Tarps are a must in the survival world. Tarps have many uses. Tarps are great for making a shelter. How many here have made a shelter from your tarp? We tried and it looks really easy on the pictures. We allowed ourselves to have tarp, rope and some sticks we scrounged up. It is not as easy as it looks. We then incorporated a tree then the wind kicked up. We are not giving up. Below are images of different shelters that can be made. Some of the images use more them tarp, sticks and rope. How many have actually tried to make a tarp tent and what were the successful ways?
Here are a few ways to use a tarp, poncho, canvas or other types of materials for quick shelters. Edit- I have used all these methods and they work pretty well in most situations.
Have a couple of 20X40s that can be used for a tent w/floor. You end up with a 8' wide X 7' at the sides and one end completely covered. The other serves as the door w/ your poncho as a covering. Floor pegged down first, wall, slight slope to ridge, slope down or single pitch, wall down back to floor. If you secure the last wall at the top then it can be rolled up or pulled out for more room/ventilation. Fold the long end to close securely or loosely for air. Short end gives a nice door. ETA: a nice piece of plastic will greatly help with shedding water. Just tie a small rock into the corners and snug off to your pegs/limbs/etc.
We were trying to do this with the bare minimum. When the wind kicked up it was a mad scramble to find some rocks. Plus we tried to use sticks as pegs. It was much more challenging then it looked.
At least you are trying now, before you must do it for real. In your pictures, from top to bottom, I have, either while camping, hunting, backpacking, or even along parade routes, used everything from pics one and two, and at least a few from three. ( I was also a long time Boy Scout.) The biggest key factor was always keeping everything tight. Stake out one edge, or hang a line first and use it like a clothesline, either was it should be nice and tight to give you a nice straight starting point..
@kellory actually the rope we were using was a huge issue. We were using paracord and it just wasn't tight enough. Clothes line was a bit thick for us to do secure knots. I think that twine worked the best.
Don't cut you line, if you can help it. Wrap it several times around and double it up. That way, you still have it's full length and it's stronger.
This is definitely something that we need to keep at. They say to know how to use your survival equipment and people may think it is easy to build a shelter with a tarp but when using the bare minimum it gets creative.
We used to do this as kids when we went to the river. Just a bunch of neighborhood kids, we'd pack some food, water, rope and plastic or tarps. We didn't realize we were learning, just having fun together. We camped and cooked fish stuck on sticks. Built rafts our parents would have had heart attacks over, cooked crawdads and tried spearfishing, lol. A shame its not safe for kids to ramble like that anymore...
This is how to make a Flat Tarp, and some ParaCord, into Rain Proof Tent with Ground Cover. The Poles & Stakes come from local to the site, branches, or some Folks use their Hiking Sticks.
@Kathy in WV I loved crawdad fishing. We used to get a metal hanger, some lunch meat, a goofy hat and head to the river. It was so much fun.
I had a friend with a bunch of large brass shell casings ( don't know what caliber) that he had tied fishingline to each one by a small hole at the lip. We used to catch them by the hundreds.
When we started our first Boy Scout troop we had no tents so we use plastic to make tents. They worked wonderfully well(had to vent them or condensation became a problem). Soon we had fund raisers and bought matching tents for everyone. `We still used the plastic for a variety of tasks around sites.
Our first tents in boy scouts were tube tents we made with plastic and duct tape. I can still smell the plastic from all those years ago
Had one of those shelter half tents. Got the bright idea of having it cleaned. Came back white and porous. Ruined it but still used it by covering with a plastic sheet.
they make a spray sealant for waterproofing tents. used it in the Boy Scouts. goes on like spray paint and works fine once it dries.
