The Basic Survival Essentials

[Moine]

Thomas,



This will not happen when the poncho is set up as a lean-to.

True.

That being said, when you sent it up as a tent using paracord (typically tying the cord between two trees and throwing the poncho over it), usually the cord is not perfectly straight and water slides down and soon starts dripping at the lowest point: right in the middle, under the poncho. It's still a lot better than nothing, but you get wet from there and from the ends if there is any wind. Besides, anchoring the poncho to the ground can be tough if there's no grommets on it.

Australian hootchies are great for that: they have loops outside of the tarp so you can slide the paracord and hang the tarp, thus you avoid this rain wicking effect.

There are some tricks to avoid that, of course, but hey I'm not going to give them all up over here

Using a lean-to system, you can make things much better. And you can easily add-up insulation/camouflage with debris on top of the poncho. You can also use that poncho as a reflector (some have a silver side). That way, with a good, 5-6 feet long fire in front of your lean-to you can litterally cook your bones even in very cold weather. Make sure you set your lean-to parrallel to the wind, though, otherwise you're cooked AND smoked

Cheers,

David

 

[cardimon]

The one interesting piece of gear is my NRGS neck knife set up with an Inova LED light, Jetscream whistle, wetfire tinder, BSA Hotspark, button compass, and heavy needle. That stays around my neck on a double loop of paracord.

I, too, would be interested in seeing any images you may have of this neck lanyard and how you have your gear laid out on it.