There's a good chance that I end up living in a tent this winter at a campground. What are some good ways to make this as insulated and comfy as possible instead of a miserable hell? I may be able to get power. Standard four-person tent
There's a good chance that I end up living in a tent this winter at a campground.
How long?
2-3 months till I secure housing arrangements. It'll rain often and possibly snow
What is the climate like? Is it likely to rain or snow?
The biggest danger would be to burn down the tent with you in it. That being said, lighting a small gas stove for a short while inside the inner tent can make it really warm (even just a candle will warm up the inner bit of a small tent). Do not attempt this if you are on drugs/drunk or tired. By short while I mean put a timer for like 10min. Having a gas stove in the outer section will allow you to make warm tea that you can store in a thermos. If you can make a fire thats great but be aware that plastic clothes (including polyester) melt. What you want is wool. Wool blanket, jumpers etc is better around fire. Wool is much better because it is still warm when wet.
For rain, you have to be super-organised, a tent can get chaotic quickly. The entrance is where you put shoes, socks, wet outer clothes etc. Do not bring wet stuff into the inner tent.
As for making the actual tent warm, I would be wary of stuffing anything in between the inner and outer tent layers. The separation is what keeps it dry inside. You dont want those two parts touching. Any DIY efforts are probably best spent by setting up a tarpaulin outside the tent so you have extra area to put things. You could try lining the inner tent with extra blankets or sheets on the inside but dont block the ventilation bit. Air beds to sleep on are good since the ground might be cold.
For warmth, I would mostly rely on a good sleeping bag. If you can boil water, a hot water bottle is nice. Btw, you might want to keep a knife/machete/sharp stick next to where you sleep. You can actually slowly condition your body to withstand the cold. I did this by swimming in lakes in the autumn as it got colder and colder. Camping can be great fun in a nice place. I lived in my car/tent at a wild site next to a lake in Poland for a while and enjoyed it a lot.
If you are indeed able to get power, a king-size heated blanket will save your life, and be worth every single penny that you paid for it.
Essentially, fold a sleeping bag out of the heated blanket. You are probably going to want to wrap it in a mylar blanket too in case of rain ingress. With this setup, you should only ever need to run the electric blanket on colder nights. And even then, only at its lower settings.
Make damn sure that if you are running an extension cord or something, everything is waterproof. And it goes without saying that you should not wrap yourself in this giant electric burrito heater if you are under the influences; you can overdo it if you are not paying attention.
If you end up not having access to power, things get a bit more difficult. You might want to look into propane heaters in this case. But, do not be an idiot, you can absolutely start a fire with one. Never leave a heater going unattended.
Mylar blankets in general are a good investment, regardless of you having power or not. Buy one of those bulk packs of them, alongside a roll or two of clear packaging tape. Spam them everywhere you can; you basically want as many layers of the shit as possible alongside the inner walls of your shelter.
Humidity, especially if you end up using propane heat and get a lot of rain, is going to also be a concern. There are small chemical dehumidifiers, but honestly they really do not do much. At least in my experience, the humidity was something that you just had to work around.
Good fricking luck, anon. I was in that same boat a few years back; it is not fun but at least if you have plans it will end eventually.
Humans are more adapted to living in caves, find yourself a nice cave to shelter in and build a fire near the exit of it. Cook up some mastodon meat. Or beef tips, close enough.
Get a canvas tent with a wood burner
Ask your local police about how to secure permanent accomodations.
- Ground cover tarp edges a few inches INSIDE outer edges of rain fly so it doesn't collect runnoff water dripping down the tent and pool around your ass in the night
- Insulation insulation insulation. The higher off the ground you are the warmer you will be. Multiple pads or a big air mattress will go a long way. Layers.
- Multiple layers of rain fly if possible. Eg. standard rain fly on tent + a tarp suspended from trees or whatever over the tent. Reinforce the tarp tie points or it will wear out with long-term use, or lash cord around a bundled corner instead of using the weak grommets. I wonder if a tent within a tent would even work well in this situation
- Keep your shit clean and dry.
- No cotton anything, clothing or bedding, it absorbs water and never dries. Wool is king, insulates when wet. Get as many wool socks as you can. And a good wool hat or two.
- Consider having a backup/bailout plan for emergencies, like another shelter, heated vehicle, or public building you can get to if all your gear is soaked and it's 10˚ for three days straight and you're actually getting hypothermic.
- what's your source for firewood / fuel?
- stick burning mini stoves like the solostove (or the original from the guy solostove ripped it off from) are fricking excellent and very efficient at putting out heat or cooking using small amounts of free fuel (sticks/woodchips) BUT they require constant feeding and attention so not good for overnight.
- if you can get a POS RV it will be way better than a tent.
Ensure you have overkill cold weather gear and a sleeping bad rated for MUCH colder weather than you expect. Scotchgard is love.
Your biggest issue is going to be moisture. Over winter in a tent in a fixed position you're going to get moisture build-up underneath, on, and inside your tent. All of this impacts your ability to stay warm and healthy. A moist environment is harder to heat and causes issues like mold development.
You will need to consider things like periodic venting and drying of the tent if your heating strategy involves keeping it tightly enclosed. More localised heating using thick blankets, clothes etc is an option but has limitations as well. You still have to pay attention to breatheability and venting with that, so stuff like mylar emergency blankets are not viable for continuous use.
Plan for having clean, warm sets of clothing to change into more frequently than you normally would. Also plan to be eating a lot more calories, this kind of living requires it.
make a wood frame of 2x4's and line it with xps foam on the inside and corrugated plastic on the outside.. Simple triangle shape. A couple 2x4s set up on cinder blocks running long ways to get ya off the ground. Then you would only need a few more 2x4's to finish the structure. Then make a little exterior gas heater that pumps hot fresh air into your structure. like this
but with a little gas burner instead of wood fire to heat the pipe and build a little stone shroud to keep it out of the wind. gas canisters are cheap and you could heat a little structure like that efficiently if you make it fairly airtight and insulated and keep that stove pushing a trickle of hot air in when you need it. GL OP sounds like fun
Mylar.
Helpx etc. Find a host. Get some life skills. Frick 'housing': you are evidently unable to access 'housing', due to the lack of the above.
1/2
Thermal blanket.
make a candle stove
2/2
And a Aikoper brand mini space heater. I love mine. It has settings for saving energy and it automatically shuts off when it reaches the temp you want. It only kicks on to adjust the temperature back to where you have it set. I gifted a bunch to my brother, mother in law, and my mother because they all struggle to pay their energy bill in winter. I promise you will love it.
Rebel against the system and build a proper shepherd cabin with stone walls, wood and stone roof and a fire place with chimney.
That's not a cabin, that's a shack, and it looks about ready to cave in. Aren't you supposed to use rocks that are about the same size?
Still a better idea than living in a tent.
Sorry, I didn't know the english word.
>Aren't you supposed to use rocks that are about the same size?
Shepherds are shepherds, not builders. Back when there were many more they would team up and build some decent seasonal refuges in their mountains.
The one you posted looks a lot better but aren't you supposed to fill the cracks with cement or clay or something? It would get awful drafty in there where I live.
afaik they use clay.
Sorry I was wrong here
They don't use clay in these shacks because the river is often far from the mountain.
So these are "dry walls". They are built by piling consecutive layers of earth and rocks. The earth layers provide the isolation.
In that case it looks like a good shelter.
set up in one of those sheds in the home depot parking lot
Get a canvas tent and wood stove. Build a platform to get the tent off the ground. Insulate the bottom of the tent with foam board, get some pavers to put the stove on. If it snows, use it to build a wind wall a few inches away from the outside of the tent. If you have power, a small electric heater, incandescent lights If you can find any, and an electric blanket. Or, just build a teardrop trailer for about 2k. I have a trailer I took out in 20f and was perfectly fine. Had ice form inside but was warm enough with a sleeping bag, 1" insulation and no heater.
If you have access to Fire and Water a hot water bottle will keep you alive with nothing more than a sleeping bag. Not a joke. Get a couple hot water bottles. They make long ones that would be perfect to slip down the long edge of a sleeping bag. They stay hot for long enough to burn your skin, so don’t lay with your bare skin against the rubber.