Reading posts is one thing ... putting it into practice is nicer !

I have assembled the following PSK, as a gift to my uncle (it was supposed to be ready for Xmas (2003)...... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> ... he will get it for Easter ..)

First purpose : this kit will stay in the trunk of his car.
In France, every other year, motorists get stranded on higways, during short but heavy snow falls, followed by huge traffic jams (sometimes not far away from Paris). And people spend a long cold night, trapped in their cars ... generally, order is restored next day.

Second purpose : this kit will be - I hope - thrown in his rucksack when he goes for a day walk in the forested small mountains (Vosges), where he lives.
Usually, he goes wandering with a bottle of water and some fruits, and that's all.

Due to space limitations, I have not included any medicinal item : I guess, in those situations, a few plasters and some paracetamol tabs would not make any difference.
And as far food is concerned, I just put some sugar and sweets, plus tea and coffee, more for comfort than real energy : nobody is going to starve in the few days involved.

What seems more important, is shelter and fire, and eventually signaling and water.

The tin can be used to smell snow and/or heat water, to get hot drinks.

The PSK is composed of a mess tin (16 x 9 x 7 cm), around which paracord helds 2 garbage bags (one black, one yellow)


Inside the mess tin, are the following items :


SIGNALS
- mirror
- ACME2000 whistle (sawed off)
- yellow Photon3 without battery
- one battery, separately packaged
- white Xlight, with batteries
- spare batteries for Xlight

SHELTER
- space blanket
(+ 2 garbage bags outside the tin)

FIRE
- mini Bic lighter
- allweather matches
- 2 tea candles
- 2 magic candles
- home made tinder (cottonwool + petroleum jelly, in plastic straws)
- emergency stove with solid combustible (not Esbit, but something alike)

WATER
- 1liter ziplog bag
- 3 paper coffee filters
- puritabs
- 2 instant coffee
- 2 tea bags
- 3 sugar bags
- 4 sweets
- 2 salt bags

TOOLS
- SAK Victorinox
- razor blade
- chain saw
- compass
- sewing kit, with needle and safety pins
- pen lead
- nylon tie
- paper
- 2 m thin string, for laniards
(+ 15m paracord, around the tin)
(+ some duct tape, tapped to the tin cover)


Any comment is welcome.....

TIA

C'est Magnifique ! I would encourage him to stow a wool blanket, bottled water and a bit of suitable food in the car.

Looks great!
Is that in a mini trangia ?

hi frenchy:great kit..and such a thoughtful gift.. your uncle should be very happy... is that a trangia type messtin?..that messtin is an excellent bit of e.u. quaility kit..to bad i ca'nt find the trangia tin on this side of the pond.. i use a british/dutch messtin for my survival pouch items..by the way the greman airforce use the trangia tin as part of there survival kit......vince g. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Very nicely done! The list of contents outside the kit is a great touch.

Great job and very thoughtful.

But If that is a PSK You have some incredible pockets.

Alain,
Great piece of kit you are showing there. Is it by any chance based on the Lofty Wiseman Mess tin gear?
Those Mess tins are available over here too (UK). I ordered my from the SASS comp.
In addtion to Chris his advice for the trunk of your uncle's car a spade and some gloves could be useful too.

Reinhardt

yes, indeed ....... <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

No, I just tried to put into practice, what I learned on this forum.

As for my uncle preparedness, his car has a bit more gear, than what is in his rucksack, when hiking ...

well ... you're right ......

it's not exactly an altoïd can kit ..... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

good advice...
Anyway, his car is a bit more equipped than his rucksack.
I believe he keeps a water bottle in the car.
I will check for the blanket ...

yep, it's a mini trangia mess tin.

The only thing I have not done - and should have done <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> - is test the thing !
I will asap buy another mini trangia and actually use it to boil water with that emergency stove, to check the true efficacity of those solid fuel tabs.
(I have successfully used them, but with a smaller container)

As a matter of fact, I used a larger trangia mess tin (20 x 13 x 7 cm) to assemble another kit for a friend. It contains a bit more gear and some medicinal items.
I gave him before thinking of taking pictures ... and before deliberatly finishing it.

This friend is not a walker (or only occasionnaly), but a true sea fanatic ; owner of a sail boat and a motorboat ; with an secondary house on an small Atlantic island (yeah ... he did well before retiring ..; <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

When I gave him that PSK, I had an interesting discussion with him, about security/emergency matters, on land and on sea... It's not something he really thought about up to now.

With his familly, he spends about 2-3 weeks a year in the Alps mountains, mainly skiing in winter or making half-day walks, in winter or summer time.
Apart a bottle of water and some biscuits, his - small - rucksack is quite empty on those occasions.... I suggested adding the new PSK.

He spends much more time on sea ... but he only has the mandatory safety items aboard his boats. Here also, I suggested a more comprehensive kit or at least the tangria PSK.
I will keep on discussing these matters with him, trying to coax him to permanently add gear (whistles, luminous signaling devices, aso ...) on the PFDs for example. Money should not be a concern for him, in respect to added safety, for him and his familly.

I already got a good point, on that score.
For Xmas 2000, I gave him a small one hand knife (an Outdoor Wedge I or II), and this knife once saved his day : he got caught by his fishing lines and having this knife at hand reach, enabled him to quickly cut the lines with his only free hand, before being dragged overboard.

Yes, I will definitively keep proding him, to shape the trangia PSK to his needs - IMHO a absolute requirement, if he is to use it att all - : get the ineffective medicinal items out of that kit, add some more gear (a fishing kit will be mandatory in his case), build a separate comprehensive FAK for the boats and a smaller one for the car....

Let's spread the good words ..... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hej Frenchy ! Your Mess Tin Kit Is JUST what i need for myself , Would you mind if i copied it !!

Hey, no ! How could I possibly mind ?? Ideas from this forum aren't mine ...


Items used in the kit come from different sources :
- some I get thru Bagheera
- some I bought in french camping store
- some I bought online, on a german web site


Alain

Nicely thought out kit, ever thought about trying to market it?

Camera pans to a deserted island. Tom Hanks looks up to see ( insert your forum name) wading to shore. You produce a PSK and Tom cries " ATrangia Kit, Firesteel from Bagheera!" Then he turns solemn and mumbles " Wilson, can YOU believe the knife he's using?"

<img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

.... and compete with Doug's ???? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hell, no !

My first idea was to make a kit out of a salvaged tin can, including 3 flat pieces of metal as a tripod, .to raise the can and put the solid fuel under it.
Much cheaper than a trangia mess tin and a stove.
But, first of all, you cannot put much gear in such a can ; and then offering a tin can as a gift to friends or familly .... well, it lacks a bit of prestige !! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

But I may still assemble some like that for my own usage.

G'day Frenchy, great kit and well thought out.
My suggestion as it is for a car stuck in a storm is add a transistor radio and maybe a book to read while he waits for help to dig him out.
Wazza.

Sorry, but no place for a transistor radio, in the mess tin !!!!!!! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And I would hope his car radio and batteries will stay operational long enough ....

And when he walks in forest, he would think it heresy to carry (and use ...) a radio. He goes there for calm and isolation, not for noise and french political (or other ...) news !!!

Great job !! I recently switched over to the Gerber breast milk storage bags recomended by Doug, they are much better than condoms. The kit looks well thought out and put together.

you've got it down to a science my bad an art wait,wait, you've got it down to instinct

I wanted to...
but have not found them.
<img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

A radio would add more weight, as well. Speaking of which, how much does this kit weigh?

good question ..... I hadn't check that up to now ...

less than 900 grammes

Sorry I wasn't more specific. But isn't the origional thread that this kit was kept in the car for use whilst stuck in the car during a snow storm???
Not carried on the person for hiking use?????
Then weight isn't a problem and a book is good to read to while the hours away, awaiting un-stucking!
Being Australian we don't often get stuck in snow drifts down here so I do not know the rules about running car batterys for accessories and such, but how do you make coffee while stuck in a car????
Also what dangers are there when being in this type of situation?
Just curious.

Wow, right at 2 pounds US. My personal opinion is that's about the upper limit for what someone is willing to carry around as a dedicated survival kit, just for a walk in the woods or something similar.

Excellent photos. Is that sugnal mirror, a compact disc, or just a round signal mirror?

yes, you got it right : it's a round signal mirror

Yes, your comment about a book is a good idea.

As for a radio, I would say you can turn on the car radio from time to time, especially at news time.
This should not drain your car battery.

AFAIK, when a great number of people have got stuck on snowbound highways, nobody died. "Gendarmes" (policemen) or firemen were (more or less) reachable and if real death risk existed, an (air ?) evacuation was certainly possible, for that person. But there was no way ALL the trapped people could be evacuated.

I guess it's more life threatening, if your are the only trapped car, on a little road somewhere in the snow ... because then nobody knows it and you really are alone ...

In either case, if you have to spend the whole - very cold - night in a car, alone or with wife and child, if you can have some warm beverage, that is more than nice...
could be a life saver.

I sometimes use that emergency stove in my car to warm water and add instant dehydrated soup... I just ensure a window is partly open and I place the stove on a metal plate (side cover of micro-computer).


The kit may also have a dual purpose and be removed from trunk to go in the backpack.

yes, I think you're right.
Add a 1,5l bottle of water and some biscuits or energy bars, put that in a (small) rucksack ..... yes, most won't bother to take more....

Frenchy:

It seems this past summer Europe lost more people due to the heat wave than any snow calamity ever created.

If I recall correctly, Italy was no. 1 and France was no. 2 in deaths.

There was a catastrope nobody seemed to see coming.

With imports being as cheap as they are, we have 5,000 btu air conditioners as cheap as $76.00 USD in the USA. Being spoiled as we are, air conditioners are commonplace. I hope the Europeon outlook has changed on "toughing it out" and is stocking up on air conditioners as history has now shown what a three day heat wave can do to people.

Good luck and God bless.

Bountyhunter

Good kit frenchy
I don`t know why this site insists on judging everyones PSK, surely everybodys budget and ideas is different. All you have to do is read different survival books and the priorities of survival vary from book to book. As long as they have got the basics covered ( Fire, shelter and water) who cares what they carry. Also the most important thing to carry in your PSK is the only item you can never leave behind................YOUR WILL TO LIVE forget that and you might as well cut your wrists. ( provided you have a blade in your PSK)
Pegasus

Yes, the last year heat wave killed a large number of people, mainly because they didn't drink enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!! <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I wanted to add some dehydrated water in my kit, but could not find a distributor, here in France. Do you have any addresses on the Net ?? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

More seriously, it's a sad thing than many people died just because they didn't think to hydrate themselves correctly.... or that nobody take care of that for them (in case of elderly or sick people).

About air conditionners :EDF (our main electricity provider) fears that there could be problem regarding power consumption, if a new heat wave happens and if everybody install air conditionners.
We came really close to an electricty crisis last summer.

Good points.
I carry two pieces of "Will to survive" in my PSK.
They consist of small laminated photos of my loved ones!
Pretty soppy eh fellas.

Actually a very good idea!

If the car is snowed in, how will he get to it, if it is in the trunk???

Be VERY carefull...Carbon Monoxide(CO) is(if I am not mistaken) heaver than air, and so will not go out the cracked windows(at least not in any car I have ever seen <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )
CO is a slow killer, and bonds with the oxygen carriers in your blood preferentially to oxygen, and it does not UNBOND!
That means that you can be getting a little bit all the time and not know it, then get a short exposure to a higher concentration and have it kill you without warning.