Over next few weeks I'm planning a hikking trip. I want to make a free standing shelter without taking advantages of anything that mother nature has to give me. I think that building it would be fun but I have no idea how to test it. I mean preferably I would love to sleep in it overnight but this is not possible. I know that I will pass by this shelter many times in the future since I'm planning on building it few clicks from my fav hiking route so I will see how it holds up. Any ideas on how to test it in a hurry? I'm sorry but bunch of 5 yos are not available for the job at the moment.

Hard to test the insulating side of things without a warm body in it. But you can test how well it keeps out the elements. Cover the floor with tissue paper or some similar material that'll degrade in an obvious way if it gets wet, then come back after the next big rainstorm.