Written By Peter G. Drake
Illustrated by Rich
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For a shelter to be effective, it must protect you against the
prevailing conditions - be they rain, sun, wind or cold. The
good news is that almost any materials can be used to
build a shelter - if you know how!
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Some general rules
- Make the shelter as small as possible.
- Make sure you have plenty of ventilation.
- Avoid building your shelter on boggy ground.
- Do not build your shelter on an exposed site.
- Always make sure that your shelter is safe to sleep and live in.
- If you are thatching your shelter, always work from the bottom up.
- Unless you have permission, never cut down standing timber to build your shelter.
- When you have finished with your shelter, take it to pieces and make sure that you have tidied up the site.
Now let us have a look at some shelters and how to build
them. But remember - building shelters, like all other
survival skills, needs practice and lots of it. Don't assume
that just because you have read instructions on how to
build a shelter you will be able to construct something
which will be comfortable and safe to sleep in at the first
attempt. That way lies disaster.
One final point - don't be too discouraged if your first
efforts don't look much like the drawings. If at first you don't
succeed ...
Cold weather shelters
In the United Kingdom we don't often get winters that
produce snow in a deep and hard enough condition to
make good snow shelters that will last for more than a few
days, unless you are on high hills where the snow may lie
for some months, packed hard by the wind. So remember,
if a thaw occurs during the night, snow shelters can
collapse, or at least start to melt.
Always make sure that you have adequate ventilation
If you Intend sleeping In a snow shelter.
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Snow trench
This is by far the easiest shelter to build, but you will need
snow at least 1.5 metres (four feet) deep. This type of
shelter can only be used comfortably if the temperature is
well below freezing - otherwise the melting snow will
make it unpleasant to live in.
The roof can be made of a groundsheet or branches, on
which the snow can be piled. If the snow is hard enough, try
to take the snow out in blocks and build a wall along each
side of the trench with it, as this will give you more
headroom. Make sure that you build the wall far enough
back from the side of the trench so that snow won't
collapse into the trench.
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Snow caves and holes
This type of shelter requires some tools, a snow drift at
least 2 metres (6-7 feet) deep and a lot of hard work. You
will find a short-handled shovel essential.
The easiest way is to build straight into the drift. Try to
keep the entrance as low and as small as possible. Inside,
make the roof as smooth as you can, as any sharp points
will cause drips, whereas if the roof is smooth any melting
water will run down to the ground.
When hollowing out your shelter, leave a sleeping
platform big enough for two of you to sleep on, about half a
metre (1 -2 feet) higher than the floor. This will keep you
above the cold air which will collect at the lowest point.
Also, make sure that you have a ventilation hole in the roof,
kept open by running a stick through it from time to time.
The entrance can be blocked by a rucsac.
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Snow igloo
This traditional Eskimo home can be great fun to build and,
if it is cold enough, to sleep in overnight. The igloo is built of
blocks of snow that has been packed hard by the wind. You
will need an ice axe or saw, a shovel and at least two
people to build one.
Start by stamping down a circle about 4 metres (1 2 feet)
across, and then start placing quite large blocks around
the outside of the circle. When you have finished your first
circle, start the second layer, but, as in brick laying, place
the centre of the new blocks over the vertical joints of the
previous layer.
As you place each layer on, make the upper blocks
overhang the lower ones by a third to a half of the width of
the block, so that the igloo tapers in and becomes
domelike. Have someone inside the construction who will
do the building and will slowly build it around him.
The last block must be shaped so that when it is lowered
into position it will seal the shelter. The person inside-
should then use the saw or shovel which he has with him
(he did have one with him, didn't he?) to cut a doorway,
which should be on the lee side of the shelter.
Once the igloo is completed, fill any cracks with snow
and smooth off the inside of the shelter. Build a sleeping
bench as in the snow trench and snow hole. Make sure that
you make one or two ventilation holes in the roof.
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Shelters made of natural materials
When making a shelter, try to make life as easy as possible
by using any standing or fallen timber, or a wall, as one side
of the shelter.
Lean-to shelter
Always build this type of shelter with its back to the
prevailing wind. (if the wind changes direction in the night,
you could get wet!) If you need to cut standing timber (with
permission, of course), you will need five stout, straight
pieces of wood - two about 1.5 metres (4.5 feet) long, two
2 metres (6.5 feet) long and one about 2.3 metres (7.5 feet)
long.
Place the two 1.5 metre sticks in the ground about 40 cm
(1 foot) down, so they stand about 1 metre high. Now take
the two 2 metre pieces, tie these to the top of the upright
poles and bury the other two ends in the ground. Take the
longest piece and tie this between the two uprights. Now fill
in the roof area with other straight sticks tied at the top and
buried in the ground. You now have the skeleton of the
shelter.
Finally , you must cover the skeleton with whatever
material is available - for example grass, bracken and
large leaves. Always start at the bottom of the shelter and
work upwards when thatching, so that if it rains the water
will run over the joints and will not leak through on to you.
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A-shape shelter
This is basically an A-shape, and will offer more protection
than the last one, especially if you block up one end. For
both this shelter and the previous one, you can construct a
frame (below) for each side of the shelter. This method
means that more than one person can work on the shelter
at once, and the resulting structure will probably have
Tore strength than if the whole shelter was built in one
piece.
Programme ideas
- Make a set of models, using natural materials, of the
shelters described above plus any others which you may
have designed. Use small blocks of polystyrene to build
the igloo and snow trench.
- Get each Patrol or group of people to design a shelter,
listing its advantages and disadvantages.
- Make a chart showing the materials which can be used
to build shelters. If you cannot get samples of all the
materials, put pictures on your chart instead.
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