You "hurled" with MP-1 or PA? I thought that iodine was the one to leave a funny taste, not the chlorine dioxide?

I'm hoping that the foil could be used to boil if the need came to that, that's one of the main reasons it's in there. Are there any other uses for foil other than boiling/cooking?

With the MP. I hate the smell of chlorine, which is probably the issue here. Psychosomatic or not, it's real enough to screw me up. The suvenier of nearly drowning in a pool when I was very little, probably.

PA I'm fine with. It gives me heartburn for the first few liters, but that's about it. And as small as the vials are, PA+ is worth looking into if you don't like PA's taste. Although, I'd rather have ten Immodium in a second tab.

My question is how did you get that many into the vial? It looks like a 5/8 dram, right? I can only get 18 into one of those.

I don't know the exact size, I ordered it off Exploration Products, as per Doug's recommendation. I think that he fit 23 in as well, based on his "Mini Survival Kit" page.

What I did was tapped the vial after every 3 or 4 tablets to get it all to settle, then added 3 or 4, then tapped, etc.

I left the original sheet of protective film on the mirror, the duct tape just went over it for added durability and abuse resistance. It's a thick Lexan (I think) material, its the mirror from the Ritter PSP. Do you still think it'll eat through? That could be a problem...

Cardboard sleeve - good idea.

I carry the REI stormproof matches in my PSK. I have had to use them to start a fire when my bic would not stay lit and the strike anywhere matches would not light properly, (the phosphorus would ignite but the wood would not, it was 18 F at 5am and windy).

I use the lifeboat matches because they are many time more reliable than the strike anywhere’s. What is the point of have twice as many matches if half of them do not work?
The use of the lifeboat matches also almost guaranties the matche will get to the tender before being blown out.
If I had to choose between a 5 lifeboat matches and 25 strike anywhere’s I would go with the lifeboats.
I would like to here why others would choose the strike anywhere's over the Life boats or maybe a combination.

Availability and cost, pure and simple.

I've used lifeboats in the past, and I find that a thrice lacquered strike anywhere is almost as good and easier to find something to light it on. I've also never been fond of the strikers that are needed for the lifeboats. I've heard people say that they can light them on standard strikers, but the manufacturers say otherwise.

If I could find a local source of the Colhgans (sp) water/windproofs, I'd give them a try.

I covered the strike anywheres in a heavy coat of clear nail polish (imagine the jokes I got for that - I live in a barracks) stick and all, to keep them waterproof. After such treatment, I have dunked them in water for a few seconds, pulled it out and then lit it - I used both a real striker and my zipper. It takes an extra strike or two sometimes to work through the heavy coat of polish, but with patience you can get a solid blaze going. I also have a small "re-light" birthday candle to help combat the wind, all I need to do is get an easy to light candle to catch, then use the candle to light the tinder. What if Murphy is lurking around the corner and you lose the strike strip, or the stike strip gets wet, then those NATO matches are deadweight IMHO.

Speaking from personal experiance: If there is any sort of wind no match is going to be satisfactory nor any lighter for that matter. Rule 1 of survival: GET OUT OF THE WEATHER! Even with an accellerant fire lighting is touch and go at the very best of times. Use your poncho or whatever to shield you fire when lighting it. If you have to make a choice of matches carry no more than 4 lifeboat matches (your striker will crap out after 4 or so strikes). Lifeboats where not designed for fire lighting. Their original use was to burn trough the waterproof laquire covering on a distress rockets fuse.A mini clipper will at least allow you to apply a longer lasting flame to your tinder. If you want to proof strike anywhere matches use a large candle and dip the heads into the wax. gives a most satisfactory result.