The unskilled survival kit

shipwreck said:
Tom, I took this quote from Doug Ritter's site: "The shrill and unmistakable blast of a whistle repeated three times is a universal signal for help and will definitely attract the attention of anyone within earshot. Blow three clear blasts, pausing for a few seconds between each, then wait for five minutes and repeat until you are rescued. If you hear a whistle, respond immediately with three blasts every time. If you don't have a whistle, you can make a loud signal by banging two rocks together or beating on a dead tree with a stick or rock"

Thank you, Im going to go back and edit the part about blowing the whistle to make it a 5 minute time frame instead of one hour.
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STONGLY! suggest you ditch the detailed signalling rules which are outdated and have been reworked. The theory is this: Sheeple cant remember how many blasts or how much time between let alone children etc.. (not talking about us on this forum we all know better) So what happens is these same people sometimes wont blow that whistle because they are affraid they may get into trouble if they do it incorrectly.

Yes, it sounds wierd but its very true. Many courses and governing bodies now advocate blowing the whistle at a comfortable pace not to wind yourself and to save energy over time. No rules just blow the dam whistle. A whistle will draw attention with many blasts the same as 3 and probably more so. I wouldnt bet my life that a pilot saw the only 3 flashes from a signal mirror. Burn his the eyes and ears out with constant flashing and whistling for maximum effect.

When teaching nooobs please Keep It Simple.

When I lead teams for lost people I dont care how many signalling noises are heard just that I heard or saw them and move towards the sound. Get a quality whistle, fox 40's are cheap and reliable.

Good for you preparing others who wouldnt do so themselves.:thumbup:

My 3 cents.

Skam
 
gadgetgeek said:
I think that as far a water purification goes, boiling should be enough, if the water doesn't get sterile, oops, hopefully they will be found before it becomes a problem, boiling water for 5-7min gets the water faster than tablets, and is ready for use right away,
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The accepted fact now is you only need to bring water to a rolling boil no longer as DNA breaks down well before the boiling point. You make it no safer boiling it longer than 10 seconds. It has to be a full rolling boil though just to make sure.

Chemicals can be faster for some if you count the fire prep and lighting time, conditions and skill level and thats assuming they have a metal vessel which most dont carry etc...

Skam
 
Skammer , thanks, would you post a simple phrase that you think would be idea for the whistle instruction, then I'll edit that into the final version.

Would this suffice?: "Blow the whistle as often as you can without becoming winded or tiring yourself out. Just blow loudly and frequently until you are rescued"

What do you think?
 
I'd like to throw another request out there for anybody: Does anyone want to post a simple phrase for instruction on the use of the trailmarker tape? How do we want our survivor to use that around his/her base camp?
 
I recommend a big bandana. The ones in my kits are 27" X 27" and blaze orange. That's big enough to use as a triangle bandage.
 
Does anyone want to post a simple phrase for instruction on the use of the trailmarker tape? How do we want our survivor to use that around his/her base camp?
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This is a first approximation. I hope someone can improve it:

Make your camp easy to find. Tie multiple long flags of tape where they can be seen from every direction.
 
Ok lets put in the corrections for the signaling instructions thanks to Skammer and Raymond 1000:


The Unskilled Survival Pack is a fanny pack sized kit that includes the following items in layered order:


An intitial instruction card that states:"DO NOT AIMLESSLY WALK IN CIRCLES. THINK ABOUT THE LAST PERSON YOU TOLD ABOUT YOUR TRIP PLAN. THINK ABOUT THE TIME LINE THAT THEY WILL DETERMINE THAT SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG AND WHO THEY WOULD CALL FOR HELP. STAY PUT AND BUILD A BASE CAMP. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE KIT AND USE THEM IN ORDER."

Signals group:
instruction card for signaling stating: .

"Blow the whistle consistantly at whatever rate is comfortable without becoming winded or tiring yourself out. Listen for replys. If you hear something increase the amount."

"Make your camp easy to find. Tie multiple long flags of tape where they can be seen from every direction. Attach long strips on a branch (eye level) They will attract more attention when they blow in the breeze. Mark your campsite in a big circle 100 steps out."
A Whistle
Trailmarker tape


Hypothermia prevention group:
instruction card for preventing hypothermia
a heavy duty hooded space blanket.
a watch cap and mittens.
chem heating pads
a tarp.

Fire making group:
card with fire making instructions including pictures.
large candle
a bic lighter
2 or 3 trioxane bars
sterno/esbit stove

Hydration and Energy Group:
card with instructions
a bottle of water, full
a flashlight to last the night
five chocolate bars
hot chocolate mix and tin cup to go with the sterno can.

Tools Group:
card with instructions
a small lockback knife
spool of paracord.
spool of twine
 
shipwreck said:
Would this suffice?: "Blow the whistle as often as you can without becoming winded or tiring yourself out. Just blow loudly and frequently until you are rescued"

What do you think?
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"Blow the whistle consistantly at whatever rate is comfortable without becoming winded or tiring yourself out. Listen for replys. If you hear something increase the amount."


Flagging tape should be used so you can see the next marker clearly no further. Attaching long strips on a branch (eye level) attracts more attention when it blows in the breeze. Mark your campsite in a big circle 100 steps out from center using strips. You can write notes and information on the strips to help searchers find you.

Skam
 
Really great kit list.

How are the groups layered? It's just that I have a vision of our person wandering about for a while, then realising they're lost, emptying the pack over the floor and thus mixing everything up and rendering the grouped layers null and void, and half the tools useless - the unskilled person will be lost without instructions for a lot of the items.

I'd be tempted to sew/glue the instructions into the pack itself - instruction cards will blow away easily. They must also be waterproofed.

I'm thinking about colour coding the layers, too; get five rolls of coloured tape and then assign colours to each layer. Every tool with a green piece of tape is for signals, blue for hypothermia, red for firemaking, yellow for hydration and brown for tools. The instruction cards are then printed on corresponding colour coded paper too.

I'm also worried about the lighter; if it fails for whatever reason (including that the person just can't strike it; non-smokers, children, etc) then the entire layer is useless. Perhaps include a "clicky" lighter or replace with a zippo (opening up a zippo also gives you some good kindling material if needed (perhaps not for the unskilled though))

mirror?

For the flashlight, I'd recommend the maglite solitare, as it can be used as a flashlight -or- pushed into the ground and used as a lantern.

tools; I'd chuck a SAK in there, but that's just me - let's not degenerate this into another "which knife is best for survival" thread.

I'd also include a pencil and some paper - boredom alleviator and note-maker (eg: been here 3 days, heading back up to base camp, will leave marker every 100 paces)
 
shipwreck said:
"Blow the whistle consistantly at whatever rate is comfortable without becoming winded or tiring yourself out. Listen for replys. If you hear something increase the amount."
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I'd change to something like:

"The whistle is the best way to get found. Blow the whistle in short sharp bursts at whatever rate is comfortable without tiring yourself out - every quarter of an hour or faster is great. Listen for replies - if you hear anything at all, reply straight away and start blowing more often and louder."

I'm just thinking that "whatever rate is comfortable" might be read as "I'll blow it once in the morning, then once in the evening" - which is better than nothing, sure.. but....
 
User24 I was thinking clear zip pouches labeled with numbers and the group title. The gear for each set goes into each zip pouch. Im thinking to have the instruction card for each group in it's group zip pouch.

The intial instruction rides in the fanny pack and tells the survivor to use the pouches in order.
If this gets totaly bolloxed up, the components are still intuitive enough that the survivor would likely pull on the hooded space blanket and wrap themselves in the tarp and likely blow on the whistle. We cant eliminate all the possiblity for mistakes but just try to get as close to fool proof as possible.
 
why not hexamine instead of trioxane? I've heard it's better (longer burning, more robust) but TBH I've used neither.
 
Skammer that is a great idea about writing nots on the tape.... I didnt even think about it.
I love it when i pick something new on here. This thread is one of the best ones as people started to talk about all the basics.

Sasha
 
hey skammer, I'm curios as to here that water boil info comes from. I can see how bacteria and viruses could be destroyed easily, but what about cysts like giardia or crypto? All of the medical info that I've heard says that they are quite robust (I believe they are use to certify that autoclaves are working properly) and they are what commonly contaminate the water where I live. Not trying to argue, just wondering. I can believe that the 5 min rule would stay as standard just for public health reasons, as things like that tend to be over-stated quite a lot. But I'm wandering off topic.

pencil = mini sharpie? just a thought
 
We cant eliminate all the possiblity for mistakes but just try to get as close to fool proof as possible.
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Engineers say you can design a machine to be fool proof. But you can't design it to be damn fool proof.
 
This kit is quickly becomming way too large to expect a noob to carry. I like the instruction card idea, but it seems thsi is getting carried away. Spools of twine and paracord? A tarp and a hooded (?) space blanket? FIVE chocolate bars? An Esbit Stove? I'm afraid this is becomming a "Dream List" of what you wish your girlfriend had with her if ever stranded. You might soon be editing the list to add a double bit axe and instructions on building a log cabin! :D

A tarp requiers skills to make an effective shelter. Space blankets are hard to use even with skills. I can't tell you how many people I've handed a lockback folder to who either couldn't figure out how to open it or how to close it. A SAK might be better.

I like the idea of the blaze orange watch cap and the whistle. A lightstick isn't the most effective light source, but it may be best for this scenario. Since LED micro lites don't really take up any space, it might be worth including one of these as well. Seems to me a couple of orange contractors bags would suffice for a night or two's shelter and have signalling value. A couple of chemical hand warmers would make keeping the person's core temp up easier, and a sealed mylar bag of water wouldn't be casually drunk by the person prior to the crisis. If water purification is an absolute must, then one of those water bottles with a filter strraw built in seems much easier. Throw in a couple of tootsie rolls and call it good.

As with any kits we discuss, climate and season could suggest items.

Sorry if I'm comming across grouchy. I've just spent the past couple of days freezing my butt off being humiliated by mulies!

-- FLIX
 
Here's another thing I put in my kids' pack...a small deck of cards. It's about 1/2 the size of a normal deck and sure would help to pass the time.
 
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