I bet you know those beach shelters that look like half tents and are used ......on the beach <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Would they make a good shelter for survival? They are wind/waterproof, have enough space to sleep in(1 person),easy to set up and you can make a fire in front of it, without coming out of the shelter.
I'm looking for some kind of ready-made shelter (don't want to improvise an lean-to shelter every time <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> ) but I can't carry a full-sized tent because of weight,bulk and costs-issues, so would this work?

Not a bad idea. The ones I found range in weight and carry size, but a more extensive search might find one that could be added to a BOB.

how do you make a lean-to? If you have a tarp, it shouldn't be very hard. Just tie a ridgeline between two trees and hang the tarp and stake one end down. Usually much easier and quicker than a beach shelter. The only problem with the tarp, is to find two proper trees or other thing to hand your line from.

Some beach shelters don't have to be "set up". They are spring loaded, and pop up when you unpack them. They also don't have to be staked down. There are many scenarios where you might not be able to build a lean to.

hmm... never saw one of those before. I have only seen tents that have sprinloaded poles, but no beach shelter. The springloaded tents are usuall pretty big in stored position. I mean if you look at the pictures on this site: http://www.2secondtent.com/ it's rather non-practical... How about those beach shelter, how small are they stored?

One of them that I saw was 2.5 lbs, and looked to be about the size of a large pizza.

They are sometimes referred to as cabanas. They have spring steel in the edges and also pop right open. Some will have corner pockets to weigh down with a handful or two of sand.

As a former ocean water guard (on the Atlantic Ocean in Long Island) I've seen quite a few. They seemed ok. Down here in Florida they seem better suited to protecting from the sun. Don' t know how well they'd do at reflecting a fire though. A quick search turned up these......

http://www.sunfriendlyproducts.com/sun-protection_cabanas_tents.html

So long as it doesn't melt, if it will reflect visable light, it will reflect heat, unless we get into some exotic materials.

My concerns are more rain and wind durability. Sure, a gentle breeze they can do, but can they handle small hail? 40mph gusts? Uncommon, but it's on my mind today- I got almost half an inch of rain with a little hail in an hour today, I'd estimate the winds at peak at having been around 35-40.

All those bright colors hurt my eyes. . . .

Doghouses, particularly, may sound silly, -but I'm being at least semi-serious, -in making mention of this and other such "out of the box" sources. Doghouses, even the larger sized ones, -are of course usually too small for human use. One can however, make up a larger one out of plywood, etc. Gives I guess new meaning, to the phrase of being "in the doghouse"! It can just as well be a plain person sized box, or small shack, -rather than neccessarily a sort of doghouse copy. Garden Sheds and other such possibilities, of course would have both their advantages and disadvantages. You certainly can't personally carry them, any real distance! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]JIM[/email]