After reading the "rules" Jeff posted, I figured why the heck not give it a try. So after a quick Google search on how to build one I rounded up my little helpers, grabbed my Izula and off we went to try to build our first every debris shelter in the front yard (boy did we get some strange looks from the neighbors).
Well this was so much more fun then I thought it would be. I'm glad I took my two 4 1/2 year old boys out to help me (I think they got it more then I did anyway).
We started out looking for a small tree or sapling we could use for the "spine" of our shelter. We found a small sapling about 2-21/2 in so we took it for our "spine" (is that what it would be called), it took a little time and work but that knife just keep going and going. It took a little time and batoning to get through the tree but it did and the knife does not have a scratch on it. I can not believe how tough this little knife really is. After all of the abuse (use) I put it through, I wiped it off and it still looks brand new. I really thought I was going to have to pull out my Ka-Bar to cut down the tree, it never left it's sheath. That Izula was just amazing, I just keeps alternating the angle of the blade while batoning and cut right through like an ax.
Next we started to search out some dead wood or broken branches. We found some, but it was not looking too good, we could not find enough.
Then we found this plant that looked like some kind of bamboo (not sure if bamboo can grow wild and out doors in the northeast with the cold in the winter, going to have to look that up later) well it was easy to cut and was light and strong enough for our shelter so we used it.
I tried to alternate the sticks to make it stronger.
That ghost xing sign is about 2 1/2-3 feet tall (it got buried later).
Now before you all jump on me for making it so high, I kinda had too. With the two little "helpers" I figured if I made it any lower it might not make it (to get any pics). I needed to make it high and strong to put up with the little ones running in and out of it (they kept telling me it was a tree fort or tree house, LOL). Anyway that is why it was so high off the ground. If it was for a real emergency it would have been a lot lower to the ground (and easier to make) I would say an least 1 1/2 feet lower. I also did not make a door covering to the shelter either for the same reason (It would not survive my boys for more then a minute, they are a demolition crew) with them playing in it.
And now come the leaves, lots and lots of leaves. The boys had a really good time helping out with this part. We had almost 4 feet of leaves around it and about 2 1/2 on the very top at least if not more.
My little helpers, Jake and Chris. (look daddy, I have a leaf)
It was a lot harder to pile up the leaves high up.
I put a 33 gallon trash barrel next to the shelter for a size comparison.
Jake, all the way inside the shelter, with room to spare. He kept bring leaves in to the shelter to hide in (lol).
Both boys in the shelter.
I told Jake to stand up to help out with the size comparison he is just shy of 4 feet tall.
All in all we had a really great time making it. My boys have not stopped talking about it. My wife on the other hand keeps telling I have "gone off the reservation". It took us most of the day to build it. With a lunch break and the boys taking leaves off of the shelter while I was putting them on (lol, 4yo's go figure). They slept very well last night.
I know we did not make the shelter perfect, but I figure for a first try (with the little helpers) it was not too bad. I know both of the boys fit in the shelter at the same time (a little tight but they could), and this was one of the reasons it was so big (god forbid if only one could get in at a time, it would have been WWIII). I know leaving the side support sticks sticking over the top is a no, no but I figured with the size we were making it would help support the the top of the shelter better (and it did keep the top debris in place very well). With the sticks on the sides being longer it also made it less likely that the boys could knock them out of place and turn our experiment in to a big mess (lol). Not putting on a doorway was for easy access for the kids to play in it, if this was a real survival situation it would have had a much smaller entrance that would have stuck out at least 1-2 feet. If I had not made accommodations for the two little four foot demolition crew I'm sure the shelter would have been nothing more then a big pile of debris (lol, that was a really bad joke).
I guess I should stop going on and on here like I just built the Hover dam. After all it was only debris shelter.
Here is a link to all of the pics I took of our shelter building fun. (as I can only attach or embed 10 pics in this post)
http://img140.imageshack.us/g/img0434k.jpg/
