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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 17:46:11 GMT 10
So ... inspired by the Russian bloke who does the Advoko Builds youtube channel I decided to field test a few of his concepts. This is experiment 1: A pallet wrap hut. I set a budget of $50 for materials. For the record a roll of wrap from bunnings cost $25 and weighs 3kg. I chose a location that is easy to get to but hard to find for this build. I wanted open space for a basic 'test' garden (to see what pests attack it) and proximity to water (to water plants only). I found a great little spot! The intention is to see how easy/hard this is to build and how long the construction holds together for. If it lasts a year I'll be impressed. I will be dismantling the construction and clearing the site after a year or when the structure fails. Whichever occurs first. (Click on pics to enlarge)  Tools and materials. Sharp scissors are mandatory for working with pallet wrap. Failing that a box cutter. Ordinary knives not that great. Missing from picture are cable ties. They are very handy too. I brought fishing line to see how that went for lashings ... waste of time! Duct tape and cable ties are fast and easy. Bow saw is brilliant for cutting and trimming smaller logs and saplings. Very light to carry which is a bonus.  General context of the site. A clearing surrounded by a dense thicket in every direction bar a narrow entry point. (finished hut visible far left)  Security feature: Impenetrable thicket of acacia surrounding the perimeter of the 'clearing'/build site. Keeps the kangaroo traffic out as much as anything; I suspect the hut may at some point take a thrashing from a large buck as they seem prone to destroying things for fun. I'm going to leave $10 tied to the roof inside so if any people find it they'll (hopefully) take the money and I'll know if the concealment failed or worked.  The first two saplings are joined. I used living trees as much as possible as they are well anchored. Twist them together and then apply duct tape.  The frame more advanced. Took about 20 minutes to get this far. A few frame parts are now cut lengths from nearby rather than living rooted plants. |
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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 18:03:38 GMT 10
 Hut frame finished with mid-rib and some diagonals to add rigidity.  Interior after first layer of wrap applied. I applied by standing inside and working the wrap in a spiral around the outside of the poles from the bottom up. I overlapped the runs by about 10cm then pressed the joins together to make them stick. The first layer is tricky and time consuming - About 30 minutes of work.  The hut with extra layers applied. I did a layer of runs starting from the apex of the roof and running down to the base. Then I did a final outer spiral wrap. I can stand up inside it and lay down full length in it. Its very warm when the sun is out. The triple layer of wrap is very tough and the whole thing is way more rigid than it looks. More rigid than a dome tent.  The enterance. Wider at the top to fit my shoulders comfortably. Narrow at the base to cut drafts. The opening faces away from prevailing winds and rain (of course!)  The view from the inside after multi-wrap and some concealment added to the exterior. |
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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 18:14:05 GMT 10
 Hut from 5 paces in most likely direction of view. (If click to enlarge some plastic is just visible in middle bottom area of the pic)  Parts of a chair I'm making. Actually I think I'll make it a recliner. The major problem with this site is that it would burn like the fires of hell in summer time. So if one were thinking of residing in such a location project 2 would be digging a serious fireproof below ground dwelling. |
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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 18:26:29 GMT 10
Jun 22, 2019 17:26:57 GMT 9.5 frostbite said:
Don't assume someone won't approach through that thick scrub. I've hunted in thicker stuff on my Qld property, sometimes even crawling. Still put an early warning system in.
If anyone wants to craw for hundreds of metres thru that ... best of luck to them. Even I go around these particular thickets. And its impossible to be quiet doing thru it.
I'm dismantling the whole thing in 12 months anyway. This is just a test site to see how the materials/construction technique works.
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Post by Joey on Jun 22, 2019 18:56:29 GMT 10
Nice little sweaty box come summer time lol, but at least it'll keep the rain off
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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 20:29:34 GMT 10
yep. it is definitely not a summer dwelling in its current configuration. Sitting in there on a 18 degree day with the sun out ... its warm.
I reckon in summer I'll slit the apex of the roof to let warm air out (easy to repair in an instant with pallet wrap) and stack a heap of branches around and over it to keep the sun off.
There's a nice copse of very shady gums 10 steps away and one future project will be to make an outdoor bed made from pallet wrap in there. Nice place for a summer snooze!
I'm contemplating building a covered fireplace out of the locally available clay ... but its a bit scary inside a hut make of shrink wrap plastic. If something goes wrong you'll hear about me on the national news.
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Post by spinifex on Jun 22, 2019 20:30:24 GMT 10
A hard packed floor made from termite mound mixed with clay is another possibility.
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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 23, 2019 12:46:13 GMT 10
Nice.
You should've slept in it last night - I was at my bol - sheet of ice on everything!
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Post by spinifex on Jun 23, 2019 15:13:01 GMT 10
     The first shot shows how good camo can be using natural materials. Half visible and half concealed. I never get tired of how invisible this structure can be. PROJECT 2: The recliner. Second shot is the two end frames for the recliner I built. I selected saplings with forks to give good weight bearing support to the upper frame members. Finding two matching forks with 'extensions' for the backrest took a bit of time. Third is the completed frame of the recliner inside the hut. I lashed all the joints with cable ties and duct tape. Each by itself makes for sloppy joints but both together make very firm joints. Lots of diagonal bracing required for rigidity. Fourth is the finished recliner with the pallet wrap added. About 10 rounds in three bands for the 'seat' (20 layers total) I put an extra band of duct tape several layers thick to strengthen the mid section of the seat. The backrest is about 6 rounds (12 layers). The finished item is very solid and exceedingly comfortable. However I note that the wrap does seem to slowly keep stretching so I think a better material for this application is good, woven lightweight fish net or a lattice made of light rope. Total build time was about 3 hours including finding the right timber to cut. PROJECT 3: The test garden I selected a bare patch of ground that gets good sunlight and dug it over with a geology pick. There is buckshot at 15cm deep and clay below that but the topsoil is a nice loam with lots of organic matter. The idea is I want to see how food plants grow in scrub. (I expect 'poorly' to be the outcome.) To the left of the yellow line I added a sprinkling of Ammonium Phosphate fertilizer (The arrow shows the white powder fertilizer) the right side of the line is just the native soil that I expect to under-perform compared with the fertilized side. I planted Faba beans, chickpeas and bushy field peas in segments on each side of the line. These are all crops that can grow on local rainfall but I may give them some extra water depending on how the season unfolds. I expect trouble from roos, echidnas and various insects, snails and slugs. If I had the time I would have built a pallet wrap enclosure to protect the garden. Maybe I will add that when I go back to the site in a couple of weeks time. For the moment I have a waist high barrier of dead tree branches to try and keep the roos away from the plot. |
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Post by Joey on Jun 23, 2019 18:39:41 GMT 10
For the air flow issue, you should cut the apex off so it's got a decent opening hole in the top and then make an "umbrella" over the hole at least 6inches above it. This will allow a perm air flow without worrying about rain coming in
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Post by spinifex on Jul 6, 2019 15:47:48 GMT 10
Checked on 'Camp Plastic' today. Everything still intact with no signs of wear and tear; which means the pallet wrap hut can weather storm force winds.
The test garden is just starting to have a few seedling emerge. I also planted a few potatoes in a new patch. And found some bioluminescent mushrooms.
Found a site where I'm going to make a different design of hut made from wrap. The next one will have design features for water harvesting and the use of a covered fireplace.
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Post by spinifex on Jul 13, 2019 16:49:43 GMT 10
Camp Plastic survived another bout of storm force winds with no problems. Still nice and dry inside. The test garden is full of seedlings now but some look like they are being chewed by insects already. Built a different design of hut today. It has more usable floor space and when complete will include a covered fireplace/oven.  The roof going on. I also left a few cut off sapling stumps inside at convenient heights for later transformation into a table and chair. I'll be dismantling and moving the recliner from Camp Plastic to this hut later as well.  Almost finished. Still need to put on some 'flashing' along the roof/wall joints. The doorway is lower left corner. Will put in some extra framing around it and also make a hinged door next time I get out there. Total build time to date is about 4 hours. Total cost of materials $14.  I took out a half bag of bread mix and made a nice little damper in a tin can oven. Pretty cold and a bit wet out there today so a warm lunch really hit the spot. I also left a 10l water box bladder on site (re-filled with rainwater)and will be bringing in a couple of 2L bottles of rainwater to the site to leave there every time I visit. I intend to bury them in a shallow pit to keep them in the dark so algae doesn't grow in them. |
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Post by Joey on Jul 15, 2019 23:45:41 GMT 10
Coming alone nicely. Have you thought about utilising core flute into the design for future? Plenty of core flute to be had around election time  |
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Post by spinifex on Jul 16, 2019 9:28:06 GMT 10
Core flute would make good door and window shutters. It would be a big struggle to get sheets of it to this site as the access is a very narrow and convoluted track.
I want to bring in a 20l square plastic drum, mount it on a tree trunk, fit a tube and irrigation tap to it for some basic running water.
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Post by spinifex on Aug 17, 2019 14:51:12 GMT 10
Update: Camp plastic remains intact and has survived quite a lot of strong winds (upto 90km gusts last week)  The spuds at Camp Plastic are going ok so far.  The legume experiment. Left side had the N and P fert supplement. Beans doing better with the extra fert. The Chickpeas (ferny stuff) are possibly doing better on the non fertilised side but have suffered from being eaten by some as yet unidentified pest. Possibly rodents. The bushy field peas (at bottom of photo near the sticks) are not doing well in either case - I expect they need innoculation with the correct Ryzobium bacteria to grow properly. |
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Post by spinifex on Aug 17, 2019 14:55:57 GMT 10
Another experiment. This time an improvised earth oven to bake bread and roast meat. (Side note:The handle of the small carpenters axe contains a space blanket, fire starting kit, a file to keep the blade sharp and a plastic ziplock bag to carry and collect water.)   |
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Post by spinifex on Sept 1, 2019 16:40:04 GMT 10
Spuds out at camp plastic are going well. Have had to supply a few waterings as the rainfall has been poor this winter.  |
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survivy
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Post by survivy on Sept 16, 2019 15:29:10 GMT 10
That's a great experiment. Looks like the plastic wrap will hold if it came through strong winds.
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survivy
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Post by survivy on Sept 17, 2019 11:00:00 GMT 10
Was thinking about this. You could trap lots of leaf litter and sticks between the inner and outer wraps to create walls that blend with the environment and also give privacy. Branches could be wrapped together to create roof panels that are also waterproof.
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Post by spinifex on Nov 17, 2019 12:24:27 GMT 10
Update:
I decided to check up on camp plastic lest it be incinerated in a bush fire during the summer. What has been learnt to date?
The dome design has held up really well. Still good as gold. The square design has problems. Has not stayed anywhere near as weatherproof.
The test garden has been really informative. I planted 4 or 5 seed potatoes of Dutch cream quite late in the 'wet' season. It's been quite a dry winter and spring but I only gave the potato patch about 8 litres of water in addition to the natural rain. That would amount to only 16mm of added water during the growing season with about 300mm of rain. (usually 500mm of rain is expected where the site is located)
Today the potato plants were totally dry and crispy. However they had produced 600 grams of small but excellent quality tubers. (I had some for lunch)
In a normal year with an earlier sowing and at least average rainfall I think the yield would go much higher - perhaps 2kg per square metre.
There were dozens of small tubers (walnut sized) so plenty to sow next year. Being out in the middle of nowhere with no other potatoes being grown anywhere near them they should be disease free and as good as 'certified' seed. Given the result this year I think it would possible to successfully grow quite a lot of potatoes in random patches along overgrown roadsides and in blocks of scrub where there are some clearings open to the sun.
I expected the chickpeas, field peas and faba beans to go better than the spuds ... given they are crops grown in fields nearby. Turns out they were a total fail. Potatoes, whilst always high on my list of staple survival foods have become even higher regarded after this little test.
Will post up a couple of pictures when able.
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Tools and materials. Sharp scissors are mandatory for working with pallet wrap. Failing that a box cutter. Ordinary knives not that great. Missing from picture are cable ties. They are very handy too. I brought fishing line to see how that went for lashings ... waste of time! Duct tape and cable ties are fast and easy. Bow saw is brilliant for cutting and trimming smaller logs and saplings. Very light to carry which is a bonus.
General context of the site. A clearing surrounded by a dense thicket in every direction bar a narrow entry point. (finished hut visible far left)
Security feature: Impenetrable thicket of acacia surrounding the perimeter of the 'clearing'/build site. Keeps the kangaroo traffic out as much as anything; I suspect the hut may at some point take a thrashing from a large buck as they seem prone to destroying things for fun. I'm going to leave $10 tied to the roof inside so if any people find it they'll (hopefully) take the money and I'll know if the concealment failed or worked.
The first two saplings are joined. I used living trees as much as possible as they are well anchored. Twist them together and then apply duct tape. 
The frame more advanced. Took about 20 minutes to get this far. A few frame parts are now cut lengths from nearby rather than living rooted plants.
