Bury yourself in the sand

My first thought...stranded...conserve water and energy! Not dig a grave although...maybe thats the point! Keep ther vermin away and save the rescueres having to deal with the remains!

mmmm, not nice! I think I would be creating shade and conserving water ASAP! Not digging holes unless its a bushstill for water but I would do that at night!

Hi there Toytruck, same thought that just come to my mind. Steve M

bloody kiwi's will eat anything

Easy best food you will ever have (cooked right though) you need coals to make a hungie

u mean a Hunjy? I wouldnt call a 100 series cooked meat.

betterthananissananyday

yougottabejoking

closer to the bone sweeter the meat

nissanslooklikelard

Raises a good point: having tried to use a tarp as a sunshade last year in the Vic High Country when the temp hit 45C I found it next to useless. (Because of the nature of the trees in that area they provided little shade). The direct heat of the sun just streamed right through! Sure, it helped a bit (5%?) but I soon gave up on it and found a tree with a broad trunk the shadow of which I could sit in - albeit in a rotating manner :)

Does anyone have a recommendation for some material suitable for shade on very hot days.

In regard to the original post: the "dig a hole" thing sounds like something which someone writing a "Survival Manual" might suggest - the theory has some merit but the practice is probably pretty stupid.

Mike Harding

Hi Mike reminds me of guy camping next to us last year and they got sunburnt under there lightweight tarp.

A plain heavy duty silvered trap is what we use mostly out of convience and it really does work but is not quite as good as a tree because the underside isn't reflective as well , and its heat profile extends down about 300mm allow light air
currents to circulte hot air under the tarp (the higher the tarp the better).

As an experiment I have used double sided building foil silvered on both sides and it is as effective as trees however not as practical (not current stuff blued on one side).

What however really works best is a doubled tarp (two tarps) seperated by 200 to 300mm. Silvered side up and other silvered side down.

Now this is more trouble and we only do it if in one place for 2 or more days (rare).
But its not as hard as one might think , using a standard 12X12 tarp with 5 poles one in middle , the two tarps are just laid out one over the other and they touch in center when erected.
On the 4 outer poles , the lower tarp is clipped onto the poles about 300mm below the top tarp, with poles already set up for this its fairly easy.

The real secret of this though is that it allows the hot air below the top to tarp to circulate and flow away outside the area shaded by the tarps.

The system is as effective as tree shade.

Robin Miller

Robin.... exactly the principal behind tropical roof awnings on older pergolas, permanent caravan's and even some old Land Rovers!

We use shade cloth instead of a tarp to erect an awning off the side of the car. One corner attached to the rear of the roof rack, one pole 2-3' in front of the bullbar, and two more pole for the outer corners. Takes all of 2-3 minutes, only one peg and rope on each corner.

We find the shadecloth allows air to circulate, and it is definately cooler than using a tarp! Still keeps the sun off you - I've sat all day on the bank of Eli Creek under one of these watching the backpackers getting into and out of trouble!!

If in sandy area, scooping or digging a depression isn't a silly idea at all. It allows you to get under the vehicle (shade) and wriggle around without belting your head on anything.
The blue poly tarps allow too much UV through and you can get sunburnt easily. Better to go for some shadecloth.
Some deserts aren't easy to scoop ground away, better to lie doggo around a small bush.

Interesting Brian , didn't know that. Love to see old land rover like that to. We have a really big outdoor 4wd show on here in 2 weeks sponsored by LRV so must look out for some really old ones.

Carl / Footloose

Shadecloth can be good but you have to be alittle careful these days , around here a lot of 50% shadecloth is being sold and its cheap and I suspect many get caught.

I guess there are two factors at play , ruliny out completely light tarp ,the heat buildup under good trap is real, but even 90% shadecloth still lets 10% UV thru so I feel in would be a toss up between the effectiveness of the two.

Other factors are that while shadecloth lets hot air go , it also lets rain pass, so I guess one would make choice on there local conditions.

We actually take both , mainly because of the changeable weather here in vic.
The heavy duty single layered tarp handles everthing with exception of really sunny days, which have required either the second tarp or siting the main tarp such that by mid afternoon some additional tree shade covers it.

Robin Miller

Robin,
Have a look here...

www.eunos.com/keith/landy/

Click on some of the pics of "Basil" the Landy and you'll see the tropical roof. We had a neighbour here for the last ten years who had an old dead Landy in his yard, it had a Tropical Roof on it as well and it would have been a good project car, in almost running order, it simply needed bearings in the gearbox as a minimum to get it going. It was a similar vintage to Basil in the above link...

Cheers

Brian

Thank you Brian , worth looking at.

I could have been a landy owner , except that the very first 4wd trip I ever went on was in one and it broke an axle 100m into the bush.

Robin Miller

"I could have been a landy owner " ...

Yep... me too!!
I grew up in Sydney next to a family of machanics and the son that was my age had a penchant for Landy's. He built one up from a wreck, this was mid/late 70's. He treated it like a kid! I had no interest in it at all. Years later, my bride and I were on a 4wd tour to see the coloured sands on Teewah Beach in an old Landy. It was a lot of fun but still not my "thing". Our introduction to 4wd'ing was via a "rent-a-wreck" mid 80's Range Rover at Rainbow Beach. fell in love with that old banger!!!!!! Even have a pic of it somewhere!!! LOL...
Now I love my GQ and the fun it brings us, but I kept seeing the neighbours Landy over the last ten years and often thought of it as a 'builder", but he was the sort of bloke that would never let me forget where I got it from had I bought it.

Cheers

Brian

I used to be a Landy owner. It was the most uncomfortable *fun* you could have with your gear on. 100k/h downhill with the wind behind you. The seats designed to give you years of pain thereafter. Diffs that went bang, brakes that were useless in traffic. Couldn't talk to passengers because of the noise. But I loved mine........... until I got in a Yota.

That's GOLD Footy!!!!

LOL...

Cheers

Brian

>Then cover the head and body in an old bedsheet.

I always carry one on the off-chance.... :)

They keep one spare all the time in arabia...