Well I got board today and decided to test 3 items that are used in psk.
1. Nylon Liner
2. Sealine type holder
3. aquapac
I had used a Doug Ritter ziplock liner that comes with all of his kits which was a upgrade from some I used on the net. I have found that these nylon liners or whatever tends to develop tears in the edge over time near the zipper causing a total loss of water proofness.
Anyway I had submerged them in a pool 8 feet deep for 30 min on the first 2 items and 40 min on the aquapac, 3rd item. I was surprised to learn that the DR liner outperformed the sealine type packs. After submersion, all packs were pulled up and I inspected a paper towel that I had put in each pack with coins and the only one that was dry (no brainier) was the aquapac. The sealine pack was soaked and the DR holder was ¼ wet on the towel showing slight leakage. To be fair to all, the aquapac is designed for this and the others are not, I have a microsd card with important info on it as well as fire starters, tender, etc.. If you are around water a lot, I would recommend switching to a aquapac if you think you may be in the water for any period of time.

After submersion was over


Start

Aquapack gets a 10 min extra submersion before test

In we go

Come on in the water is fine

Stop time

And the winner is aquapack,2nd DR, 3rd Sea pack

Thank you for the demo!

Here are other options:
http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/Witz%20Sports%20Cases.htm#Keep-It%20Clear
http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/Otter%20Box.htm#OtterBox1000

Izzy, that's cool. Can you list what you managed to pack in there?

In an Emergency Situation,I would Try my Best to,Get the heck out of the water,ASAP!Since I'm not a Fighter Pilot,I don't see Myself Packing an SD card in my Doug Ritter-PSK!Everything in the Doug Ritter-PSK,Is designed to get wet,then dried off & Function normally,of which I have tested Many Times,With No Problems Whatsoever!To be Fair to All,Did you Test the Content's for Validity?I didn't see a Disclaimer,Are you Promoting Aqua-Pac? I Have No Affiliation with the above mentioned Products!

Thanks, would you have room in the Witz "Keep it Clear"?

Kudos on doing a real world test!

Hard-sided stuff in my pockets tends to produce pain and bruises, but they seem to give better protection than soft-sided stuff when packed away.

ireckon and dweste , your welcome for the quick review. I go with soft cases and anything that I can compact as much as possible. Izzy definitely has a good set up but I'm not into hard cases, the first thing I did with Doug's kit was ditch the tube to make more space and went with a smaller whistle. I try to squeeze everything I can in packs, BOB, etc.. and try to go with the most compression possible with vacuum cotton balls and PJ for fire starters plus wetfire compressed as well. My goal is to make it as small, waterproof and non intrusive as much as possible and even got rid of my thumb drive for a microsd card with the mini usb adapter just to gain space. Kinda of heading toward the minimalist side.

Richlacal, I do not, nor am I affiliated with aquapack, I got tired of putting the disclaimer up every time. I think people know if you work for a company or not, I have a lot of favorite companies I rant all the time about because I really enjoy there product and believe in it to highly recommend like watershed, Busse, western mountaineering, Canadian goose, steripen and fenix to name a few. I don't work for these companies but have bought a lot of things over time from them and use them extensively to recommend to others for items that will last them a long time or make there life easier. I get no kickback or anything nor would I want anything.

As for Doug's kit, It's a very thought out kit, there are items I got rid of off the bat and changed it with things I feel more comfortable with but all in all (except the tin foil) his kit is a very good kit for price and performance. He did a great job of setting a dollar amount to sell it and then building the kit with the best of what he can get to fit in this range and maintain a positive amount of safety and quality.

Sorry about the long Rant...you can use it as a bed time story for the kids...

Falcon, I always have a few changes with every pre-made kit myself, and I'm not all that experienced with survival needs. It's just plainly obvious to me that some things should be replaced for my particular needs. Further, I like to practice with my kits. So, I'm constantly replacing the nicely packed contents anyway.



Can you please describe the vacuumed cotton ball thing? Also, can you describe how you're carrying the petroleum jelly. In my kits, I think I should be able to get more tinder in there somehow.

ireckon,
I mix cotton balls with PJ and then use a food vacuum sealer and compress them down for space. I also have a small magnesium stick and lighter fluid in a FOB with a small countrycomm peanut lighter. Then I have a modified Blast Match ferro rod (basically a Blast Match Rod without the plastic housing with a small hacksaw blade for a striker) I have 2 magnifying glasses, one is the credit card plastic one ands the other is glass. I have had high failure rates with the plastic over time so the glass is a back up. I use rite rain waterproof paper with Dougs pencil and a swiss army knife replacement pen for a backup. I use 50 feet (vacuum sealed for compressness) fishing string that is 100 lbs rated with a needle to sew if needed. I have had 550 parachute cord fail in a saltwater environment extreme test and the 100 lb string didn’t (I'm sure chlorine helped in that as well)I have a salt water pool with chlorine tabs to help reduce the run time on the pump for energy consumption. I still use 550 cord in all of my equipment, not my personal carry. I can use this string for any shelter or what I need and I can carry a ton of it in near nothing space, plus I have weaved 3 strings together and it will support my weight (not recommending that. The Mirror has a sunglass cleaning cloth that stores it and protects it and can clean smudge marks off of it. I have a 16 gig microsd card with all my pictures and medical, licenses, birth certificates, etc.. and heavily encrypted using 3 encryption methods and a insanely long password. I use a leatherman charge TTI for my EDC, for the size plus built in belt clip (no holsters) it has been the best tool I have for work and carry. I have a fenix LD01 light with 2 enloop batteries, fingernail clippers and tweezers (you’d be surprised how much I use these 2 items. All in all it is 100% waterproof and can fit in my pocket unnoticed and it is soft against my leg. I am always modifying trying to squeeze more things in a limited space. Working to get a water bag and tabs in their.

My EDC




Making Vacuum PJ+CB




550 parachute cord Type 4 breakdown with UV and saltwater

Replacement for EDC only, still use 550 in BOB's


Leatherman Charge TTI