Science minded people--help me engineer a simple structure to stay warm?

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Hutan said:
Have you thought about moving to a region that is warmer for the winter? A long distance bus ticket and a tent might be a quick and relatively cheap way to ensure a warm winter. I hope you can sort something out.
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I'm actually thinking about us trying this even for a short time. Especially thinking about Baja california. But we need to renew our passports ane my sister cant find hers so shed need to do a new passport application and its all juwt another thing to add to the pile of stuff to deal with. I think with gear we coukd probably handle a winter in death valley but also why not try a couple weeks camping on a beach in mexico or something?
 
I just know very little about mexico , both in terms of where people feel the best locations are for air, and also how safe it is to sleep outsife in various regions, and I dont know the language
 
NelliePledge said:
ETA sorry I now registered your budget so realise my comment about Lands End gear was a bit stupid.
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Its not stupid --we have to and will figure out more $$, and thinking ahead is never stupid. A lot of the cheap warm gear we've gotten at vegas Walmarts is not that warm. We do have long underwear but it simply doesnt feel that warm. So definitely looking for better stuff.
 
Lisa108 said:
Would setting up a gofundme be a possibility to get you some money, so you could rent a camper / garden hut / shed ?
I'd love to chip in to get you into a winterproof and heatable shelter (or at least some really good equipment).
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The other frustrating thing is I definitely have stuff--books, guitars, a computer, etc , both at home and out here in a storage space, tbat i could sell but simply dont have the wnergy to do it. I have asked my parents to sell some of the things but they have not. So i do have a possible revenue source not being tapped
 
I'm so sorry to hear you're in this impossible situation.

Some thoughts....do people in the US routinely abandon wooden pallets by the roadside, etc, from where you can pick them up for free? If I were having to sleep out, I'd do my best to build a sort of bed box (with sides and ends as well as a base), made from wood or pallets with the gaps between the boards stuffed with polystyrene/Styrofoam. Okay, it would probably look for all the world like a badly-made coffin, but it'd provide the basis of a really well-insulated sleeping cocoon!

In terms of clothing – as a wheelchair user who likes birding, I buy secondhand ski gear whenever I find it in charity shops. It's very well insulated and usually waterproof, and because it's bulky to store and there are families who go on a ski trip just once, people do give away perfectly serviceable stuff.

Sorry if none of this is useful. I've never visited the US, so I don't know what sort of stuff you can blag for free and how easy (or not) it is to find it.
 
debored13 said:
So what you're basically saying is my proposed xps foam tent wouldnt actually hold heat that well, ans that it would be way better to focus on retaining body heat?

My idea for the xps tent came from someone else who apparently used it to stay warm but i think she occasionally closed the ends too to stay warm and maybe that would be necessary to retain heat
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I think both strategies combined would be good. Something like an emergency heat retaining blanket wrapped around you, outside of good heat-insulation layers; the good ones are intended to help combat wind chill, which is a major factor in cold weather. But the tent would protect you from wind chill, which means with a bit of luck with the emergency blanket as well you may be relatively warm.
 
debored13 said:
So what you're basically saying is my proposed xps foam tent wouldnt actually hold heat that well, ans that it would be way better to focus on retaining body heat?

My idea for the xps tent came from someone else who apparently used it to stay warm but i think she occasionally closed the ends too to stay warm and maybe that would be necessary to retain heat
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Xps (had to google that!) could work well but could be hard to seal them well enough to keep the wind and draft out while still keeping enough ventilation. If you could build a small cot and seal the gaps well, then make a door out of a tarp or something that would protect against the wind it should work, but that seems like a lot of work. What I would be concerned about is ventilation, you would need to either allow some gaps or create a ventilation shaft to make sure you dont suffocate during sleep.

I agree with @Barry. If it were me I would get something like xps for flooring but keep the tent as it should work well for breaking the wind which as Barry says is the most important thing. If the tent is not doing a great job I would rather have an extra tarp layer than building something, and then as you wrote focus on retaining body heat. Even when crossing the Arctic they sleep in tents:) Having a small source of heating to use during the day would make it more comfortable when awake but I would not use one at night if you can help it as I would be concerned about fire and air quality depending on the heating source.
 
I saw a post recently in an ME Facebook group (can't remember which) with a lot of recommendations for layering clothing and footwear to keep warm when outdoors in a wheelchair for long periods in the winter. Can't look it up now but mentioning it anyway as I may not remember to come back later to find and share the post. Has anyone else seen the post I'm talking about?
 
Bee thinking back to my hiking and camping days (40 years ago, so they're buried deep!)

We were taught to wear a different set of clothes at night than during the day. There'll always be some vapour from respiration and sweating, and getting damp is the best way to get cold. Hang out the set that you're not wearing to keep them as dry as possible.

As well as ground insulation, make sure your tent isn't too big. You need to have enough space so you don't get condensation, but empty space allows heat to escape.

Always sleep in a woolly cap and socks, and never wear cotton next to your skin – it absorbs moisture very efficiently, but takes forever to dry.

Eat fat and protein at night, to give yourself energy to keep warm.
 
My ultimate goal financially is to have a trailer of some kind to live out of. An insulated metal box. I think that might actually save me money in the long run as far as being able to tolerate it. Have actually looked at selling the vehicle we currently have (which doesn't really work ad a camper) and trying to get a used ambulance , which is basically a very nicely insulated metal box on wheels. But I'm not sure if that will happen very soon.
 
I made the list, since some members expressed interest in helping out. Unsure if it would be okay to post the Amazon list though directly in the forum ...if it breaks rules , etc
 
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