Shelter is the first fight you win in the woods, and this episode walks you through clothing, site selection, and five proven shelter builds using both natural material and a tarp. Each build is shown step by step so you can recreate it in the field without guesswork.
In this Fundamental Friday lesson we break down shelter from the inside out. Chris starts with clothing as your first layer of protection and how fabrics behave in heat, cold, and wet conditions. From there we move into shelter site selection using U.S. Army standards: finding level ground, spotting widow makers, judging water levels, avoiding rockslide or avalanche zones, and positioning yourself near resources without exposing yourself to predators or biting insects.
Next we move into the hands-on builds.
Lean To
Attach the tarp to the ridgeline using two prusik loops and toggles. Stake the back corners tight to the ground to form a sloped wall. Angle the wall into or away from the wind depending on the weather. Simple, fast, and sheds rain well when tightened correctly.
A Frame
Lay the tarp lengthwise over the ridgeline so both sides hang evenly. Attach the center tie-out on each side with prusik loops and toggles. Stake down all four corners to create a triangular shelter with better wind and rain protection than a lean to.
Diamond Fly
Turn the tarp diagonally and drape one corner over the ridgeline. Fasten that corner using a prusik and toggle. Pull the opposite two wings down and stake them to the ground. This creates a tight diamond shape that works well over hammocks or on the ground, giving more coverage and airflow.
Adirondack
Lay one corner of the tarp over the ridgeline and attach it with a prusik and toggle. Go behind the tarp and stake out the tie outs directly opposite the toggle points to form the back wall. Fold the far corner inward for a small groundsheet. Stake the front corners to create angled side walls. Flip the top panel over the front and tie it off to a tree to add headroom. This setup reflects heat from a fire straight into the shelter and is excellent for cold weather.
Plow Point
No ridgeline needed. Take one corner of the tarp and tie it up to a tree about seven feet high. Stretch the opposite corner out behind you and stake it tight. Stake the remaining two corners to the ground to form a low sweeping triangle that sheds wind and water and sets up in under a minute. Great for fast shelter or sudden weather.
Welcome back to the Primitive
Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.
Today is Fundamental Fridays and we use
this time to go over
fundamental skills that you
can use to make your primitive camping
trips better, more
fun, and more interesting.
So hang tight, pull up a
chair, and let's get to it.
According to the dictionary, shelter is
defined as a place of
giving temporary protection
from bad weather or danger.
When you're in a survival situation,
cover from the
elements is a high priority.
Start looking for
shelter as soon as possible.
We're going to go over shelter site
selection a little bit
later on this video, but right
now let's discuss clothing.
Your clothing is considered
your first layer of shelter.
Depending on your environment, your
clothing protects you from
sun, insects, wind, rain.
I'm not going to go into the seasonal
clothing aspect, but
still at a minimum you should
dress for the occasion of the environment
that you're going to
participate in outdoor
activities.
Wearing long pants and a lightweight long
sleeve shirt whenever
you venture into the
woods is highly recommended.
A few of the main reasons is that it
gives you protection
from the insects, the sun,
and wind.
You want to wear relatively loose fitting
long sleeve clothing, which allows you to
stay cooler in hotter environments and
warmer in cooler environments.
In hotter environments, removing your
clothing will cause you to
lose sweat and require more
sweat to cool you off, possibly
contributing to dehydration.
So when it comes to
survival, it's okay to be stinky.
Now let's discuss the pros and cons of
different clothing materials.
Cotton clothing is incredible in warm
weather environments.
One characteristic of cotton is that it
soaks up any moisture.
I've read in a couple of survival blogs
where wet cotton
t-shirts do not protect to get
sunburned.
And by living in Alaska for four years, I
found out first hand
that once cotton gets
wet, it loses all of
its insulated properties.
Damp cotton clothing must be dried out in
colder environments
because left on in the
cold, cotton can lead to hypothermia.
And yes, it is still possible to catch
hypothermia in the summer,
although rare, it can still
happen.
Cotton is excellent in warm weather
environments and not
the best in cold climates.
But believe it or not,
wool is ideal for either.
Wool is highly breathable, it wicks
moisture away from your
body, and it keeps you dry.
It's naturally antibacterial and helps
keep you from getting stinky.
My favorite thing about wool is that it
keeps you warm even when it's wet.
Wool retains its insulated properties
when completely soaked.
As an added bonus, wool is anti-ricle, so
you always look your
best even in a survival
situation.
The only downfall to wool is that it's
heavy, and when it's
wet, it's very cumbersome.
Now there are many types of other
synthetic materials out
there that have their own pros
and cons, but for the sake of time, we're
just going to cover
these natural materials
from now.
Now that we know the definition of
shelter and we have taken
a look at clothing as our
first layer of shelter, let's dive into
shelter site selection.
According to the U.S. Army Survival
Handbook, when considering
shelter site selection, two
prerequisites must be met.
Number one, it must contain the materials
you need to make the
type of shelter you need.
Number two, it must be large enough and
level enough for you
to lie down comfortably.
Now on the site that you selected, you
must also consider if
it's suitable for signaling.
Does it provide
protection for wild animals?
Are there any dead trees that could fall?
And is it free from insects, reptiles,
and poisonous plants?
You must also remember the problems that
could arise in your
environment, such as avoiding
flash flood areas in the foothills.
Avoid avalanche and rock slide areas in
the mountainous
terrain, and avoid sites near
bodies of water that are
below the high water mark.
Other aspects of site selection that you
want to consider are
your proximity to drinking
water and your availability of firewood.
You don't want to walk a mile just to
collect some water to
walk a mile back to bowling.
The same goes with collecting firewood.
Dragging firewood back to camp could be
tiring, and you don't want
to use up all your calories
collecting firewood.
One crucial and often overlooked aspect
of site selection that
I just mentioned is the
presence of dead trees,
better known as widowmakers.
Most people look around the camp to make
sure they don't have one
near them, but they don't
think to look 50 or 60 feet away that
could fall on them as well.
When the wind picks up, the dead tree can
potentially be blown
over, falling into your
shelter, killing or injuring you.
Pay attention to dead standing trees in
relation to your site.
Now you could take this dead tree, you
could push it over or knock it down.
You could cut it down, you can add it to
your firewood collection.
Remember, safety is paramount when
selecting your site.
Make sure there are no dead
trees close to your shelter.
Your proximity to water will contribute
to increasing
encounters with animals and those
notorious little vampires
that everybody knows, mosquitoes.
Being closer to water will allow you to
fish, set snares, catch
frogs, snakes, and just
overall increase your ability to collect
food during a survival situation.
And also keep in mind that the closer to
water also brings predators.
Mosquitoes and biting insects can be a
considerable nuisance.
The best way to control
them is with a very smoky fire.
Burning certain weeds and trees helps
control insects, for
example dog fennel and American
beauty berry, which they both grow
throughout the North
American continent, helps control
insects.
You can rub these weeds onto your skin or
your clothing, or you
can lay dog fennel down
in the coals of a fire to give off a
smoke that really helps.
Burning pine and other resinous trees can
help control insects as well.
When selecting the site for your shelter,
you want to make sure that you're not in
an area where flash floods will make you
run for higher ground in
the middle of the night.
You don't want to select a location where
water can flood your shelter.
When you choose a site near the water,
you want to be able to
see a high water mark on
the trees.
This mark is from previous flooding, so
try to select a site
above this high water mark.
If at all possible, in mountainous
regions you do not want
to choose a shelter near an
area prone to avalanches during the
wintertime and areas that could
potentially produce rock
slides.
Mountainous areas are very prone to
falling rocks, so try to be
very careful when selecting
a shelter location
near a mountainous area.
Shelter is defined as a place of giving
temporary protection
from bad weather or danger.
Shelter can be all natural or manmade.
For natural shelters, rock formations,
caves, and holla trees
come to mind, but in south
Mississippi you don't just crawl up
inside a holla log,
especially during the spring
or summer months.
And there's really not a lot of caves, so
making a shelter out of
natural material would
help provide some
protection from the elements.
Making shelter from natural material
really isn't that difficult.
All we need is a sapling and a bunch of
old fallen limbs and leaves.
A survival leaf shelter, whether it's a
lean-to or debris hut,
an A-frame or an opposing
lean-to helps us stay dry in the rain.
It gives us relief from the wind and
creates a micro-environment
that coupled with the fire
can keep you warm
even on very cold nights.
(water splashing)
Now this shelter will
give you some protection
from the wind for sure, and some
protection from the rain.
But the thicker you have the
leaves and the pine needles
and all that piled up
on the backside of this,
the more rain protection you will get.
Now all you have to do is
collect you some more leaves
for your bedding, put it down,
and you have your nice
little comfortable bed.
If you wanted to turn this into an
A-frame style shelter,
just repeat the steps
on the opposite side.
An A-frame or opposing
lean-to offers more protection
and warmth and is better
for colder environments.
Let's discuss one of
the most convenient items
to use for your shelters, the tarp.
Tarp's can be used for so many things,
from shelter to making a hammock,
to collecting and
storing your drinking water.
I use this lightweight packable tarp
practically every time I
venture into the woods.
Tarp's these days are very lightweight,
highly waterproof,
and extremely versatile.
Tarp's were first used in sailing.
Canvas sheets were coated with tar
to cover cargo on oversea voyages
and used to protect cargo
from seawater and the elements.
Advancements were made with oil cloth,
making the tarp extremely
lightweight and waterproof.
Presently, lightweight waterproof tarp's
can be found from a few hundred dollars
all the way down to a few dollars
at your local department store.
The price is really
dependent on the material.
Tarp's come at all
kinds of shapes and sizes,
but the one I find
myself using most often
is the DD 3x3.
Now, the 3x3 is three
meters by three meters,
which roughly equates to
nine feet by nine feet,
or for those that want to be exact,
it's 9.84 feet by 9.84 feet.
What I love about this tarp system
is that it has 19 attachment points
for guidelines and
stake points or tie-outs.
In order to use a tarp as a shelter,
you're gonna need some sort of cordage.
Cordage is just a fancy word for rope.
Most bushcrafters or
survivalists use paracord
or tar and twisted bank line.
I personally use the number 36 bank line
because it's very strong
with a breaking strength
of 320 pounds, and you
get more bang for your buck,
or you get your money's worth.
It could be used for practically anything
from lashing, fishing,
shelter building, bow drill.
In order to make a shelter with a tarp,
you need to know a few knots so we can
make our ridge line.
A ridge line is the
highest point of your shelter.
Think of a house.
The top of your roof is called the ridge.
The ridge is where all the other rafters
tie into to create your roof.
We will use this ridge
line for four out of the five
shelters I'm going to demonstrate.
Before we begin making our ridge line,
we're gonna need a few
sticks roughly three inches long
to make what's called a toggle.
A toggle is basically
used as an attachment point.
I've made these out of some
sticks I found on the ground
and just rounded the ends and cut them
roughly three inches.
As you can see,
they're roughly the diameter
of my little finger.
Now going back to the ridge line,
I use the overhand loop
knot on one end of my cordage.
An overhand loop knot is
simply an overhand knot
tied in a bite.
It is among the simplest of loops.
Simply fold your line
over on one side like this
and then make an overhand knot.
This is called an overhand loop knot.
Some people would say use a bowline knot,
but it doesn't matter.
Just use whatever you
are more comfortable with
and each one of them will get it done.
All right, so now what you want to do
is you want to take your loop end
and you want to run it around the tree.
This is called the
running end, the standing end,
the working end, and you
want to take and stick this
through this loop just like this
and insert your toggle just like that.
Now you're able to
sense this down on that tree
and it is not going to go
anywhere, just like that.
So this end is secure.
Now we're going to run this end
all the way to the next tree.
Now this end of your ridge line is
secured to the tree.
It's not going to go anywhere
until you remove that toggle.
Now run your bank line all
the way to the other tree
and let's make a trucker's hitch.
This knot, the trucker hitch,
will allow you to
tighten your ridge line,
and is also used to secure cargo
to the roof racks of your
vehicles and cargo trailers.
It's very handy when
you need to pull tension
on your string or your rope.
First you want to loop
your string around your tree,
just like this.
Then you want to come
out about 12 to 16 inches
and then you're going to loop
it around your hand like so.
Then you're going to reach back through
and grab that string and
pull up just like that.
What you've created is a loop.
Now we're going to take
the end of your string
and run it through this loop.
And then that will
allow us to put tension
on this ridge line and tighten it up.
Now this is going to make this string,
the ridge line, tighter.
Now all you have to do
is just come over here
and you can wrap this
around the whole string.
One, two.
Now on your next turnaround,
you just feed this
back through this loop.
And there you go.
Tighten it off just like that.
Now you left a little
loop here with a little tag.
You just pulled this and your whole
string could come undone.
So let's tighten that back up.
Now I like to set my ridge
line about five feet high.
For me, that's about shoulder height.
That's it.
We've successfully made a ridge line.
This ridge line can be used
for numerous shelter configurations.
Now we need to cut two
short pieces of bank line
and we're going to
make loops out of them.
And those loops are going to
become our attachment points
for our tarp.
Simply take your piece of string
and make an overhand loop knot.
And now you have a loop.
On the ridge line,
hold your loop up against
the back side like this.
Loop it around two times.
One, two.
Then pull it tight.
And it should make what
is called a prusik knot.
The prusik knot allows you to adjust
where you want the knot to be.
But once you put tension on the knot,
it locks into place and will not move.
Let's put another one on.
I already put both of these on here.
Now let's get ready to
start making our shelter.
You need tent stakes also.
And depending on the country, you call
them pegs or stakes.
You can make them out of
sticks at your campsite
or depending on your situation,
you could carry some
metal store-bought ones.
For this video,
I'm using the ones that
are metal store-bought.
Now I'm going to demonstrate
how to make five
different shelters with your tarp,
which are relatively easy to make
and provide adequate
protection from the elements.
The first four require the ridge line,
which we have just made.
The last one does not.
The first shelter we're going to make
is the most simplistic and
easiest one to make, the lean-to.
It provides decent shelter
from the rain and provides shade.
You will set this shelter up
depending on which
way the wind is blowing
to block the wind.
Start by attaching one
corner of your ridge line
by inserting the prusik
loop through the tie-out point
and insert your toggle.
Then do the same on the other side.
Now pull your prusik
loop until it is tight.
Go to the back end of your shelter
and pull the corner
tight and stake it down.
Do this again on the other
side or the other corner.
And now you have
created a lean-to shelter.
The next shelter is
called an A-frame shelter.
You want to lay the tarp lengthways
across the ridge line
directly in the center of the tarp.
Insert the prusik loop and the toggles
just like you did before on
both sides, pulling very tight.
Now stake down the four
corners of the tarp to the ground
and you have a shelter
that is more protected
from the wind than a simple lean-to.
And it's more protected
from the rain or snow.
The next shelter is very
similar to the A-frame,
but it's called the Diamond Fly.
The A-frame and the
Diamond Fly are both used
to cover hammocks, but work
just as well on the ground.
First, lay the tarp corner to
corner over your ridge line.
Use the prusik loop and the toggle
just like the two shelters
before and make it tight.
Next, take the two wings and
stake them down to the ground.
This will make a diamond shape and allows
for a little more
coverage than the A-frame.
That Arandate shelter is traditionally
a three-sided long structure,
but you can manipulate a tarp
to form this style shelter, which will
offer you protection
from the elements from three sides.
And it's great for winter
camping in front of a fire.
The first step is to lay
one corner of your tarp
over the ridge line.
Now attach a toggle to your tarp by
inserting the prusik loop
through the top tie-out point.
Next, go around to the back of the tarp
and stake out the tie-out points
that are directly
opposite of the toggles.
Now tuck the far corner of the tarp in,
and this will give you
sort of a small ground sheet.
Then stake down the two
front corner tie-out points,
which will make the
walls for your shelter.
Flip the top over, and then attach a
string to the guy line
in the middle of the top of the tarp.
Tie this to a tree, and
this will add dimension
and give you room inside your shelter.
Now this type of shelter
reflects heat towards your body.
If you have a fire in front of you,
it is perfect for winter camping in
colder environments.
Now we're gonna make a ply point shelter.
The ply point is extremely easy to make,
and it can be set up very quickly.
This shelter only
requires one piece of cordage
to set it up.
I've even set this shelter
up without any cordage at all.
You do not need a ridge
line for this shelter.
You will also need a
minimum of three tent stakes
to secure the tarp to the ground.
In the diamond fashion,
take one corner of your tarp
and secure it to a tree over your head.
I like to go about seven feet high or so.
Using your stakes,
pull the father's end out
as tight as you can get it.
Now come to the front of
either side and pull it tight
and stake it down and
repeat with the last corner.
What you have created is an easy, fast,
and very effective shelter that resembles
an old plow or a diamond.
Now that we know what
shelter is, how to select our site,
and how to make our
shelter in various different
configurations and even
with natural materials,
I hope you enjoyed this video.
I'll see you next time.
God bless you.
(upbeat music)