108 replies to this topic

[perrch01]

I would also want to have bleach in case my water became contaminated or ran out and I was forced to procure water from a possibly contaiminated source, that is in addition to/ or if I couildn't boil the water

[vrooota]

those corn burning stoves are actually catching on quite a bit round here with farmers and rural peeps mostly. I think the most important thing in any survival situation is the people your with. I want friends of many talents, doctor, farmer, hunter, mechanic, seamstress, etc. cuz I don't just want to survive I want to thrive, and I'm not going to take well to giving up the niceties of civilization. I really hope shit doesn't hit the fan though. Building new civilizations is a PITA

[Hippie3]

rural folks will have a huge edge right at start,
it's urban dwellers that are fucked

[Hippie3]

indeed,
hence the need to stock-pile ammunitions
:D

[l33t]

I agree that a water source will make or break an autonomous community

Here's a nice writeup on water wells,
everything from background info to const.:
http://www1.agric.go....nsf/all/wwg404

[Beast]

WATER: Instead of keeping a supply of chlorine to purify your water, there's little bottles of iodine tablets that work much better. One little bottle of like 50 pellets will purify more water than a gallon of chlorine. Water purifiers like for backpacking are handy as well, though they are more for biological contaminants than chemical ones.

FOOD: Stock piling some surplus military meals ready to eat (MREs) would be a smart move. Each of those MREs has over 1000 calories, plus all the vitamins and minerals you need. You could survive by eating one of those every other day and keeping activity to a minimum, if you're stranded in your house, you'd last a couple weeks with just one case. Having a camp stove with a supply of white gas or propane will be handy too, being able to boil water and cook food will help save lives.

What goes in must come out, so don't forget that you're gonna have to figure out what to do about your poop. Sewer systems might go down in a flood or earthquake, and if you're stranded you're gonna have to figure out what to do about your shit before it piles up on you. Having a shovel around is a good idea, but if you're surrounded by water, just shitting into the water around you isn't going to help one bit. I guess in the flood you just treat it like the local community pool...

COMMUNICATION: There's handheld short wave radios that have a built in hand crank generator. A definate must have. Besides receiving communications, sending them would be handy too, so maybe a CB radio would be handy, but for real commo, a HAM radio would be best. Or at least a set of those motorola talk-about radios for internal comms.

ENERGY: Really, how essential is electricity? gotta run the fridge, gotta run the a/c, computer, xbox, tv, foot massager, umm...
It seems to me that in such a situation, power will not be available unless you've got your own generator, but then you've got to get fuel for the generator, and who knows how long that will last? Preparing to survive in a non ac/dc environment seems to make much more sense, unless you're running a hospital and have bunches of lifesupport systems that are requiring constant power.
What is essential that requires power? food preservation and perhaps communications are all I can think of at the moment, and such can be handled by a generator, but both can be managed without power as well.
Stockpiling batteries seems a common sense alternative, though just like MREs there is still a shelf life that needs to be minded.

SECURITY: Get an AK-47 variant. Holds lots of bullets, recognizable from a distance by sight or sound, relatively affordable. Having a shotgun and or handguns for backup would be smart.
But don't forget that these things get heavy fast. Investing in a vest or at least a pistol belt with ammo pouches would be smart too, cuz all those bullets get cumbersome and will probably rip your pockets. Don't forget the sun goes down, so investing in an underbarrel light or trijicon sights (or some other sort of low light sighting system) would be smart too.

MENTAL/PHYSICAL STATE: This is the one that is the most difficult. Being able to survive requires that the individual set on surviving must maintain an alert ready to go posture at all times. That includes maintaining your survival supplies: keeping up on expiration dates, maintaining proficiency with the radio communications (get a HAM license) as well as firearms (practice at least once a month, 10 rounds per weapon minimum). Not to mention physical/mental fitness. Being in shape will allow you to make those long walks on midnight aquisitions, as well as able to carry it all back with you. All this preparedness will do you no good if you drown in the initial flood cuz you couldn't swim across the street. Being able to remain calm in a stressful situation that many would despair in will help you to persevere as well.

[Hippie3]

here's a thought seldom considered-
livestock.
what kind of animals are pro-survival, esp. long term ?
my first thought leaps to dogs, early warning systems that keep random looters at a distance.
cats are good too if you plan to store much food,
better to feed the cats than the rodents.
chickens are not good, too delicate
but ducks/geese are much tougher, still lay eggs
and provide feathers.
rabbits are small, give fertilizer and meat and fur.
goats are tough, meat, milk and fur source.
all animals can replicate themselves,
something machines have yet to master.
extra livestock can be bartered for needed supplies.
:)

[Lefty]

Tools & the ability to use them is high on my list. A 9/16 deep well socket is tough to improvise. Along those lines, cheap tools are cheap for a reason. A semi-large electric motor becomes a generator when turned by the propeller you improvise on the shaft & stick in a narrow but shallow part of a river but you would then have to defend that position. Ac voltage is + or - 10%, low voltage dc is much more forgiving. Batteries would be priceless, battery chargers & car or boat batts even better. People you can trust as groups are protection (gotta sleep sometime). As Beast said in a way, hit the sporting goods store for all you can haul. Pack animals? Always pictured a semi-Red Dawn situ or some such. Gather all you can & get rural, but knowledge would rule the day next to resources. Hole up in a power dam & dispatch hunting parties while trolling for CNN type shit? Caveman tech might rule the day.

[muddz]

i'd keep bunch of food that would stay good for over time, plenty of water or water purification kits, 12 gauge shotgun for protection or bird and 22 rifle for hunting. Pair of magnum steal toed boots, warm water resitant clothing, matches, knife, thread incase need to put stiches in, generation some gas and maybe even air purification system.. radio preferbly 2 meter ham radio handheld can use repeaters for phone patch if the repeater working(i have general class liceanse). some morphine, cipro, and water pills...plenty of wood and i'd have it in a big drain pipe in my back yard that i burried to survive through a tornadoe it breatheable too. also i would prolly have plenty of spare rice left over to even make few jars ;)

[perrch01]

, thread incase need to put stiches in

Superglue works incredibly well on small lacerations and burns less than surgical glue.

Hydrogen peroxide, or really any type of antiseptic would be crucial here too considering that in squallid conditions a minor cut can lead to serious infections/death.

[shedthemonkey]

I found these batteryless shake up flashlights at the Dollar store yesterday. They are LED based but it is bright enough for a long time on just a coupla shakes back and forth! No idea the shelflife but as long as the coil inside doesnt break it should be good for years...NO FLASHLIGHT BATTERIES NEEDED is pretty cool. At $2 each we got one for each vehicle and several rooms in the house. Add them to your emergency bugout pack. Sigh. I gotta make one up. You'd think I would be ready after two heavy Hurricaine seasons but nope. Too much faith is dumb luck and this cinder block house. :)

[Beast]

emergency stash of herb to get you through the emergency? :D

You know you'll have dipped into it long before the emergency ever occurs and once the shit hits the fan, you'll discover that all's left is seeds and stems.

[maliki]

Ok, so im caught in a situation where We cant loot for food or suplies. Or cant gain acces to another location due to whatever .
In my current position bound by water Im all Good As long as its not more then 3' high .
As for toxins or Radiation I would have very little protection ay best right now.
There are a few things that could be done that will minimize your exposure to toxins gases and the such. First thing you should do is get your mask on and high tail it as fast as you can to high ground . Most chemicals weigh more then air so they sink. If you have no mask , make the best one you can, by puling off a sock and soak it with water or even by pissing on it Ya Do What Ya Got To Do , then breath thru the wet sock, USAF down pilot skill.
Radiation I have no real protection against at this time . The only true protrection from radiation is to be hold up under ground with plenty of suplies.
Now this takes great work to achive as there are many things that must be done to survive long periods under ground. You must buy or build a bunker of some type, dig the whole to put it in , fashion an air filtation device or buy one if your lucky , (alot of us could do this not much diffrnt then building a flow hood) Plus water , human waste removal amongst an entire host of other details. http://www.radshelters4u.com/ is an ok starting point for rather decent information. Radiation can be survived.

Idealy for me a bunker would be a 14'x70' mobile home buried in the ground.
But relisticly it would be more like a 10'x14' reinforced metal shed 5 feet down. Theres allways more to do when its time to survive.

A bunker would let you survive Hording mobs of the masses , Toxins And radiation.
The key to a good bunker is no one knows its there and it secure in case it is found . Most people I know call me nutzz for even thinking about building a shelter , Fine call me crazzy while your dieing and im surviving...

Remeber the people on the News who wraped ther homes in plastic or rooms in plastic just because there was a threat of a biological agent being
released.

So adiquet shelter is on the list of survival skills
and or options to have available.

Maliki :)

[Hippie3]

better dust off this old thread,
seems kinda topical given the news these days.
i'm laying in more canned goods and water, fuel.
need iodine tablets
in case of nuclear fallout...

[Hippie3]

seen the new 'world computer' ?
hand cranked pc
rugged and cheap.
i want one.

[Lazlo]

Hmmm. Cool! My mother has a hand crank CD player that she takes to the beach. Pretty neat and it runs on sunlight as well...