Posted: 8/19/2007 9:37:19 AM EDT
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So the Wife and were talking this morning and have decided to make up such a kit. We care basing it on a worst-case scenario of a 2hr window to load into the truck and the possibility of not being able to go home again. For example; St Helens or Hood going off in winter and possibly flooding the house with ash/mud/water or similar (dam breaking on Columbia, etc). So, for discussion, no electricity in the area, no phones, airports closed, no hotel rooms, prolly no room at any shelters, gonna have to live on your own for a week or two, probably in the woods, on higher ground. We have a basic idea of what we are looking at and are trying to be somewhat practical about it. I remember during Katrina, we talked about doing this, got together some stuff but got kinda lazy about it over time. I am fairly certain many of you guys have thought about it before as well, am looking to others for ideas and would appreciate any and all ideas & opinons. I have looked at the BOB kits here on this site in the Survival forums soooo.... Basics: Food Water (how much per person per day though?) Shelter Clothing Medications First aid kit Personal hygiene stuff Flashlight(s) Batteries Knife/knives Portable radio Rope Weapon(s) w/cleaning/parts kits & tools, how much ammo, what kinda gun(s)? (trying to be realistic) Personal documents (remember we may not have a house left) Cash Etc., Any other thoughts? I understand it's not practical to try to plan for *everything*, more a good all 'round kit that can be kept at the ready and loaded fairly quickly. Thanks in advance, J |
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If you are planning on hood going boom, I would also include breathing devices (dust masks or what ever) and lots of them. Might consider masks in case of a biological threat as well. Also some good, unused ski/snowboard goggles with clear lenses. Make sure that these are the double lensed kind so that they dont fog up as easy. As for water, I think its around 1gal or so per person per day. If you are on the move it will be more. I would also condisder water purification devices, like coffee filters and chemical sterilizers as well as those pump filter things. Also would be good to have storage vessels for the water. Dont forget the duct tape or gorrilla tape. Dont forget fire starting devices and implements (axes, hatchets, water proofed matches, flint and steel, steel wool and a 9v etc.). As for weapons, I say, 1 pistol per adult. The bigger the better. At least 100rds of ammo per and 2-4 mags loaded and ready to go. at least 1 shotgun, and lots of ammo if you plan on being in the woods. And as always the more EBRs the better with many many rounds and mags. Also 22LR's are nice because you can store 1000 rds and its like what, 2-4lbs and takes up the space of 3 Ar mags. Good for the grouse, the squirel, and just a general good time. Also they dont make a ton of noise so that can be a nice thing. Also some tools would be well advised, like a screw driver with bit set, vice grips and what not. One thing, in the flash light department, a head lamp can be very valuable in place of a flashlight. Frees up the hands, and is also good for walking down trails and stuff in the dark. as for batteries, think Litium Ion if your electronics will allow for them. They dissapate charge very very little over a long period of time, and also last longer that reg batteries. Also think about redundancy and items that can multi task. This way you can have back ups if stuff gets lost, broke, ditched or stolen. In regards to multitasking items, this can save a lot of weight. You should check out the outdoors forum here, there is a big thread on this kinda stuff that I just read yesterday. very informative (I am repeating here some of the stuff from that thread) and got me thinking about what I need to do. |
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I have a large frame alice pack for a BoB. It isn't stocked but will be some day. For now I just have a Gerber tool, survival guide, and a few other things in it. I think a survival guide and/or edible plant guide of some sort is a must. Even if you didn't have enough food or water this would detail ways of obtaining them and a lot more such as building shelter, etc. I try to keep a 12 pack or so of water bottles in my vehicle. I use it up once in a while so it gets rotated. It's extra weight that probably isn't necessary to keep in your vehicle and it helps cut down on fuel mileage. It is something though that you can have where you most likely might need it. If you were forced to leave your vehicle you could throw a couple bottles in your pack and then would have the empty containers after use for filling up in the wilderness if necessary. For shelter you could probably just throw some paracord and/or rope in the BoB. Use this along with what you can find in the woods and you will find a way to make shelter. Also, part of the clothing can help in this. If you have a cheap rain poncho (camo/green and bright orange or silver for signalling) or two you can always use these to help waterproof your shelter if you can't quite find the foliage needed for this. For the clothing itself probably one change is good enough. This way you can wash what you are wearing after changing and much more is probably uneeded weight. Medications I'm not too worried about. I take a couple regularly for high blood pressure but it is only slightly high so I will take my chances if I have to head into the woods. I suppose if you had access you could keep antibiotics but I'm worried about the shelf life. It may be useless if it was just kept in your BoB for a long time. Instead I'd just make sure to have topical antibacterials and such in the first aid kit (which can be left in the vehicle at all times separate from the BoB). I always have a surefire light in both of my vehicles. I do need to get some LED lights for longevity and battery life but haven't done that yet. The suggestion for a head lamp is probably a good one. I always have my CRKT on me so that is a no brainer. Also, with the Gerber tool in the BoB I think that is covered. I usually have an SOG multi tool on me or in one of my vehicles also. I'd rather have two and not need them than none. I suppose I could get one more to make sure there is one in each vehicle along with the one I usually use. I usually have some cash on me but don't make a point to leave any in my vehicles or the BoB. I suppose I could but am not too concerned about it. Another thing I sometimes joke about sarcastically when someone asks about this topic is having McDonald's gift certificates. It probably actually would be a good idea to have some fast food and some department or grocery store gift certificates. That way if you didn't have cash and in the case communications were down and more importantly ATM's were down you would have access to food and supplies. I don't worry about documents. My license etc. is always on me so if my house is gone my house is gone. You can always deal with that later. What use is a squatter with a bunch of paperwork? I keep my (or should, since I haven't gotten all of them in there yet) insurance and important documents in my gun safe. I'd worry more about having the resources you need to get food in the wilderness than I would about keeping food stored up. Keep some food stored in your cupboards and vehicles. Again, the more you keep in the vehicle the more weight but that is likely the place you would be if away from home and something happened to prevent you getting back there. |
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I would not count on being able to get food during a true SHTF scenario it has been proven that the stores are completely cleaned out within a few hours after something major has happened. even scares have proven that one. so i would personally store 2 weeks worth of food for everyone if you can. Water is 1 gallon per person per day. this is from camping with boy scouts and it defently has proven true with me more then once. dust mask's will NOT provide ANY protection ageist biological and chemical agents they WILL however protect you from dust in the case of saint hellens or hood going up and hood you really don't have to worry about.. when it blows its going to blow the other way toward EO. Things also to keep in mind is Fuel. if you have a big truck and the gas tank is oohh half full how far can you get? not extremely far maybe a couple of hundred miles or less.. and also figure the roads are going to be utterly cloged with traffic. everyone is going to be trying to escape the area at the same time and nobody will be able to go anywhere... a good dirt bike or cross sport would be the best way to get the fuck out of dodge. as far as firearms go. i figured that a Shotgun is probably the best for this kind of thing. loaded up with Slugs, buckshot of various size's and some bird shot. a shotgun is the most versicle of all firearms with the ability to take down any kind of game. a 22lr is also highly valuable because of the the low ammo space requirement and even the poorest of us can afford to feed a 22. for a high powered rifle something chambered in 5.56 and is reliable for you in all conditions the one you have no problem dragging through the mud and muck because you know it will work every time. I have seen AR's preform like this i have seen AKs preform like this... the reason i say 5.56 is because you will not be able to restock ammo from a store. 5.56 is one of the lightest of the rifle rounds and smallest to be able to carry. and you might be able to salvage *big might* ammo from cop's military etc. *dead bodies, cop cars, etc..* as far as lights yes i love my surefire carry it with me everywhere.. but in this kind of situation it will be dead quick even with a fresh set of batteries mine has a 60 minute run time. if I'm using it allot those batteries are dead within a couple of weeks if. i had a Mini-Maglight converted over to LED that the batteries would last i swear 2-3weeks of SOLID run time with good batteries a set of rechargeable and a method of recharging them away from the power grid would be vital. as far as shelter i said earlier in this post that a bike would be best for getting out of dodge true. but a truck/van would deffently make the best base camp. if you could get your truck up someplace where others would not be able to follow easily */w a 4wd or the like* and still have a significant amount of gas then you have a very good shelter for a extended stay as well as hot water *look around on the web for automotive hot water heaters and the rest of what i will state* air compressor *ac compressors can be converted to air easily* an electrical source for recharging batteries, flood light, etc. and a radio to find out WTF is going on. theres allot of information out there... and alot of it is just thinking about what would happen during an SHTF event as well as paying attention to the SHTF events that have happened in the past. the fact of the matter is that if you are going to bug out.. good luck. the main problem is fuel and actually getting out. the roads will be completely clogged and traffic won't be moving. picture everyone everywhere in the city taking off at the same time or close to it. thats whats going to happen. Good luck with your project Jess |
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Baah, you guys are just wasting time and money. Discovery Channel(channel 7 on comcast) Friday nights at 9pm. Man vs Wild will teach you everything. Ok realy now a dutch oven and a little propane stove would be good. Also I think a couple boxes of hefty plastic garbage bags would be great for keeping shit dry,and maybe some mid size plastic containers. Tons of 550 cord is a good idea its light and can be broken down to smaller string. A good staple gun would be great for tacking up small shelters out of foliage. Couple thousand half inch staples don't take up space or weigh a lot. And every one needs a good pillow, its gonna be hard enough to sleep even when your worn out, that little extra bit of comfort could keep you from becoming a zombie. Have multiple fire starting methods for everyone in every shelter and vehicle stored in waterproof containers and tinder. Pistols and rifles for everyone, even kids. I don't give a flying fuck about the YHGSA of 68 and it ain't gonna mean shit in the woods. As far as rifles go I would sugest an HK91 or quality clone they are simple almost never have parts break and I always say HK91. |
Items I'd add to a kit (that few or nobody else mentioned):
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I like that show and have learned a few things. A lot of them will never be useful to me though because I don't plan on going to the Amazon or the Arctic Circle. I do plan on going to Scotland some day, but I think I'll just stick to the country/rural areas. |
I'm one of them thar Mormons.  (no ofense taken.)  like my Daddy always said "You could put away a lot of food, or alot of ammo and just go get what y'need"But seriously I have only a 6 month supply of food but several thosand rounds and a lot of magazines. if it aint aleast semiauto what good is it.  |
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If your plan is to bug out east or west think again. You can count on all roads blocked. Most people fear the garbage that would come from the cities when they live in the country. I don't know of any plan, but just makes sense. My only fear is Hood. Was here during the eruption in 1980 and have not forgot. Have talked with the better half about a BOB. We decided to bug in if there is a SHTF. We could live quite a while with the neighbors around here. If Hood goes boom I hope we have time to get to the pickup. Have planned how to get out of the area if all bridges are washed out. VM |
Thats what Im sayin. Have enough #10's to eat well for a long time, and enough ammo to make sure it doesnt end up on someone elses table. I love all of my friend who think i am some kind of lunatic for being prepared with the food and having a few firearms. But they always say: "oh yeah, if the S ever HTF I know where I am going". Not to my house I inform them 
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One thing to add would be a photo album of family photos, or at least a disk with special photos on it. Some things there are no way to replace once they are gone. One thing that I saw for an inhome kit was keeping it in a sealed trash can or two. Helps keep supplies dry, and you can use the cans to collect water and store other items later. Metal ones also help to keep the rodents out. |
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Hmmm...an Intercontinental Ballistic Winnebago (ICBW)..interesting thought. Thanks for the suggestions, for buggin' out - traffic would be the primary issue. I was in SF in the '89 quake and you weren't going anywhere fast so the point is well understood. Power & phones were out, roads were impassable, lotsa building damage, all stores closed, but coulda been much worse. Most likely scenario here would be a flood as I live in a flood plain (at least for now) and I should have a little time in such a case. But anything can happen, Hood could pop it's top and glaciers could melt off quick as well as any snow-pack, and if the winds were going westerly - will be problematic, quake could break a dam, etc. We nearly lost everything in the '96 flood when we lived in Tualatin, so this time I'd like to have a plan of some sort...still working on it. As for pics and such, we will put together a coupla master disks along with personal documents in a portable water/fire-"proof" safe for easy transport, already have the documents in there. Even if you *plan* on getting out, you are prepared to stay in as well. Should have a pretty fair list in the next few days. Thanks again, J |
that's really just his mobile porn studio. 
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Great point. Love the Surefire, very bright, but noticed that in Elk Camp (cold temp) the battery life goes from bad to worse. (Picture this, it's pitch black, -5 degrees, you're 75 yards from the tent in the crapper and the light fades. Not good) Maglight might be a better choice. |
What about the good looking single one's let them in. remember you can trade them to the roving biker gangs. for stuff later on.
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you using lithium or alkaline batts? Lithium batteries arent nearly as bad in the cold. Also LED's seem to do a little better in the cold weather. Just waiting for the parts to come in to mod a couple mag 3 and 4D lights to LED. 
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