Making A Portable Shelter

By Author: Alex Wu
Total Articles: 62
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Making a portable shelter will allow you to carry your shelter when you plan on remaining on a hiking trip for more than just a single day. You can make a shelter with a couple of dowel rods and a tarpaulin. This kind of shelter is easy to transport to wherever you can find adventure.

Place a four foot by eight foot tarpaulin where you want your portable shelter flat on the ground. On one two of the corners of the tarpaulin tie a one half inch diameter, one foot long rope into the grommet holes on the same eight foot tarpaulin. These will be used to tie the tarpaulin to the posts that are standing.

Tie and thread the one foot ropes into the grommet holes on the two of the corners of the tarpaulin on the opposing eight foot side from the ropes that you tied onto the tarpaulin. Tie two more one foot ropes into the grommet holes where the two are placed in the middle of the tarpaulin on the side that you tied onto ropes on the corner. This will now provide the tarpaulin two, one foot ropes on the corners on the opposing eight foot sides and four, one foot ropes on one eight foot side.

Using a hammer, pound ...
... four of the six foot, one half inch diameter, spikes into the ground where the four, one foot ropes are in a line that is parallel to the side of the tarpaulin. Make sure that you leave approximately one quarter of the length of the spikes’ above the ground’s surface. Next, tie the four, one foot ropes of the tarpaulin around the four spikes that are already in the ground. This will secure the rear of the shelter to the ground.

Slide two of the one inch diameter, two foot long dowel rods into one end of the PVC connectors that is one inch in diameter that slip onto the post that is four foot long. Do this again with the other one inch in diameter connectors that are made from PVC that will slip onto the other one inch diameter, two foot long dowel rods. This will make another post that is four foot long. These two posts will make up the standing posts that will be used to hold up the front end of the lean to shelter.

On all of the corners on side of the tarpaulin that is eight foot long, where the ropes that are one foot long are tied to the corners of the tarpaulin, stand a post. Next, tie the one foot ropes to the top of the posts that are standing. This will elevate the tarpaulin four foot on the side that isn’t secured to the ground. This will make up the front end of the shelter.

On the top of all of the posts that are standing, tie a one half inch diameter, five foot long rope. Pound a stake into the ground with a hammer to approximately one foot out from the posts that are standing. Then, tie the other end of the five foot long rope to the spike in the ground. This will secure the posts that are standing such that the shelter won’t collapse when the conditions are windy conditions. You now have a completed the shelter.