The car

[Mortblanc]

Oh but I still can!

The model I purchased is one of those units that has no bracing between the boot and rear seat. I can fold down the rear seatback and fold forward the passenger seat back making a nearly flat sleeping surface with my feet sticking into the boot.

It is not a place I would like to spend my vacation, but it is better than a nylon tent for an emergency stay in any of our various bear infested areas.

[Pete Grey]

You once said the worst car you’ve driven gives better protection than the best shelter you can build.

Wind, water and bear proof ?.

[Mortblanc]

When did I say that? I have forgotten!

Anyway, I was right. I'm a freekin' genius!

All it takes is several nights with no sleep on top of an open faced shelter on the Application Trail while a bear circles just below you to convince you that all those "how to deal with a bear in the woods" instructions are crap.

Critters in the woods consider humans in sleeping bags tasty burritos.

I also, through practical experience, discovered early on that building a "bushcraft shelter" in adverse conditions is a waste. It is the reason our ancestors turned their shelters into huts and their huts into houses.

Better to look for shelter than try to build a shelter. The absolute best you can hope for is to find a sheltered spot to build your hovel and hunker down and pray for daylight.

Your automobile is windproof and water proof. Automobile seats are much more comfortable that lying on the frozen ground or wallowing in the mud. A "space blanket" over the seat backs and a tea light candle in a coffee tin on the floor, while you consider the merits of the cheap sleeping bag you bought, will be more warmth for a longer period than a campfire in front of a brush lean too.

Anyone that tells you that they had a pleasant and comfortable night in a brush hut with a foot of snow on the ground under and around them is being graded by some one for their attitude!

[Pete Grey]

Genius ?........... they do say self praise is no recommendation, Ha Ha Ha.

That’s a good post MB, anyone who thinks they can escape to the woods, build a shelter and hunt and forage food live in a dream.

[CharlesHarris]

I have done overnight in a car immobilized on I81 during a blizzard when nothing was moving. I did not run the engine for heat to conserve fuel. Instead a burned a candle in a soup can heater for heat and light, bundled up in a 2kg wool military blanket and wore my Navy watch cap and mittens. I keep a battery powered AM/FM radio in my Get Home Bag and listened to that instead of draining the car battery to listen to the car radio. Important to keep two windows cracked 1 finger width for ventilation. Monitored 2meter ham radio on portable. Slept intermittently but was not uncomfortable. Just bored. Log jam cleared 12 hours later and felt good to eventually get home in front of wood stove with strong tea spiked with Admiralty rum with blanket and cat.

[Pete Grey]

It can happen anywhere Charles, to anyone, even the best prepared in a 4x4. All it takes is a few with no idea how to drive in bad weather getting stuck in front of you. This is why we need to keep a good GHB in the vehicle.

[bigpaul]

have done a couple of nights sleeping in a car, unable to ring breakdown service until the morning, in the days before mobile phones, but nothing recently. car is serviced annually and tyres and wheel alignment checked 3 or 4 times a year.
got a GHB in the car, have carried one for years but never had to use it.
have added yellow vests and a revolving warning light recently, also a longer wheel brace.

[Pete Grey]

MB, I forgot to ask, what do you now use to pull you trailer now the jeeps gone ?.

[Straight Shooter]

He pulls it Pete ……..with his teeth ! .

[Pete Grey]

(24 October 2022, 20:19)Straight Shooter Wrote: He pulls it Pete ……..with his teeth ! .

I hope someone puts it on Facebook .