How much can you carry at one time?

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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Events of the recent past have made me think of something. All here have thier pile of toys, and bug out bags. But if you had to leave your home for some reason, how much of all your stuff can you take with you at one time?

Hurricane, earthquake, railroad accident causing a evacuation from dangerous chemicals, or radiation from a terrorist dirty bomb, whatever. I know some of us have a couple dozen choppers, a gunsafe or two of firearms, and enough toys to fill a duece and a half. But if you just had the family car, or maybe not even that if the roads are clogged with people getting out of Dodge, at what point do you leave lots of good stuff behind because you just can't take it with you.

Lets say typical American family of four, standard size automobile, if that. Maybe gas is limited and you're taking the smaller vehicle to get farther on just what you have. Clothes and food for four, emergency supplies for four. No more room in the car for the 12 assorted sks's or ak's and 10,000 rounds of ammo.

Ever look at all your stuff, and think what the heck am I going to do with it all if the balloon goes up? What would I abandon if I had to? What do you do about checkpoints if martial law has been enacted?

Ever think you have too much stuff, and get rid of some of it to lighten your load?
 
You don't have to abandon anything! You can leave with what is on your back - literally and have full access to all the tools, guns, ammo, money, food, gear, and any other supplies you need away from home. There is at least one school I'm aware of where they teach and assist you in developing a specific personalized strategy and tactics for exactly what you're concerned about. There are some easy, relatively inexpensive, "work-arounds" for what you've just identifed so you don't have to spend a week loading the car or worse try to carry everything in a bug out bag. It is all about the "knowledge" and "know how" more than the tools 'n toys! Problem is...most people would rather buy hardware such as a new knife or another bug out bag then invest it in knowledge, skill and mindset i.e. software.

The key is "knowledge is light in the bug out bag and not likely to be left behind or lost when needed." With Knowledge you can always give it away to others and still have plenty for oneself!

You might ask Brian about this school...I know he has been testing a pack designed for such an evacuation that is used in this school.
 
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Quirt said:
You don't have to abandon anything! You can leave with what is on your back - literally and have full access to all the tools, guns, ammo, money, food, gear, and any other supplies you need away from home. There is at least one school I'm aware of where they teach and assist you in developing a specific personalized strategy and tactics for exactly what you're concerned about. There are some easy, relatively inexpensive, "work-arounds" for what you've just identifed so you don't have to spend a week loading the car or worse try to carry everything in a bug out bag. It is all about the "knowledge" and "know how" more than the tools 'n toys! Problem is...most people would rather buy hardware such as a new knife or another bug out bag then invest it in knowledge, skill and mindset i.e. software.

The key is "knowledge is light in the bug out bag and not likely to be left behind or lost when needed." With Knowledge you can always give it away to others and still have plenty for oneself!

You might ask Brian about this school...I know he has been testing a pack designed for such an evacuation that is used in this school.
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What?:confused:
 
one can leave their home with a small bug out bag, and yet still ahve access to ALL their tools, gear etc. Its called an "action plan" and involves pre planning and caching, backup caches.

ie: one might have a foot locker of gear and food and water stashed away at their parents cabin, out of the city. Others might have two or more caches , be they in secondary suites, houss, garages, cabins, or outright buried int he woods far away.

myself, when the SHTF in vancouver, i have preplanned routes out of the city by type of transportation (bike, foot, truck) I have a cache of gear at my folks place way outside of vancouver. I have made arrangements to stay at a fellow prospectors place if need be (i would have to pay my own way while there andf thats fine)

you get the idea
 
This one is easy. We backpack/camp all the time. Just throw the gear in the back of the Suburban and the dirt bikes on the trailer. Actually, we all drive SUV's that are well stocked at all times (urban assault vehicles!). If one had to bug out without being able to go home, that wouldn't be a disaster.

In hard times, hanguns are the way to go because you need to fly under the radar!!! We can pack one (or more!) for each family member and a lifetime supply of ammunition, no problem.
 
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Physically, I can carry around 140 pounds. Realistically, I don't think you should carry any more than 25% of your body weight. I'm talking all-day carry.
 
If anyone feels like weight is an issue for them, just take your cue from ultralight backpacking!!! It is possible to keep the weight of your basic gear so low, that you can have a backpack, sleeping bag, and tent, that weight not much more than 10 pounds (if conditions aren't severe). Plus high tech ultra light clothing....

Add to that the new generation of ultralight handguns, and you are good to go. I backpack in black bear country with a S&W 360SC "kit gun" that doesn't even weigh 12 oz (.357 Mag, 3+" barrel, scandium frame, titanium cylinder). S&W now has an ultralight .44 Mag, and we will no doubt see other calibers in time.

And pack a Fallkniven F1 and leave that ridiculous heavy huge "Rambo" knife at home as well!
 
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A good external frame pack can comfortably carry up to 60lbs. Uncomfortably up to 90. But that's the pack, not the person. Back when the hair on my head was longer than the hair in my ears I used to carry 60lbs often. We could spend 2 comfortable weeks in the woods with just what we could carry, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Longer if we foraged for wild foods. (Natural disasters can't happen in winter or we're screwed...)

Realistically, (for me anyway,) the length of time needed to sustain ourselves during natural disasters isn't much longer than two-three weeks. (I don't plan for any invasions by foreign powers.) I still use my JanSport D2 frame pack these days, but don't carry quite such heavy loads. I try to keep under 45lbs. Not a problem unless we want to go for two weeks without a canoe.

So far I've lived through three major earthquakes (two in So.Cal and one in Kobe, Japan,) two serious hurricanes with major flooding, two serious typhoons (hurricanes on the other side of the Int. Date Line,) and a coup d'etat in Asia. Out of these eight events only three forced us to evacuate, and then only for a few days and not so far away. In each of the eight cases the most serious need was potable water and fresh food. The most useful survival gear was a water filter/iodine tabs/water bottle.... and a credit card.

Stitchawl
 
This is a good question. Of course the last course of action would be to bug out (hopefully in a vehicle) and you need to be prepared to depart on the worst circumstances. Other than a house fire, chemical spill or massive gas leak or some type of terrorist biological attack in your immediate area/neighborhood, there are not too many situations where you would have to grab your bag and literally run out the door; however, in those instances, a lot of stuff will get left behind. I've done several moves in the Army and I always pack my own firearms, knives and other important gear I don't want movers touching. It's a heck of a task! I can get quite a bit in my truck and my wife's Pathfinder now has a cargo rack. The biggest challenge is having stuff pre-packed in bags, packs and/or tuff boxes that are ready to grab and go. We have our backpacking packs always ready to grab for a last minute weekend decision to go backpacking/camping…that’s a good grab-and-go bag! I have some mil-stuff that is also ready to go that covers my essential requirement for self-defense.

Bottom line, is that you need to make sure you have the essentials ready to go along with any important documentation (insurance paper work, Wills, birth/marriage certificates, passports, etc)...I've added a tuff box and camping organizer that has most of our needed camping equipment so at least we'll have a back up plan if you need to hit a camp ground or some other isolated area because no motels are available or your destination is too far to drive in one sitting. Again, this is the last option. If you don't have family located on a remote farm or a stocked cabin up in the mountains, your best option is to hunker down at home with a well stocked pantry, water and familiar surroundings...just be prepared for a hasty evacuation if the need is imminent.

Oh, and I have a "get out of check point for free" card:D

ROCK6
 
jackknife said:
Ever think you have too much stuff, and get rid of some of it to lighten your load?
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No need to get rid of any of your stuff (after all, the accumulation of stuff is my god given right, isn't it? ;)) but you need to organize just how much of your stuff you are going to take, and have it pre-packaged so you can grab it an go, without haveing to sort through boxes of supplies, shelves of gear and lockers full of guns at the last minute.

I think a vehicle based bug out is really pretty flexible. If you have a decent sized vehicle (full size car, SUV or truck) you should be able to fit a weeks worth of clothes, food, water and shelter for a family of four and still have room for weapons for the adults and a reasonable ammount of ammo. Just look at how much space you have, and plan what to fill it with.

Bugging out on foot is much harder to get down. While an infantryman may carry 50% or more of his bodyweight in gear with them on a daily basis, they are highly trained and conditioned physically, and I still know a lot of ex-infantry who wound up with bad knees, etc. from humping all that gear. Half that is probably a more resonable goal for the average person, and even less for children. This is where taking some lessons from the ultralight backpacking movement can be very advantagious.
 
in case i need to bug out with a ton of food/gear, i have a large 21 gear (i think) bike and a good size bike trailer. if the roads are blocked, i can just follow a pre-mapped path to the mountains (2 1/2 miles away) by rail road. its direct, low grade slope and no cars! ------ Eric
 
borrowed time said:
in case i need to bug out with a ton of food/gear, i have a large 21 gear (i think) bike and a good size bike trailer. if the roads are blocked, i can just follow a pre-mapped path to the mountains (2 1/2 miles away) by rail road. its direct, low grade slope and no cars! ------ Eric
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Same with my dirt bikes! They get 75-100 mpg, and with desert tanks, that range could easily take me into any one of a hundred great mountain locations (locally or in the Sierras) where I know there is always good permanent water (an issue here in the arid southwest)! We also scout desert water sources for emergencies (there are more of them than you would think!) , seeing we ride hundreds of miles each month on the dirt bikes/ATV's.

With ultralight backpacker technology, I can carry everything I need for a month in a reasonably light backpack, that won't kill me while riding the bike.
 
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I carried around 80-85 lbs daily in a backpack for a number of years. It was the only way to keep what little I owned from being stolen at the time. However in the interest of personal safety and the prevention of injuries it would be a very good idea not to exceed around 20% to 25% of your body weight. Pared down to just what is needed to sustain me in an emergenncy I could get by fairly easily with a 25 pound base load, It would be less if my old swiss military pack was lighter, however I prefer it for its durability. Food isn't figured into the base load. One of the areas that most folks need a little info on is homemade high calorie emergency food. Most of the freeze dried stuuf and MRE's don't fill the bill. It gets real interesting to provide 3000 plus calories per day for an extended period, and keep the weight down. Thank God for peanut butter, dried milk, and honey. Flour is also reasonably light, and if ya mix protein powder in a high protein bread mix can be made.
 
My mother in law is 85 years old and lives in Florida. She has evacuated 3 times in the last few years because of hurricanes. The longest she has been away from home is 2 weeks.

She has her Go Bag with clothing, medications, important papers, cash, water, snacks and a Smith & Wesson Model 10. She and her 3 friends jump into the Grand Marquis and drive 400 miles north to the Georgia mountains where one of them owns a cabin. Then they party. To them its like going on vacation.

Hurricanes give a lot of advance warning. She doesn't wait until the last moment to evacuate.

At this time in her life, material things and possessions don't mean much to her.
 
Going with the OP of a vehicular bug-out, I can fit just about everything I care about in my car. I have a family of two, and we each have our own vehicle, but going with the idea that we can only take one. . .

We'd take my Impala -- gets the best gas mileage.
If you've ever seen the trunk of an Impala, if a 6 ft tall man curled his legs a bit, he could sleep in it.
I can fit all (and I do mean all, including boots, winter coats, etc) of my clothes in two Army duffle bags. All of my "survival" equipment fits in either of my backpacks. Taking all the crap for two people, plus totes with at least two week's food for two, 80 pounds of dog food (not leave my dog behind) and 2 5-gallon water cans, we could get it all in my car, albeit tightly.

Now if we took both vehicles. . .we wouldn't leave much of anything but furniture behind.
 
I don't like going beyond 25 lbs, not including ammunition.
 
Rule of thumb max carry is 1/3 your bodyweight, but not everyone is Force Recon. So realistically I'd agree that 25% bodyweight is what you should set limits at. By all means add more to the car load, but if you get stuck in traffic, lose a bridge, run outta fuel, etc. you'll be stuck with what you can hump on your back.

For me, 25% bodyweight includes guns and ammo. That's actually a lot of gear you can carry/divide between family members.

I see lots of BOBs posted here with ridiculous amounts of redundancy like 4-5 different methods of fire prep, 3-4 compasses, 4-6 knives, mail-order surgical kits, etc., -it is obvious that these kits have never been carried before.
 
How many have bugged out by foot ? Most likely we would all be driving given a normal hurricane/flood/forest fire type event. If the car dies or it the highways become unpaasable, maybe we would be on foot. How many days are you going to last ? Lets say its hurricane season in Texas -- how much of that 25 % body weight is going to be water ?

How many bullets are you really going to need. Self defense? How many people do you think you are going to kill before they kill you? Hunting? well .22's are pretty small, couple boxes of 50 ?

I think most cars would be able to fit 4 mountain bikes on roof/trunk rack. Depending on family member's ages, I like that idea more. Check out bike panniers and racks. Even if you dont ride them, good cargo carriers. However, if they are that useful, they would probably be stolen.

On a different angle, how about a full size suv/pkckup with dual tanks. Take everything you need and leave the most of the guns/knives in the gun safe and don't forget toys for the kids.
 
I guess there are a lot of people who collect survival items. It is hard sometimes to spot that you became a collector. I realised it only when I bought a knife that I really wanted, but then did not use it a single time:D
Previously, I used to orient myself using sun, watch, vegetation etc, but then, after reading a forum, I bought myself Silva compass because I was persuaded they were the best, then 2 button compasses because I wanted to have a compass with myself all the time, then more...:D I think I got more than 7 compasses before I started giving them away.
I used to prepare a sandwich, pour tea in my thermos and then go hiking, but now I buy military ration packs, take a meth burner, water, mat for sitting :D
If before I used hiking in trainers, now I have at least two pairs of gore-tex boots/shoes :DAnd fingers crossed soon I will get my grandfather's bestoke boots.
I did not have a rucksack in the past, now I have at least 10 :D They are all used, but really to store things I do not really need, just in case of emergency. :D
Well, unfortunately I already experienced the war already couple of time, but in a war situation things happen not exactly how you planed them to be - you are searched at check points, even knives raise serious suspision, you are ordered to surrender guns to police or face imprisonment or even worse. The amount of items you can have is limited to what you can carry, money does not really matter, what you have is the most important, and it is usually food and alcohol.
So, my solution is to have very few items, but as good quality as I can get. And use them to familiarise yourself better with their use - for example, I cook using only hunting or folding knives (perhaps I am weird), I avoid military gear whenever possible (including khaki clothing, it is a great headache when you are confused for a paramilitary)...
Unfortunately, I found out that reading forums like this creates desire to buy more gear, but forums are interesting.:D
 
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