Excellent! Your reviews are always on the money.

Let me start by saying that I am not advertising my survival kits on this Forum. As I have stated in previous posts, I like this Forum because it is commercial free. In addition, the members of this Forum are not in my target audience, since most of you already have personally built kits.

As for the Belt Pro kit, it is completely different from the Eagle River belt mentioned before. Not only for the reasons Doug mentioned, but also because the Eagle River belt is just 1.25" wide and has less than 1" in useable space, compared to my belt with 1.5" of useable space. Their belt has a 19" storage area, mine has 25". The Eagle River belt is great for small flat items and may be a perfect kit platform for some of you. I have one and can tell you the quality is great.

Sorry, but I do not sell the belt separate from the kit. The process of building each belt is very time consuming and selling them individually would limit the amount of complete kits I could pack ( I personally prep/pack all my kits and hope to stay that way).

If anyone wants to build their own belt, I would be glad to share the technique. I researched and tested about six different designs before choosing this one. If you have a sewing machine and basic skills, it's not that tough. One of the previous members recommended using tubular webbing, which might work, but it would be tough to sew a zipper on it. I'm sure the pictures Doug takes in his review will help in construction. After that, if enough people are interested, I'll post the instructions.

Semper Fi, George

Thats Cool. I am of the 'build my own' type even though I may not have a lot of experiance in that area. I prefer to buy supplies myself so I have spares at home to refill anything that gets used. Plus I tend to pack differently, for example I get sick if I eat fish so I tend to not pack any fishing gear, plus I find that searching, assembling and packing to be half the fun. Also since I'm a small skinny guy I try to shrink my gear to better fit me. I would be interested in the technique, I found a cpouple web sites where people made belts out of cord before I found the Eagle Creek belt. I certainly don't want to take away from any potential sales by having you supply information, I know how much work it takes to make and sell a product, I have had ideas of my own but not the time or start up money to go anywhere with them.

Virginian-i think your comments and proposals are very admirable due to actually running a buisness from the products you seem quite happy to tell us how to make for our selves!!!

Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the compliment. I consider myself a realist; there is no way I can build a kit for everyone who wants/needs one... hence, the higher-end kits with quality components that are fairly expensive.

I completely agree with some of the other posts that say "building a kit is half the fun". It's probably more than half! Some people don't have the time to do this... that is where I come in. I do dispute that it is generally cheaper to build your own kit; all my kits cost me more to build the prototype than what I sell them for. If one place sold every item, it would be cheaper, but that is not a reality. Having to pay 20 different shipping charges adds up.

As for instructions on the belt construction, lets see what mysteries Doug's review unravels... then we'll go from there.

Semper Fi, George

I certainly agree with mbrodw. If I didn't like to build my own I would buy one, but I try to to buy anything premade anymore as I would just take it apart and modify it anyway <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Eugene (hitting refresh untill Doug's review)

Broke the buckle on my eagle creek belt - They have a great return policy and fast service. Recommended.

TRO

As it happens:
I put together a basic kit in an Eagle's Creek belt. It was in response to a question about an E&E belt that might escape detection (at least initially)if your were kidnapped/ taken hostage and an opportunity to escape arose.

I managed to cram in to it:

1 20mm button compass.
1 spark-lite.
1 Dermashave razor knife.
1 Dermashave folding saw.
5' 55o cord.
10 Assorted hooks.
40' 30lb Spyderwire fishing line (on a bobbin).
5 Tinder-Quick.
1 ltr ziplock bag.
5 puritabs.
3 Band aids.
5 lifeboat matches.

Your basic limitation per item is that it has to be less than 1" across and no more than 1/4" thick.

i am in the design faze of what i call my "batman belt"

i have a good, 1 1/2'' leather belt with two rows of holes. looks like ::::::::, to which i will attach pouches. i thought about buying pouches for it but i think i will make them instead (cheaper, better material control.) i can't seem to locate a size-able quantity of leather without sacrificing an internal organ on the black market, so i thought about tough, easily accessible, workable stuff. i am thinking a seat belt. i have a watch band made from it, wow! it is tough as nails. 50lb test, lighter and a THICK needle i already have. i am thinking snap closures (velcro does not last well for me) while not huge, i think that i will be able to make enough to carry most of my gear.