Nothing beats a sturdy 5 gallon bucket for Geo-caching. With a few of these and a shovel you can make any waypoint on your GPS a fully stocked re-supply point. This approach gives you a lot of flexibility in planning and in contents of you BOB. Only thing that can't be easily stored in this fashion is transport. (maybe a disassembled electric powered razor scooter ;-) ) Find some out of the way locations in public parks where there isn't much interest in decorative gardening and you can have 20-30 gallons of supplies 4 feet below grade in an evening. If left undisturbed for a season or two it is indestinguisable. I find conservation areas to be great for this. If you are storing any food stuffs remember to line the bucket with mylar and seal it so that the food smells don't attract enough attention from the wildlife that they get exhumed before you want them. Racoons and chipmunks and others might not be able to open the buckets and get at your stuff but if they take away enough dirt trying to do so then some biped might find and remove the bucket.

This approach is a mid-way between the limited usefulness of bugging out to an unprepared friend / relative / neighbor (who will help you utilize your meager supplies and then wonder why you are overstaying your welcome after the first few days) and having a fully stocked retreat in the hills. In this case the fully stocked retreat in the hills may be a corner of a conservation park and a cammo tent covered with debris set on top of the freshly opened geo cache. Not luxury accomodations but better than being stuck in the middle of the riots defending you freshly storm destroyed castle with the last few shells in your shot gun while you are waiting for the Nat'l Guard to clear enough debris from the road to get the APC into you neighborhood.

Since we use powdered laundry detergent, we get and reuse a fair number of the plastic containers for various supplies. One thing you may want to add/purchase is one or more lid wrenches, which makes opening the pails much easer. The wrench can be attached to the outside of pail, so it is readily available. Pete

"1 – 12 hour light stick
Color = green with no expiration. I would have preferred a bright white stick for evacuation purposes."

Usually there is a series of numbers stamped into the seam where the wrapper is closed. If there is no wrapper, then the chem light is no good anyway.

Kudos to the company for supplying the training and basic kit.

Tom, you are not kidding about the pickle buckets. The last batch i purloined smelled for months, even after using bleach.

Ray,

But they're such a nice green color... LoL. Like I said, sometimes direct exposure to sunlight seems to help - either that or I get used to the smell... I think I used a baking soda solution soak after the bleach soak once but... I don't remember if it worked or not, sorry.

Tom

Hi Bill,The first post I ever made to this forum dealt with an emergency shelter tarp/blanket comparison test I conducted one chilly evening. I later conducted another, but realize now I forgot to post about it; an oversight I hope to correct soon.

Of least importance was insulation:
Essentially, I found the type of material mattered little; ripstop nylon tarp, plastic bag, tyvek sheet or whatever. What mattered much more was the thickness of the material. Thicker was better, but only so much.

Of moderate importance was convection:
All of the materials I tested were basically nonporous. Tyvek is porous and my ripstop tarps were perforated where sewn, of course. But they all blocked light breeze and convection heat-loss fairly well. If the material was closed on three sides to form a bag it made a significant difference. Bags were warmer than sheets, since they were automatically sealed against air leakage on most sides.

Of greatest importance was reflection:
What was overwhelmingly obvious during both my tests was that any of these materials became two to three times warmer if it was aluminized! I have an aluminized emergency sleeping bag that I think is made of tyvek. I've also gotten "Space" blankets and bags, and one aluminized ripstop nylon tarp.

The Land/Shark is a nice thick ripstop bag. The 6mil International Distress Orange survival bag I got from Blueline Outfitters is a very nice thick plastic bag. Either was worlds above the yellow TMRU Tube Tent or a trash bag ... even the 4mil ones I found. None of these items compared to even the flimsiest of aluminized sheets! ("Flimsy" is an important word, though. The mylar sheets and bags are not sturdy at all! This drawback made me test the Space Bag inside some of the more durable bags, which were all then VERY warm!)

Some people quote tests that show "Space" blankets don't insulate any better than a plastic sheet. I'm not a physicist, but I know the difference between insulation and reflection. So what if they don't insulate? They're not supposed to! They're supposed to reflect body heat, and they work nicely ... so nicely that I would find myself becoming too warm during my test, and open the bag or blanket to allow a little more convection to cool me down a bit ... something I was too chilly to want to do with any of the other items in the test.

So I'd say hold onto the survival blanket. It's small anyway. (Or, trade it for a bag when you get a chance.)

Stay safe,
J.T.

I remember a trick from an old movie about a deli owner in Brooklyn that used milk to remove the pickle smell from his hands (after working with dill pickles all day). I wonder if a milk rinse would remove the odor any quicker. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, Jet. Your comments are always informative and worthwhile. This particulat kit is a high-rise BoB for employees. I would not have thought that space blanket would have many uses in a building emergency. But after a little reflection (pun intended <img src="images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />), I've thought of two possible scenarios.

One, an emergency evacuation in winter where one is unable to grab one's coat. Still, warm shelter is minutes away, even if a large area of downtown Chicago is under blackout, like during the great flood several years ago.

Two, one could get trapped in the building without heat for an extended period of time. I guess that would be possible and a welcome source of comfort.

Reminds me, has anyone heard from Barry/Blueline of late? Last I heard he was had temporarily shut dowhn Blueline due to a relocation issue.

On a different note, using the pails for BOB and heavy storage has another distinct advantage over boxes....we are always talking about "what if" so ...what if you are injured and can't pick up or carry your BOB box? If a pail is used, it could be rolled about.

I also concur regarding the mylar bags. If possible, use a vacuum sealer to reduce volume to the extent possible, place it all in the mylar bag and heat seal it. Although you know not to store your BOB by petro products etc. you host may not. Hate to find mine adjacent to a bag of fertilizer or gas cans in a carport somewhere. Also, in the event that the pail is stacked, after time, it will deform and possibly crack, the inner packaging offers that extra line of defense.

In any event, at minimum, a "yearly checkup" of the BOB should be performed.

Just my two cents. YMMV
Comanche7

ps Great thread guys.