Today I revamped my survival kits because I had a dream that told me to get my act together.
cool what was your process?
Right now the trunk of my car is my survival kit.
It Includes:
A big tent
A little tent
Two sleeping bags
Tarps, rope, stakes
A dutch oven
a metal grill
flashlight
toolbox for minor repairs
magenesium, matches, and some fuel for a wet start
basic eating utensils for four
a kite? (that’s for fun)
old sweaters…
a plastic buddha
a cookie monster cookie jar
3/4 axe
handsaw
take away my books and my clothes and my crafts, and pretty much everything I own is in the trunk of my car.
Yeah my car inadventantly looks like that Tony. I’ve been meaning to make a planned survival kit. I’m not sure what’s in there now. I kind of rotates:
a big crappy tent
two sleeping bags and probably a blanket
sleeping pad
hiking backpack
matches, lighter, birchbark
machete
dandelion weeder
trowel
shovel
swiss army knife
hack saw
folding saw
a topo map
extra socks
jackets, rain, wool, cotton
fur hat, black beanie
umbrella
cross country skis and boots
probably a tarp
some ropes
condoms
plastic bottles
blaze orange poncho
flashlight
stale tobacco
vodka and mason jars for making tinctures
Not much I would need to do for my kit except add food and a pot. Field guides and survival books would be good too if I didn’t need them so much indoors. Silly Hypothetic Question of the Day: If civilization collapsed and you could take one book into the wilderness what would it be?
Thank you for sharing your lists. I reorganized my supplies into mini-kit, day pack, extended pack, car kit, and house kit. Each level up makes life more cushy. Carrying around my kits sometimes feels ridiculous, but mostly it keeps me feeling prepared and focused.
This is a great thread… I thought I was maybe the only one with a kit. Haha! The things you learn!
My kit doesn’t include a lot.
- Backpack
- Water filter
- Canteen
- Knife
- Small hand axe
- Disassemblable saw
- Wrist rocket (which I found the other day, the tubing has deteriorated)
- zero degree sleeping bag (definately not the lightest or most compact thing in the world)
- 16X20 Camouflage tarp
- 100’ of black nylon cordage
- Waterproof matches, a pack of lighters, dry tinder, bow-drill kit
- LED headlamp
- Garden clippers
- Pocket sanding stone for sharpening blades
- A few maps
- rain pants & jacket
My current wish list:
Machete
Dandelion Weeder
More maps.
muklucks and snowshoes
Scout-I know you want to make your own, but I bought Stegger mukluks and they were really nice when the temp was below freezing but now that the snow is all slushy they are soo soggy to wear even with waterproofing. Warm enough but not cozy. I prefer my leather-suprlus-east-german-army-officer’s-riding-boots for this time of year. Just something to think about in case most of the snow you encounter over there is slushy then maybe mukuks aren’t as important on your list.
I 've been a crazy paranoid conspiracy theorist for awhile, so I’ve been ready since Y2K.
one surplus czech infantry backpack
one survival knife (rambo style, with the emergency kit and whetstone)
one double-sided two color cloak(black and blue)
one 8x10 monocular
one box waterproof matches, 3 lighters
one surgical kit (scalpels, stiches, stats, etc)
one first aid kit (mostly cipro and bandages)
one saw
two waterskins
two flutes (gotta have some music)
two led flashlights
12 AA batteries
one US Army surplus tent half
50 feet of nylon rope
Various clothing (mostly socks)
one copy of “Edible plants of the Gulf South”
one copy of “Where There is No Doctor”(Highly reccomend this one)
one copy of US Army Survival Manual
one copy of “Battlefield Earth” by L. Ron Hubbard
I would like to score about $300 in gold rings for bartering with idiots to go in it as well. I didn’t include shells or my shotgun either.
The one book i would bring is definitely Battlefield Earth. 1050 pages of tribal guys whooping civ’s ass, then leaving it behind!!
R
What’s a two color cloak for?
Warnth, makes a great blanket or improvised shelter, night-time stealth, it also makes me feel like a superhero when I wear it.
eventually I am going to change it out for a bulletproof, stabproof, fireproof one, if I can ever come up with the 1000USD to make it.
I wouldn’t really call this a planned survival kit, it’s just the stuff I got on hand that I think could be useful.
-
Gear *
large backpack
small backpack
small single person tent
tent footprint, which also doubles as a small tarp
bowie knife
small leather knife
broadsword (could be useful, who knows?)
waterskin
first aid kit
flint, steel and char cloth
bow, drill, hearthboard and a bag of dried mugwort
compass
coffee can with coat hanger handle for cooking
50 feet of sisal rope -
Books *
How to Survive Anywhere by Christopher Nyerges
Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West by Gregory L. Tilford
I plan to get some magnesium and a swiss army pocket knife. A cloak seems like a nice idea now too.
Speaking of cloaks here is something useful for us survivalist type survivalists.
An article on EVADING THERMAL IMAGING AND RADAR DETECTION:
http://theindependentamerican.freeyellow.com/therm.html
wow that’s a great article. got me thinking…
why not shred those free magnets pizza places instead of the cassette tapes?
OR… sew a shitload of them into your cloak like dragon scales?
a cloak with this as the outer layer will beat any thermal imaging
http://www.bearclawmfg.com/o_hhf.html the pre-ox cloth.
The dragonscale of magnets to beat radar sounds interesting. you’d have to put em inside the cloak for it to be fireproof though.
Emily-
That link has some amazing info. CRAZY! What genius…“To avoid detection by radar, magnetic tape found in audio and video cassetts may be obtained and mixed into automotive or other paint. The vehicle may then be painted with this mixture. This mixture has the effect of scattering radar energy, rendering a much smaller and les effective return signal. With a less effective return signal, your vehicle will not appear to be what it is to those searching for you, thus you will have a good chance of being overlooked.”
god. I love it when people get crazy DIY!
Project of the Day:
Today I sewed a special extra-large tinder pocket in my winter coat. Here it is with the tinder and the cat that is going to go inside:
That’s paper birch scraps from an ornamental tree, but usually I use yellow birch because paper doesn’t grow here. Whenever I am out in the woods I stuff some in my pockets if there isn’t any in there already and I’m outside enough that I almost always have a tinder supply. But now I have a really big tinder supply and I can take my wallet out of my regular pocket at the grocery store without creating a mess.
Next I sewed a lighter/and or waterproof matches into the lining of that coat, a jacket, and my wool pants. I made the waterproof matches myself by dipping them in melted wax. These are for emergencies only since I would have to break the thread to get them out. I also keep lighters and matches in the regular pockets for non-emergency situations but you know how those tend to get lost, stolen, misplaced.
that’s pretty slick, Emily. I like the sew-matches into-things. I’ll have to do that to my cloak.
I’ve just started a tiny survival kit a few months ago after buying my first car. It’s mostly stuff I found around the house and thought might be useful. So far I’ve got a lighter, matches, tinder, cordage, a couple feet of tin foil, some plastic bags, paper and pen, some of those velcro strips they use around lettuce (useful also for anchoring the kit to the trunk so that it doesn’t fly around every time I take a corner too hard), citronella, compass, sewing kit, knife, a high calorie energy bar, and water purification tablets. I’ve also got a first aid kit and one of those shake 'em flashlights. I suppose I could throw some more of my gear in the back, but it gets annoying moving it out of the way when I have to load stuff in the car, so for now it’s just the small kit. I remember a few months ago when that family got lost in Oregon somewhere, and the father froze to death, I asked myself, “How would I have acted in that situation? What would I have done differently?” It was a good exercise for me.
How well do cars work as a shelter?
Roxy
i think cars work very well as a shelter: very dry, perfect wind break. I sleep in mine a lot but you’ll need a sleeping bag because they are too cold. If you don’t have some sort of insulation, you’re better off in a debris hut or other insulated shelter. You can’t run the heater for long before the gas runs out, plus supposedly when you are not moving toxic fumes may seep in, and you can’t really start a fire or a camp stove inside without danger of carbon monoxide poisioning. I always crack the windows too when i sleep for fresh air.
i’ll second penny’s comments on cars as shelters: great windbreak, great for keeping the rain off, sucky at holding heat in. i lived in 2 different vans in college: an old dodge and a 72 vw campervan. loved the veedub for the backseat/bed. i think it’s still the most comfortable bed i’ve ever slept on.
i tried heating the veedub with an old trick my grandpa told me about using a coleman stove and an inverted ceramic flower pot. supposedly, the ceramic heats up and dissipates heat pretty evenly. i never had much luck with it. plus even though the bus was drafty, i always worried about the fumes and carbon monoxide. in the end, i just decided that a good sleeping bag was the best bet.
Car Heater (alcohol and TP in a can) http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/ggw/newsletter/winter_05/winter_survival.pdf
4 pints of isopropyl 70% alcohol will keep your car at 60 - 70 degrees for 24 hours. Carbon monoxide less of an issue because alcohol chemically has extra Oxygen in it.
Like anything in a kit, I’d test it. In this case, some coffee cans leak liquids. Not so good.