Having a good bug-out location (BOL) is a goal for many preppers. Especially if you live in an urban area, you might want to be Elsewhere when trouble hits. If you’d like some thoughts on how to choose a location, you can find some here. Today is about the next step: Once you’ve got a spot, what things do you need to think about setting up to make it a livable place?
These ideas are suitable for a ‘cold harbor’. That means there is a good shelter (we have a prefab cabin), but it’s unplumbed and without electricity.
A little pre-fab cabin can be a great BOL, but it will need some setting up.
Setting up the water
Few aspects of a home have more impact on daily comfort than your setup for getting water in and out. To give you a feel for some of the considerations, let’s walk through the water setting (still in progress) at our BOL, The Place.
Hand washing is the single most critical bit of hygiene ever, so having a way to do that conveniently is very important. I love the Tippy-Tap system, and have one set up three steps from the front door, off on the downhill side of the cabin.
A hand-washing station that’s convenient will actually get used.
Showers are also a blessing after a hot day of work. For just a day or two at a time, as I use The Place currently, a dark bucket with a battery operated shower head is very nice. For longer use, camp showers that are black plastic bags hung on high poles with a shower head below are a decent unpowered option.
Even a simple camp shower like this makes a giant comfort difference.
Having some water in the shelter is important when the weather’s bad. If you’re having to haul water by hand, you can still build a sturdy shelf above where you’ll want the water to hold one of the square water containers with a good tap on it. A big shallow basin below can be a sink of sorts.
Setting up gray water removal
Gray water is water that’s been used for washing. You’ve got to get rid of it but isn’t not really hazardous. For outdoor gray water like the tippy-tap it’s cake: just make sure the water is released downhill from the shelter.
It takes very minimal plumbing to put in an internal shower or sink with gray water removal. I wrote a whole post on setting up your gray water here, so give it a read if you’re interested.
Setting up your toilet
There are a few decent options here even without plumbing. My favorite is the Loveable Loo composting toilets. I have a friend who uses one of these as their only in-house toilets, and it’s actually not bad at all. We use one at The Place too; but that’s not much a challenge as it’s mostly just Salty and me staying a day or two at a time. The company will either sell you stuff or give you free plans.
Some people prefer latrines. If you go that route, setting it up correctly is critical. I did some research to help with that job; you can read about it here.
Setting up to food storage
There are two main problems with food storage. The first is not sharing your food with those you don’t wish to share with: the Things With Many Legs. Insects and mice are the most common problems, though you may need to think about larger ‘guests’ like raccoons and bears in some areas.
Metal’s the best answer. Thick plastic will work too, but regular tupperware thickness can be chewed through by the enterprising rodent. Ice chests are nice for keeping opened containers out of harm’s way while still handy to the humans.
These are dead cheap, and a lot of boxed or bagged food can be kept rodent- and insect-safe.
The other consideration is temperature control. Most foods degrade faster in the heat and when subjected to repeated freeze/thaw cycles; some don’t work well after being frozen even once. That’s a problem in a cabin without regular heating and cooling. Our best pest exclusion answer at The Place is a shipping container, but we can’t keep food in it for lack of temperature control.
Old-fashioned root cellars are a good answer. They are no-tech, prevent freezing, and keep year-round cool. Their main drawback is in the setting up. They take some digging and building; more in some soils than others. This is on our list for The Place but is taking some research; the soil there is so full of clay that anything dug into the earth wants to become a swimming pool.
Setting up for comfortable temperatures
First and most important is to make sure the shelter is dry, and have some way to dry clothing inside. A single bad-weather camping trip will teach anyone that nothing sucks body heat (and good attitude) like being wet.
Think about prevailing winds when you set up the shelter. Is it more important to shield the main door from incoming wind (winter climates) or to be sure you have good air flow in hot weather? Can you site the cabin to do both? We bought extra windows for our cabin so we’d have cross breezes in every direction, and have been very glad to have them during the summer.
An attic fan is very useful for reducing heat buildup in a building with no AC. The styles they use on barns require no power, using the convection power of the hot air rising. Trellises on the south sides of the shelter provide some heat relief, particularly if planted with greenery to up the shade. Air passing through such barriers naturally speeds its flow and cools a bit.
For heating, we’ve had good success with ventless propane heaters. Bottled propane will outast our mortal coils, so can be stocked up. Just make sure you get the right kind and be careful setting it up. Here are some tips.
This is a lot like the model warming Salty and Spice when the electric is out: A wall-mount unit designed for homes and needing no electricity.
Keep warm and comfy in there!
For males, a slanted PVC drain pipe with gravel can make a good urinal. They use that all the time in the Middle East theatres.
A DIY dome structure idea – scribe a 10 foot diameter circle in ground and along the edge, insert 1″ steel pipe into ground. Using 1/4″ rebar, insert ends into the pipes to form a dome / igloo shaped structure for supporting tarp or other materials. Netting for bug free, sun net for sunny locations – versatility for easy work.
A shallow root cellar idea – a cooler, buried with only lid exposed and covered in ALWAYS SHADED location should provide a cool location. Not cold, but cool. Cover top and keep ground wet around the cooler, it should have some possibilities.