HOT summer months and the bag you keep in your truck. Concerns?

N

NO F-Bdy Bs

Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
247
I had not thought of this until a few months ago.

I live in Louisiana. As some of you southern folk know. La, Tx, Ms, Al, and Ga can have some punishing sommer days. 100deg with 80% humidity is not uncommon in Aug and Sept.

I have kept a small pack in my truck for sometime now. Not a full blown 3-day pack, more of a Get Home Bag. Its a Maxpedition Pigmy Condor, inside it I keep a change of clothes, multi-tool, nalgine boggle, para-cord, some trashbags, flashlights, ect.
Im not worried about these things.
Im worried about the following, mostly stuff in my FAK. Band-Aid, medicine such as Advil, Amodium AD, anti-histime, ect. Along with a few MREs.
I keep the pack in my toolbox in the bed of my truck, which, in the middle of the day with the La sun beating down on it, turns it into a virtural sweatbox.I have considered moving it into the cab area, but it very likely gets just as hot in there.

How are the high temps affecting the contents of my pack? How often should I "refresh" the potentially perishible items?

Thoughts?:confused:
 
I would think the MRE's would be fine. The nalgenes are going trough a debate as to whether they leach harmful chemicals(happens at elevated temps). Bandaids would be fine as long they don't get wet. The meds will be fine as long as they are not the liquid gels. This has been my experience(I live in Houston/College Station) but the longest I leave meds in my car is a 6 months or so because I end up using them. You already know that leaving it out of the direct sun will keep it a bit cooler but if you bed box is black it might be hotter than the cab.
 
If you have a decent enough vehicle with a strong enough battery, do like I do: buy a small 12-volt cooler and turn it on low and keep your gear inside of it. I used to work as a longshoreman in Port Arthur and used it to keep food, drinks, and meds from going nasty in the heat...Should be able to get a Black and Decker model for about $30-ish from Wal-Mart...
 
I live in Lafayette, LA. I keep my stuff in the cab of my truck, not in my tool box. I find it gets hotter in the tool box than in the cab. Everything stays good in my bag in the truck, no problems. I have heard about the plastic bottles leaching so I put water in glass sweet leaf tea bottles. I change the meds once a year just to be safe.

Hope this helps.
 
Well, let me start out by saying that heat can do interesting things to materials that you normally wouldn't think it would affect. It's not so much the temperature sometimes, as the duration. That and surface temperatures, especially of metal objects like a toolbox, can be 20-40+ degrees higher than ambient air temperatures.

The source of my seemingly "paranoid" attitude towards not storing gear in vehicles that are in direct sunlight, you might ask? I live in the Mohave desert, where 120+degree days are the norm from May to August.

Of the items you listed, I'd agree that the FAK is probably most at risk; Adhesive on bandages can deteriorate, medicines if exposed to moisture and humidity can develop condensation and deteriorate due to hot days, high southern humidity, and cooler night temps.
It also depends on how things are stored in the toolbox and bag as well though. These are just things that I've come to expect, and plastics don't fair very well in my experience either. Warping, chemical leeching, etc.

Everything else is probably pretty impervious to the heat. As for when to replace/refresh things that might react adversely to the heat. I really couldn't tell ya there. I'd vote for storing things differently, maybe behind the seat in the cab or at least the FAK in the glove compartment, or as was suggested a cooler.


Gautier
 
dougo83 said:
If you have a decent enough vehicle with a strong enough battery, do like I do: buy a small 12-volt cooler and turn it on low and keep your gear inside of it. I used to work as a longshoreman in Port Arthur and used it to keep food, drinks, and meds from going nasty in the heat...Should be able to get a Black and Decker model for about $30-ish from Wal-Mart...
Click to expand...

Whats the draw on something like that?
Id be leaving it for 8hrs at a time. Truck is a 06' Silverado with the stock battery. Im guessing 650CCA at the most.
 
No clue what the draw is. I have long since lost the packaging for mine. I would leave mine in the 2000 F-150 v-8 for 8-10 hours between starts and it worked just fine for over a year...I have recently rigged mine to a small solar panel set-up since I had to get a smaller, crappier vehicle because of a tree...
 
we had a bag of jolly ranchers in our emergency food stuff, luckily in a double zip lock bag, after the summer we just had one big jolly ranch!
 
Dantor said:
we had a bag of jolly ranchers in our emergency food stuff, luckily in a double zip lock bag, after the summer we just had one big jolly ranch!
Click to expand...


I wouldnt see that as a bad thing. A 1lb jolly rancher in Cherry flavor would RULE!:eek:
 
I would hesitate to leave a powered cooler on for long periods as they can use large amounts of power ,perhaps a spare battery would be safer. A plain cheap styrofoam cooler will help keep temperatures reasonable.I did that also for ammunition for shooting matches. How hot does it get in a car ? At 70 F ambient in the trunk of a white car in the sun, the trunk temperature reached at least 150 F [the wax used for investment castings had melted and the melting point was 150F ]
 
The MREs will die quickly, maybe as quickly as a month or two in the scorching southern heat.

The Datrex or Mainstay ration bars last a lot longer in high heat.
 
i hav a question keeping to the idea of this thread- sometimes i hav left butane in my car, right after buying it, in the glove box when its been 100 degrees out- not for more then a couple hours prob two at most but im just wondering is this bad
 
I live in Pahrump Nevada east end of the mojave Desert summer temps get up to 115. I keep a case of water and a half dozen slimfast in my truck. also an umbrella , wide brim hat , boots , signal mirror, tarp to make shade, two or more spare tires, long sleeve shirt. With out these you can dehydrate in a couple of hours. I never have checked my FAK. I will now. At these high temps and low humidty the lube in your gun can get gummy so cleaning and a light oil is in order. The most important a roll of TP in a ziplock. I keep it all covered behind the seat and out of the sun. You all have a nice summer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top