Long Term Forest Shelter

[Myechtatel]

So my girlfriend and I are stuck in South Kissimmee aka Poinciana, FL for a couple weeks. We've decided to do something with our time and we came up with this project. There are tons of woods around here so we scouted out a good spot and we want to build a badass camp. It will most likely be two camps within 50 feet of each other but one will be the kitchen camp and one will be the sleeping camp. Along with tables, seats, and fire pit we want to build a large structure to sleep in. I've built a lean-to and started a teepee before but I want to something more complex. I've looked at some long-term survival shelter designs but I'm still not sure what I want to do. I am looking for advice on building though. Like, what kind of wood to use, binding, digging and tips in general. im pretty good with rope and it's probably going to require quite a bit but besides that I want to stay away from synthetic materials(tarps, mesh, PVC, etc.). I'm also limited to a shovel, machete and knife. Any tips, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. When I'm done I hope to live there for a while(if not now, at some point in the future) and invite other travelers to stay or use it for a few nights if they're passing through.

 

[outskirts]

A sod structure would be kick ass! I always wanted to build a sod building.
Maybe a combination of digging down a few feet then laying sod bricks for a few feet,
and finishing with a few feet of small tree logs log cabin style, topped with a sod roof.
I don't know... that's just something that I'm picturing in my head, lol.
I was trying to think of something you could do with your limited tools and only
using natural materials. But I don't know what your dealing with for resources at
this location since I'm not there. Good luck with your project.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Earth shelter style of teepee but all
Natural or use some tarps for extra coverage. Use bamboo or good straight poles for the skeleton. Then cover her up with whatever ya got. Use a blanket or somthing at the top so you can cover your smoke hole when it rains or you don't have a fire. . Pile on other poles and sticks like lean em on the main skeleton then add leaves and branches and whatvet else. I read atleast two foot thickness for warmth but bein fl it prob ain't a big deal, but the thicker the more waterproof it is

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Saw the no tarp thing, canvas tarps or whatever their called are good, I'm doin the same thing if i return to pa. Have fun brotha

 

[Myechtatel]

thanks for the input guys. i wish i could do a sod building but i'd have to buy the sod because there is none. the ground is just pine needles on top of dark sand/dirt. for cover i'll use palm-fraun(?) leaves(the palm tree type leaves) weaved together. I did it for a lean-to once and it worked awesome. I know that's how the natives did it here.
Sorry I meant to put a description of the area it must've slipped my mind. Like i said the ground is just dirt and pine needles. there's small oaks, pines, and lots of brush and ground plants. also some of those palm leaves. it's not really as thick as most of the woods in florida that's why i like it. a lot of the surrounding woods are so dense and the soil is so rich that nothing dead lasts so there is no building material.
as for the teepee, i kind of want to do something i haven't done before. don't get me wrong, i think teepees are great and very functional but i want to try my hand at a more "house" type structure. something rectangular or even cylindrical.

 

[outskirts]

I know that's how the natives did it here.

They would have known! It is often helpful to have some knowledge of what the native population
of a given area had used for their traditional homes.

 

[Myechtatel]

definitely.

 

[dharma bum]

three-sided shelter (one wall open) with a good frame and struts maybe a loft type thing in the back. make sure there is a slant or a-frame time roof for water runoff. you can make some catches for that water also.

if you can find bamboo, do.

good luck to you man, wish i could do that right now. spent a little while on an island in the middle of a river in ga and experimented with some things like this. i did have a tent at that time though, so mine were mainly for larger quarters.

 

[Dishka8643]

One thing to keep in mind, especially in a damp environment like Florida, is to use materials that are resistant to mold and mildew. Cedar and Cypress trees are naturally mold resistant. If you decide to make a debris style shelter, You might want to use pine needles and pine bows exclusively for roof. Pine needles are slightly acidic and are more resistant to decomposition. A shingled roof made from wood, bark, bamboo, or palm leaves would be a cleaner and more permanent option, though. I think that a debris shelter in a semi-tropical environment would become home to all kinds of insects and vermin. Also, it might be good to have a raised bed to sleep on or some hammocks, to keep the bugs off you.

You might want to check this site out for ideas. This guy is a survivalist who lives in the mountains of Brazil.
He has a lot of shelter building videos.

YouTube - giutoniolo's Channel

 

[outskirts]

You might want to check this site out for ideas. This guy is a survivalist who lives in the mountains of Brazil.
He has a lot of shelter building videos.

YouTube - giutoniolo's Channel

Hey man, great link! I'm gonna check out the rest of this guy's videos later when I have some time.
I could understand a little of what he was saying(been learning Portuguese), but I'm sure it's easy
enough to just see what he's doing and learn some new ideas.
Brazil is somewhere I've always wanted to go, this was very helpful to me, thanks.

 

[Myechtatel]

three-sided shelter (one wall open) with a good frame and struts maybe a loft type thing in the back. make sure there is a slant or a-frame time roof for water runoff. you can make some catches for that water also.

if you can find bamboo, do.

good luck to you man, wish i could do that right now. spent a little while on an island in the middle of a river in ga and experimented with some things like this. i did have a tent at that time though, so mine were mainly for larger quarters.

yeah i think that's what im gonna do. three walls and a slanted roof. the water run off collection is a great idea. i want to make a natural water filter so that would be useful. rain season's coming up too. i didn't see any bamboo around but i'll definitely look because i know how valuable that can be to shelter building. thanks a lot!

 

[Myechtatel]

One thing to keep in mind, especially in a damp environment like Florida, is to use materials that are resistant to mold and mildew. Cedar and Cypress trees are naturally mold resistant. If you decide to make a debris style shelter, You might want to use pine needles and pine bows exclusively for roof. Pine needles are slightly acidic and are more resistant to decomposition. A shingled roof made from wood, bark, bamboo, or palm leaves would be a cleaner and more permanent option, though. I think that a debris shelter in a semi-tropical environment would become home to all kinds of insects and vermin. Also, it might be good to have a raised bed to sleep on or some hammocks, to keep the bugs off you.

You might want to check this site out for ideas. This guy is a survivalist who lives in the mountains of Brazil.
He has a lot of shelter building videos.

YouTube - giutoniolo's Channel

you're definitely right about the debris hut. it might be fine for a few days but not long term. definitely right about the mold and mildew too. that's very helpful i didn't even think of that. that's the kind of advice i was looking for because i don't know a whole lot about different types of wood. i'll definitely check out the videos. i've been doing a lot of googling so maybe this will save me some time. thanks a lot!

 

[outskirts]

A Technical Guide for Kids: How to Build a Chickee - Kiara Winans and Crawford Solomon

How about building a chickee, that's what the Seminole Indians lived in.
Don't let this book's name put you off, "A technical Guide for Kids: How To Build A Chickee", it looks like really good
info! How and when to gather materials and stuff like that.

 

[Myechtatel]

wow that looks awesome. im gonna have to look into that. thanks a lot. we've started building some tables and clearing out the area we found. it's a great spot.

 

[outskirts]

How to Build a Chickee and Talk to Cockroaches

Interesting little story I found here, which aside from it's chickee building details, Is StP material itself.

 

[Myechtatel]

^interesting

UPDATE: we've finished the fire pit which is 3ft diameter and 3 feet deep with 6 inch by 6 inch trench around it(because "only YOU can prevent forest fires!"), a lean-to with palm frond thatching to store fire wood under, a shelf, a small grill and small oven, and started on a bench. in addition to that we've cleared brush out and raked the whole area; which i was opposed to originally but after being there at night we realized there is a serious spider problem. we had headlights on and i kept seeing sparkles all over the ground and got up close and realized it was the eyes of hundreds of thousands of brown/black spiders. i don't think they're poisonous but we raked the whole area to be safe and so we're not squishing them with every step we make. haha. anyway im supposed to be getting a cable for my phone soon so i can put up some pictures. im really happy with it so far but obviously we're gonna build everything else before we put up the shelter.

i also wanted to post this->A Long-Term Survival Guide - Improvised Camp Equipment
for anyone wanting to do a similar project. it's amazing what you can build with some rope and a machete!

 

[outskirts]

Thanks for posting that last link. Very helpful stuff.

 

[Myechtatel]

yeah no problem. i took the idea for the bench i built from it. tested it the other day and it held me, my girlfriend, my sister and my dog. that's almost 400 pounds! i used pine to make it. i also made the shelves that are on there. great stuff.

 

[Myechtatel]

fox holes are cool. that would be a shit ton of work in this ecosystem though. and i don't think it would last. the soil is extremely wet and unstable and just chalked full of roots. you'd be cutting more roots than digging. and i think the rain would eventually destroy it. and that's if you get lucky and don't hit water after digging a few feet.

 

[Myechtatel]

So i built a lean-to with the palmfronds, came back after a couple days and saw that they were almost dead. i was planning on building a chickee but i don't plan on re-thatching it every week. so my friend brought over a giant tarp(i know i said i wasn't gonna use them but it seems like a more permanent solution) and we made a huge A-frame. we had a fire in it that night and could hardly be in it because of the smoke. So i think what we're going to do is just use the tarp and make a giant teepee.