Primitive Technology: Building a Bed Shed to Sleep on Out of the Rain

Here's how to build a 'bed shed', a small, open air sleeping platform with a bed built into it. This will keep you dry and out of the elements.

Want to sleep high and dry when you're in a survival or wilderness situation? Then make yourself a bed shed.

Primitive Technology showcases the skills of a man who really has a knack for bushcraft and making something out of nothing. That is, if the forest can be said to be nothing. What we mean is that he takes nothing but his own two hands, his ingenuity and knowledge, and creates things that amaze us today, though they were commonplace just a few hundred years ago (and still are in some parts of the world).

Here he takes a little time and builds a sturdy bed shed, which can later be added onto and expanded as time and materials permit.

He admits that this shed is "not far from the dome shaped grass hut I built earlier." But this unit will do the job in offering a little protection from the rain.

He added a bark fiber mat to the woven bed for additional comfort, and built a small fire beneath the platform for warmth and as a mosquito repellent.

As for the benefits of this type of open shelter, he says,

"The bed is comfortable and keeps the occupant off the ground away from ground dwelling creatures at night. The smoke coming up from the fire keeps mosquitoes away while providing heat and light reflected back from the roof. In fine weather the fire can be placed in front of the shed in the open while during rain the fire can be kept under the shelter to keep it dry. If room is needed to stand up the bed can be folded up against the roof and tied to it using cordage."

It is really quite an efficient and adaptable structure in this regard. And by adding an opposite, mirror image structure directly adjacent to this one, you will have the makings of a complete hut. All you need do is add the sides to the open areas.

I would say that this is one of the easier projects he's undertaken, and if you can replicate this bed shed you will have practiced the skill set necessary to complete other, more advanced bushcraft projects.

Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.

NEXT: Primitive Technology: Make Your Own Shrimp Trap