Truck Bugout bag

Hey everyone, I built a bag to keep in my truck a year ago and just took it apart today to make sure everything was good and I am glad I did, the Sterno survival candles I had bought were completely melted, the Batteries were all completely dead. Any suggestions from folks on things to put into the bag or ways to prevent this? I store my survival gear up in a Thule 1100 on top of the truck so I realize that it gets a little more of the temp extremes but also cools down fast/ heats up faster as well.

The heat issue I think is a problem for more stuff than that, food, water all that will have problems. maybe someone knows a way to fix it?

I've used these for my CR123,AAA, & AA. They're not a have to have thing but they keep the batteries separated . My current ones have been in my pack for a couple of years now.
http://www.countycomm.com/cbh.html
As far as the candles go-if their stored in extreme heat I don't think there's much you can do. I usually make a habit of going through my truck bag every few months and check on the status of gear.Rotate MRE'S etc.
I've had a few runny energy bars. [ROFL1]

Lithium batteries.
skip candles and get a fuel based stove. Solid liquid or compressed gas. Since its with your truck a stove capable of gasoline might be nice. Also consider a hobo stove that uses scrounged sticks and stuff

Lifeboat rations and jerky instead of Mres

Protect your water from sweating on the rest of your gear.

Thanks StagLefty, though I'm not sure how the holders help with temperature problems, lol I have been looking for a good way to organize the batteries in my bag though so that is nice.

Thanks a bunch wulf202, I foresee my truck as being my mobile depot so I don't really mind weight, i like the idea of a stove, but I don't like Lifeboat rations, I keep some in my go bag at the house, but I do that because they are light weight, and god I hate the taste so I'm wanting to go with something else in the truck, I keep a sealed bag to trail mix in the truck and cycle it every now and then. I will look into a stove as I said, I have a cheap walmart back packing stove, but I might look into something that runs off solid fuel.

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Originally Posted by Wulf202

Lithium batteries.
skip candles and get a fuel based stove. Solid liquid or compressed gas. Since its with your truck a stove capable of gasoline might be nice. Also consider a hobo stove that uses scrounged sticks and stuff

Lifeboat rations and jerky instead of Mres

Protect your water from sweating on the rest of your gear.

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My water is stored in 2 liter bottles in the crates that 2 liter bottles are stacked in. I easily store 16 liters of water in each car without them rolling around and getting punctured.

I made a hobo stove out of a stainless steel thermos. Inside bottle was the pot, and outside is the stove. Tent stakes for holding the pot over the fire at various heights.

I have rice, and ramen, jerky. Ration bars, and tuna/chicken/salmon thgat comes in the mylar pouches that seem pretty bullet-proof to me.


My car bags are to get me home. where I can resupply/meet up with the rest of the family.

I agree with the purpose of a car bag, and I have a G.O.O.D. Tub at the house that is for throwing in and getting away (my personal SHTF thinking is based off mobility, using the house only as a storage place, I live a little out in the country but I don;t like the idea of being pinned down to any one location)

I make my hobo stoves out of steel cans, works really good and is dirt cheap.

But the real purpose of this bag is for when i go up into the mountains and my truck gets stuck I can live out of it for a while until the family can come get me lol. I like to take spontaneous day hikes/ camping trips. So that is what I have in mind really.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tortirioan

Thanks StagLefty, though I'm not sure how the holders help with temperature problems, lol I have been looking for a good way to organize the batteries in my bag though so that is nice.

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If you store loose cheap batteries in a way that they're bouncing around against each other they'll actually discharge-the holders are too prevent that.

Now I was wondering this, would a cooler help to protect Some of the more critical weather sensitive items? Walmart sells a cooler which is just the right size to fit into my Thule 1100, My real worry is water, I have been looking at different methods for storing water, and the best I think is either 2 liter bottles or using Hydration packs (I use platypus bags myself in my backpacks and the like). My worry is the water freezing and exploding whatever they are in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tortirioan

Now I was wondering this, would a cooler help to protect Some of the more critical weather sensitive items? Walmart sells a cooler which is just the right size to fit into my Thule 1100, My real worry is water, I have been looking at different methods for storing water, and the best I think is either 2 liter bottles or using Hydration packs (I use platypus bags myself in my backpacks and the like). My worry is the water freezing and exploding whatever they are in.

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I have 6 liters of water in bottles and I leave a little air gap and even when they freeze solid they wont burst open. Also I carry a little water purifier straw for if I think the supply might run out. I use 2 liter Gatorade bottles because they just seem to hold up better.

I just figure that 2-liter bottles are designed to withstand quite a bit of pressure. And be shipped long distances or short distances with many stops in between, so it was the logical choice for me.

More Pros: They are an exact amount of water for any of the purification methods I already carry with me (Iodine, pot perm, etc) Plus if I loose all mt water purification methods and cannot make fire/don't have a container and about 6 -12 hours to waste I can use the sodis method. The bottles aren't banged up (I keep them in the 2-liter 8 bottle crate) so they should work nicely for that. I'm also a homebrewer, so when I fill my water storage for the home (also in 2 liter bottles) I actually go through sanitizing the bottles before filling/capping them, so I can make sure the least amount of ickies are in the bottles.

After a couple years of them being in there, it seems the water level has gone down maybe a half inch? The ones I store in my house in the crawlspace in a cooler/darker environment do seem to have lost any water level at all. I am assuming the porosity of the plastic has allowed some water vapor to escape.

2 liters are worse than gatoraide bottles in the drop tests I did. I was bored and had access to a tall building.

Bags like the platypus were the best if not over filled. The caps are always the weak points. Bags are easier to carry empty and better for sodis.

If albertsons still carries park city water bags I recommend those.

Oh and survival straws and pot perm are way down on the list of good items to carry.

I have some MSR Dromedary bags because the filter I have fits right on the fill hole and I can filter right into the bag. But I don't carry water already in them.

And I carry a lot of stuff in the truck... because it is in the truck and I'm not carrying it. So I can afford some extra weight, to add a few extra ways of creating fire or rendering water safe-ish.

The get home bag which is also in the truck, has more consideration for weight. I also added something recently that people with back issues (Me) or fitness issues may want to consider while they are adding a regular fitness regimen for thier goals:

http://i21.geccdn.net/site/images/large/B708828A.jpg

Stick your get home bag on that. The one I have has bigger wheels for some minor off roading, but just something I thought of.

I have this I keep in the truck. http://www.rei.com/product/807561/bu...n-bike-trailer

http://www.rei.com/media/uu/7f088a99...6beccf950a.jpg

It folds up to this;

http://www.rei.com/media/jj/a057a20b...565b1be7a4.jpghttp://www.rei.com/pix/common/pixel.gifhttp://www.rei.com/pix/common/pixel.gif
http://www.rei.com/media/dd/27308865...d3d9cec78e.jpg
http://www.rei.com/pix/common/pixel.gif
And I can strap my backpack to it along with other items. You can push it or attach to my bike.

Could someone give me a link to what the "sodis" method is? I have been sick because of mountain water (I was 16 and an idiot), so yea I double up on my protection, boil and another metiod, Filter and another method, or pills and another method. Might be a little wasteful but yea, after shitting my intestines out for 3 days strait I don't wanna do that again. So having another method to purify water would be awesome.

Also my GOOD box already has wheels, but this is a great Idea. Superior's idea is a little bit pricier but it makes sense to have something built for the task.

wulf202 has a really cool pdf handout. He gave it to me a while back maybe he will pass it along to ya.

Here is some reading material though. http://www.kwaho.org/t-sodis.html


SuperiorDG, how well does that on some minor trails? Those wheels on there look really adequate for getting home if needing to do a couple "as the crow flies" hikes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StagLefty

I've used these for my CR123,AAA, & AA. They're not a have to have thing but they keep the batteries separated . My current ones have been in my pack for a couple of years now.
http://www.countycomm.com/cbh.html
As far as the candles go-if their stored in extreme heat I don't think there's much you can do. I usually make a habit of going through my truck bag every few months and check on the status of gear.Rotate MRE'S etc.
I've had a few runny energy bars. [ROFL1]

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Looks like those battery holders are discontinued. There are some made by PowerPax that look very similar... http://www.powerpax.net/

Drop me an email or find the thread with the info in it here. I
My phone doesn't like to copy and paste links

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tortirioan

My worry is the water freezing and exploding whatever they are in.

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I wouldn't worry too much about that. When I still had a place in Florida we'd freeze 1L and 2L plastic water bottles and use them to keep the fish coolers on the boats cool. We'd refreeze them solid every night and use them indefinitely - frozen rock solid and filled all the way to the cap. I never saw a single one break/crack/leak.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wulf202

Drop me an email or find the thread with the info in it here. I
My phone doesn't like to copy and paste links

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Here is it!

http://www.ar-15.co/threads/55421-Wa...nt-cheat-sheet

I have it printed/laminated wherever I have a Bag and in each of the cars where I have water stored.

Very cool guys! I will have to remember this, though lets be honest, if your thirsty 6 hours is a long time to wait *chuckle*

The list of effectivness of different purification methods is awesome.

If you're at a location with a days worth of water and 12 ziplocks you can do sodis for quite some time assuming you find a supply. It beats the runs.

Sodis is another tool in the toolbox

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wulf202

If you're at a location with a days worth of water and 12 ziplocks you can do sodis for quite some time assuming you find a supply. It beats the runs.

Sodis is another tool in the toolbox

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And Ziplocks are light and useful as heck.