Estela's New "Not So" PSK

Jos said:
Nice kit! One remark: if you put the paracord around the box you have to remove it any time you want to take something out. (or put something in)
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That's not necessarily a bad thing. If it is truly your "survival" kit, you probably don't want to be using it much. Once you find yourself in the "break the glass in case of emergency" just coil the 550 and put it in another pocket.

If you KNOW you are going to the field, you probably have a kit with a real knife, compass, canteen/cup, poncho and many other things with you.
 
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Don Rearic said:
Nemoaz,

Actually, there has been at least one person saved by using a CD as a signal mirror and one by a Capri Sun drink bag or Kool-Aid Jammer drink bag (that one was in Colorado a couple/few years ago), can't remember which. So, had they possessed a signal mirror, it would have saved them! :D.
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So... I'm guessing a space blanket would have worked also.... and given them some assistance in the cold night also? :)

Like I said, it's not that I disagree with carrying a signal mirror, I just take some issue with the priorities as listed. I carry a mirror in my kits all the time. For Estela and most of us--those who have some experience finding and making shelter with natural items--that might be an ok prioritization. For most people, shelter making items would be a higher priority. It also changes from climate to climate. In the Arizona desert, all I really cared about was water, water, water, and fire. In Michigan, I carry much more items for fire making. I carry tinder quiks, littel wally world fire starters, sometimes a chopper. In fact, I usually carry flares for those "gotta have fire now" times such as after falling through the ice. Here, a poncho is very high on my list because an afternoon shower followed by a freezing night is very possible.
 
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I'm a big fire guy, fire, fire and even more fire. I believe in The Department of Redundancy Department. :D

It can signal for you, it can warm you, it can help you cook, it can purify your water. Very important stuff. I agree totally with you on the fire aspects...

Like I said, it's important to be able to improvise and use expedients, that's a real survival skill in and of itself above and beyond knowing a lot of the other stuff or having access to more and more gear. However, I don't think any reflective piece of equipment or scrap equals a purpose-built signal mirror, either.

I think we're picking this apart too much perhaps... :D
 
Picking things apart can lead to great discoveries. 8-)

Condoms, egad! Great thing to know, but...hell, I don't even like them for the intended purpose! :D
 
Um.. Kevin... you said you carried a heat sheet? where ? no pics of it in the other items. should not one be in the box, so if you have to grab one thing and run it would be with all the other essential?

not picking, just wondering if you carried it some where else, maybe you should put it in the kit.

by the way nice kit. :thumbup: Pat
 
I really like the notion of making duplicate kits so you can actually use one to become adept with it and preserve the other for an emergency. I know that I am guilty of sometimes stashing "survival" items around, just in case, without really testing them. I'm surely not the only one.

My current kit container of choice is a small metal pot with a tightly latching lid (it's a knock-off of the MSR Stowaway pot). It can fit in a cargo pocket, GI canteen cover, or small fanny pack.
 
Priorities will always change with each situation. In hot weather, getting warm like you would in sub zero isn't as much of a priority as finding water to replenish fluids. This is why I'm just supplementing existing gear with smaller convenience items.

As someone also said, the kit isn't used much. I have these items as last ditch pieces of gear. Larger components are my standard kit. Also, I pride myself on skills before gear and can usually make do with less. This kit is in case I can't perform a skill and need something to get the job done quickly.

My latest incarnation of this kit has taken it out of the Pelican box and put it into a Kifaru small lightweight pullout. The heat sheet fits in it and the individual items are stored in mini zip locks about 2" by 3".

kev
 
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that is one good looking kit! Not the stuff I have in mine, but good looking kit! I've been thinking about making a bigger PSK and thought about the Pelican cases. But in the spirit of multi function looked at these instead:
http://www.guyotdesigns.com/stainlessbottles?sc=11

it's a Guyot(now made by Nalgene) shorty stainless bottle, it's single wall stainless so you can boile water, holds 24 oz. and is more compact and lighter than the fullsize bottle. Your kit packed into this bottle in a belt pouch would be outstanding in my opinion.

A question for you though, why are you going to go with a single blade folding knife? Why not a small fixed blade? Or a multi blade pocket knife? The Vic executive is very nice with multiple blades, a usefull file and scissors.
 
I have a "winter driving in rural saskatchewan in winter with no cell service kit" which includes some things a little different from the average kit but if anything are much more handy. Just a couple of those little survival candles can keep a car nice and warm all night without having to run the engine to run the heater. Every year they tell people "if you get stuck stay with your car" and every winter they find some guy frozen solid 100 feet from his car.

I have a pair of the longest jumper cables i could find ,some kitty litter for traction ,one of the tow straps that is slightly elastic. Used right those can make a little car pull a big truck out of the snow.

I only use my truck in winter or when i absolutely can't carry something on my motorbike so I run real quality winter tires all year.90% of my driving is on frozen snow or ice in the truck anyway and all seasons don't work well for anything. Also since they are winter tires you don't need fancy kevlar or other tech ,just good rubber so a decent pair of Coopers is half the price of the big name winter tires but just as good. A 2 wheel drive with good wintertires is usually much much better on snow or ice than a 4X4 on all seasons.

I also use all the winter gear as a good excuse to add a CS spade to the load. It has dug me out but you have to be real careful because mine is sahrp enough to shave with and would slice through a sidewall like butter.

Those Nalgene containers are out of style but are great. I just got a little wide mouth for 3$ for a PSK and the water ones won't break even if they freeze solid. Water is important in the cold almost as much as when it is hot.

A old cell phone that is not hooked up still works to call 911.
 
Are you really that Unsub guy for whom they are always looking on Criminal Intent?
 
One of the best things that ever happened to the world of PSKs is the Doug Ritter designed kit by AMK.

I made up several kits before, but a modified Doug Ritter kit is the first one that was comfy enough for me to carry everywhere,anywhere, all the time.

I added Katadyn water purification tablets, a Traser glowring, a micarta handled Spyderco Jester, a Photon Freedom and spare batteries and a small notebook.

I also bought a second one to practice with. I love kits with more stuff in them, and if I know before hand I pack accordingly, but this one kit goes every where with me.

The only other kit that did almost as well was a TAD Gear Life Capsule.
 
The Ritter Kit is like the American Express Card of SKITs, you shouldn't leave home without it. He mentions in the directions to use Katadyn Micro-Pur tablets, at least someone is reading the directions. The other thing he suggests is the exact same size and type of ziplok case "Pocket Medic." You can put more snivel gear in that as well, etc.

I've had so many of these things, including two different TAD Gear Capsules, Penrith Tins, commerical rip-offs of Penrith Tins, BCB Tins, Bob Cooper's Kit in a plastic container, military kits. It's interesting to see everyone's points of view on what is necessary, etc.
 
+1 on the Pocket Medic.

The pocket medic resides in the other cargo pocket. I take some funky pills for my migrains, they come in blue plastic containers and are in turn packaged like supersized packs of single dose pills, like you pick up at convience stores. Much easier to slip some in the Pocket Medic. The one thing I really like about the Ziplok cases is they sorta conform to shape, making them more more comforterable to carry.
 
Absolutely! You can easily pop wire if it isn't braided with a few jerks. The braided wire is really resilient and as an added bonus, it gets hair easily wrapped in it. Buy both and test them yourself if you like but you'll find one is clearly better than the other.
 
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