I like the otter boxes for waterproofing and durability. The weight is negligible for the benefit.

Yes, you can safely assume proper clothing, knife (as mentioned above), cell phone, hat, sunglasses, map, compass, water for the rest of my hiking gear. I'm hoping to acquire a GPS soon as well.

I have another FAK that is more robust when camping. This FAK is more personal sized. Note taken for the medications. I'm thinking of adding more benadryl and some more tylenol. Acquired some packets recently and there is still plently of room to add them.

Interesting thought about paracord. So, the question is, how much is enough, how much is too little, and how much is too much?

I carry all of this in a camelback, so that takes care of the water equation.

That is a really good question.
I always find that when I need rope or cord I need either an awful lot or a very little bit.
100 feet of cord is not a lot when you start rigging tents or tarps. It is only 10 lengths of 10 feet.

I do have a few thousand feet of braided nylon masons line (100 lbs test) and a couple of miles of finer stuff like fish line, thread and dental floss.
(but I don't carry all of it with me all of the time, just a little bit of string and a pocket container of floss most days.)

I also like having lots of cheap string around too.
Plastic binder twine can be very useful and is dirt cheap.
A roll of binder twine is a lot of twine.

I have seen reels of poly rope thrown away on construction sites.
Poly might not be great for strength, holding knots or handling, but you can not get rope at a lower cost than that.

I don't buy Paracord because 550 is almost impossible to get here and is way over priced.
I get the stuff they sell to climbers instead.
Which reminds me to stop on the way home and buy a few more of hundred feet of it.

Wondering if anyone has weighed an Otter box and compared it to a comparably sized Pelican case? The Pelican's have one advantage, I think anyway, in that they use a clear lid, makes it easier to ID the contents if one uses more than one in the same size. The Pelican's can be found pretty cheap too. Never priced an Otter so I can't compare that either.

JohnE

Otter box also sells the same models with clear lids. I opted to get the solid/padded versions.

Taking your paracord question to another thread new thread on paracord...

I use Pelicans for electronics when on the water or likely to get rained on.
They are heavy but hard cases and water tight.
All the ones I have are solid colours, not clear.
I am actualy not familiar with Otter boxes.

Pelican/Otter Box.....

Same soup, different bowl.

Yeah, both are very similar. I was actually surprised how neatly 2 regular size altoids tins and one small tin seemed to fit perfectly in the one model. Made organization of my supplies much easier.

Those snares were tough to pack.

Need to remember to pack a honey packet to feed the ants. For amusement when you're surviving, I mean.

Tupperware changes size over time. It also gets VERY brittle in cold and I've broken several just by having settling occur in my trunk.



I think a lot of us carry 100s (and other lengths). When rigging, using bear bags, clothelines and using it for a number of other tasks, it runs out quickly.



like what? I think this is the weakest part of my prep. I also wonder how the temp swings in cars acts on meds. I can have the temp in my trunk go from near 40s to 90 F in the same day. In the summer, it might go well above 120 F.