good post on another board with pics of shelter he built using cheapo poncho, mylar blanket and duct tape.

He does a nice job.

Link to post using poncho/blanket for shelter

Experimenting beforehand is always good. I wish I could post some conclusions he didn't . Does anyone notice anything usefull in his photos? Maybe all that leaf litter could be piled up into a groundlayer of insulation, space blanket laid on top, additional leaf litter and finally the orange ponchos for visibility and increased weatherproofing. An emergency shelter by nature isn't going to be as durable as a notched and chinked log cabin. I don't see many log cabins moving and perhaps our shelter shouldn't either. This brings us to the rule of staying put when you realise theres a glich in your itinery.

Learned a lesson as a young boy. We had to rake up the pine straw form the yard into little piles. Didn't have time to get them up before dark.

Went out to catch the bus to school the next morning and there on top of one of the piles of pine straw was our old coon hound asleep.

Even dogs like to get up off the ground when they have a chance.

This is my favorite survival shelter. Each of my boys have one int their PSK/CamelBack. I put a strip of duct tape with a metal washer on the bottom of the bag and three on the open end. I stake the closed end and the two open end tabs. The one tab on top has a taught line knot pre-tied. If a tree or bush is handy I can tie it open with the end of the cord. If not I can push two sticks through the tight line knot and have crossed sticks to hold the bag open.

The bag is large enough to sleep in stretched out. It will protect you from the wet ground and the wind. It will protect from rain better than a tube tent. You can tape a $0.99 poncho to the opening to protect from rain if needed.

Give it a try!

Add a couple trash bags to fill with leaves or pine needles and you have a nice blanket to keep you warm. Use clear trash bags and you can use them for transpiration to get some water from trees.

The excellent article on various tarp assemblies on our Homepage omittted my personal favourite WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS. I call this my origami rock 3 second deployment. Take a piece of paper and crumple it up. Imagine being inside, more or less covered if nothing else. BTDT.

Craig...
Is your last name Coghlan by any chance? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Coghlan has a combination of useful items and complete junk! The useful things I can think of are: 2”x3” glass signal mirror, Emergency Tinder, Emergency Bag, Steel Tent Stakes, Large Sierra Cup and a few other items. Most of the rest of the items seem poorly made and more of a liability than an asset. Our local Sportsman’s Warehouse has a wall that has almost every item marketed by Coghlan. I like to try new items that may be of use in a PSK.

I do see one slight problem with gis set up. If you use an emergency space blanket as a ground cloth it is going to shred in no time flat. If you wrap yourself in one during an emergency it would only be good for a single night.