I've seen a few ideas of long-term survival shelters in some books, such as log cabins etc, but do y'all know or have built other types of long-term survival shelters?

I can see by your name you'd be interested in that sort of thing. But this board is more about short-term survival situations.

RobinsonCrusoe:

Have a good lawyer write you a really good bulletproof pre-nuptial agreement for a solid long term survival shelter. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I'm not interested in long-term survival itself, just being prepared in case of long-term survival situation, which hopefully will never happen, but I want to be prepared just in case.

Always,always look to the native people of a given area and what they used before the 'advantages' of refined flour, fortified and presliced bread, 40 hour + work weeks and Government housing projects. Homeless people often create ingenious solutions with the 'junk' we threw away along with them. Anything over 72 hours IS longterm survival. It's a given that creating a secure living area greatly increases a person's survival odds and mental well being. I'll crawl into my sleeping bag/tarp combo for 3 days, no problem. day 4 I start building a celtic hillfort with my swiss army knife.

What kind of scenario do you have in mind?

When I lived in Las Vegas, NV, many of the homeless people lived in vancant lots just outside residential & business areas in holes in the ground, covered by a piece of plywood or a tarp. Not great when there's a gullywasher, but the rest of the time it worked. And, unless they use a blue tarp, they're mostly invisible until you're nearly right on top of them.

Sue

My scenario would be one where you've been lost, and surviving in the woods for more than two weeks. You haven't given up hope of a rescue yet, but you begin to realize that you'll be here for a while. You"ve also experienced some rough weather conditions,[strong winds, coldness, extreme heat, or heavy rain] and you know that your lean-to tree shelter, or your tarp shelter isn't going to hold out to anymore bad weather. You need a more long-term shelter to protect you against the elements until a you're are found. What type of shelter are you going to build?

RB:

There is a website somewhere that shows plans for a very expedient slightly domed cover that can be made from any tarp or poncho and some fiberglas or aluminum tent poles. Very practical and easy to construct with an insulating ground cover the only thing necessary to supplement it. It is portable, wind resistant because of its design, and quick to assemble and disassemble.

Sorry I do not have the link to it.

Bountyhunter

Is this web page
what you are looking for ??

Again, look to traditional native shelters and for that matter mimic the animals. A well constructed shelter is suprisingly robust if built well with proper angles to shed wind,rain etc. Julia Butterfly survived a massive El Nino storm, harrassing timber company helicopter that deliberately hovered within feet of her and 738 days of occupation. Her shelter consisted of two 6'x 4' platforms with cheap blue tarps on a scrap wood frame secured on a main crossbrace with climbing rope and nails!

Frenchy:

Thanks, that's the one!

Bountyhunter

Go with proven technology -- the teepee.

Simple to build, proven design, portable, parts can be imporvised...

tro

Saw a documentary with Julia Roberts about the Mongol nomads in Siberia. They had a portable round hide covered shelter that was put together with no fasteners except for the cord that wraped the skins around the final structure.

I don't know if instructions for something like that is on the web, but it looked very solid and comfortable.

Bountyhunter

A yurt? Round with vertical sides & a pointed roof?

There is at least one company here (Pacific Yurts) that makes them, and some people who have used them "temporarily" say they're in no hurry to leave them, as they're very comfortable. Some of the state parks have them & rent them out.

But I think they're a bit too complicated as an emergency shelter. The teepee is simpler.

Sue

It's a Yurt, Large center pole, surrounding expanding wooden frame and heavy felt. They are available @ $5,000

Chris:

Seems to me you could acquire a whole lot of roughly tanned cowhides and poles by yourself for less than $5,000.00 and it wouldn't "Yurt" your finances. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Susan:

The ones in the documentary were not that pointed, more dome shaped.

I have been to a website that showed the setting up of a tee pee. Based on this threads stated "Long Term Survival Shelter Ideas", I like the design of the Yurt primarily because of the lower roof line which would tend to use heat more efficiently.

Bountyhunter

Reminds me of an old joke.

A guy went in to see a psychiatrist. He explained that he had these recurring dreams, one night he would dream that he was a Tepee, and the next night a Yurt. He asked the doctor what the problem was.

In a thick german accent, he said "I know vat der problem ist. You're two tents. Try to relax."

Oh, the yurts seem much more comfortable, and the lower ceiling would make it easier to heat. The problem is that they're time-consuming to build, if you have to include collecting the materials. The sides are many pieces of wood, criss-crossed (see central photo here: http://pacificyurts.com/what/default.aspx ), and the roof supports might be hard to get into position without help. And I believe the roof supports are held together at the top with a cable. You'd really have to plan ahead.

That said, I would still love to have one!

Sue

Goatrider:

Sounds like a similar joke about a Polish athlete.

An American at one of the Olympic games was walking thru the Olympic village when he saw a man walking toward him with a long fiberglass pole.

As they were about to pass each other on the street, the American greeted the man and said, "Hi, are you a pole vaulter"?

The man appeared stunned and said, "Yes I am, but how did you know my name was Walter"?

It only "yurts" when I laugh.

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Susan:

The ones in the documentary were much more basic and they disassembled them everytime they moved to a different location.

Bountyhunter

Here's a link to those shelters in the Julia Roberts show:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/mongolia/move.html

Alwayslost:

Thanks for the link!

There was another documentary I saw about some guy that lived with some Eskimoes for a while. Their shelter was a hide tent within a hide tent which surprised him with the warmth (relative to the outside temperature.) it offered.

Bountyhunter

I've seen a documentary about the Native Reindeer Herders in the Coldest, Northeastern Siberia. They too had a sort of Reindeer Hide, "Shelter within a Shelter". There may even have been a Third Shelter within this Setup.

We may be referring to the same Documentary, -or we may have seen Different ones. Still, these Shelters within Shelters Idea, -is a very good one. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]bountyhunter[/email]

They're also commonly known as "Ger"s.

Let's all also remember, -that the Saharan Nomads do much the same. A Lot can be so Learned from them, as well.[color:"black"] [/color] [email]Chris Kavanaugh[/email]

In a documentary that I've also seen on Mongolian Yurts, -(Don't know if it was the Julia Roberts one or not), -They used a little boy of their Community, -as a Living Paperweight. They put him up there on it's Roof, as they were constructing it, to Hold it Down against Gusts of Wind, etc. The Boy so Darted about. My main point here is, -that in this and other ways, (At least for a Yurt / Ger over a certain size), -Setting Up a Yurt is typically more than a One Person Job, -a Factor to consider. Perhaps most Yurts can still be Set Up by one person. But it may make for a Longer, Less Efficient Setup. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Susan[/email]

What materials and tools are available? If possible, I'd go below ground, cause it's fast, safe from fires and enemies, easy to do, cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Not very feasilble in soft sand, swamp, on rocks, etc tho.

I tend to agree, provided that you are sure that there is no chance of being flooded out of your home. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Something like this perhaps? This is one heck of an underground "shelter" this guy built. Scroll through each of the pages (7 total I think) and look at the entire process from start to finish.

I'd start with a poncho shelter,then upgrade to a debris shelter using the poncho as a first layer over the skeleton.Add a debris vestibule large enough to work in,during bad weather! Carrying as much plastic sheeting garbag bags and poncho's as you can .

Yep, my first instinct is to go to ground as well. Back home, it is not uncommon to find a blown over fir tree stump with an associated pit hole at the base. We used to use these to build "forts" out of when I was a kid. In temperate climates, with adequate soil drainage, I don't think this would be much of a problem. I've also seen where pit camps were made in deserts along with a tarp as a means to get out of the heat. They are obviously shallow, but better than nothing.

I was thinking for a moment that the Mongolian structure was something like a wigwam. Wigwams are not hard to do.

My buddy and I put his teepee up in less than an hour. It has a 10' radius. when you tie down the center on pegs and dress the edge with a ground skirt, they are pretty darned comfortable. Of course they lend themselves to having a nice little fire inside. When the wind really came up at the camp, all those staked out nylon camp tents were getting beat to heck, but that teepee didn't budge. It was pretty darned nice, that is until some bozo decided to try and build a fire upwind from us, and filled it with smoke!!!!

He'd better let the new homeowners know about the child death-trap in his back yard.