Lost in the woods? No place to call home? Live near the wilderness? Just wanna have fun? It's time for the extreme survival bunker! It's kinda like owning your own little cave, except more awesome. It can be as big or little as you want it, and it's plenty easy to build (me and my little brother built it!) Besides who else you know has their own bunker? Lol none of YOUR friends...you know why? it's too extreme, for them! It's the call of the hardcore your hearing, this is the extreme survival bunker!
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Signing UpStep 1: What you'll need
Ok, now onto what you'll need:
1. Twine
2. a Knife (for cutting twine, clearing small brush,etc...)
3. Lots of sticks and logs
4. Dead Leaves
5. and a Rake
6. Hardcore builder (Booyah!)
That's all you'll need! See, easy! Keep going.
1. Twine
2. a Knife (for cutting twine, clearing small brush,etc...)
3. Lots of sticks and logs
4. Dead Leaves
5. and a Rake
6. Hardcore builder (Booyah!)
That's all you'll need! See, easy! Keep going.
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Thanks for the 'ible- looks like you all had a great time!
Would thing I would suggest from personal experience: Make sure that your supporting poles and trusses are the largest, sturdiest wood on the entire project. (A previous commenter mentioned using two trees--kudos.) I recall a Scouting camporee where my patrol, for our project, built a lashed tower approx. 12 ft high. On one cross spar, we used a smaller, "deader" piece of wood. The piece held up okay until the last day, when we wanted to get the entire troop on the tower for a photograph. Oops! Thankfully, no one was hurt worse than a few bumps and scrapes. We all learned a valuable lesson on materials testing and engineering design that day.
Of course, in a survival situation, the quality and workmanship of any shelter is going to be based on expediency (materials available), time (length of stay), and environmental conditions (keep out predators, stand up to high winds, etc.).
One other thing: if you're in the wilds unprepared, you may not have twine available. Obviously, you may have toggle cords from your clothing or backpacks, or similar, but that's only going to get you so far, and you don't want to use them except as a last resort. You can use young, thin, whippy tree roots as cordage - find them close to the surface - and also make cordage out of fresh bracken or nettle stems...but that's a faff, so it's worth also using a bit of cunning. The trunks and big branches you use for the front supports and lean-to beams will probably have branches coming off them. Don't cut the branches off too close to the stems, and you can use the branch-points as extra supports for the cross-members, saving on cordage.
Also you can put a poncho under the roof leaves ( thin sheet plastic is nice to have along of course if you aren't a purist.) & a poncho liner for the floor over dry grass etc as noted for ground insulation. The funny thing was, we were on a hike 25 miles out & three of us built a fine shelter- ours was more of a roofed deal with log & boulder supports/ semi walls- but we built it for the three of us since the others could not be bothered- until it started pouring that night & about 8 or 9 took shelter! (This was in the days before satellite weather forecasts) I remember sleeping next to where the edge of the poncho dripped all night near my face. Ah Boy Scouts! Good times, builds character. Persevere & Be Prepared.
I need to get the kids off the PS3 and computers!
I remember 4-5 guys from the neighborhood and myself building forts, log cabins and just about anything we could think of! Great times. Good to see siblings spending some quality time together!
As for the fire, we could keep the fire closer (within 5ft or so) as long as it wasn't too big. But on the opposite side of the fire we'd put in two parallel stakes about 1ft apart and each 2ft high, having them lean away from the fire at perhaps a 65 or 70 degree angle, and a number of green logs. This would serve as a reflector for the heat, but the greenness of the logs would prevent them from burning very well, so they'd last as a good reflector for a long time. I remember sitting there in nothing but long underwear and cooking a pizza in the dead of winter. :)
If you think you're going to spend the night, don't overlook insulating the floor with plenty of dry grasses, straw, or leaves. A cold and moist floor will really drain your body heat!
Kept us quite busy and out of trouble for literally years! Kids need adventure, with a twinge of danger. Back to the 'ble... Nice job! Nothing can substitute the sense of triumph and satisfaction that comes from something like this. True character development, not to mention "wicked fun!" as they say in Boston!