In Building
a Survival Kit - Part One , a container was chosen to hold our survival
gear. The container was compact, lightweight and waterproof. It was also of
sufficient size to hold a reasonable amount of survival gear. Now it’s time to
start adding our survival gear to the container.
One of the most important
things required in a survival situation is a means to signal for help.
Emergency signals generally involve sight and sound. If they can’t hear you,
they may be able to see you or vice versa. This makes the choice for our next
gear items for our survival kit a lot simpler. In order to save space, you also
need to flatten your thinking when it comes to building a survival kit. Flat
doesn’t take up as much space and will often weigh a lot less.
The first gear choice made for
a signal device was a 3 inch x 4 inch stainless steel camp mirror. It’s flat,
virtually indestructible and extremely easy to use to create a very bright signal
flash. The camp mirror adds another $3.00 to the cost of our survival kit and an additional ounce of
weight.
The next installment will be:
The second gear choice made
for a signal device was a flat orange whistle (found in the boating dept.).
It’s flat, brightly colored, waterproof and is very lightweight. The whistle
adds another $2.00 to the cost of our survival kit and adds a little less than
an ounce in additional weight.
The survival kit now
contains the means to use both sight and sound to signal for help if needed.
Total cost of this survival kit is now $10.00 and has a total weight of
approximately 7 ounces. Keep in mind this survival kit is being designed for
long term use with good quality gear that will help you survive.
The next installment will be:
Don't forget to leave a comment. Thanks.
Got DIY Survival Kit?
Staying above the water
line!
Riverwalker
Posts
17 comments:
...my daughter brought up the fact(reminded me really...lol) that we have junk CDs as our signal device in a couple of our gear bags...
I have a flat Mylar mirror, protected with a cover sheet in on of my kits.
Takes up no room and weighs next to nothing.
Richard
To: Ken
The CD's are a fairly decent item for use as an emergency signalling device but lack the true reflective power of a good mirror...
Thanks Ken.
RW
To: anonymous 6:15
I've got a couple of those Mylar mirrors that were obtained from old make-up cases that I got at a yard sale for little or nothing.
They're nice when you can find them...lightweight, flexible and very good in the reflective department.
The stainless steel camp mirrors are pretty much indestructible and are my personal preference.
Thanks anon.
RW
I put together the kit, but I couldn't find the camping mirror. I found everything else though at Walmart. I will be putting in our BOBs that I starting to put together. Thank you for the idea.
To: anonymous 7:09
If you can't find a camping mirror at Wal-Mart, you can get the Rothco ones on Amazon. These mirrors are virtually indestructible and should last a long time. They are well worth the few dollars they cost.
Feel free to make substitutions or additions...after all it's for your survival. I only recommend that you use quality gear that won't let you down at a critical time.
Thanks anon.
RW
I keep a folded 11.25 Big Pouch Capri-Sun drink container in my wallet for getting drinks from a water cooler, rather than spending money on buying soft drinks (yep - I'm cheap, lol).
I think I will add a aluminum foil piece and tape onto the back of it - bet it would make a dandy reflective device. Something I carry every day, have for several years now.
Thanks again! I'm hoping to do this soon!
Made a wishlist of the items so far on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&id=1V36GH2VNNEYA&type=wishlist
I'm equally guilty of keeping some junk CDs for this purpose.
I remember my mom used to carry an old make-up compact as part of her search & rescue kit. It strikes me now (as an adult), that this wasn't the safest choice when a steel mirror is more durable.
I keep 2 makeup compacts, not only for signaling, but for checking for ticks or damage (in areas you can't see without help.
Keep it coming
This looks like the start of a decent plan...
In a pinch, the inside of most chocolate bar wrappers are shiney foil (I've taped them to one side of the little wind-up lanterns, to double my light). For the camp mirror, I keep it inside a dark cloth sleeve...in case I don't want to be found.
can that boating whistle be purchased at any sport store?
To: ana
Almost all of the items in the kit can be found at Walmart and the flat boating whistle is very common and could probably be found at several other stores as well.
RW
I keep my old mirror carefully wrapped in and old piece of bandanna, has helped protect it from scratches. Figure I could use the piece of bandanna as tinder in a pinch.
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