When you make a solar still you make several (as many as you have material for), if you add plant material to it it increases your out put. Besides when you don't have any water making a little is better than none.

Hmm,

Sometimes I wonder if my responses are just lost in translation, or if people get tired of reading my dribble, or if I just missed the point altogether.

I may have to change my nom de plume to Mongo.

I think there are a couple of different reasons why people mostly talk about gear and not techniques. The simplest answer is, gear is just more fun to talk about, and people want to read about things that interest them. I'm a self admitted gear freak, I love looking at, playing with, and reading about new gear. I love to surf the internet for cool new gear, but I don't really surf too much on survival techniques, mainly because it's the same old information. Honestly, how often to survival techniques change? You can only read about making fires with bow drills or lean-to shelter so many times, it's been done for hundreds of years with almost no changes, so that's probably why you don't see a new topic on it every week. Technique is something that you just need to practice on your own time and unless it's something new that hasn't been discussed before, probably woulnd't make interesting reading. For example, I've tried most all the firestarting techniques, and some of the shelter building ones and whatnot. Almost all the information had been covered here before, so I didn't feel the need to write up the same experiences that everyone had. It's just not that interesting for anyone else. And when I read about someone else doing it, I'll skim through the post, but most of the time if there's nothing new, I won't feel the need to comment on it either. So even though technique is extremely important, just like toilet paper, it doesn't make for a very interesting discussion.

The other reason there isn't too much discussion about techniques is becaues how to you define what is essential survival knowledge? What techniques are you talking about? As other people mentioned, there aren't many common techiques that would apply to everyone on this board, it depends a lot on your location and what you consider important for survival. Almost everybody associates survival with being stranded in a "perfect" forest, with plenty of wood around to build a fire and shelter, near a stream where they could catch fish, and small animals running about just waiting to be trapped. But in my situation (which could be unique, or very common), a lot of these "survival" techniques, such as knowing how to trap and skin small animals, just wouldn't be a very useful skill. It's not that I wouldn't mind learning, but for someone else in the city, in the desert, in the ocean, a skill just wouldn't come in very handy. Same thing could apply to solar stills, building fires with bow drills, or even shooting a gun (I know this might be blasphemous to some). Everyone has a different priority on what they consider a "necessary" survival skill or technique. No matter how much you've practiced, when the time comes to use it chances are it won't be under the same situations that you've practiced in. About the only essential skill that i think is necessary is knowing how to improvise with whatever you have at the time.

Not lost. Not tired. Not missed.

Keep those cards and letters coming Mongo!!!

I've probably started to make a reply to this thread about three times, then stopped and really couldn't finish because the point I was trying to make was incomplete.

Now that I've finally gathered my thoughts, it all boils down to the fact that I think the "technique versus equipment" is a moot discussion. Knowledge (technique) and equipment go hand-in-hand. Almost all survival equipment that I can think of is used to improve upon previous existing technique.

For example, let's examine the survival necessity of water procurement and preparation. The "basic" technique (without equipment) is to either build a filter with layered sand, clay, and so forth or find a natural container and boil it. Equipment, like a purpose-built water filter, purification tablets, and camp cups/pots simply make it easier to accomplish the same task.

This basic idea seems predominant in many categories of survival:

• Shelter: foliage versus a tarp; animal hide versus a sleeping bag.
• Fire: Rubbing sticks together versus a match.
• Food: Beaning a rabbit with a stick versus an MRE.
• Tools: Flint knapping versus a knife.
• Medical: Aloe and a leaf versus a band-aid.
• Signaling: Screaming versus a PLB.

Granted, some of these "primitive" techniques are not discussed as much as the necessary knowledge that comes with using modern equipment. However, a lot of those most basic techniques are very difficult to teach verbally. (I dare you to go out and give it a shot after simply reading a description. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />) All of this equipment that is discussed was created because "necessity is the mother of all invention". Using primitive technique, while time honored and true, is not your "best" option under the stress of a survival situation when proper equipment can save your butt so much faster and effectively. Should the basic techniques be learned? Absolutely, because when all else fails, you'll always have something to fall back on.

WOW!!! You are a fortunate man. We didn't have a garage when my son and I came home from those wonderful weekends - my wife made us strip outside and took the hose to us. (of course we lived on a farm with no neighbors around)

My point is that there are a lot of people that are asking what can I buy to do something instead of how can I do it. Most people are concerned about the weight of their BOB. Knowledge of how to do these things don't weigh anything and makes using what equipment you do have easier. Buying the best tent on the market won't help you if you pick the wrong place to put it up. Having your snares won't help if you put them in the wrong place. Knowing the basics will help no matter what kind of equipment you have. Instead of asking what else can I buy first learn to use what you have and improvise if you have to. When I first started learning after class room studies we were set out in an area for three days with our knowledge, a knife, and a couple of matches. After we mastered the "BASICS" then we started learning to use other equipment. Knowing how to store your food is great unless you don't have it to store then you might want to be able to find it. Knowing how to treat water is great or having the filters to clean it is better, but do you know how to find it. If your in the mind set that you might need a survival kit then how can you over look the need to know how to do with out it. I want my equipment and much prefer to have it but if every thing was lost tomorrow I can make it with out it can you? That is what I want every one to ask them selves.

Yeah, we have an outside shower, we live at the beach. Usually it's for rinsing off the salt and sand, but, after a camping trip, you might think we were prisoners going through delousing... Thank goodness I have to shut that off in winter, so the pipes won't freeze... otherwise she might have had us out there 2 weeks ago! Now that would be cold.

I believe that the basic point is that it is better to have a certain, quite small, weight of equipment about your person in order to improve your chances of coming out of a situation head up, rather than feet first. Usually defined as Knife, Torch, Whistle, Signal Mirror, Survival Kit etc.

What that situation is likely to be, can it be avoided and how best to get out of it?......
That's another problem entirely.
And that is where the discussion starts...........

Ray, to use one of your examples, I'll explain why what I think you are expecting isn't going to be really feasable:

Finding water.

Where I am, you have to actively seek a place where there isn't a pond, brook, stream or spring within a half mile in any direction. So the clues I look for when I need water are about as helpful to someone in say, Arizona or New Mexico, as a porcupine in balloon blowing contest. On the other hand, someone where there are more mines has worries I don't. And someone who needs to know about seawater doesn't need my advice, because other than distilling it all you can do is reverse osmosis rigs.

Oh, wait, that's gear, and you don't want to talk about gear.