So this weekend was cold weather training for my SAR team. Not that cold as it was about 20-25 degrees or so. We hiked 2/3 of the way up a small mountain and then in a clearing we broke up into teams to build shelters. The guy I was with showed me something I had never seen before and it works like a charm, and I wanted to pass it on.
We made a "diamond" shaped shelter with my tarp/tent with three corners anchored and the last one tied to a tree. Then we had a fire a couple of feet from the opening. The tarp tent is pretty sturdy and is aluminized or something on the in-side so it reflects heat pretty well.
Well (and this is the part I was glad to learn)....he had some 3 mil plastic....just a cheapo type drop cloth plastic he grabbed at Home Depot. Well he laid that over the opening we had and got one edge held down tight....so we had a clear "flap" as an entry way. I was amazed at how warm it got inside there. The heat passed through that clear plastic so easily...and no wind loss. He had a "space blanket" on the floor of it as well and it was toasty warm in there in absolutely no time. Definitely would be a great way to shelter someone out of the wind/cold/rain and keep them warm.
Plus the plastic is cheap, you can get them at Wally World or HD/Lowes very easily. If you haven't done it (maybe you guys all knew this anyway!
) I would urge you to give it a whirl.....good for teaching kids too. Just thought I would pass that along.
