Poncho Tents And Pop-Up Tents

[Lone]

Not got a BOL myself...or caravan, etc., but as stopgap survival over limited time/emergency, how do these compare for a solo survivor, even to use both at the same time, then having both a body and equipment covering ?

Watched a couple of videos on YouTube...pros and cons, etc

[jansman]

If you fled to the woods tonight doing YouTube tutorials, you would die. End of. This bug out fantasy amongst survivalist and Preppers is sooo tiresome. When I was 19 I joined HM Royal Marines. I served a couple of years, and did the usual survival training/ living in a ditch/ Arctic training. You know what? That life is crap. No way I would live like that, under canvas/ in the woods etc. I could do it again, as I know the ‘rules’, but I ain’t in a rush. Why Preppers think bugging out is the be all and end all , baffles me. If I left here, it would be to the Premier Inn up the road.

[Lone]

I blame Ray Mears...the man has an aversion to staying in buildings...usually erecting his lean-to tent, starting his camp fire...making meals out of the surrounding greenery.

Did he ever do urban Survivalism in any of his series...more helpful, else you’d be tripping over people in the forests...following his lead

Wasn’t it Bear Grylls who stayed in a hotel in one of his series, whilst his survival group struggled in the woods...did they ever find out while there or just afterwards.

Personally, I would’ve been quite angry, as I think when they saw him each time, they thought he had his own camp away from them...not watching tv, and ordering room service...

[jansman]

Bear Grylls did the same. Of the two , Ray Mears is the man. Grylls is a sensationalist twat.But that’s not the point. It is what the individual decides is a good idea.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Last summer we were camping as a family in Devon

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornw ... ow-3187848

I was glad we was in a old steel framed cotton canvas trailer tent we saw the forecast I added extra storm lashings (12" pegs and seat belt webbing) plus ever guy rope and I internally guy roped the frame where I could we rode it out helping a few families pack and run at silly AM using the cars lightning to illuminate their flattened tents, Mrs A didn't sleep for 2 nights due to the wind... I did


Modern basic be it solo or family tents are not robust enough for bad weather.

If your wanting a solo Bug out tent look at the semi geo style tent ideally 4 season grass land or mountain use


https://www.terra-nova.co.uk/all-tents/ ... ar-2-tent/

For example

Pop up tents are just not good enough bar festival weekends if the weather stays good...

You need a double skin ie a bug mesh inner and a waterproof fly sheet, the pop up tents become bath tubs for sweat and condensation... No Biggie for a night away raving but you get home and dry your kit you don't get that luxury on a extended stay be it a holiday or a shtf

[Deeps]

If you fled to the woods tonight doing YouTube tutorials, you would die. End of. This bug out fantasy amongst survivalist and Preppers is sooo tiresome. When I was 19 I joined HM Royal Marines. I served a couple of years, and did the usual survival training/ living in a ditch/ Arctic training. You know what? That life is crap. No way I would live like that, under canvas/ in the woods etc. I could do it again, as I know the ‘rules’, but I ain’t in a rush. Why Preppers think bugging out is the be all and end all , baffles me. If I left here, it would be to the Premier Inn up the road.

^^^^^ THIS (we seem to be having a mutual 'love in' tonight mate )

Lone, or anyone else who fancies it, go and have a wee overnighter in the woods, do your research and enjoy it, either on your own or with friends, its brilliant. What's the worst that could happen, you have a cold, wet night and no sleep but you trudge back to the car and catch up on your kip later. You'll learn from it. Hopefully that won't be the case and you have a great night out, maybe trying some new stuff but you'll realise that even the simple things like making a brew are more awkward when you're doing everything on your knees and if you're 'rocking it 'old skool' with an open fire they need to be fed. Then there's the smoke... I'm not trying to put anyone off, quite the reverse, I love it and would encourage others to do it. Its not going to put a light on in the house if the lecky is off though or fuel in the car if the cash points aren't working. You can have a prepping fantasy but if its one of the many other scenarios that come to pass then its all for nought, unless you manage to coincidentally be off at the woods when the lecky fails or the bank gets hacked etc.

[Yorkshire Andy]

If you fled to the woods tonight doing YouTube tutorials, you would die. End of. This bug out fantasy amongst survivalist and Preppers is sooo tiresome. When I was 19 I joined HM Royal Marines. I served a couple of years, and did the usual survival training/ living in a ditch/ Arctic training. You know what? That life is crap. No way I would live like that, under canvas/ in the woods etc. I could do it again, as I know the ‘rules’, but I ain’t in a rush. Why Preppers think bugging out is the be all and end all , baffles me. If I left here, it would be to the Premier Inn up the road.

^^^^^ THIS (we seem to be having a mutual 'love in' tonight mate )

Lone, or anyone else who fancies it, go and have a wee overnighter in the woods, do your research and enjoy it, either on your own or with friends, its brilliant. What's the worst that could happen, you have a cold, wet night and no sleep but you trudge back to the car and catch up on your kip later. You'll learn from it. Hopefully that won't be the case and you have a great night out, maybe trying some new stuff but you'll realise that even the simple things like making a brew are more awkward when you're doing everything on your knees and if you're 'rocking it 'old skool' with an open fire they need to be fed. Then there's the smoke... I'm not trying to put anyone off, quite the reverse, I love it and would encourage others to do it. Its not going to put a light on in the house if the lecky is off though or fuel in the car if the cash points aren't working. You can have a prepping fantasy but if its one of the many other scenarios that come to pass then its all for nought, unless you manage to coincidentally be off at the woods when the lecky fails or the bank gets hacked etc.

We did a wild camp a few years back with a former forces lad... He turned up with the best branded kit new top spec thermorest new £300 tent... 7am he was found asleep in his car..... We took the p1ss for the entire day also his expert navigation was called into question when we didn't find the wooded area (I saw the tree stumps in the grass and kept quiet) we let him off when he cooked a cracking full English the next morning when we woke in a camping barn (bad weather forced us to the safety of a barn )

[Deeps]

We did a wild camp a few years back with a former forces lad... He turned up with the best branded kit new top spec thermorest new £300 tent... 7am he was found asleep in his car..... We took the p1ss for the entire day also his expert navigation was called into question when we didn't find the wooded area (I saw the tree stumps in the grass and kept quiet) we let him off when he cooked a cracking full English the next morning when we woke in a camping barn (bad weather forced us to the safety of a barn )

Sounds like my kind of ex Forces, we're not all used to living in a trench for a living.

[jenkinstein]

Poncho tents are great fun it's like building a den when your kid! I am sure if you are somehow stranded in the absolute middle of nowhere and can't do anything to change your immediate location they would be ideal.

For me it all depends on what the situation is, I imagine in most SHTF scenarios heading out to the woods would be a bad choice or suck and make for a horrible night of unconformable restlessness.

However if you were hiking 20 miles over a mountain and through the woods and sprained your ankle then it would make things a bit nicer whilst you wait for the pain to subside enough to make a crutch and hobble out or to shelter from the elements awaiting rescue.

Most ponchos that can be turned into shelters are made with a thick rubberised backing they rip / tear easily and are moisture traps from condensation. The pop up tents are not much better, depending on the location or the weather would determine which I'd want with me.

At the end of the day only you can decide what is right for you and what is within your boundaries and capabilities.

[Raven]

Well I get what the others are saying the “ if your roughing it you’re doing it wrong” signature that somebody has leaps to mind.

But I disagree, with other stuff said in this chat.

Sometimes life just moves to fast and I don’t foresee the need or potential emergency to crop up that requires me to have a full blown tent in my car using up expensive fuel! This isn’t always about a zombie apocalypse and I sometimes feel that’s what people think. Especially in Scotland, if you don’t have signal and your cars broken down you need to walk to get help or signal but what happens if it’s already dark or really bad weather for example? My parents would have never come out searching for me -don’t get me wrong they would have bollocked me for not being home when I said I would be or calling to let them know what happened even if there was no signal, but they certainly never would have got in the car and traced back my journey if they hadn’t heard back, unlike my grandparents - and Lone probably doesn’t even have someone who would potentially know he wasn’t back on time to do that either, hence his name....Lone...

We should instead be asking what kind of emergency do they foresee? Are they at risk in some way in their daily lives that makes them wonder if that would be an acceptable stop gap? Will they have other means of keeping warm or getting help? Etc. Hell even a proper shop in some parts of Scotland is a trek and can be dangerous in its own right...snow gates anyone? Rock avalanches? All we know is he’s in Scotland but not where. Some of the xmases we’d come down for Xmas and we couldn’t always get back up because they had closed the snow gates but unfortunately they always opened before school restarted haha.

I remember being surprised at seeing a mate in my neck of the woods doing a full shop, freezer goods, everything and asking why they didn’t go to their closest supermarket because they had tagged an additional 3 hours into their already 3 hour long journey just so they could visit a different shop...

Do not get me wrong your experience and input and advice are greatly appreciated, but I just need to reiterate, not all of us have someone as back up. I don’t mean to upset anyone by sharing my input so please don’t take it that way. We have devil icons but no angel icons....

That being said I live the midlands and our weather is a bit tamer than Scotland. I think I could probably get away with a sleeping bag and something else if needs be ( which was why I was wondering about a bivvy bag or mil-tec poncho myself ) but Scotland is a bit wilder and I’m sorry but I do not think a standard pop up tent will cut it (there are expensive ones that are supposedly 3 or 4 seasons you can get though but I haven’t read up on them), one of the bothy bags ‘Deeps’ (I think?) gave a link too in the Xmas chat would probably be more ideal / safer to have in case you ARE stranded somewhere in the beautiful wild highlands of Scotland.

Thinking about it, you could always buy a camo ground sheet or something if you wanted to practice being covert and then if there was an emergency your bag is bright orange which comes in handy when you want to be rescued. I personally would want to try out all my emergency equipment but if I don’t want to be rescued I’d feel bad in bright coloured thing, I’d rather go unnoticed if it’s for the “experience”.

If you do go for one of those awesome-looking many functions ponchos when I looked them up they all said mil-tec was the best (military designed etc) and you specially needed one with rip-stop fabric. But I think its like most things of that ilk, you need to get to know it to be able to utilise it properly.

But honestly check out this years Xmas chat as that may help, I was given some sound advice.