Hi Folks,

I have an ongoing debate with myself on how to assemble a Wilderness Personal Survival Kit; should it be as compact as possible and tightly sealed to be waterproof or arranged more loosely and not sealed as tight so you can access the items for every day use?

Almost all of the kits I have made have been the compacted, sealed type, the problem with these is that I will proabaly never open them unless it is a real emergency because I know how much effort it took to fit all the items in the container (I do have duplicates I practice with).

I have been thinking of a more loosely packed kit that has my back-up items in it so they are easy to access if needed throughout the day (e.g. spare knife, para-cord, Heatsheet Bivy, sharpening stone, flagging tape, lighter, metal cup, TP, water bag with treatment tabs, ...). I would still have my normal EDC items on my person, these are just readily accessable back-ups or infrequently needed things. The kit would be housed in a bag about the size of a Maxpedition Fatboy or Jumbo S-Versipack.

I may even keep a small sealed Altoids PSK in the bag as a last ditch kit if I had to travel really light and therefore drop the shoulder pack.

So I guess my question for the forum is; how do you assemble your PSK, tightly packed and sealed or loosely packed and accessable?

Thanks,

Mike