Long time lurker, first time poster!

I have been working on my BOB for awhile now. It is geared for if there is a need to leave the house/work in a natural or man made disaster and have to fallback to a pre-determined backup location(s) which could be some distance away.

Total weight is 24 lbs including water.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
SD.

Tools:


Whistle on lanyard
Brass Wire
Space Blanket
Sharpening stone
Buck Knife
Swiss Army knife
Maglite (with LED conversion)
Batteries (AA and AAA)
AM/FM radio
30' of nylon string (extremely strong for the size)
72" boot laces
Multi-tool
Tea candles
SAS Survivial Guide
Note book and paper
Lighter and matches
Compass on lanyard
Map of area



Food:


Power gels
Granola Bars
Instant oatmeal
Sesame crackers (my fav snack)
Tea and sugar sub
Nutri-grain bar
Rolled Fruit snacks

Not shown:
3 packages freeze dried food
4 long sticks dried pepperoni (in smoker at time of photo)
12 oz homemade beef jerky (in smoker at time of photo)
Various dehydrated fruit (in dehydrator at time of photo)
20 oz wide mouth stainless steel cup



Hygiene and First Aid:


Toothbrush (with approx 10' of clear hockey tape wrapped around holder.)
2 packages of wet ones (great substitute for TP.)
2 J-Clothes
Razor
Hand soap
Lip balm
Dental floss
Hand sanitizer
Speed Stick
Toothpaste
Spare eye glasses
6 Gauze pads
Sam splint
Tension bandage
Roll of gauze
Retractable knife
5 garbage bags
Tape
Triangular bandage (x2)
6 pair examination gloves
Tylenol, Advil, Imodium, Anti-Histamines (all packaged separately in bottle)
Topical antibiotic ointment
Safety pins
Various adhesive bandages
Alchol hand wipes
CPR mouth barrier
Not shown:
Katadyn MicroPur MP1 Water Treatment Tablets



Backpack:

35 Lt (approx 2100 cubic inches) backpack
Insulated 1 liter (approx 1 quart)water bottle (x2)
Bungie cords (x2)

Not shown (in bottom of or attached to outside of bag)

Season dependent clothing (subject to change)
One pair nylon hiking pants
One pair nylon shorts
Polyester long sleeve shirt
Two pair non-cotton socks.
Light weight hat in summer, touque in fall and winter.
Water resistant spring jacket or winter coat attaches to bungie
cords and webbing.
4'x6' fleece blanket (plus a light weight sleeping bag can be attached to bungie cords and webbing.)
8x8 plastic ground sheet.

Good looking kit. I like the bit about the wet wipes being used for tp. I think I'll consider changing my tp out for these.

Consider a plastic whistle instead of metal. Metal can freeze to your lips in the cold. Believe me, it blows (sorry for the pun). Also go for one without a pea inside. I don't know if yours has one, but it's something to consider. You can't over blow a whistle without a pea.

What is your experience with those power gels? I was just comparing some today and considering them for my own B.O.B. They seem to have a lot of calories for such a small package, which is very good. But, they seem to have no protein or vitamins.

Do you need both a fork and a spoon? Most foods can be eaten with a spoon. Or if you want both, consider a spork. You could even cut some teeth into that spoon and make a spork out of it.

Instead of toothpaste and stick deodorant consider baking soda.

Maybe you should consider including copies of important information in your B.O.B. You could store them as paper copies or you could store these on a DVD+RW Disk, or both.

In an emergency shorts might put your legs in danger needlessly.

Here are some other things to consider: shelter, spare flashlight, quickclot, latex or nitril gloves, bandanas, duct tape, sewing kit, fishing kit, earbud(s) for the radio to save power, insect repellent or bug netting, sun block, sunglasses, 550 paracord, re-usable zip-ties, heavy duty aluminum foil, pencil (doesn't freeze), money, phone card or just the info on it, emergency contacts list.

maybe a small bottle of eyewash?

Depending on your budget, buy a pair of zip-off/convertible pants. Saves you a few ounces in carrying shorts as well as pants.

Maybe replace tea candles (DR seems to have problems with them melting in heat, though if you're in Canada, I doubt you will). Another thought would be add a relighting "trick" candle to the mix.

Otherwise, looks good! I might have to go through mine and parse it down a bit.

Toss in a pair of nail clippers. Overgrown nails can make walking a nightmare. The clippers have numerous other uses. The space blanket, groundcloth, thermal blanket and lightwieght bag are O.K.The spaceblanket won't last many uses. The best of bags are only half a bag without ground insulation. Is your thermal blanket for this use? Consider a sil tarp and better bag with a pad and ditch the rest. You have two fine, but finite fire sources. I would add a metal match. In resource rich B.C. you seem limited with your two knives. I would add a pocket saw or a few swedish bowsaw blades with field improvised bowhandles.

I would leave behind the SAS survival guide book. Most of the advice in the book is for your hard core military types who enjoy making dead fall traps for squirrels, whilst flint napping some arrow heads for some Lord of the Flies encounter with a wild boar.
Good detailed set of personal hygiene products and FAK items listed though. Its important to keep neat and clean and fresh when bugging out if only for morale, although the synthetic clothing won't help much after a few days especially in hot sweaty conditions. I would also get a proper tent as good lightweight durable ones, which can withstand much more severe weather than any tarp are available and have the added benefit of keeping insects at bay during the night. Even Mr Wiseman would recommend this option for more long term comfort. Get a comfy Thermarest type inflatable mattress and a nice warm cosy down sleeping bag instead of the heavy cold fleece blanket. Get a lightweight gas stove and a lightweight Titanium cooking pot/mug for hot meals and beverages. These items would weigh about the same as the 20oz steel cup. Sometimes it is nice to brew up a nice cup of hot sweet tea inside the tent when there is torrential rain outside. Leave behind either the SAK or the multi-tool especially if your already carrying the buck knife. Bugging out should be as comfortable as possible rather than a SAS SERE survival course. I would be thinking more along the lines of conventional trekking/camping kit list for a BOB.

Hi Sherpadog! Great first post!

The weight of your pack is truly impressive! Are you able to keep this BOB from freezing? Things like power gels turn into solid ice and making eating them challenging in the winter.

Would you consider adding a bear-pepper-spray to the pack? In an emergency, you may need to travel silently and the last time I was in B.C. I remember seeing a few big bears that I wouldn't want to sneak up on. As a plus it can be used for other things like keeping the BOB on your back instead of on someone else's. Also, once those sprays have been discharged I find they are great for spicing up food (may not be healthy but spice-tastic).

All in all that is a great looking pack and it is obvious you've put some thought into it.

-NIM

Here are some thoughts--

replace the space blanket with a heatsheet,
no cell phone or contact numbers?
One of the best tools is cash
add an earpiece for the radio
perhaps add a poncho for rain, tent, groundcloth, etc.
replace your maglight with an LED headlamp
Upgrade to a 'name' multi-tool ( w/ saw?)
moleskin?


Looks like a well thought out kit.

Teacher

Good post ... migration from lurker-only tells me you've gotten really hooked

My two cents:

• Radio looks approx. 5-in. x 2-1/2-in. Consider a smaller, lighter radio, one that uses same AA batteries as flashlight (unlike your current AAA-version). Eliminates need to carry two battery sizes, and allows inter-changeability.

• Consider replacing LED-conversion Mini-Mag with a reliable, two-level (low- and high-beam) AA-powered LED flashlight. Much of your use only requires a low-setting (cooking; map or other reading etc.), and will significantly extend run-time and battery supply.

• Include LED micro-flashlight as backup (two is better). They’re small, light, reliable, and inexpensive, with good run-times. Both Photon X-Light and Inova Microlight are about $6; 12-15 hour run-times with multiple brightness levels.

• A small 2-level AA-powered headlamp might be worthy of consideration as a back-up light.

• Second the recommendations to include duct tape (no disrespect to hockey tape), pea-less plastic whistle, ferro rod/metal match, spork, pencil (shavings double as firestarting tinder) and absolutely, a decent length of paracord.

• Might be better served to eliminate a couple of the five smaller garbage bags, and substitute a single, large 3- or 4-mil garbage bag … makeshift shelter, bivvy, sleeping bag, rain poncho.

• Personal preference, I carry the smaller, lighter DMT Diamond Mini-Sharp rather than a stone.

• Strictly a nit-pick, but saves a little bulk and weight – substitute a travel-size deodorant for your full-size Speed Stick.

• Since they add minuscule bulk/weight, consider including a couple of Tinder Quik Fire Tabs as backup tinder.

• As a substitute for your tea candles, take a look at Nuwick 36-hour candle-in-a-can or similar. Can be used for light, heat, and cooking, with “adjustable” output. Modest increase in bulk/weight over tea candles.

• As mentioned, consider eliminating the bulky/several ounce SAS Survival Guide. I’m sure you know much of the information anyway. Cut-and-paste useful info (knots, signaling, first aid, navigation etc.), and print two-sides on a sheet of 8-1/2 x 11-in. paper. Takes no room/weight, and in a pinch, doubles as tinder. Don’t feel like “reinventing the wheel?” Download and print Doug’s Pocket Survival Pak Survival Instructions in PDF, found here: http://www.dougritter.com/psp_index.htm (near bottom of page).

• A tip for your BIC lighter: after having a couple of BIC lighters completely discharge the butane while in storage because the control button/tab/lever got depressed (you know how it is, trying to stuff that last bit of gear into a bag), I wrap a rubberband or thin cordage around the lighter several times, wedged between the main body and the underside of the control button/tab/lever. Prevents it from being accidentally depressed.

• Notice absence of signal mirror. For those times when you might want to be “found,” I’d include a small mirror, glass or good-quality Lexan, like Rescue Reflectors, Star Flash etc. Also useful when removing foreign objects from the eye.

• Like you (and Les Stroud) I always carry a good multi-tool, but the blade(s) are limited use. Consider a reliable but inexpensive folder to supplement your fixed-blade. Something like one of the four KABAR Dozier folder models at $19.95. A bargain in my opinion.

Good luck with your revised kit (of course, you know it will always be a work-in-progess).

Dan

I agree with adding the headlamp, fire tinder, slimmer survival guide,

How long is this bag supposed to support you? If it's only a few days, why even bother with deodorant?