Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

One of the best set-ups I ever saw for wild camping was one of the guys on my bushcraft course who had a hammock, with a fly sheet above, and a sleeping bag. Everything fitted into one 65 l backpack - everything he had for the week, not just the sleep system.

The advantages were many;

1. We were camping on a slope in a forest. It was very hard to find a patch of level-ish ground even for my mini backpacking tent (Banshee 200). Hammockman was about 4-ft above the forest floor, so the levelness of the ground wasn't an issue, nor were the rocks and roots poking though every foot or so of the forest duff.

2. It rained heavily for all 7 days ans nights and there were several gales which took down trees. I was woken circa 6 am by one of my fellow lunatics who had the nearest tent to mine (another mini backpacking one) as the levelish bit of slope we'd camped on had filled up with water. His tent had leaked and got his bedding wet. My tent was now sitting in a puddle about 2 inches deep but was holding the water out. I waited until first light (it was autumn) and then moved it.

3. The rain-fly separately pitched above the hammock was large enough that he could stand beside the hammock and still be in the dry, which made dressing much easier than squirming around in small tents. Plus the fly was camoflaged and kinda cool...........:rotfl:

I've never tried to sleep in a hammock, but I have to say that anyone thinking of camping in woodland should give this kind of rig serious consideration.

Frugalsod

The reasons of not needing level ground or even clear ground is one of the reasons that a hammock is so useful. Also if you are older a hammock is actually a lot easier to get in and out of so no need to crawl into a tent. You can also use it as a seat as well, so one less item to carry if you prefer. You will need some insulation under the hammock either a sleeping pad or under quilt and that should eliminate cold butt syndrome. Then you can save weight by just using a top quilt rather than a sleeping bag and still be warm. If you do get hot you can just stick a limb out from under the top quilt and let the breeze cool it off. There are other advantages in that if you use snake skins double ended stuff sacks or similar you can pack a hammock and tarp in under a couple of minutes and it is just as quick and easy to set up. With practise you can easily get it set up in close to a minute. Hard to do that with a tent unless it is a pop up one. Best advantage is that you can camp anywhere and even heavy down pours will barely affect you. In addition you can set up a small fire in a stove under the tarp and cook and stay dry. If you are organised you can keep everything in a 40 L back pack weighing less than 25 lbs which apart from food could last you four or five days at least. Also being lighter it makes it easier to get around with especially if you have to climb fences etc.

[Deleted User]

When I say 'build' a shelter, I mean from what you find around you not using tarps or bivvy bags. When I did the survival course we just used the wood, branches,leaves,moss and mud we had in the area of woodland we were in. It was surprisingly satisfying to do and although one of the group had got a tarpaulin which we did end up using on the ground the shelter we made was very effective building a frame of poles covered by a network of smaller branches covered with leafy branch ends to a depth of 6" the covered with moss and soft muddy earth by the handful and then thatched with as much leaf/branch material as we could locate. We were snug, sheltered and watertight and with a trench fire in front pf the entrance were warm as toast. Had we not had sleeping bags with us the advice is to fill the entire inside space with as much fallen leaf matter as you can, like a squirrels dray and then burrow into it feet first until you are entirely covered except for your face and that should enable you to retain your body heat and stay warm.

Frugalsod

Building a shelter from what is around you does depend on where you are and what materials are about. I live in a part of the country with few trees and if you are in an urban area you make not have much that you can use or have a lot of competition for any materials. While I agree it is a valid skill it might actually teach you a lot about shelter placement which will reduce problems from wind and rain. It is a last resort for most situations.

GreyQueen

Another thing to remember about shelter-building as opposed to using a shelter which is wholly or partially pre-maunfactured, is that you burn energy and take time to build a shelter from scratch. Both of these will probably be in short supply in a crisis.

One thing which astonished me about living in the woods in a rainy English September was the sheer amount of calories we were burning. We weren't foraging, we were being catered-for and were frankly eating like pigs inc the nightly cocoa-and-cake and chocolate supplies. We were not hiking nor doing a lot of heavy work. Yet we were all visibly losing weight in just one week.

We were not in bitterly cold weather, we were warmly-dressed, no one was stressing us in fear of our lives, and we were extremely well-fed, yet just being out of doors all day was seeing us burn through a lot more calories than we were consuming, so that we were visibly cannibalising our own fat supplies, to the point where others could notice it.

It wasn't something I would have expected. One of the others had done courses in Canada, up in the Artic. They ate a lot, as in 6,000 kcal + per day and above and still lost a lot of weight. Something to bear in mind, should you ever find yourself in hard times and harsh places, that you will be using a lot more energy to stay alive than you are accustomed to doing, and the food needs (or famine risk) will increase proportionately.

In terms of camping, I can recall from riding pillion on a motorbike as a child, how cold it was crossing open heathland and how within seconds of passing into woodland, the air struck much warmer. Having grown up surrounded by woodland, I'm very familiar with making dens etc and have to say that you could do far worse than tuck yourself up in a christmas-tree high plantation of firs. Undergrowth retains warmth, unlike heaths, commons and grasslands, which lose it quickly. And you are sheltered from the wind. Small sappy trees or bushes are going to be safer than mature trees in event of a storm; they don't call the beeches widowmakers for nothing. And stay away from Lebanese cedars in any weather as they can drop limbs weighing several tonnes at any time.

I was once camping on August Bank Holiday in open parkland and we were perished; there was a bad frost, day soon heated up and went over 70 F by midday but the night before was bitter out in the open.

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

He is just letting Bob work it out for himself.

FYI. Buggalugs is a SHE.

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

One thing re the preppersphere is that so much is US centric so there is an excessive emphasis on guns, knives and bugging out.

I'm not sure you can have an excessive emphasis on knives.

Everyone should own one, and know how to use and care for it.

Hoipolloi

The security light at the back of the house has been dead for a long time. I can't change the bulb as it is inaccessible. I am thinking of buying a led sensor type lamp to put near the back door for when the menagerie get let out in the dark to do their business.

Has anyone any recommendations. I have read lots of theses posts but can't possibly read everyone single post through and a search has proved fruitless. Thanks in advance.

Frugalsod

Hoipolloi wrote: »

The security light at the back of the house has been dead for a long time. I can't change the bulb as it is inaccessible. I am thinking of buying a led sensor type lamp to put near the back door for when the menagerie get let out in the dark to do their business.

Has anyone any recommendations. I have read lots of theses posts but can't possibly read everyone single post through and a search has proved fruitless. Thanks in advance.

You can get motion sensor LED light bulbs which might do the job.

moneyistooshorttomention

I have a motion-sensitive LED backdoor light (wouldn't know the make), but you do have to bear in mind the range whatever-light-you-choose will have. Mine certainly only has a very limited range it either "sees" over or lights up once it has "seen" someone is there.

EDIT; Just checked and I would say its "lighting radius" is only about 12' wide (ie about 6' to each side of it). The distance forward of the light that it lights up is probably about the same.