO=0140-0222
Here's my "gear" for the test:
I had a book to read, a small candle, some rope to fiddle with, and note taking stuff.
Dressed in clothes similar to what I would expect to see someone hiking in on a slightly cool day, I went out on the back porch.
Cotton jeans, cotton t-shirt, cotton overshirt, socks, shoes.
What's the temperature here in Canadia?
42°F at the start of the test (went down to about 39° by the end). There was just a slight breath of a breeze, but no real wind.
So, I sat there for about half an hour reading. I had thought that by being pretty sedentary I would get cold quickly. By the end of half an hour, I decided that this would take WAAAAY too long. I hadn't even really started shivering yet.... so I decided to kick it up a notch.
That did it! It's really amazing the difference between being wet and dry. While dry, I was pretty much okay, but as soon as I dumped a gallon of cold tapwater over myself (being sure to soak my clothes as much as I could), I was immediately shivering and could tell that I wouldn't have very long before my ability to do fine tasks was compromised. Out came the space blanket!
If you look close in that pic, you can see the look of "cold!" on my face. Just wrapping the blanket around my shoulders took some of the chill off, but was still cold. In keeping with the "lost in the woods, so hunker down to try to stay warm" concept, I sat down and tucked the blanket in around me.
Once I pulled the blanket over my head and managed to get it somewhat sealed, I started to warm up. I stopped shivering, and although my back was cold, I could definitely tell that there was a pocket of warm air around me. I sat like that for about twenty minutes, and it wasn't bad at all. Not what you would call "comfortable", but definitely better than sitting there without the blanket.
I then broke out the tea light to see if that would make much of a difference.
After getting situated, I could tell that the heat of the candle was definitely adding to the total warmth in the space. In fact, when I stuck my head down in the blanket to look at the candle, I could see steam coming off of my clothes.
After coming in and drying off, I thought that folks might like a visual reference to how large this blanket is...
Conclusions:
From what I found tonight, I think a quality space blanket is a very good addition to any survival kit. I was much warmer sitting under the blanket than without it. It packs down small, weighs less than 3 oz, and costs $4. In fact, I can't think of any reason not to splurge a little and get the "two person" model. It's one foot longer and a few inches wider, but that could definitely help keep the warm air in. In fact, adding something to the kit to help hold the edges of the blanket together would be a big bonus. I was thinking about clothespins, but I think one of the folding chip clips (like the ones in the upper right of the photo below) would work. You could slip two of the smaller ones into the plastic package the blanket comes in and not add appreciable weight. This would free up one both of your hands so you wouldn't have to keep holding the thing together, which would be a real benefit if there were any kind of breeze blowing.
Going from soaking wet to under the blanket did show me how well this thing worked, but the real kicker was when I had been under it for 20 minutes, then got out to get the candle and fetch my photographer. In the 2 minutes (max) that it took to get that set up, I was shivering again and really feeling the cold. Once back under the blanket with the candle going, I started warming up again.
Highly recommended!
