Expedition gear

[HenryJ]

You guys want to get some crazy ideas for gear? Don't look here - RoverWorx

There is stuff there I never new that I needed

It does give me some ideas though

[HenryJ]

Came across this link - Waterweld

This stuff looks amazing. Add a roll of duct tape and you should have everything that you need.

[adrenalnjunky]

we need to start a thread (or continue this one) with links to other sources of info for others that have built up expedition rigs. Not just GM vehicles, because honestly, some of the best setups I have seen are on other vehicles...You can get your ideas from anywhere. The more ideas, the more you can adapt for your own rig...

Think that would be ok HJ?

[F9K9]

Well, I have this Swedish Brush Axe in mine

It has saved myself and KY National Guard HMMVEEs many times from having to walk miles due to a tree down blocking a road or having to back down a treacherous mountain trail by cutting a "turnaround" spot.

Even though it states that it has a 5.5" cut, you can cut much larger trees by attacking them in a circular manner.



A lot of people have never seen one but, once they do and use them.....swear by them.

Forestry Suppliers

[HenryJ]

we need to start a thread ...expedition rigs.

By all means start a thread

This one might suffice for gear, a good vehicle thread would be nice to see as well.

I love new ideas ..."Food of the Mods" ...wasn't that a movie with giant rats?

Back on topic, my Master appliance palm sized MT-11 Microtorch arrived today.



This looks pretty handy and should light the wettest camp fire, as well as and soldering and heat shrinking.

Next: I have been "gearing up" for a jaunt next week. Normally I pack a hard plastic 5 gallon Jerry can style container for water. This trip I will be packing more than the average expedition since we may be out for longer than our usual.
The load is including items that I have previously not carried , so available space has changed.
Somewhere here I saw a bladder bag placed on the floor board. I like the idea of conformable water storage that takes up minimal space when empty.

In my search I came across the Kelty 10L Insotainer(PDF)
It is a bladder bag with large mouth fill and spigot, in an insulated pack. The carry handle should attach to a roof rack, or spare tire carrier for dispensing. This would work well as a wash water bag. The 10 liter size will be nice for packing in multiples rather than just one big bladder.
It could also serve as a shower bag with the addition of a hose and shower head.

The above linked PDF file is all the REAL information I have been able to find , so far.

The pack is 12"x21" Prices seem to be running $12.50 to $33 US

Found some more propaganda with a picture -

Features
PVC/Polyurethane-free Novell bladder™ Durabag™ crush-proof technology
Practical storage size
Easy-refill handle
Fully insulated
Extra large filler cap
Self Serve Tap
Replaceable reservoir
Hanging/carrying handle
Additional attachment buckles
Taste Free™ liquid supply
Capacity: 10 Liter (340oz)

The Parent company must be Source Vagabond Systems as this is the labeling they come with.

They look good the bag is a heavy pack material with 1/4" of insulation. It is listed as being UV resistant. Quality looks good. Made in Israel.
There is a handle running vertically to the fill neck. This placement works great for filling the bag.The fill neck measures 2" ID. It has a threaded neck with a collar that holds the bag and a lanyard for the cap. The lanyard swivels in the cap so no problems screwing it on.
Across the top there are two more handles. One of them has a quick buckle for hanging. Nice that you have one to hold on to for hanging and one to hang it by. There are four webbing loops. One on each corner , with buckles. All that would be needed for linking them together or mounting them would be some 1" webbing. That stuff is really handy, so I carry a roll with me.
The spigot has a cap so that dirt doesn't contaminate it, and measures just under 1/2" OD. Tubing should not be a problem

Two year warranty on materials and workmanship.

Really looks durable. The liner is not real thick, but should be plenty thick enough in the heavy duty insulated pack.

The cap and valve are a "patent pending" leak proof design. I like carrying a 1L Boda bag while hiking, and this has a 1" long spout so filling the Boda bags will be easy, and without waste of water.

Replacement and cleaning/maintanence of the "Durabag" liner is done through a horizontal zipper across the rear.

I'm happy so far these really look like good units.

[HenryJ]

The Kelty Insotainers get two thumbs up
They are very durable and performed very well. The dust cap actually sealed well enough that when the valve was accidentally opened, it saved all the water
I would say they were well worth the investment, and a nice addition to my gear

The micro torch was a nice idea, but not as wind resistant as one might think. I had some difficulty lighting it after the voyage. I think a good box of stick matches may be of more value? Time will tell. I'm not throwing it out just yet.

[adrenalnjunky]

Kelty gear is generally great stuff - They do a lot of private-labeling of some of their stuff too- which may be why yours came with a different brandname on it.

I'll have to say that $30 for a 10 liter container seems like a killer deal.

[HenryJ]

The head on my old hatchet is loosening, so I ordered a replacement today.

Gerber Camp Axe

Size was part of the consideration , as was design. 18" is the maximum length for the storage location that I have.

EDIT: Showed up today. It is made by Fiskars and looks good.

[HenryJ]

The camp axe is GREAT! Much better than my old one.

I came across this : Techni Ice Looks promising. I think I'll try some. If nothing else it is nice to have a hot or cold pack around.

[F9K9]

This may be the wrong arena to post this at but, I have done a little searching and cannot locate the correct thread. This concerns what to carry when hitting the trails. I had a brain fa_t last weekend on a ride and almost fried my CC. We had distilled water with us and I was able to continue after adding a gallon.

The downside was that I had to redo my coolant this weekend because the antifreeze to water ratio was drastically changed. The engine block plug really needs to be pulled to properly change your coolant. It is not fun but, it is getting easier. I will be carrying a gallon of 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and distilled water from this day forward on my off road rides.

[Griff]

Hey guys,

So I'm trying to decide what shovel to pack for trail runs. The two I've been looking at are:

• Gerber Folding Spade
• GLOCK Entrenching Tool

Any opinions or help would be appreciated. I know collapsible shovels have a tendency to break, but I'm trying to find one that's moderately usable.

[F9K9]

I have had nothing but, good experiences with Glock.

[HenryJ]

... I'm trying to decide what shovel to pack for trail runs. ...

• Gerber Folding Spade
• GLOCK Entrenching Tool

...Any opinions or help would be appreciated.

Either would probably make a fair camp shovel. I did think if I had only the two to choose from, I would opt for the Glock design.

Think about what you are going to use it for. Those a re designed to be compact and easily stuffed in a sack for hiking. If the primary use is trail runs, perhaps a regular shovel would be a better choice.
I like a "D" handle for digging in front of tires and under a vehicle. A 00 shovel is not huge like the "mankiller" shovels, but not tiny like a trenching spade. With that size you can dig all day long. Bigger requires a rest now and then.
Now usually you can not find a good 00 shovel with a D handle. You have a choice. Find one with a larger spade and cut it down, or add a 00 spade to a D handle.

I found this one and modified it.


First I used a cutting disc to serrate one side for cutting roots. Then I bobbed the point. I don't like a pointed tip, as it tends to deflect too easily on a rock. I also sharpened the edges.

The blade is formed .070 steel with an open back. The shaft is a wood core fiberglass wrap. "Bond" was printed on the shaft. The handle is plastic , perhaps ABS?.

It feels plenty sturdy, and the size is good. Small, but good.

I think I could bury an anchor point with this. It would take a while since the blade is small (6").

Overall it is now 26" long. The only other modification that I may do would be to weld a piece to enclose the back. This helps to strengthen the blade. I will wait to see how much flex it has first.

I have no need to bury my spare any time soon, so it may be quite a while before I really try this shovel out. I will use it the next time the need arises to move some terra
here it is next to my tire for scale-



It has really been a good tool. I have used it a few times, but no major digging so far.

Keep in mind that at least for Oregon, during fire the fire season and under restrictions all offroad vehicles are required to carry at least one shovel with a minimum blade width of 8". Mine does not qualify.

[HenryJ]

What do you pack in your "Scram sack" or "Bug out Bag"?

I use a High Sierra 2L hydration pack. In it I carry:
Gloves, cord, energy bars, light sticks, BLT magtags, knife, swiss army "tinker", flashlight, matches, headlamp, bug spray, sunscreen, bandages, antiseptic cream.

Here is a cool link: http://www.exxcess.info/

Bug Out Bag

The Bug Out Bag:
OK: Whole different set of circumstances; whole different intended purpose; whole different size and set of gear. Here we go…

The Bug Out Bag is meant to be that bag which you can grab on your way out the door, for whatever emergency reason, the contents of which can keep you alive for three to seven days. Some readers who live in truly remote areas may feel that isn't long enough. Other readers in urban areas are going to have a hard time imagining circumstances wherein they'll have to live out of a single bag for three days. Isn't there a Wal-Mart someplace?


The BlackHawk HydraStorm Force 5 pack / hydration system is what I use for my Bug Out Bag. It's available in three different colors.


Keep in mind as you read through this section on Bug Out Bags that they are meant to augment what you normally carry. Each day when you fill your pockets, or hook stuff on your belt - whatever those items are count toward your survival equipment. The following pictures show my daily carry items, and then what that looks like with the Bug Out Equipment added. It can get quite significant and you should be mindful that your body is your first weapon: if you don't maintain your health, then having prepared Immediate Response, Bug Out or Battle Bags won't make much difference. If you can't carry the weight of one of them walking for a half-mile without being winded then you have larger issues than what equipment you're carrying.


Bug Out Bag
My handgun with spare magazine, three knives (though some people find that extreme), a lighter and a flashlight. My cell phone - not shown here - also goes with me anytime I leave the house.


Bug Out Bag
Note what has been added: that is what would be stored in the Bug Out Bag and available to augment my normal daily carry: two more pistol magazines, another flashlight, an additional folding lock blade knife, a fixed blade knife, and spare batteries for the flashlights.




Recommendations for your
Bug Out Bag

No matter what budget you're working with, there are some things that you should always have in your Bug Out Bag:

- Food: MREs, dehydrated camp food, etc.
- Emergency Poncho
- Emergency Blanket
- Compass
- Fire starting / making items

The following items are available on our web site and are divided by Bronze, Silver, and Gold:


BRONZE
Maxpedition Condor
CamelBak Pakteen
Spyderco D'Allera
Glock Field Knife
Glock E-Tool
Inova X1 LED
HellStorm Goggles
Ontario SPAX
BlackHawk 550 Paracord
Utility Tool
Gloves


SILVER
BlackHawk X-4 OPSEC
Emerson P-SARK
Cold Steel Recon Tanto
Glock E-Tool
Inova X5 LED Flood
Wiley-X CQC Goggles
Ontario SPAX
BlackHawk 550 Paracord
HellStorm SOLAG Gloves
Leatherman Charge XTi Utility Tool
Motorola T7400 Radios
Magellan Meridia Gold GPS



GOLD
CamelBak BFM
MOD ATFK
Extrema Ratio Fulcrum
Glock E-Tool
Night-Ops Gladius LED Flashlight
Wiley-X CQC Goggles
Ontario SPAX
BlackHawk 550 Paracord
HellStorm SOLAG w/ Nomex Gloves
Leatherman Charge XTi Utility Tool
Motorola T7450 Radios
Garmin GPSMap 60C

Let me give you my example of potential emergency situations and you can adjust the logic to your own set of circumstances. Where I live, my county is surrounded on three sides by water. It's a peninsula. There is a nuclear power plant and a large natural gas storage facility in the county. They are located not too far apart. If something goes wrong at either one, I may need to "bug out" of my house pretty fast, not knowing how long I'll have to stay out of the area. Some of the items I'll include in my list of necessities for the Bug Out Bag apply to that specific set of circumstances (and I'll point them out as I go). Your specific set of circumstances will determine what you put in your Bug Out Bag. But as humans, there are some things we should all have. A last note I'll make is this: not everything listed here has to go in the bag. It can go on the bag in separate pouches or via bungee cords, or whatever you work out. The essence of the idea is that you should be able to grab the bag handle or shoulder strap and keep on moving, confident that you have what you need for several days. Here we go:

One pair of spare undergarments: socks, underwear, t-shirt. Anyone who has lived in the field for a few days, without benefit of hot showers and clean sheets, knows how refreshing it can be to simply change your undergarments. Clean dry socks are imperative if you're going to spend any amount of time on your feet.

Personal hygiene stuff: OK folks - this one is a no brainer. Soap in a ziplock bag or other watertight container, because you're going to need a shower at some point. Washing your hands will matter to, but you may not always have a water source or that much time. For that I recommend a small bottle of sanitizer. A toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss if you're so inclined. To take up the least amount of space I recommend travel size toothbrush and paste. These are easy to find and inexpensive. Toilet paper. Oh how I would have killed for this at times in the Army when we were in the field. Now, a roll of toilet paper - especially if it's the nice soft padded kind - takes up a lot of space. Not to be rude, but ask yourself how many times each day you actually need it? and how much you need? I'd recommend two relatively small rolls. Take an empty toilet paper roll and crush it flat. Then fold it in half lengthwise. Around that, wrap what you consider to be the amount you'd need for three days. Then do it with another one and put both in your pack. Believe me it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!

A fleece jacket or hooded jacket. Some folks like hoods; some don't. I like hoods simply because they can help keep you warmer by covering your neck, ears and head. The fleece holds warmth pretty well, even when it's damp. While you might be leaving during the day, you'll have to recognize that you might be stuck outdoors at night. Having a warmer outer garment is a necessity. Also, if you don't' normally wear a hat when you're leaving your house, include one in your Bug Out Bag. I'd suggest a "boony" hat: a soft polycotton hat that is commonly used by forward recon units in the various military services. Instead of a stiff bill that sticks out above your forehead / face, the boony hat has a softer 360 "bill" that protects your face, ears and neck from sunlight or rain. When you get one, wash it in cold water and set it out to dry. Once it's dry, treat it with a spray-on waterproofing chemical. You can get aerosol cans of these at most sport shops or hunting retailers. Once that has dried, fold the hat and stow it in your Bug Out Bag. You'll appreciate it down the road.

An emergency poncho: the cheap plastic kind you can get at theme parks for $2. Clear, yellow, orange… it doesn't matter. What matters is that it can keep you dry and takes up minimal space in the bag. Water saps body heat four times faster than air. If you're wet, you're that much more susceptible to hypothermia (loss of body heat / lowering of body core temperature). That's a bad thing. For as cheap as you can get these things, I'd make sure I included one in my bag.

A "space blanket": one of those aluminum foil looking blankets that come in nice small packages - just like the ponchos. I see them all over the place. Again, you need to prepare for day and night outdoor exposure. Retaining body heat is always a concern. This is a simple item that uses little space.

MREs: "Meal; Ready to Eat" - military issue food in a heavy duty plastic pouch. Depending on how long you think you might need to sustain yourself out of your Bug Out Bag, I'd recommend one to three at a minimum. You can live on ONE MRE per day provided you also have water to drink. Beyond these meals, I'd recommend you supplement your diet with power bars: Hoo-Ah Bars are excellent and one of them eats like a meal. If you're not into military food, or can't find it to purchase, any dehydrated vacuum sealed camp food will do. Remember that you don't want to have to carry a bunch of other items to make food - such as butter, sugar, oil, etc - so get food that requires you to add only water. Additionally, if you're going the dehydrated vacuum sealed route, you'll need a small cook set. You can get a "mess kit" which contains a pan, bowl, dish, cup and set of cutlery. None of it's pretty, but it works.

Shelter material: (room permitting). I've made many a "hooch" out of a military-issue poncho and a couple lengths of cord. It's even easier to do with the poncho and some bungee cords. The need for shelter works with the needs listed above to stay dry and warm. If you can't find a surplus poncho, get yourself a 4'x8' tarp. Something else that will come in handy for shelter making is a fifty to one hundred foot length of parachute cord, otherwise known as 550 cord or paracord. You can find it in a variety of colors in 500 foot spools. Buy a spool and dole it out among you and your friends. If you're creating multiple Bug Out Bags, you have enough on that one spool for between five and ten bags depending on how much you put in each.

Hydration / water: My Bug Out Bag has a hydration system built in that holds 3.0 liters of water. It is also equipped (as necessary) with a filtration system. If you don't have a hydration system built into your Bug Out Bag, then you will have to carry water bottles. At a bare minimum you need one liter of water per day. Water isn't light. Fresh water weighs about 7.5 pounds per gallon. Three liters is about 4/5 of a gallon (approximately). So, doing very rough math you'd be carrying about six pounds of water to start. That supply needs to be constantly refreshed. If you don't have a filter system (which is what I recommend) make sure you have a bottle of water purification tablets.

A basic first aid kit: In my mind, the most used item in there will be some type of pain killer, i.e. Motrin, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. For most of us, walking twenty miles in a day will be crippling the next day. Unless you are in decent physical condition, you should expect to feel the discomforts of your situation within the first day or two. Often, the emergency circumstances that forced us to bug out in the first place don't allow us to sit around and relax the second day. You've got to be able to keep moving. Because you should expect to be on your feet so much, moleskin is something you should have in there to help patch blisters on your feet. Keeping your feet clean and dry will help decrease injuries. More light is now shed on the need for that clean pair of socks listed above. Another thing that should be in your first aid kit is any prescription medication that you need regularly. Yeah, that means that you have to check and update your Bug Out Bag at least monthly. It doesn't do you any good to have expired medications or supplies in it. First aid kits will be addressed in a separate article. NOTE: I know people who advise carrying an Emergency First Responder first aid book. This is an excellent idea bearing in mind, however, that on the move in emergency situations, you may not have a lot of time to sit and read what to do next. This is an excellent reference tool to have available - but recognize it as something you can only use time allowing.

Fire making tools: I have "strike anywhere" matches wrapped in a Ziploc freezer bag in my bag. They are often hard to find and will eventually run out. If you can't find strike-anywhere matches, get regular wood matches and dip the heads in melted wax. It waterproofs them and helps them burn longer once struck. Put a couple dozen of them with a piece of scratch paper into foil wrapping or a film canister. If you don't have matches, a decent replacement is a flint bar - which you can usually find at K-Mart, Wal-Mart, or any outdoor store, and a piece of steel to scratch against it. To get a fire going using that method, you'll need some sort of easy to light starter material. Cotton balls soaked in Vaseline are a good simple fuel source for this. Pack a dozen or so in a small Ziploc bag, or get yourself some empty film containers and use those.

Speaking of film canisters, if you have a couple of them, fill one with a couple of small fish hooks, four to six lead shot weights, and some fishing line - about 15-25 feet worth. Wrap the line around a small piece of cardboard and tape it down with a piece of first aid tape. Anywhere you can find to fish, you can then find food. Extreme to think this way? Maybe. But I'm working on the presumption that you ran from your house because of a dire emergency: the kind of emergency that tends to interrupt regular services we have come to depend on such as grocery stores and gas stations. Hence, fish and walk.

Lights and tools: Bearing in mind that I would have my Glock 9mm pistol on, and at least one knife in a pocket, there are items that I'd make sure I had in my Bug Out Bag to support that weapon, and to answer other utility needs not met by the gun / knife. First is two spare magazines for that pistol. Assuming I have just the gun, then the two spare magazines provide me back up ammo. Man is an aggressive predatory animal at times, and you may need that protection. If not, the 9mm is sufficient to hunt small game (if you're good enough). A separate folding lock blade knife. Yeah. I know. I've already got one: why do I need another? Because folding knives can be broken. Aside from discovering fire and the wheel, using sharp tools is probably one of the best things that ever happened to mankind. Don't be without a knife. Carry a spare. Two is one. One is none. A utility tool: SOG, Gerber, Leatherman, etc. The pliers, wire cutters, can openers and other tools available on these can make life much simpler when you least expect it. As before, I am a believer in the LED flashlight. Put one in your Bug Out Bag along with a spare set of batteries for it. In fact, get a small container to carry spare batteries, and carry six spare batteries in a waterproof shock resistant container. Lights are used for so many purposes - all in support of our vision - and you don't want to be caught without one that works.

Leatherman Tools for your Bug Out Bag
Two examples of excellent utility tools from Leatherman. Avoid pulling out little pieces of equipment, such as replacement tool heads, in thickly wooded or wet environments. If you drop pieces in such places, they are lost forever.


Extrema Ratio for Your Bug Out BagIn addition to the folding knife I specified above, the Bug Out Bag should also have the next step in a cutting tool: a sturdy fixed blade knife that you can cut, chop, hammer and pry with. Isn't that abusing the knife? Yep. So you'd better have a knife that can take that kind of abuse. The Extrema Ratio Fulcrum S knife, shown right, is just such a knife. And its sheath is designed to allow you to wear it high on your belt or low strapped to your thigh. I recommend a weak-side carry. For all your knives you are going to need a knife sharpener. The most compact and easiest to use I've found is a decent ceramic one. Shop around and get what you're comfortable with. You need to be capable with it - or you'll simply ruin the blades.

Digging Tool: Otherwise known as an "entrenching tool" in the military. It doesn't have to be big, it just has to work. Glock makes an excellent collapsible shovel and you can find surplus collapsing military issue entrenching tools as well.

Last few items:
You should have maps of your home area and the surrounding geography. If these maps show topography, then all the better, but you have to be able to see natural obstacles before you get to them. "Over, under or around" is what you have to figure out when you meet an obstacle. It's far better to avoid it well ahead of time by altering your route a little, rather than having to double back and rewalk precious landscape because you couldn't look ahead. Since maps are useless unless you can confirm the direction you're heading, get - and learn how to properly use - a decent compass. An expensive compass isn't necessary: just a simple compass that you can drop in your pocket or even strap on your watchband. Just make sure it works. Often you get what you pay for. One word of caution here: lots of folks read that map and compass bit and thought, "Heck no. That's what GPS is for." GPS requires batteries too, and there are man-made disasters that can occur that will make your GPS inoperative. Even if you have that GPS system and it works well, you'll need a backup in case the batteries die or you lose it / break it. Here again we say: redundancy is good: two is one. One is none.

A 2'x2' sheet of clear plastic. There's this thing called a "solar still". Earlier I talked about the necessity of staying hydrated. Carry water, or find water to filter / purify. Another source of water, believe it or not, is pure air. The humidity is never zero percent. There is always water in the air. You just have to know how to collect it. With that 2'x2' piece of clear plastic and a cup, you can pull water out of the air all day and night. Rather than getting into the "how to" part here, I'm going to write a separate article that will have basic survival skills described. I'll detail how to build a solar still there.

Electronics: I'm a very basic guy. I tend to believe that man did just fine getting along before electricity, and although we'd all be miserable for a few years, we'd find a way to survive without it again tomorrow if that's what happened. However, just because we can get along without it, doesn't mean we should necessarily force ourselves to. So, while I have basics like maps and compass listed above, today's reality is that a GPS system is much faster, and sometimes easier to teach someone to use. So, I'd recommend the Garmin GPS system with appropriate building maps. If you're going to carry the unit, then you have to carry spare batteries too. Also, since none of us ever expects to actually Bug Out alone, and if we do, we expect to find friends / family along the way, communications capability would be a good thing. Get yourself a set of dependable Motorola radios - the kind that have a five mile line-of-site range. Remember the spare batteries for these as well.

Due to my particular circumstance with the nuclear power plant nearby, I'd include iodide tablets in my bag. Why? Because they block absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland. While lots of folks think that may only be necessary near nuclear facilities, it's something you might consider if you live near any big city. In today's world of terrorism, where we can read about "dirty bomb" plans regularly, radioactive poisoning is something we should all plan against.

[HenryJ]

Firestarter: Blast Match Fire Starter

Everyone who goes outside should have a fire starter. Why not carry the one packed by those most at risk of facing extreme conditions?

Designed for all-weather use, this fire-starting system performs superbly in the most extreme marine, arctic, desert, and jungle environments. The Ultimate Survival BlastMatch™ was designed for Air Force fighter pilots at risk of being shot down in rugged terrain, or the mountain climber contending with challenging alpine weather. People like these need a fire starter that is operable with one hand in case of injury, won't surprise you by running out of fuel, and never fails to light in the wind, rain, or snow.

Survival Inc.'s Product Development Team, led by a former U.S. Air Force survival training expert, crafted a durable, lightweight tool so innovative it has a U.S. patent. The BlastMatch™ generates a stream of sparks three times the heat of a standard match and easily will light any material (wood, paper, bark, cloth, or man-made fire starting tinders) that a match will ignite. You can accurately aim the sparks to ignite a roaring fire in any weather conditions. If the BlastMatch™ becomes wet, simply wipe it off and it is ready for use. In combination with Survival Inc.'s Ultimate Survival WetFire Tinder™, and all weather starting tinder, you can start a fire even in the driving rain.

At the heart of the BlastMatch™ is a custom bar of high performance flint material. Spring loaded for compactness, the flint bar also rotates 360 degrees to help prevent uneven wear and tear. A tungsten carbide striker build into the striker button is set at the perfect angle for maximum sparking - taking the guess work out of starting a fire. Incorporated into the BlastMatch™ is a safety feature to prevent inadvertent ignition when accidentally plunged. The unique design requires the operator to press the thumb button in order to engage the striker mechanism. As with all of Survival Inc.'s Ultimate Survival products, the BlastMatch™ has a lifetime warrantee, and will be replaced if you ever wear it out

SPECIFICATIONS:
• Material, Flint Unit: 0.5-inch (1.3 cm) diameter spring-loaded flint bar in ABS case
• Length (closed): 4 inches (10.2 cm)
• Weight: 2.7 oz (76.6g)

[HenryJ]

I picked up one of these sets on sale quite a few years ago for $80:



GearWrench & Socket Tool Set - Metric
Part: NHT GW80157
Product Line: NAPA Hand Tools $98.49
(This part can only be purchased from your local NAPA Auto Parts store.)

The wrenches are not shown, but they store in the lid.
Really a good truck set. It has a driver and bits that cover allen, torx, screw driver and a few more. Wobble extensions, two multi tools and sockets to cover the basics.

It turned out to be the perfect truck set. Nice size. Stows easily. Covers most trail tasks thus far.
I am tempted to grab another for the shop. Just for a quick grab and carry set.

I also carry one of those cheap "Wallyworld" ratcheting six point battery wrenches. Those are handy for checking battery bolts. A twelve point will round them off most times. I have used it more on others than my own, but still a handy tool to drop in the armrest stow.

[HenryJ]

I have been watching Katadyn and other filters for a very long time. Finally I found something that makes sense to me for a water purification system.

Homemade Berkey Water Filter

Simplicity. Compact, adaptable, simple. No power needed. For the quantity of filtered water the price is very good.

I found a pair on ebay with a purification bottle for $99 shipped.

[HenryJ]

Survival Sack, Bug-Out-Bag, Scram Sack, Ditch Bag. I call mine a "Bug-out-bag". It is carried in my truck all the time. My wife has one as does my son. Mine has a bit more than theirs.

Water is first and foremost. My wife carries 2L and my son 2L and I carry 3L.

My pack updated to a surplus military day pack. I went through it and made a few changes this year. My son, now bigger inherited my old pack.
In my pack I carry in no particular order:

• Binoculars
• Multitool
• Knife
• Knife sharpener
• Granola/energybars
• electrolyte drink mix packets
• Lip balm
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Blastmatch (steel and flint)
• Vaseline soaked cotton balls (fire starter)
• Parachute cord
• Rite in Rain notebook
• Rite in Rain pen
• Single "A" cell tactical LED flashlight w/ spare batteries
• Hand crank LED headlamp w/battery back up
• Kite and string
• Gloves
• First aid kit w/ aspirin, bandages, feminine hygiene pad, Neosporin, catgut and needle
• Emergency blanket
• Storm whistle
• Chem light stick
• Bandanna
• Shock cord and hooks
• Netting
• Mosquito net for head
• Oregon Scientific UV / temp gauge
• VX-7R ham radio w/spare battery and longer range antenna
• BLT Magtags
• SS signal mirror
• Compass
• Carabiners x2
• Berkey filter water bottle
• Spare water bladder with tube and bite valve

That covers the stuff in the bag. Hopefully I am properly clothed , have a good hat , sunglasses and boots with me. The LED light on my keychain would also be helpful as it does SOS. The camera is along on a hike as would be a cell phone if I was in an area of coverage. My CCW varies on the season so that would likely be with me too. Depending upon the circumstance I would also strap on my big Buck knife and a saw or camp axe. I keep that kind of stuff in the trucks toolbox, along with quite a bit more.
If I want an indefinite solution I hitch up to the BLT Offroad Trailer. It stays stocked and ready to go all the time. Load up the TW200 , KLR and I should be set for a little while

I recently put together a "Two bucket Berkey filter" That can now offer us at least 6000 gallons of purified water. I keep it with a couple of the Costco Emergency food supply buckets. If disaster strikes it doesn't hurt to have a few resources.

My house is wired with a manual power transfer switch. Each of us have practiced deploying the generator. That will run the well and provide water. Our heat is natural gas. That can also be used for cooking. If that fails I keep 40 gallons of propane on hand. I have not practiced changing the jets in the furnace, but I have them and the directions on hand. If that runs out we would opt for the white gas and eventually regular unleaded.
With the food supply that is normally in the house we should be good for a very long time.
Bug-in first, bug-out as a last resort.

The important part is just having done some preparation. Disasters come in all sizes. It can be as simple as losing your income. Having food stockpiled for such an emergency is not a bad idea.
Not all disasters include Zombie hordes

[riceburnr2005]

good stuff!!!