Lesley wrote: One thing I discovered is just how superior wool is over synthetic fabrics for insulation. I had a very thin merino wool undershirt on, underneath several layers - which kept me toasty warm. A very itchy wool toque was absolutely invaluable at keeping heat from escaping through the top of my head.
So it is warmer inside real sheep skin. Hell, Scottish farmers have known that for centuries!
I read an article about some people that started burning the upholstery in the car after it got stuck. Hypothermia is serious business.
Shaun fashioned a tea lamp using a hunting knife to open up a coke can. It didn't provide much heat, but the morale boost was immeasurable. It's hard to describe how horrible sitting in a freezing cold, dark car is, just watching that warm little flame made it bearable.
We dubbed it "Wilson".
Story will run in Toronto Star next week. :-)
aircooled wrote:Lesley wrote: ...We had half a tank of gas left, which we preserved by only firing up the engine three times: at 7 p.m., 12:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., for 15 minute intervals...Seems very conservative. I would think a half tank of gas could run a car for many hours, why so little time running the heater?
smart move to only run the engine as much as ABSOLUTELY necessary … you don't know how long it has to last (if this had been for real)
Exactly. We tried to make it as real as possible.
However! We were not far from the main highway. In the trunk was a tiny stove and a pack of hand-warmers (I have Reynaud's, no way was I going to risk losing fingers). Fortunately, we didn't need them.
wbjones wrote:aircooled wrote:smart move to only run the engine as much as ABSOLUTELY necessary … you don't know how long it has to last (if this had been for real)Lesley wrote: ...We had half a tank of gas left, which we preserved by only firing up the engine three times: at 7 p.m., 12:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., for 15 minute intervals...Seems very conservative. I would think a half tank of gas could run a car for many hours, why so little time running the heater?
There's a point to that. But 15 min of idle doesn't use much gas at all- for a truck like that, it can drive at 60mph for an hour and probably use 3 gal of gas. Most cars read empty and have two in reserve before one runs out. So if you stop on Empty, it's very likely that you could drive an additional 40 miles/40 min of driving. This uses a lot more than just idling. Heck, I would not just idle the car, I would torque stall it, and generate some heat.
The exercise does illustrate that one should avoid running out of gas in the winter. That would be really bad.
There was a young couple who got stranded in the snow trying to drive over a remote pass and got stuck. They made a lot of mistakes (as illustrated by a later survival guide) but did manage to survive. Whew.
Sounds like quite a story (and quite a lot of dedication to your art). Do you have any tips on what a car survival kit should include? I put a set of snow boots in the trunk of my BMW after the storm, but I'm wondering what else I should pack. I'm in the Atlanta area, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for anything - especially with the weather going all crazy; Atlanta's been hit with subzero temperatures once this winter already. I'm not sure that has happened before since the invention of the thermometer.
My trunk kit backpack has multiple ways to make fire, hand warmers, food, water, extra socks, first aid kit, poncho, windbreaker, glow sticks, duct tape, skull cap (toboggan to some of you), 550 cord, multi-tool, 55-gal trash bags, survival blanket, water purification tablets, flashlight, TP, and a few other things. It weighs about 15 pounds, so that's easy enough to throw on my back and seek shelter elsewhere if need be. I'm currently putting together a larger pack to keep with the car itself (boots, MREs, hand-crank radio, etc).
Doesn't matter if you're preparing for an earthquake, tornado, zombies, or whatever. I think the recent problems with snow leaving people stranded in Atlanta show that you're not crazy for having at least that much with you.
Obviously, come summer I'll trade some of that stuff out for more season-appropriate clothing etc.
Will you post up a link to your story?
Yep, sure will. With a list of what gear we had. Really scary to read about hypothermia's effects. Didn't know that it's best to leave extremities frozen, rather than thaw them out and have the cold blood re-circulate to the core. They're also more likely to recover from being frozen, than if they're thawed, then exposed to the cold again.
"How long to run the car's engine while stranded" sounds like a good Mythbuster's episode. If the goal is to minimize fuel usage while maximizing the opportunity to heat the car, is it better to idle? Rev? Run it 3 times? 6 times? How long?
I think Les Stroud did an episode in a car. If I recall correctly, he cut the headliner out of the vehicle and blocked off the back area to make the occupied compartment smaller and easier to heat. Whose XC60 was it?
Volvo Canada's press car. I really don't think they'd have appreciated that. Damn, if we'd left it idling, it would've been a piece of cake.
We folded the seats down to sleep on the cargo space - which was pretty roomy. But I didn't realize how much the cold would seep through every contact surface of the car. My hip is really sore from sleeping on it, and everytime I came in contact with the inside wheel arch, it eventually woke me up. Didn't sleep much, not surprisingly.
On cold days wool socks are a must. I throw a pair of those disposable hand warmers in my gloves every morning. For really cold days I have a Zippo hand warmer that I keep in my shirt pocket. It has a bit of a fuel smell but a few weeks ago I stood out side for most of my 8 hour shift and it made enough heat I would have to open my coat a bit to keep from sweating.
When I was a kid in the Boy Scouts(1950's) we used to go "winter survival camping" in a state forest in NW PA the week between Christmas and New Years. Our gear was mostly Army surplus(all that was available at the time). We would hike up into the mountains usually thru several feet of snow and set up camp for the week so we had to carry everything we needed with us.
I still have the wool Army mummy bag liners and put them in the vehicles the first of November each year. I'll have to check out those sleeping bags since all I have now is some "space blankets"
Also beginning in November I never let any of our vehicles get below 1/2 a tank of gas.
I did an over night in the back of a Buick wagon in 23F temps. Probably the worst night of camping in my entire life. There was ice on the inside of the windows by morning.
The cub scouts we took were all piled in a 10 man tent. I think there were 17 of them so they were stacked like cord wood and warm as could be.
Sounds like a pretty good story.
Combustion inside a closed vehicle is not a good idea. consumes oxygen and creates carbon monoxide.
Yeah, we had one tiny tea light. Cracked the window occasionally to alleviate any worries.
Count me in, when you do one of these in Key West
This is relevant to me. I drove to work, 13 mi, with no heat. After 20 minutes I was flat numb. I was bundled to the hilt and I was still cold. I didn't feel warm at work for the next 3 hours. Berk that, man.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:Lesley wrote: No, it was way too berkeleying cold to even go there. Besides, I really don't think his GF would have appreciated that! All kidding aside, it was a bit scary. The windows frosted over and my feet are still sore three days later. I'll post the story with vid link (his GF is a medical professional, and viewing the vids she remarked that we appeared to be in early stages of hypothermia).When/where does the story come out? My BIL has been trying to convince me to sleep in a tent hanging from the side of a mountain as part of his mid-life mountain climbing crisis... but I can see zero fun in freezing in a precarious position only to wake up... and have work to do to survive the rest of the day. (Unless maybe there is some snuggling involved first... but he is not that apealing, frankly)
You should do the porta-ledge thing GPS. Sleep on the outside. There is nothing quite like a sunrise when there is no ground below you. It's pretty impossible to fall out when sleeping. I'd still stay tied in though.
More on topic. I always tell my kids that they have to dress for a half hour walk when we get in the car just in case. Proper shoes, proper clothes for the weather.
A couple cans of Sterno live in an ammo box in the back of the car all the time, along with the space blankets, first aid kit, and some granola and such. I started carrying them after I discovered them while working a catering job in high school.
Lesley, it's a story.
You learned how to survive, learned the weak insulations points of Volvos AND you bought the kittys a month's worth of Kibbles.
Someone will see this and invite you to evaluate the big Phaeton in LaMaddelena. 
Dan
The first week of this bitter cold I learned the hard way I need anti-gell additive in my TDI. My fuel froze on I-75. I waited almost an hour for the tow truck driver. I was FREEZING!!! I can only imagine how cold you were. The thing is though, you could have ran the car the whole time with no problem. My wife left our minivan idling in the driveway from 6 pm to 9 am on accident. The needle didn't move 1/8 of a tank.
Yah, I know we could have. But we didn't want to - we wanted to push it, to explore what it could be like if the car was dead, if we really were stranded for over 24 hours.
When I was in Alaska last spring, the temps hit -50 at Coldfoot. We had anti-gelling agents in the diesel Sprinters and still had to leave them running all night.
good to know. I find myself a little more "free" of today's electronic grubbins.. I can do without them if necessary, but prefer not too. I learned that during the Derecho and Hurricane Sandy. I survived very well for those two weeks.
Wool is -the- best. Since I started sailing, I always keep wool sweaters around.
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