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Offline Wilbur

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Clear plastic on a shelter
« on: January 19, 2017, 06:01:40 PM »
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!  :embarrassed: ) I would urge you to give it a whirl.....good for teaching kids too. Just thought I would pass that along.   

Offline Flyin6

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Re: Clear plastic on a shelter
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2017, 06:55:28 PM »
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!  :embarrassed: ) I would urge you to give it a whirl.....good for teaching kids too. Just thought I would pass that along.   
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Offline Wilbur

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Re: Clear plastic on a shelter
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2017, 07:14:12 PM »

I always just warmed up in the exhaust of a turbine engine at idle that was not connected to a jet ;-)

Dunno if I can get that to fit in my pack but I'll give it a whirl.....

See what I did there.....

 :wink:  :rolleyes:

Online Bob Smith

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Re: Clear plastic on a shelter
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2017, 09:11:41 PM »
No, but if that sucker crashed he might be more interested in the topic.

Offline dave945

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Re: Clear plastic on a shelter
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2017, 10:34:14 PM »
I remember seeing something like this on that show Dual Survival. Looked like a neat trick, glad to hear that it works in the real world too.

 

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