Simple Shopping Cart Tarp Shelter

[Murph]

Not my idea, but I figured it was worth sharing.

[airexurb]

well...have you tried it? I expect your write up on spending the night in a shopping cart shelter by friday.

also, that made me think of this:

[Murph]

They make good chairs too!

[airexurb]

[Murph]

I see your dragster and raise you monster truck!

[A.C.E.]

Looks like a decent way to spend a night. Maybe a little high profile for urban tshtf use. But if you could hide away or keep guards then I guess it'd work.

The problem as I see it is that it looks like a shelter, or at least something man made.

Definately an elegant way to bring your stuff and all you need to build your shelter with you.

[DeadCanadian]

I never trust so called survival books where you never see the author actualy do the things he talks about, all you find in line drawings and no real proof that the author is walking the walk and not just repeating stuff he did 40 years ago in 'Nam but never touched since that 1 year tour.

This is no different, the amount of stuff you need for it (though I can substitte some things for others) is just too much to find in one spot or to carry around. Better to focus on what you can carry.

[Murph]

This is no different, the amount of stuff you need for it (though I can substitte some things for others) is just too much to find in one spot or to carry around. Better to focus on what you can carry.

Agreed, the milk carts aren't as easy to find as a shopping cart. I'm sure you could substitute plenty of things for then. Cardboard boxes, lawn chair, pallet, etc.

[TacAir]

EDAR project - site was larger photos


For those that insist on living in a real carboard box.

[BullOnParade]

In November 2009 I did a night in a cardboard box for a fundraiser with "out of the cold" to raise money for local homeless shelters. Some girls in the group thought I was stupid and spent the night in a three season tent. At 2 am I was woken up by one of the girls to ask me to help them pack up their tent so they could go home, none of them were able to sleep due to how cold they were.

The next morning we had a thick frost on everything. Admittedly the box was closed on all sides, and I had two large blankets with me, and a 7 degree (celcius) sleeping bag I wasn't using. The box was from a largescreen tv, I had to curl my legs to fit in, it wasn't even shoulder width, I had to sleep on my side. In a pinch, I could do it again, would it get me through a night in a mid-Canadian winter? It would be tough, the box would likely be too warm and melt any snow that fell on it, making it soggy and lousy shelter.

[Dawgboy]

Seems like 2 sticks, 2 ropes, and 2 stakes would be a lot easier to come by once you have the tarp... The cart would be useful as one end though...

[rsnurkle]

Re: shopping cart shelter. Interesting idea, but I'm suspicious that there would be a lot of other ways to more efficiently/expediently setup a shelter with urban materials. This does not provide an insulated area for sleeping, would not necessarily hold in a significant wind, might collect water in a rain storm if you aren't careful with the opening flap, and even though the shopping card has a wedge in its wheels, it can probably still shift, and both it and the milkcrates could probably be knocked over and compromise the whole structure. Yes, it requires less string and the ubiquitous sticks that backwoods survivalists love, and maybe takes less time/effort than assembling an good insulated cardboard box, but I'm not sure the trade off is worth it.

In November 2009 I did a night in a cardboard box for a fundraiser with "out of the cold" to raise money for local homeless shelters. Some girls in the group thought I was stupid and spent the night in a three season tent. At 2 am I was woken up by one of the girls to ask me to help them pack up their tent so they could go home, none of them were able to sleep due to how cold they were.

The next morning we had a thick frost on everything. Admittedly the box was closed on all sides, and I had two large blankets with me, and a 7 degree (celcius) sleeping bag I wasn't using. The box was from a largescreen tv, I had to curl my legs to fit in, it wasn't even shoulder width, I had to sleep on my side. In a pinch, I could do it again, would it get me through a night in a mid-Canadian winter? It would be tough, the box would likely be too warm and melt any snow that fell on it, making it soggy and lousy shelter.

Nice, basic insulation rules for the win. (Assuming your fellow fundraisers later thought about why they were cold and you weren't, and then learned something for an emergency or another fundraiser...) As for the melting cardboard, you could probably find some plastic pieces to put over top of it and keep the snow from soaking in.

[dukman]

I don't get what is so simple about that shelter. I would say "simple" would be a garbage bag used as a sleeping bag stuffed with newspaper. Using a shopping cart, maybe using a single weighted crate as to weigh down one end and having the other draped up and over the long side of the shopping cart.

If you were in the urban PAW, using a shelter like that would make it easier for others to see you, and being in a "taj mahal" of shelters would make you a bigger target.

[phil_in_cs]

the cart needs a rear view mirror

[maldon007]

Pretty sure those milk crates would topple, unless full of heavy stuff... If not from the weight of the tarp pulling laterally, then from the first stiff breeze. Yeah, go with stakes/sticks for your tent, I think. Maybe cart in the center, with center pole down through it, to help hold the pole steady. Crates for chairs inside... win! (as much win as living outdoors may provide, anyway)