Yet another contest.

[gungho]

Nice work gungho.

Looks like quite a few people have learned something with this contest, myself included. Maybe Jeff will whip us up some RAT merit badges to put on our sashes.

I'd totally wear one too. Maybe not on a sash, but possibly sewed onto my backpack.

The night I slept in mine I passed on the door but had small fire 3 or so feet from my door with a refector behind it. My shelter stayed toasty to the point I just had a t-shirt on to sleep in.

I saw that in your photos. And I was looking at the photo saying "what the heck..." and then my brother saw it and explained the purpose. I debated building one with mine, but opted out since I wasn't going to be staying in it that night 'cause of deer hunting. Neighbors usually let 3-4 people hunt not far from where I am, so better safe than sorry.

gungho,

you might try leaving the evergreen branches out next time. The secret to debris shelters is to let all the debris sort of pack on top of itself with its own weight. It makes it more waterproof that way. if you have sticks and branches sticking out then it leaves space for water to get in. If built right, these shelters will actually last a long time and can be re-used repeatedly by just adding more debris to the top.

Thanks for the advice, Jeff. After this weekend I'll go back out and tinker with it some more. Most likely not build an entire new one, but maybe just modify it a lot.

I added a few of the evergreen branches 'cause I thought it would help with holding the leaves in place, instead of allowing spots for it to slip through. However, I suppose that is what you want, so that like you said it builds up layers. Sucks the leaves were so wet, made it a royal pain to gather them. But in a survival situation you don't have the luxury of choosing your conditions. I'm not even considering myself (at least not with my first attempt) to be in the running to win. There's several better debris huts in my opinion. However I'm still glad I participated.

Speaking of that, I know this is a fairly rules light comp. but can we submit multiple attempts?

 

[R.A.T.]

You can submit as many attempts as you want. You can also use a motorhome if you would like. Seriously. There are not building rules, number of units, what's used, etc.

 

[PastorMarko]

Just secured the right to go on top of a small mountain here in the Ouachita's, just God's favor because this man gives permission to NO ONE, very private individual.

Should have brougt my camera, the views were great! Although some views have a lot of trees in the way, overall you can see you are in and on top of a mountain.

I am limited to 4 days, Mon.-Thurs., NO FIRES; they have had trouble with people in the past leaving smoldering fires that could have caught the entire woods on fire. I found an old ten that was left, it was worn but still could have been salvaged to use. It was a small frame tent worth about $250 or so, pretty expensive to leave behind in my opinion.

I did a short 1 hour scout today, chopped down a small oak and made a staff for myself and my wife. The RC-6 is the "ultimate staff making knife", I have NEVER used a knife that made "tree skinnin' " so easy.

 

[R.A.T.]

anyone wants to submit anything else in this contest needs to be wrapping it up. it will probably close first day of december and judged.

 

[bmgillies]

Damn it, I can't get out bush till late december/early january! Can we submit anyway? I don't care about the contest but I have an awsome "shelter" planned Think tree-house... (also think 110F and NO rain)

 

[Munky88]

anyone wants to submit anything else in this contest needs to be wrapping it up. it will probably close first day of december and judged.

I was still planning on doing my snow shelter. We just got snow on the mountains, but I cant spend overnight on anything nearby.
I was wanting to do it out in the woods and sleeping in it, but would need to wait too long to do that.

Eh, do what you want, I'll go out and play and post pictures regardless.

 

[R.A.T.]

We can run this a little longer if we know for sure everyone will get finished up by mid-December.

 

[darkwaters]

Cool I got one more I've been tring to get time t finnish

 

[adaman04]

Close it when you see fit, Jeff. I think I'll stick to my original shelter, right or wrong. I wanted to do it as early as possible to avoid the last minute scramble. Thanks again, this was fun.

 

[bmgillies]

If you do finish up the contest, leave the thread open so people can keep posting their shelters and learning from eachother

 

[PastorMarko]

Okay, here we go. This project is going to be posted in three phases.

Phase I is as follows:

I did a short 1 to 1 1/2 hour scout checking out the mountain.

I found lots and lots of oak and a few other leaves everywhere, great source for "stuffin".

I cut down a small oak and made a 6 foot walking staff while I was out there, for two reasons. One I needed one going up and down the mountain and two to use a reference point as far as size and scale, that way you guys can get a better idea. I was also make my wife a staff at the same time, don't like to waste resources.
Again, the RC-6 made it MUCH easier, it is a GREAT knife. The shavings make good tinder as well once they are dried out.

I stayed away from areas where I saw "mini creeks" from run off.
Also stayed away from rotted and old trees that could fall down on top of me as well, LOL.

I found a good stump and did a little carving with the RC-6 to make sure my center pole would fit snug and not move when I put it into place.

This is a better look at the area, a wider view and the staff so you guys can get a better idea.

As you see by this pic, I took some time out and cleaned the area first.

I wanted to make sure I was not setting up on top of some covered animal den, the last thing you want is to have something bite you in the middle of the night because you didn't do enough prep. work.

I also dug up a few LARGE rocks and cut out a few baby saplings that were just growing out.

All that would not have been cool to sleep on either!

The larger rock I dug out, I also found a really neat axe head looking stone to use as a tool and a few thin "slate" looking rocks.

I also found a grub while I was cleaning up the area.

This is a better look, to the left, showing a downed tree as an additional barrier.

This shows the center pole anchored into the grown. I sharpened the end and drove it in deep so it won't move. I also took those two slate like rocks and hammered them in on either side using the hammer rock.

The above pic shows a little "rock barrier" just at the bottom of the tree stump. At first I thought this would make a GREAT barrier to keep water out if it rained.

This shows the hammer rock next to the "rock barrier".

This shows the center pole. I started putting the interior stuffing in already before I started doing the frame. I wanted to have 8 inches or so in ahead of time, I thought it would help the insulation a bit.

There was some wind and it was about 50 degrees when I was doing Phase I.

 

[PastorMarko]

This is a better view.

I tied my sweater arms together and the neck part to make a sack to stuff leaves into to haul them.

This is a view of the back of the hut, the South side.

I capped off the back a little better to make sure no visitors come in at night.

This is a view of the East side. (going to have to cut a few branches smaller to make it more uniformed)

A wider view of the East side, so you guys have a better idea.

This is the North side.

I did have to make some adjustments as I was putting this all together. A help is this small sappling next to the tree stump. I can use that to put some extra stuffin in and give me better insulation against the North wind.

The neat "rock barrier" I thought was so cool turned into an obstacle when I was getting into the project. I used the hammer rock and the RC-6 to dig them out. They were not small, most were around 11 inches long, 4-5 inches across and 5 inches or so barried into the ground, but with a little effort, they came right out.

The plus side to this was I found a worm. I also found a grub when I was first clearing out the area, so I had fishing bait if I needed it, that was cool.

A better view.

View of the West side.

Better West side view.

The day before it has stared raining pretty hard and then there was a heavy mist for hours, the night before it had rained a lot too, so as I worked with the leaves I had to take the top "dry" layer for stuffin, did not want any wet stuff.

I don't think wet insulation outside would really matter that much.

I have some really good ideas, I think, on "layering" the outside and also have an idea on making it really "water and windproof".

Will have Phase II up early Friday Morning.

 

[PastorMarko]

Phase II:

This set of pics will give you a better scale, I have also started the first layer on the debris hut.

I used the RC-6 today to cut 4 of the rib limbs smaller, to be more uniformed. These were the ones above the new
door.

I also wanted to add in the weather conditions of yesterday.

The wind was 20-25 mph most of the day and it froze last night.

The frame as in tact when I got up there today, that just proves that the frame is sustainable.

Even if I had the leaves up and they all or most of all blew off with the wind, I could have just redone the layers
and it would still be sustainable.

The leaves in the area are plentiful, but they are less than an inch or so deep, just 1 or two layers because the trees here
are young and small as you see by the pictures, so it takes longer to get all the leaves you need.

Starting the first layer.

I had to change my plans and adapt. I had a survival blanket a friend of mine gave me and I was going to use the full length of it.
I was going to pack a good layer of leaves and then cover that with the blanket. Well, it was not what I thought,
I opened it up and it was too small, plus the center is different, it is see through.

So I decided to make a door out of it instead, which will be perfect!

Longer view.

I am going to fill up to that log on the left, we are looking at least 4 feet of debris.

From this side view, I am going to fill in close to the rock border, 4 feet or so.

Front side, going to from the tree stump to the tree in front of it, roughly 4 feet or so of debris.

Here I am packing in the first layer. I wanted to "fill the ribs", some of the leaves went inside and after they were filled, it just layered on top normally.
I wanted to make sure I had the spaces filled well before I started layering more.

This is the front again, going to pack it to the log on the right, again 4 feet or so.

3+ layers of rock I am using as a barrier from the top of the mountain, just in case of rain. Just got the forecast, calling for 50% chance on Sunday.
Going to spend the night Saturday night, hoping it will rain early in the morning for the water test.

First layer complete. The staff you see is 6 feet long, so you can see a good scale. The debris hut is 8 to 9 feet long. Overall it will have 3+ feet
on all sides and the top if I can get it that high.

Overall all goal is to make a human squirrel's nest.

 

[darkwaters]

Mostly finished my second more permanent shelter. This will be the place where I go during the winter to practice fire building (going to try friction fires soon) this is a stacked debris wall lean to.

been working on it an hour at a time for a few weeks and have finally gotten it 90% done just got to add more leaves on top for water proofing ran out of time today had to pick up my son. To start I reused all the materials from my debris shelter. I started by pounding a line of stakes that were about 3ft long in to the ground in a straight line. Then a row parallel about 20 inches away. Originally I was 12 inches but I spaced it out more for insulation purposes.

then I weaved flexible branches to form a pocket between the walls.

after that leaves were packed in. once the wall was complete I then framed in the roof.

evergreen branches were then added along with a load of leaves. Then I found a few rotten logs and made a full length fire reflector.

although it’s not finished yet...didn’t pass the bucket test....I'm submitting it. will keep up to date as it is a permanent get away. More pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehawk_darkwaters/

 

[jnanson]

RP# 414 Emergency Shelter. I can’t post the pictures I took but here is the radio version of my experience. I will try to figure out the posting of pictures. First of all thanks for the push to get off my butt and get some experience of trying to build a shelter. This does take much longer than one would expect so don’t wait until it’s almost dark to stop to make your shelter. I started with a large log maybe 30” dia. On the uphill side I started by putting down a smaller log parallel to the big one and laying down the bedding. To make the bedding I laid down some 1” sticks first incase the ground got wet, then laid down a generous amount of pine needles and oak leaves, tested ok. I continued to stack limbs at cross and parallel to the big log and on top of the smaller log. Then pile on the pieces of bark and oak leaves and pine needles. I tested the fit and found out it was too small so I lifted up the smaller log one end at a time until I could get in. Piled more debris on the sides and top. About 2.5 hours went by and I thought it was close enough to test later. It didn’t rain but I got a nice hale storm with snow and at 3:30 AM it was 24*. I didn’t get wet and was fairly warm. I used my hunting coat as a door. I stayed in the shelter until nature called me out at 3:30 then went to my hammock for the rest of the night. I think the shelter was warmer but not as comfortable. Thanks again this was a bunch of fun and I learned quite a bit from it. I also started the camp fire with a fire steel for the first time also not the easiest thing to do the first time. Practice= Experience Experience=Skill Skill=Survival Survival= Seeing for family and friends again.http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/RavenRiderHD/CIMG1039.jpg http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/RavenRiderHD/CIMG1035.jpghttp://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/RavenRiderHD/th_CIMG1023.jpg

 

[jnanson]

RP#414 Urban Survival Tip Another way to stay warm if you find yourself in a city with no money no shelter no one to call. Find a clothing bin most big shopping centers have one or more. Climb in and snuggle down into the dropped off clothes an have a good nights sleep. I did this back in the early 70's when I was dropped off while hitching. All went well until about 6:00AM when a lady dropped off some pots and pans. Scared me and really scared the lady doing a good deed! Thanks

 

[friej]

Can I use my tent?

LOL! I like it.

Yeah but you have to show us how you've put your tent together with your RAT knife.

 

[ben2002gsxr]

Hey this is my first post on the RAT forum I gota say thanks for this contest. Ive been on the phone with a few friends all day, we all have ideas on debris shelters and are getting togeather this weekend. We are all going to make our own and see whos is the warmist and over all best design. Oh and i live in central wisconsin, so its sopose to be 22 degrees this weekend and snowing, and yes we plan to stay in our shelters for the night. We are all so excited we cant wait! Idk if ill be able to post pics or not, but either way it doesnt matter, winning the knife would be awesome but not why i wana do this. Spending the time with my best buds making our own shelters and learning a new craft is all the prize i need. So thanks for the motivation to get out there and do it! After all i would take a bad day in the woods over a good day at work any time!

 

[ben2002gsxr]

Hey guys i just got back from making and staying in my debris shelter this weekend, and wow what a learning expierence! I havent upgraded my membership on here so i cant post pics yet, but does anybody know if there is any one i can email these pics and info to enter in the contest? I tried emailing contest@ratcutlery, but yahoo says it cant send there..... Any body know a diffrent way to submit my entry. I know i should upgrade my membership on here, maybe next paycheck im a little short rite now... Any way, any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[Joe Fowler]

I'm only a "Registered User" and I can post picks.

Above the box you type text is a symbol that looks like a picture of two peaks and the sun. You click that, then it prompts you to input the url of where the photo is online. If you use a free photo uploading site like "photobucket" you just need to right click on your photo, and hit "view image".

You just want everything in the address bar up to ".jpg"

Highlight everything up to (and including) ".jpg" and paste it in the prompted space.

That's it! Repeat for multiple pics.