Just posted a new Survival Kit, this one is made around a Metal Water Bottle. It contains a survival knife and enough fire lighting gear to make a difference.



The Article can be found at Water Bottle Survival Kit

As many of you know, I have a great dislike for small compact survival kits that lack Critical Items. This has caused me to rethink where I should build a survival kit and when I need to simply take along the items necessary to survive.

This kit was designed originally for my Brothers Quads. I mounted one on each. Since we do not know who will be riding which one and where they will be going, this kind of kit makes sense. It also fits perfectly in my Mountain Bikes second water bottle holder so I kept one form myself.

It is built around the bottle, which is therefore the pot and contains a knife, whistle, binding material, and fire lighting gear. A First Aid Kit and a Bow Saw are already in each Quads so duplication makes no sense. The Quads also ready have a multi-tool a few other items that are cross purposed for repair and survival.

Take a look and see what you think. Remember that part of the innovation process in what we carry is to ask why and where. As well part of what each of use has to do is improvise, so everyone's kits will be slightly different.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing!

If you can't get a fire going with that kit you're either under water or something is wrong with ya.

Nice kit!

You have a large trash bag in there for shelter? They work good in Donner Party
snow country.

A variation would be a standard water bottle, say a one liter Nalgene, nested inside a cup/small bowl with the rest of the kit inside the canteen. Since you are putting it on a Quad, weight isn't an overwhelming consideration, so you could throw in a small canister stove as well, along with a light tarp.

The only thing I do differently is that I use a Maxpedition bottle holder; that way I can have a 40oz bottle full of water, a pot and all of the survival stuff in the pouch. Plus, I use the MOLLE to attach the knife to the side of it.



Sorry for the crappy pic; it doesn't really show the gear. Guess I need to take a picture of the contents. But it give you the general idea.

If you sharpen/grind the back spine of the Mora into a hard 90* edge, it should be able to be used as the main scraping/sparking tool for the ferrocerium rod. I've done that to a couple of my Moras and the difference is incredible with way more sparks than supplied striker. I've also been told that it works well with natural flints as well. You could drill a lanyard hole in the handle as well.

I put together similar content kits for a couple of my nephews several years ago as Christmas presents except that I used 1 litre Nalgene bottles. It's contents started out as inexpensive Walmart kits but were then packed full with more of the 10 essentials. I like the idea of the metal bottle though because it doubles as a container to boil water in over a fire. It appears that the split rings on the rim of your bottle combined with some wire would make an effective bail to hang the bottle over a fire -- that's very good!

It would need to be a carbon Mora for natural flint as the spark is made up of the knife steel, not the rock?

I really like a set-up like this. It's easy to start creeping up in size and weight, but I really like the idea of having a bag to carry the kit in. It gives you somewhere to put the contents when you use the bottle. If you're carrying it on an ATV/Boat or something, weight is less of an issue, and adding a couple more items gives you a few more options. Carrying something for shelter is hugely important in these parts, for instance.

I would also include a container or bag to carry all of those contents when you fill the bottle with water.

personally, i think a water bottle should have water in it.

I totally agree. I like the molle container, and the plastic bag for shelter (always a critical component). No survival kit is complete without some type of shelter for maintaining your body temperature. Shelter, signalling, water and water purification, then fire. Remember the rule of threes!

I like adding a pair of trash bags, instructions and maybe duct tape around the outside.

Bruce, what water bottle is that that you're using? Source?



Same here.

I have a similar looking large-mouth nalgene type SS bottle labeled "guyotdesigns" (not on their website), also in an insulated Maxpedition bottle holder.

I too use a Maxped bottle holder to hold my nalgene, cup, and other items. To increase the space, I trimmed out the insulation and inner layer of fabric. I now can squeeze in a Trangia burner and a fuel container.

i always felt that a metal container was %100 necessary in any kit.
making a hot drink and food gos a long way in making a bad situation a bit better.i would get rid of the multiple fire making gizmos and get some sort of dry soup or food bar that could be cooked up in there.

Thanks, I should have also mentioned that. I carefully cut out the insulation, too. That made enough room that I can fit a bain marie pot in there. That's an insert made for commercial steam table/wells in a restaurant. They're heavy gauge SS and have a lid, and I found a 1 L one that nests nicely with my 40 oz bottle. Not as light as a $50 titanium pot much it only cost about $4 with lid at a restaurant supply store.

Thanks to to the OP for the original post. I don't mean to hijack it; it's a very good idea. Your first post gave me a few ideas to tweak my own kit. I should take a few pics of the contents of mine. Mine is also biased heavily towards fire.

Using the bottle holder does as some bulk but it also provides a means of carry. It has a should strap, plus it has a bunch of MOLLE webbing to either mount it to a pack or lash it to a vehicle. Lots of options.

At any rate, I personally don't like to carry an empty water bottle. You save the weight of the water but none of the space; plus, I would rather have the water! Of course if I lived in MN instead of SD I probably wouldn't carry water, just the container. It all depends on your environment.

I like the idea of a metal water bottle kit. I wish I could see how the split rings are attached, as that is a nice improvement if the bottle were to be used for emergency boiling over a fire. Are they wired on?

I have looked at those cheap pre-filled kits sold in a plastic water bottle and concluded that they were not worth carrying. A stainless steel bottle in which you could boil water and cook food and a kit designed for the regional needs of the user is a great idea.

I came to a better understanding of the reasons that opinions differ so much on what should be carried as I walked around the deserts near Moab, Utah this summer. Most of the things that I believe to be critical to carry in the lake and river filled boreal forest were not so important there, and other things took on a new importance for me. I don't want to hijack the thread by getting into that here.

My 'survival' kits are getting smaller, as I concede the difference between what I really need to 'survive', and what I would like to have with me for 'comfort'. I have been working on a 'core' kit that will travel from pack to bike to hunting coat. Additional gear would be added for seasonal/regional/activity differences.

I would pack the items in a cloth pouch before stuffing into the bottle. That way, when using the bottle for boiling or transporting water, all the stuff keeps together in a manageble way.

PS. Just noticed that Montanero has mentioned that.

The question of bringing the bottle full of water is an important one, but it mostly depends on what you plan on using the bottle for. If it is a pot that can be used as a water carrier then you carry your water in other devices. I am one of those who thinks that under most circumstances that a cooking pot is very important. I have 3l of water in my bladder and another 1l bottle, the additional water is not necessary in most environments. My extra bottle is a SS Guyot Designs with a 700ml Snow Peak pot around it so I carry my gear in a soft bag, but if you use a plastic bottle, carrying the survival gear in a metal one is a great idea. As a pot to carry the gear, it has the advantage of being waterproof from the outside as well. The bottle in the original photograph appears to be a Guyot Designs bottle (or their bottle branded by others including Nalgene). I think it is about the best bottle available (Ti would be better but they are out of my budget). Drilling two small holes in the flange (not part of the sealing system) allows for split rings or a wire bail. All of mine have this mod so that they make good pots. It is possible to add a bail without the holes, but it is much more simple and uses lots less wire if you drill them.

If it is your only water carrier, or you do not have enough water, I agree it should be filled with water, not gear.

Respectfully,

Jerry

You could have a problem with the tea candles, at least in many areas, perhaps not so much in Canada. When they get hot, the wax will liquify and run, playing all kinds of games with the rest of the gear. Living in Arizona and California this was a very significant problem. Even in cooler climes, when you factor in the heat generated in a car interior, you could get runny wax.

Also from the perspective of hot deserts, one water bottle is typically insufficient, at least during the hotter months. You would typically carry three times or so the amount in your metal bottle. This is just an example of how rigs like this must be fine tuned to individual circumstances.

Yep, but since BruceZed is concerned with a Boreal Forest climate, I'd assume he has a source of water and just needs to have a container in which he can boil water.

My emergency water container is a 3 gallon jug, which is the reason my bug out bag is a truck.

I really like these 8 Hour Liquid Paraffin Fuel Cells. They're the same diameter as any standard tea light and will fit most lanterns made for tea lights. They're a bit taller, so that can be a minor issue, but they fit my UCO Mini lantern like they were made for it. These are made mostly for restaurants to go in the little lamps that sit on your table to provide ambiance. They seal pretty tightly, and I've never had one leak in 25 years of using them. The three big advantages they have over regular tea lights are 1) they burn around 8 hours vs a couple of hours for candles, 2) they can be snuffed and re-lit an almost limitless amount of times and burn just as well as they did the first time and 3) they don't melt. They're basically mini kerosene lanterns, so they work very well as a fire starter, too.

A truck is a good bug out device, just a little bit bigger than a 1L Water bottle.

Yes I assume I just had to either boil water or melt snow or ice.

You are very right, not just in a desert climate

I place each one in a small plastic zip lock bag, I actually always do this for all types of candles etc, it is just a good policy to keep thing separate that could melt, leak and/or make a mess of other important gear

Bruce,
I think that is a good kit for anyone. Quad biker or not. I have one of those Mora knives. Good knife. I would suggest (speaking from personal experience) that a Tops saw and a very small sharpener (something like an Opinel sharpening steel) would enhance that kit considerably. Only other suggestion would be a small piece of canvas and a couple of elastic bands (as a particulate filter).

Same thing with PJ tinder balls. I keep them individually wrapped & sealed so they don't make a mess.

So Bruce, what is the source for that water bottle?

I've though of something similar for inclusion on the back of a snow machine.
(snowmobile) Something like a large bedroll with:

- ground cloth, pad, sleeping bag
- Kit similar to above
- stove, food, extra clothing.
-Tools specific to the activity

Perhaps you could use a couple of paper coffee filters as particulate filters...I have them in my kit and a lifetime supply is just a few bucks.

How about using a Ti or SS BOT instead?

http://www.vargooutdoors.com/titanium-bot-bottle-pot.html

The Bot is an interesting gadget, and I have been mulling over the purchase of one. However, do the numbers....

The titanium bot lists for $99, the stainless version around On the other hand, a nalgene is what - $12? and a stainless cup that fits on it is about $8. For a fraction of the cost of a bot, you have even more water capacity and utility, with significant bucks available for other items.

You can play all kinds of games with differential weights and costs. About the lightest would be a recycled quart Gatorade bottle and a titanium pot (like the Snow peak 700) - cost roughly $40. Its only drawback is the relatively narrow mouth of the bottle if you wish to store items within it.

Interesting choice of gear. Many of us jumped on the wide availability of stainless steel water bottles as multi-purpose problem solvers. I would have chosen a good saw blade from a folding saw and a smaller knife for that terrain, but to each his own.

Lots of good comments, particularly about a separate pouch for the contents. I would note that some of the commenters did not look at the posted link, which placed this as part of a standard daypack with clothing and rain jacket, not as a stand-alone kit.

For a northern climate, the wide mouth bottle is very important. Anyone who has tried to melt snow for water knows it's rather like pouring sand down a rathole. You could do it with a narrow mouth if you had to, but it would make you mental.

Handling a hot stainless canteen is quite a challenge. The bail (or a multitool) is very important for handling over the fire, but for drinking it's a scorcher to both hands and lips. Filling it only 3/4 full helps, but in practical terms you have to let it cool a while, and it stays hot a lot longer than a pot.

While some have suggested an exotic bottle (bumping the cost), it may be worth considering the opposite approach. Adequate stainless water bottles are available for peanuts in second-hand stores. They're usually a bit smaller, 2/3 quart/litre, but simple and inexpensive kits could easily be mass-assembled and tucked into all sorts of locations, including the trunks of relatives' vehicles. I would guess that a skilled scrounger could do it for $10-15.

If you're melting snow it's not so bad- once you get water, stick it back in the snow drift for a spell. I agree, though- you need a handle, bail or at a minimum some heavy gloves. Lots of the folks that recite the SS-bottle-to-boil-in mantra probably haven't considered how they're gonna move the bottle off the fire. I did notice the bottle is part of a larger kit but I still don't favor packing my gear inside the bottle; water storage still strikes me as the best use for a water bottle.

The kit looks very good, though. Anyone that's been here at ETS for awhile is probably better prepared than your average camper or hiker. Sometimes we forget not everyone takes a 30 pound ruck of stuff out on a day hike!

Some sort of enclosing sack is the final touch to a kit of this type. It gives you a place to stash all the contents of the water bottle when it is used for water. I also prefer to include a small pot/mug container enclosing the bottom of the water bottle, so that you don't necessarily have to boil all your water

Nice idea, but the $100 price tag is more than the entire kit cost me to build. I am partially Scottish and those genes would not allow me to pay that much for a water bottle.

Canadian Tire, In Stock at most and only $10 New

Agreed - Don't worry about weight on the back of a snowmobile or in your truck. Go used or from goodwill.