With instant tents or tarps, some people get bogged down in useless details. They get sucked into edge seaming, waterproofing and other details.
But they are missing a special ingredient in these shelters. They are missing the “instant-ness”. Its kind of like instant coffee. But it’s a tent.
After reading this article, you’ll be able to prepare your own instant survival shelter from these simple ideas.
SHELTER #1 – 2 SECOND TENTS
Its a legitimate tent with fiberglass rods, UV protective coating, but it goes up quickly. One of the best ones is the Quechua’s 2 second tent. You just throw this tent and it sets itself up. Yeah, its crazy.
The downside? It collapses into a ring form. That means there’s a possibility it may not fit into your small survival kit.
SHELTER #2 – TYVEK SHELTERS
You just take Tyvek or house wrap and turn it into a tarp or a tent. House wrap is light, waterproof and sometimes washable. One nice benefit if using house wrap is that you can customize your Tyvek sheets with Tyvek tape, seam sealer and grommets.
SHELTER #3 – INSTANT TUBE TENTS
A tube tent is simple. It’s a tube that you can crawl into. Tube tents have an advantage over a simple fly sheet because of the floor. There’s no seam to let water in. But here’s the downside to a tube tent. If you use the tube tent frequently, then the floor will wear out. If you go to Amazon you can find tube tents that pack into the size of a fat wallet.
SHELTER #4 – PONCHO TENT/TARP
You don’t normally think of a poncho as shelter. But a simple poncho and two shock corded poles can create something amazingly effective. Here’s how you do it. With the first pole, connect two opposite corners of the poncho. Take the second shock corded pole and connect the opposite ends. Now you’ve just made a roof.
SHELTER #5 – TRASH BAGS
A simple, large garbage bag can serve as an alternative survival shelter. Here’s how its done. First, pick up some 4mm thick orange bags. 45 gallon bags are great. But if you want a mansion sized trash bag shelter, go to Amazon and get the 95 gallon bags. Cut the bottoms out of 2 bags, and then tape the bags together end to end for a tube tent. Crawl inside of it for the evening. Its not pretty, but its packable, and protects you from the wind and rain.
SHELTER #6 – BEDSHEETS
Bedsheets aren’t as waterproof as a 4mm garbage bag, but they can serve well as a tarp or covering. Multiple bedsheets layered over one another create air barriers. By creating an air barrier between the sheets, you increase the chances of keeping warm. Add some paracord to the mix and you can tie the corners to branches and make a survival tarp.
SHELTER #7 – PLASTIC SHEETS
Remember the 4mm trash bags we just talked about? The 4mm plastic also comes in sheets. You can get them at hardware stores and they come in rolls. Cut off whatever you need for shelter. Its cheap and waterproof. Or if you split the end open you’ll have a 6 x 8 foot tarp.
YOUR HOMEWORK THIS WEEK
Now you have 7 simple ideas for shelter, so I want to give you some homework. First, head to the camping section in the back of Walmart. Pick up some Grip-Clips. These are spring loaded plastic clips that you can use to clamp parts of your shelter. They are useful on everything from Tyvek to garbage bags or plastic tarps.
Next, grab a roll of 4mm trash bags and start playing around with different mixtures of the bags and clips. Get some Duct-Tape and cut up the plastic. Experiment until you have a combo that you feel comfortable with. Once you do, you’ll be ready when emergencies come. You’ll have your own instant shelter.y when emergencies come. You’ll have your own instant shelter.