Survival kit CHALLENGE!!

P

Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
Messages
1,047
I have a challenge for you. Put together (in a post) a survival kit for the least amount of money that you can. The ONLY stipulations I'll put on this excercise is that it must cover Greg's five essentials and can't be larger than a daypack.

I'll write myself later this evening. Do it for the LEAST amount of money you can. This ought to help newbies and youngsters come up with a kit that they could build on. I remember building them with items I found around the farm as a kid.

Good luck!



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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Personal protection- carry some poly prop.
under wear this isn't always cheap but really
helps in cold weather. a space blanket, easy
to obtain and not expensive. fire- cotton balls and vasaline stuffen in a empty film
container. small metal match from army navy.
a multi-blade folding knife military issue
from arm-nav.
signal- piece of ss from scrap yard shined up
sustanance- a couple of cheap power bars and
a colapable cup from arm-nav also purifying
tabs.
travel- compass from arm-nav.or sometimes you
can find these things and others at pawn shops.
health- small bottle of Advil and first aid
kit from above. rec. or square cloth big enough for tourq. or sling.
I probably sound like a walking ad. for army-
navry surplus but they usually have some great buys---- so do pawn shops.
I probably forgot a bunch of stuff but a start.
Yes I did forget -- Buy Greg Davenport's book
before getting anything. Not expensive and
full of great ideas. No Greg didn't pay me
It's just a great book - Save up for Ron's
video's No Ron didn't pay me either.

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http://www.imt.net/~goshawk
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!
Romans 10:9,10
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 91



[This message has been edited by goshawk (edited 01-18-2000).]
 
Ponder ponder...

OK, here we go...

Find a tin can of a size you can carry readily, flat, round, whatever. Roll a few feet of duct-tape 'round the opening end, but not over the opening. Find a plastic lid, if possible, to fit the top, elsewise, use more duct-tape..
smile.gif
Begin with a ziploc bag, heavy-dut, as a liner. This will make your kit water-tight, or pretty darn so anyways...

Put in a few yards of snare wire in a coil in the bottom, followed by a few yards of cord of your choice (I prefer 550 cord), and add a coil of fishing line with a few hooks. Add a pad or two of steel wool (Tinder). Put in a mil-spec folding multi-purpose knife, the cheap, beatable version of a 4 tool SAK. Add a metal match. Two emergency blankets, if they both fit. Stick in a whistle and water purification tabs. Several ziploc bags, of whatever sizes you have. Complete with aluminum foil, and a bandana to fill in the gaps and keep things from rolling around.

If room, add the following as well,
Signal mirror, small compass, sharpening stone, hard candies, boullion cubes.

With this you can make fire, immediate action shelter, purify water, catch food, cook food (foil and tin can) make minor repairs to everything (And that's without even opening the can), signal, melt snow, and many other things.

I put food on a pretty low priority, since even in an outdoor setting, I can do three days with more good than harm, and a decent number after that before it becomes anything related to a survival. For a small survival kit, I put travel very low as well, so I probably wouldn't carry a compass in a small kit. I do value rescue, but plan on being searched for, and thus put a signal mirror low on the list since I have other non-directional signals available.

I need to put one of these in my car anyways, so I will go out and put this together over the next weekend (Provided the powers that don't-very-well don't decide we need to work Saturday to make up for weather cancels...). I'll let you know the cost on mine (And will take suggestions with varied degrees of consideration
smile.gif
)

Stryver, loving all this snow, but hating the weather people predicting possible rain tonight...
 
For a container, I scrounged a stainless steel bartender's mixer/shaker, cleaned it out good, then trimmed it down to desired height with a hacksaw. Drilled two holes in it for a wire handle. Cost 50 cents and my time.

Mike
 
Well, you guys are gonna hate me for this, but I don't like survival kits. Let me explain. I used to carry a pretty nice kit, all water proof, sealed and packed tight. Well I brought it on a few hiking trips and a climbing trip, but I was always reluctant to open it because I wanted to keep it sealed and ready for a "real" emergency. Eventually I opened it and since then I have never put it back together. I carry my knife cliped to my right pocket where it's easy to get to. A bic lighter and birthday candle go in a small ziploc in my left pocket and a bottle of Portable Aqua tablets in my knife pocket. My photon light goes on a sting around my neck and anything else I need whilst hiking/climbing is in my pack or attached to my belt or harness if I'm climbing.
what do ya'll think?
 
Here's what I had in mind.
smile.gif
I grew up with the thoughts of "survival" on my mind, but had ZERO $$$, so I SCROUNGED every item!

I used an old day pack that my brother gave me. For another kit, I used an ammo can somebody else had given me.

For cooking, I used old coffee cans with a spoon I confiscated from the kitchen. This also will work for water.

To carry water, I saved old plastic COKE bottles.

I added a couple of Ziplock bags from the kitchen. In these were rice and macaroni from the cupboards. Along with boullion cubes, also salt and pepper packets saved from restaurants.

Being on a farm, I cut a length of baling TWINE and WIRE for cordage and snares. I also raided my Grandfather's old tackle box for fishline, hooks, lures and bobbers.

For a knife, I had a couple of old folders my father had given me. Also, I lucked out and my brother gave me to old fixed blade Western knives.

For shelter, I found a huge sheet of used visqueen that I cut down, along with a couple of garbage bags from the closet.

For a blanket, I used an old wool blanket that was extra.

For a signal mirror, I salvaged an old compact of my mother's or sister's and it was in its own case.

For fire, this was easy as both parents smoked, I always had a couple of books of matches and BIC lighters to use.

For tinder, I saved DRYER LINT!

I made a small first aid kit from bandages and aspirin from the medicine cabinet.

I had my trusty .22 Marlin and stashed away a couple of boxes of ammo from hunting forays. (My father is the type that bought 500 rounds in 1977 and is on the last 50 as we speak! Every one has a KILL!)

I also added a hatchet, source unknown, but due to the small size it became mine at a young age!

I usually added a couple of dice or a deck of cards for fun.

Now all this stuff came from household sources and cost me NOTHING! Granted it isn't the BEST kit, but it is better than NOTHING! Learn to improvise, then replace the improvised tools with better stuff as you can afford it!



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Hey Granite,

I don't hate you and I don't quite know how to break this to you, but you still carry a survival "kit". Your best piece of equipment is your brain.
 
Granite:
I agree with your idea, and I do not carry a survival kit-in-a-box. I do need to stick one in my car though, and intend on having a wee bit more in there than I normally carry, I figger my car will probably get me farther from help, and possibly in harsher conditions (I already have my arctic gear, a few tools, chains and a spare tire). I'm also less likely to have filled my pockets when I'm out driving.

I have no intention of adding a survival kit, and things like a tin can, and other stuff, to my backpack for camping trips. If I lose everything else, why should I still have the kit? But keeping something (And it'll probably be bigger than the kit I described) in my car is something I do feel I should do.


Tuff:
Cotton balls soaked in vaseline merely act as tinder. They are pretty much water proof, and take very little (You can use a metal match) to start them, and they burn pretty good once you do. But, you need to store them in something, or you'll get vaseline all over everything else...

Stryver
 
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