Excellent advice.
It is really shocking how unprepared the masses are for something (both natural and man-made). And this is despite the vast amount of information available on government websites, blogs, youtube and forums like mine and Self Reliance Illustrated.
BTW, I became a moderator on the SRI forum since I started this thread months ago 
Taking my own advice i ran acouple of routes tonight to one of our “safe places” this is a rally point for my family and acouple of friends families, it was chosen to remove us from the most immediate effects of a variety threat fire/flood/ebola.
My BOV is a land rover 109 series 3 1979 with a 2.5lt diesel bought her off ebay 6 years ago and have done a complete rebuild on her, added an aux 45lt fuel tank etc. She didn’t need a complete rebuild but now i know i can fix anything on her and have complete confidence in her.
Well i got stuck like a total nob and had to winch myself out, this highlighted acouple of things, that i need better gloves and that replacing the steel winch cable with synthetic armortek winch line which is much lighter and easier to use was a bloody good choice. I still got piss wet through and covered in mud so better clothing will need looking at as well. Small tip take abit of old carpet along to protect the trees, one it protects the trees, two less visable marks that could be followed/tracked
All the training i have for rough driving the landy is all the unoffical mates type sofar and i have decided need to take a proper course of training, no point on risking the family for some simple stupid oversight.
I used the Fenix HP25 head lamp and it worked a treat, flood worked really well for area lighting and the spot allowed me to keep a good eye on the end of the cable and no issues with all the rain. I started out using my TN12 2014 but quickly found i need both hands free [again no problem with the rain and mud], I could have used a nitecore headband as i normally do if i had one with me but i didn’t. The HP25 is part of the landys tool kit so no problem, but i will be getting acouple more headbands and adding them to standard kit for the landy and also family BOB’s.
All in all it was abit of a comedy of errors, but i would rather make those errors when my families lives is not on he line. Read all you want it helps but no substitute practical experiance and training.
Nothing substitutes for using your gear under field conditions. Really lets you know how it (and you) will hold up under stress or adverse conditions. That’s one of the reasons I like the SEP Gatherings we do in our area. Puts us miles out in the wilderness under hot, cold, light, dark, buggy, damp, wet, muddy, windy etc conditions.
Gives you confidence in your gear and your own abilities.
Chenko nice photos for the setup. Did you dodge each object in post? I can see a glow which make me think of that.
No :bigsmile: because of the pics being taken with the smartphone outside in the balcony, I put an automatic contrast filter with an app.
These days I’m in the process of completely rethinking the EDC setup to separate it from the backpack and get by with a larger but more organised shoulder bag (considering the Maxpedition Neatfreak and Hazard 4 Tonto messenger bag).
Excellent tip that often gets forgotten! Thanks for mentioning it. And the carpet piece can cover the storage area while it’s not protecting the trees & covering your tracks!
As to the “win-win”, if your giant lorries (semi-trucks in the US) are in the habit of blowing out tires & leaving shards of carcass on the shoulders, you can A: help clean up your roads today, B: save the trees even better, C: make a better-holding tree wrapper and D: add padding in/on your truck this way:
Stop by & pick up a ~meter section (~yard in the US) of the tread part. It has amazing steel and vulcanized rubber which will be hard to hacksaw into length, but worth it if you do. Place it with the tread part toward the tree for odd-angle pulls. If you have any “bucket” type storage in your truck, put this at the bottom (and cut to fit as needed) for a little extra padding & it will be out of your way until you need it. We have huge trees around here so some guys get a couple of yards worth & drape that over their outside-mounted spares with ropes & bungees under the cover to hold it in place.
It’s also useful to bolt sections onto your bumpers if you plan on doing any pushing…
I’ve heard people claim you could use them for traction when you’re stuck, but no one I know has ever tried.
And if it really gets bad, you can use pieces for shoe soles…
But mostly it’s making a small, positive impact on your environment today when/where it Counts.
Just my opinion…
Dim
Chenko,
Here’s what I’m using for an EDC Sling Bag
If you look towards the bottom of the link I posted in the OP you’ll see everything I’m able to carry in it. And add to that list a CPR mask that I’ve started carrying in it as well. Fits it all nicely. Don’t know if you’d need something bigger, but the price was awesome and the actual bag has fit the bill perfectly. Good material, good zippers (not YKK but sufficient for the bag) and pretty good amount of room (depending of course what you want to carry).
This is just my kicking around town bag but it covers fire, water, lighting, first aid, knife and other day-to-day needs. I do have a Maxpedition Lunada but I use this as a portable GHB (in addition to the supplies already in a container in the vehicle. Got that at a good price on Ebay. I really try to be frugal about everything and hate to pay full price so I’ll look for bargains and usually I’ll find them.
BTW, I’m not saying maxpedition isn’t worth the money. They make an excellent product and in addition to the Lunada I’ve got several of the mini and micro pocket organizers. Each of them is a quality product and a good piece of gear.
However….
There are a lot of knock-offs that are also quality products. I have a review thread here:
In it are several packs that are clones, but the quality if fantastic. If Maxpedition is a 10 then these would be a close 9 in my experience. And some of these items are a third or fourth of the price. Literally, I could buy four of some of the messenger bags for the price of one Maxi. Not saying every clone is awesome, but so far everyone I’ve purchased has been fantastic. Ebay is full of them, same with Ali Express.
As an example:
Less than $20. I’ve seen the Maxi version for $80 and up to over a hundred. Again, Maxi is great but I’ve got one of these $20 and use it on all of our SEP gatherings and day hikes and it’s simply been a great piece of gear. And in fact, this one comes with a universal holster if you CCW a firearm in the pack, Maxi doesn’t come with a universal holster.
Just some tidbits to toss out.
Realistic and self reliant first aid in SHTF and beyond
On the SEP forum a conversation came up in one thread that I thought was important enough to deal with in it’s own thread. I’ve linked that above. There are a bunch of folks here in this thread that may have something to contribute to that topic and I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Anyone including method for purifying water such as a LifeStraw?
Im leaning towards the model with plastic water bottle attached.
I use the Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System as my primary water filter, I back that up with the life straw and i also have aquapura tablets.
I also carry bleach tablets, the ones i have uses 1 tablet in 1 litre of water makes 1 litre of shop bought strength bleach which you can then use to disinfect batches of water.
If the water is dirty/muddy i pre filter using a coffee filter and sponge in a silicone collapsible funnell this extends the life of my filter system.
As an FYI about pre filtering it can be applied to N95 face masks as well wearing a surgical mask over the top of the N95 mask in dusty conditions stops the N95 mask clogging up so quickly.
My thought is that a micro sd card, weighing in at under a gram, should be tucked into any disaster bag stuffed with medical & survival books as well as other goodies like offline GPS maps. Those 32 GB cards run about $11 online and can be put in with a tiny USB reader that’s probably a couple grams and then pretty much every device can read it. For practically no weight you give any emergency kit tremendous capabilities and leverage the electronic devices that everyone will have at their disposal. I’m still trying to justify a small tablet for my 72 hour disaster bag. But in an emergency I have my “office in a bag” I don’t see myself leaving behind.
Thank you Dave, I like the medium size of the bag you linked, but I’m looking for something a bit more rigid/organized (with internal pockets). Any suggestions? I like your thorough activity in studying EDC, GHB, BOB setups and scenarios, we share a common interest with very similar analytic approach.
After much review, I have been searching for a decent Ax/Hatchet or the like. I finally found what I wanted to try. I first looked into the SOG products. But found the handles seem to be the weak point. I was on a budget, so I couldn’t really spend over $45. I really wanted to be at like $35 tops. So I narrowed it down to the Gerber Hatchet and the Schrade Axe.
I ended up going with the Schrade for my BOB. I like the flat hammer on the rear. It comes with a fire starter in the handle which is pretty neat. But I can also use the small opening for storage in a pinch. Since I have plenty of fire starting gear. Also it is slightly larger and I can get more work out of its design.
I also upgraded the lanyard from the cheap china cord to some real nice Para cord. Braided so I can have extra length for other uses. I weaved about 3 feet of it. The thing came razor sharp with a real nice plastic snap close sheath.
Here is a link:
I think this is a great “Multi Tool” for anyones BOB.
Wolf359’s reply in post #90 is almost exactly what I have. That Sawyer filter can either be used on the squeeze pouches or they can fit on most water bottles. They come with a back flush syringe. Take a look here: Sawyer Products (including Sport Berkey)
I also have the Aquamire Frontier life straw (30 gallon) in my EDC. Take a look here: Survival straws
Only difference with Wolf is that I pack Tintcure of Iodine 2% as a back up. Five drops in a quart/liter and let set for 30 minutes. Can go up to ten drops if the water is cold or cloudy. Pre-filter like he describes. Not good for pregnant women however. The only reason I go this route is that the iodine is dual purpose in that it can be used for wound disinfection as well.
Perhaps something along the lines of a Maxpedition Remora or Lunada?
If so, or something around this size and design, Ebay has a million clones for about a quarter of the price. As just one example:
I have one of those clones I linked on page 3 and actually like it better overall than the UTG Messenger Bag that I also bought. Like I mentioned, Ebay has a million of these bags that are quite a bit less expensive than Maxpedition. And don’t get me wrong, Max is a great bag. But like I’ve said, if Max is a 10 then so far I’m batting a real close 9 on the clones. But take a look at either Ebay or Aliexpress and there are a ton of different sizes and designs. You’ll probably find something that jumps at you for a fraction of the cost.
I like that quite a bit. The fire-starter is a big plus! I like multi-use stuff.
Deputydave if you have access to a chemical supply house with out homeland security going ape, buy concentrated iodine, alternatively a veterinary supplier or aquarium supplier maybe options to.
I bought 5 litres of 20% solution from a chemical suppy house after explaining what i wanted it for, I carry 100ml of the concentrate in my medical kit with a 1ml dropper in the cap and a 100ml plastic pump spray bottle diluted to 2%. Each pump measures 0.5ml, yes i measured it, trust but verifiy especially if your life depends on it. I use the concentrate to refill the pump bottle, picked this tip up from a medic friend.
I also carry a bottles of concentrated disinfectant lysol in this case 2 x 100ml bottles making 20 litres of dilute solution, again i use a 100ml plastic pump bottle as i find this to be the most efficient way to dispense it.
Veterinary or aquarium suppliers can be useful for aquiring antibiotics as well, where i live you need a perscription for antibiotics, again after explaining to a friendly vet i got a good supply. Pool or cleaning material suppliers are the cheapest suppliers of bleach tablets. The lysol i got off fleabay.
You can also clean water using Potassium Permanganate, which has the added value of “curious reactions” with conc. H2SO4 (making “fly trap paper”) if you need such a distraction.
And KMnO4 will help preserve fruit, stain (camouflage) brightly colored cloth, start fires, lots of fun uses off the beaten path…
Wow that Potassium Permanganate is expensive, last batch i bought was about $22 for 450g from an ebay equestrian store, i used it for a fumigation experiment 1.5oz of Potassium Permanganate to 2.5 fl.oz. of Formaldehyde 40% for each 100 cubic feet.
for fire starting i use 2g Potassium Permanganate to 10ml of alcohol based anti-freeze ethylene glycol.
I also buy magnesium powder and turnings blend them together and put it in centrifuge snap vial as one of the parts of my fire kit.
You can also use centrifuge snap vial to hold premeasure amounts of Potassium Permanganate and anti-freeze but keep them far apart due to the risks of accidental ignition
