Posted by: SwampDonkey
Equipment Accessability - 02/22/09 03:58 AM
Good evening,
I know we have posted about this topic before but I had an experience today that made me question my method of packing/storing equipment.
I was working in the bush today on a snowmobile and covered about 150kms. About an hour into the trip I talked with a group ice fishing from a hut. The man in the party had sliced his "pinky finger" quite deep with the blade on the ice auger. The group had no medical supplies at all but had wrapped some toilet paper around the finger.
I offered the guy a couple of bandages, he at first declined but then accepted to my help. I know I have at least 3 first aid kits on my snowmobile; a small one under the seat, a medium one in my pack and a large one in the cargo box.
The trouble was that to access any of them I would have to unlash the storage container, then break the waterproof seal to open the kit; all for a couple of bandaids. I also keep bandaids in my wallet so after taking off my floater coat, belt and dropping my floater bib pants I was able to provide 2 fabric bandages. The guy was very grateful and it only took a minute to patch-up his finger.
As I snowmobiled along I got thinking that I package my equipment too tightly, there is never any space left unfilled; but this is done at the cost of easy access.
Later in the day I got the snowmobile stuck on its side when I tried to drive over some trees while turning around at a dead-end trail. What I needed was my axe but it was wedged against a tree stump under the left side of my machine. I have a folding saw in my pack and a bow saw in the cargo box but again it would have been a hassle to unlash everything to access them. I tried cutting through the trees with the little saw on my Leatherman Wave but it was not up to the task. Instead I hammered on the axe with a tire iron from my partners toolbox. This freed the axe (but broke the holder strap) and I was able to chop the trees out from under the snowmoble and get back on the trail. My partner had a good laugh at my expense (he had done a multi-point turn on the trail) but it was an exhausting 30 minutes wading in deep snow to free the sled.
So the lesson I learned today is that although protection and amount of equipment is important, easy access must also be considered.
Mike
I know we have posted about this topic before but I had an experience today that made me question my method of packing/storing equipment.
I was working in the bush today on a snowmobile and covered about 150kms. About an hour into the trip I talked with a group ice fishing from a hut. The man in the party had sliced his "pinky finger" quite deep with the blade on the ice auger. The group had no medical supplies at all but had wrapped some toilet paper around the finger.
I offered the guy a couple of bandages, he at first declined but then accepted to my help. I know I have at least 3 first aid kits on my snowmobile; a small one under the seat, a medium one in my pack and a large one in the cargo box.
The trouble was that to access any of them I would have to unlash the storage container, then break the waterproof seal to open the kit; all for a couple of bandaids. I also keep bandaids in my wallet so after taking off my floater coat, belt and dropping my floater bib pants I was able to provide 2 fabric bandages. The guy was very grateful and it only took a minute to patch-up his finger.
As I snowmobiled along I got thinking that I package my equipment too tightly, there is never any space left unfilled; but this is done at the cost of easy access.
Later in the day I got the snowmobile stuck on its side when I tried to drive over some trees while turning around at a dead-end trail. What I needed was my axe but it was wedged against a tree stump under the left side of my machine. I have a folding saw in my pack and a bow saw in the cargo box but again it would have been a hassle to unlash everything to access them. I tried cutting through the trees with the little saw on my Leatherman Wave but it was not up to the task. Instead I hammered on the axe with a tire iron from my partners toolbox. This freed the axe (but broke the holder strap) and I was able to chop the trees out from under the snowmoble and get back on the trail. My partner had a good laugh at my expense (he had done a multi-point turn on the trail) but it was an exhausting 30 minutes wading in deep snow to free the sled.
So the lesson I learned today is that although protection and amount of equipment is important, easy access must also be considered.
Mike