220 lb (100 kg) canoe down to the water for its test launch. The beauty of a dugout is that even though it is less stable than a modern canoe, it won’t sink if you capsize, even when filled with water.
Tell the time without a clock
Whether it’s day or night, so long as you can see the sun or moon, you can estimate the time to within an hour by observing their position in the sky.
DAYTIME SUN METHOD
1. If you are in the northern hemisphere, face south; if you are in the southern hemisphere, face north. The sun always rises in the east and takes between 10 and 14 hours to travel in an arc across the sky before it sets in the west.
2. For this example, let’s assume you are in the northern hemisphere. Facing south, look at the position of the sun, then estimate how many hours of daylight there are today (if it’s high summer, you can expect about 14; if it’s spring or autumn, about 12, and in winter it will be about 10).
3. Mentally divide the 180-degree sweep of sky into equal parts, according to the number of hours in the day. If it’s twelve hours, then there will be six hours on the eastern half and six on the western half.
4. If you know how many hours ago the sun rose, you can then count from sunrise to find the approximate time.
5. The sun should be directly in front of/above you at noon, although this doesn’t allow for daylight saving hours. Also, in a country with several time zones, you must allow for your position within the country, either adding or subtracting half an hour.
NIGHTTIME MOON METHOD
1. If you are in the northern hemisphere, face south; if you are in the southern hemisphere, face north. The moon always rises in the east and takes between 10 and 14 hours to travel in an arc across the sky before it sets in the west.
2. For this example, let’s assume you are in the northern hemisphere. Facing south, look at the position of the moon, then estimate how many hours of darkness there are tonight (if it’s high summer, you can expect about 10; if it’s spring or autumn, about 12, and in winter it will be about 14).
3. Mentally divide the 180-degree sweep of sky into equal parts, according to the number of hours in the night. If it’s twelve hours, then there will be six hours on the eastern half and six on the western half.
4. If you know how many hours ago the moon rose, you can then count from moonrise to find the approximate time.
5. The moon should be directly in front of/above you at midnight, although this doesn’t allow for daylight saving hours. Also, in a country with several time zones, you must allow for your position within the country, either adding or subtracting half an hour.
Build an igloo
An igloo is a shelter built out of snow, which is traditionally associated with the Inuit, but it was predominantly used by people of Canada’s Central Arctic and Greenland’s Thule area.
Snow is a good insulator, so even if the temperature outside is -49°F (-45°C) the inside temperature can reach 61°F (16°C) from body heat alone.
1. Use a snow saw or large knife to cut your building blocks from an area of compacted snow. Each block should be approximately 16 in (40 cm) high, 8 in (20 cm) wide, and 4 in (10 cm) thick (so the thickness of the igloo walls is 4 in [10 cm]).
2. If you can’t find compacted snow, fill a large loaf pan with snow to make your bricks. Bash the pan on the ground to compact the snow and press it down firmly with your hands, then place the pan upside down on the ground and tap the snow brick out as if you were building a sandcastle. The sloping sides of the pan also provide a ready-made tapered brick edge to allow the bricks to slope inward to form a dome as you build upward.
3. Lay a circle of bricks to form your base, leaving a gap at the downwind side wide enough to crawl through. This will be your entrance. Lay a short corridor of bricks three bricks long leading from the entrance.
4. Fill the gap between bricks with snow, and pat the snow where the bricks meet the ground to form a secure base.
5. Use a knife to angle the top of the first layer of bricks so the outside is slightly higher than the inside. Then add your second layer of bricks, overlapping the first layer so that the end of one brick starts in the middle of a first-layer brick (like building a brick wall). The second layer should slope inward slightly so you can begin to see a dome forming.
6. Repeat Step 5 until you have built several layers and are left with a small, round hole at the top. Also use bricks to put a roof on your entrance corridor.
7. Cut a large tapering circular brick (like a giant bath plug) slightly larger than the top hole to plug the final gap, then fill in all the cracks between the bricks, inside and outside, with snow. Cover the igloo floor with compacted snow to reduce heat loss into the ground.
8. Make several ventilation holes in the roof using a stick. This prevents a potentially fatal buildup of carbon dioxide inside the igloo without losing too much heat.
Gut and clean a fish
This technique works for most fish (except flat fish, which requires a different method). If you have caught the fish yourself, gut and clean it as soon as possible (professional trawler workers do it on the boat, so their catch is ready to sell when they hit the shore).
1. Run the fish under cold running water and then dry it with paper towels. This removes the slime and makes it easier to handle.
2. Use a genuine fillet knife and sharpen it before you begin. Its thin, flexible blade practically shapes itself to whatever you’re cutting, making your job much easier.
3. If the fish has large scales, remove them, because they can harbor bacteria and get stuck in your teeth. Run the back of the knife along the fish’s body. If the scales are quite large, some of them will come away, indicating that the fish needs complete descaling (if the scales don’t detach, they can be left alone). Keep scraping with the back of the knife to remove all the scales.
4. If you want to skin the fish, split the skin down the fish’s back, loosen the area around the fins, and then peel away using pliers.
5. Place the fish flat on a chopping board, with the belly facing you. Press firmly on the fish with your free hand to stop it from moving, while making a slit from underneath the chin all the way along the belly, between the dorsal fins to the anal fin.
6. Remove the guts. Make sure you remove the brownish-red line that runs along the spine (the kidney line).
7. If you want to keep the head, remove the gills. Remove the head by lifting up the pectoral fin and then cut underneath it using an angled
