Sunday night metal chat

[Oldun]

[Oldun]

When you pack it all up, barely larger than an ipad.

 

[dixiesilvergirl]

Very cool! yes being able to carry everything is a must that is a nice set

 

[dixiesilvergirl]

Those are awesome, I guess I nee to break out the bag and take a few photos too! Love seeing all the preps everyone is sharing

[Oldun]

More coming...charged up the Anker Power Bank at home (in the field will be charged with solar power if necessary by the Ravpower fold up solar panels) and tested its charging ability on an ipad mini this morning. The ipad was at 10% and was at 36% in 22 minutes.....that is pretty good ! a 26% delivery to an ipad in 22 minutes. I will test it on a laptop later and post the results.

 

When the new rucksack arrives, it will be interesting to see how the lifestraw family filter fits into it...it will need the most care....but I love a challenge

[Oldun]

Here are my homemade briquets..... cotton wool teased wider and soaked in candle wax....ignore the box....those are wetlights

[Oldun]

Although, while we are at it....will go down to my mate’s place near the ocean and test drive everything.....and maybe get a surf in.....it has been a while......

 

The biggest rookie error with this type of emergency/longterm camping is to not test everything before using it for real.....dont be a rookie

 

And of course, set your own personal parameters....who is it for ? Why ? How long ? Lightweight portable or car/bike carried? Hybrid set up or just fun etc etc ? Each set up is as different as a fingerprint and serves different purposes.

[Oldun]

Geertop 4 seasons tent. Complete with snow skirting.4 seasons tents are more likely to have condensation on the inside due to the temperature difference between inside and outside in the colder seasons. Letting the tent breathe to reduce the difference will lead to a drop in temperature somewhat inside so a well researched sleeping bag or other arrangement would be preferable. Also, having a footprint or groundsheet under the tent decreases the temperature difference between the ground temperature and inside temperature. 

The footprint can also be used for picnics daytime and an extra roof, if necessary. The footprint is in the small black bag. The fly sheet also allows other items to be stored inside but not inside the tent section itself. NB always make sure the footprint is larger than the base area of your tent itself. That gives you an extra “porch” to put other items, boots etc. Having wet, sweaty clothes inside the tent increases moisture inside the tent (and the likelihood of condensation) and should be securely stuffed into a closed plastic bag, if kept inside.

Also got tiny 12 hour candles that I may melt down and refashion and bacterial soap, aluminim foil and duct tape (duct tape is super super useful outdoors). Most regular soaps are not antibacterial. They just have an aroma. Choose wisely. Got a bunch more Onishi cook in the bag (all come with a spoon inside) meals and my mrs chucked in some stuff she has....whiskey and some other goodies I have yet to go through. Still more coming.

Everything chucked in a big box to be separated into family or daddy weekends away and earthquake etc emergency stuff.

[dixiesilvergirl]

Very nice! we included a pack of cards, notebooks and paper in each bag. We have done a few camp outs with only the survival bags and even our 9 year old can start his own fire, we use different ways each time so he will know what to do. you can but all the stuff you want it doesn't help if you don't know how to use it!

[Oldun]

Very true. My wee one is still too small to be able to grasp basic stuff (not quite 3) and will be teaching her those skills as the years go by. Will also teach her ocean skills as well. 

[Oldun]

Get this. It is tiny and has amazing ability to light up the whole room. It is laughable how well this produces light either as a lantern or a flashlight. If you do nothing else, get this and a mora knife.

 

That is an apple mouse and a cap from a regular sized plastic bottle. It is silly small and when I turned the lights out in a big room and turned this puppy on, I literally had no words.....astonishing. On full whack, this thing would blind a bear, if needed.....and the lantern setting lights up an entire room let alone a tent. The lantern (just like the torch) can be dimmed but the cool thing with the lantern part is that it dims one half so if you face the lit half away from you towards a wall, it leaves a great light for sleeping.

 

http://www.goalzero.com/p/378/lighthouse-micro-flash-usb-rechargeable-lantern

[PansPurse]

So, I do occasionally wonder what would happen if all modern technology were to suddenly disappear and, seeing as the ability to program in Fortran 90 probably wouldn't see me through, I've taken up home brewing. Last night I racked this year's work in progress, 7 gallons on the way