The Weather Service says. . .

Boats

Boats

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Aug 7, 2003
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. . .stay with your car if you get stranded. I get it. It's already a shelter. Someone will eventually find it. If it still runs it's a heat source. But what if it is dead/out of fuel?

Is the vehicle still a better shelter than an improvised shelter? Auto glass is not much for insulation and one cannot build a fire in that cabin.

So assume you're a relatively smart cookie and have at least the foresight to have a good sleeping bag, some ground insulator, and a solar blanket or a tarp or something and some firemaking ability along with a Nuwick candle in your car kit. Is chattering away in a dead car as a -35F wind chill blows all night better than digging into the nearest snowbank and doing shelter for yourself?

I know a candle will help make a snow cave more comfortable, but I have never tried overnighting in my Cherokee while it's shut down in extreme weather just for kicks. Will a candle heat a vehicle appreciably?
 
Boats said:
. . .stay with your car if you get stranded. I get it. It's already a shelter. Someone will eventually find it. If it still runs it's a heat source. But what if it is dead/out of fuel?
Click to expand...

Well, if you're Bear Grylls, you just squeeze the oil out of the filter and drink it. :p

A good question. I wouldn't think that the car would be particularly good at insulating against severe cold, and it would be hard, if not impossible, to light a fire near the car for extra heat. At the same time, a car seat seems like a helluva lot better insulator than anything you could put down on the ground outside. A big question here would be: how good is the sleeping bag?
 
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"Will a candle heat a vehicle appreciably?"

Yes.

This past fall I was late to my hunting site (car trouble). I ended up pulling off on the side of the road for the night. As they say, it was a dark and stormy night, with temps down in the teens.

I had a small candle lantern (available from Cabela's) with me and used it for light and warmth. I couldn't believe how warm that one little candle kept the truck. I spent a very comfortable night thanks to that candle.

I highly recommend keeping a candle in your vehicle during the winter.
 
take the padding out of the seats to use as insulation in your debris hut/tarp shelter.
 
Spent 4 days basically trapped in a small tent, in late November, cold and with nearly constant rain. Other than bathroom runs, and hunting a few hours during the day, I was IN. I had a few "emergency" candles, and yes, just one burning kept my tent practically cozy. Had light to read all my magazine articles about 10 times, plus work a ridiculous number of crosswords, all while nice and comfortable. Safe placement, and NO flame when sleeping is a must, but heck yes for candles.

A non-outdoor example of a little flame making a big difference. Our bathroom upstairs has no heat, and 10 ft. ceilings. It is about 7'X11' with a large window, and we light a single oil lamp in there, and it gets flat out warm with temps in the 30's and quite manageable down into the teens. It is a bit more flame than a candle, but not much. Fire is hot, even a little. On the colder nights I'll set the oil lamp under our cast iron pedestal sink, and instead of just shooting straight up, the heat is soaked up, and radiated much better.

Sorry for the rambling.
Beckerhead
 
As long as you make sure its only for a night or so and your not filling the car with fumes, either from the tail pipe or from a candle which can happen, make sure you crack a window every now and then, and put that sucker out when your trying to sleep.
Its not very probable to be stuck on the side of a road with no one coming, but its can happen, If I were in a long term suvival situation, im talking a few days at least, I would sacrafice parts from my car for a permient shelter, seats coverings from the seats, wireing and anything else I needed.

The only time I can see something like this happening is traveling to a distant hunting ground on private shelter, and you get injured. Really theres no reason why you couldn't walk out.
To be fair here though, if you stuck in the cold out here you better be one lucky SOB, its get below -40*C at night and I would not want to be stuck in that sitting in a car with a candle, If I can make a fire Im making a BIG ONE!
 
Do you all remember the family that got lost and then stuck in the snow up in Oregon I think it was? The husband tried to walk out after some days, and he died, while the mother and kid left behind in the car survived.

I think his name was James Kim.

If he'd stayed with the car, he'd have been with his family when they were rescued.
 
It say you stay with the vehicle. If you have a small candle with you use it for heat. If the inuit burned blubber in their igloos it must work.

I can not think of many instances that it would make sense to leave your car/truck to increase your odds of survival.
 
Well, it says stay WITH your car, not necessarily IN it.

I think the reason being is your car is more likely to be found. However, you can make a shelter NEAR your car that may be easier to heat/survive in than a car. I don't know about you guys, but I'm too long to lay down in my car and I'd be one sore mofo trying to keep cooped up in it all night.

Another problem would be someone coming along and plowing into it while you're trying to sleep.

Plus -- it's a CAR, there's none of thios "I don't want to carry THAT because it's too heavy." stuff to worry about.
 
I'm not talking about abandoning the vehicle and bugging out, I'm asking if it's a better primary shelter for those who can possibly do better.

Not to totally rehash the Kim incident, which I followed with keen interest given its nearness, but that guy made an innumerable amount of mistakes before the ill-fated decision to hike out while ill-prepared to do so.

I daresay one is not much of a catch if he cannot make a really good signal fire amidst millions of trees while having two flares and gasoline to assist in getting started.
 
The problem with leaving your car can often be the wind. In North Dakota where there is a lot of flat open country, storms are usually combined with strong winds. I mean like 40-60 miles an hour are common. Combine this with tempatures often far below Zero and you won't last but minutes. You will also most likely not be able to see more tan a foot or so with the white outs. Many people up here die during storms trying to walk blindly into a storm. Some die in their cars as well but you stand the best chance with the car. This is just not a good place to travel in the winter time. When we go we take several sleeping bags and a big thermos or two of hot water and some food.
 
If you've got a shovel and the correct amount and type of snow, a snow shelter will definitely be warmer than sleeping in the car, especially if you have a candle. I've slept in a snow shelter (we call them quonset's where I live) numerous times when it's been -30 and colder, with two people and a candle, the inside of the quonset can get get above the freezing point... the biggest problem with the snow shelter is actually staying dry, if it get's too warm inside the snow will melt and drip on you all night.

It would be very important to:

a) leave a note on the window of the car that you are stranded and camped out in the snow nearby, mark the quonset with pine boughs or something bright, when you are camped inside a snow shelter it's as though you are in an isolation chamber, you can't hear anything outside, if your rescuers arrived you probably would not hear them

b) build it off the road a bit, not in the snowbank next to the road, you would not want to get run over by the plow!
 
I would stay in the car. You can bet I have a big ol' candle in a coffee can in my car...and bibs, and blankets, and...

A guy died in Wisconsin yesterday from exposure trying to walk from his car to a nearby farm. He made it 600 ft. Keep in mind, in the morning it was -9°F and the wind chill was around -30°F.
 
Stay with your car

If you need to , build a debris shelter ON your car, but leave the roof exposed for searchers.

An automobile is much better at keeping heat in and cold and wet out than most shelters you can build out of material around you.
 
Also, be sure to tell someone your route. If you don't show up, they can be helpful in directing the police to find you.

Also, about the guy who walked out and left his wife and baby with the car, I believe he survived, but lost his toes or maybe even his feet. Sneakers will NOT cut it in the snow. If I recall, the baby was zipped into a suitcase or something and came out fine.

I keep a candle lantern in the car with a piece of cord on the handle to hang it up (maybe from the rear view mirror). Never had to use it in the car, but I used to carry it on backpacking trips. It's about the size of a couple D-cell batteries and the candles last a good long time.
 
Thanks for this thread boats. I've been trying to finalize what to include in my wife's van kit. Candles have officially made the list. She normally travels w/ our 3 children and it may not be feasible for her to build a shelter outside.

Pardon the dumb question, but I assume it would be recommended to leave a window cracked for ventilation? Thanks
 
Tom Brown suggests turning your car into a debris shelter, stuffing it full of leaves and then crawling inside !
 
Any time you have a fire, you need ventilation.

Wind chill is meaningless as long as you're inside the car.

I don't know about turning a car into a debris shelter, but it might raise the effectiveness of a sleeping bag. IF you can find dry, warm leaves under the snow. :)
 
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