Notes on Constructing a 12 VDC Fuel Transfer Pump

  JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to a reply to a letter that I posted in SurvivalBlog back in February 2007.  Given the recent spike in gasoline and diesel prices, I thought it would be apropos to re-post it. — Every well-equipped retreat should have at least one “field expedient” 12 VDC fuel transfer pump. These pump rigs are popular with dirt bike, ATV, and snowmobile enthusiasts. They are very simple to construct. Here are the materials that you will need: 1 – An automobile or truck electric fuel pump. (The least expensive pumps come from automobile wrecking yards.) …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Re-Watching Die Hard Last Night Reminded Me of What Life Was Like in California, in 1988: Bruce Willis Had Some Hair, Gas Was Affordable, and Two Political Parties Were Vying to Control the Capitol — Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.


The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 28, 2026

On March 28, 1535, the Cistercian Bloemkamp Abbey (Oldeklooster) in Friesland was attacked and destroyed by a group of millenarian revolutionary Anabaptists. — March 28, 1774: Britain passed the Coercive Act against Massachusetts. — Today’s feature article is a guest piece written by our friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis, the Editrix of the highly-recommended Rural Revolution blog. — We are now seeking entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 123 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us …


The Price of Beef, by Patrice Lewis

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This guest article was written by our friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis. Her entertaining and informative Rural Revolution blog has been published several times a week since 2009. We highly recommend bookmarking it. – JWR — The price of beef has been on everyone’s mind lately. According to the USDA, the average price of beef jumped from $8.40 per pound in March to $10.10 by December 2025. A number of recent articles reflect these concerns: Food inflation in America RFK Jr. Urges U.S. Ranchers to Ramp Up Beef Production The cost of this grocery staple is …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 27, 2026

On March 27, 196 BC, the Rosetta Stone and others like it were ordered to be inscribed with the Decree of Memphis proclaiming the rule of the King of Ptolemaic Egypt, Ptolemy V. — March 27, 1513: Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sighted the coast of Florida. — And on March 27, 1855 Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner patented kerosene. — Today’s feature post is a re-post from the SurvivalBlog archives. — Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest ends in just a few days. Get your entries in soon! More than $981,000 worth of prizes …


Homestead Fuel Storage and Rotation, by NC Bluedog

Editor’s Note:  This is a re-post of a SurvivalBlog article from May, 2008.  Given the recent fuel price spikes and the many e-mails that I’ve recently received asking about fuel storage, I thought that it was apropos to dig up this practical article from the blog’s early archives. Given that liquid fuel costs are climbing dramatically, and likely to continue rising, I would like to share some of the practices for fuel storage we employ. For our homestead, liquid fuel equates to four items, namely: Propane, diesel fuel, kerosene and last but not least gasoline. For each fuel, there are …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. Economics & Investing Links of Interest Several readers sent this: The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it. Newly released IRS data shows Red States GAINED $39 BILLION in net income in 2023 compared to Blue States LOSING $43 BILLION. The Private Credit Collapse Accelerates. Germany’s Economy At The Point Of No Return. Economics & Investing Media Tips: Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact …


The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English―it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them―then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 26, 2026

On March 26, 1636, the University of Utrecht had its opening ceremony. Pictured is the university’s Academiegebouw Rectory. — March 26, 1790: The US Congress passed the Naturalization Act, requiring two-year residency. — March 26th, 1812: An earthquake now estimated at 7.7 on the Richter scale destroyed 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, and killed an estimated 15,000–20,000 people. — Today’s feature article is an essay by SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, James Wesley, Rawles (JWR). — There are just a few days left to get your Writing Contest article in for the current round of judging.  


An Old RPGer’s View of Socio-Poltical Alignment and Motivations

Like a lot of teenagers of my generation, I played a Role-Playing Game (RPG) called Dungeons and Dragons (“D&D“.) The majority of the players in our smallish-town D&D group were Christians, so we downplayed the wizardry aspect, and concentrated on adventure and combat.  We also shunned most cosplay and Live-Action Roleplaying. (“LARPing”.) This was in the late 1970s, so we had access to just the small-format Chainmail book and the first three D&D boxed-set rulebooks developed by Gary Gygax, et al. This was long before the more popular large-format Advanced D&D books were published. One key aspect of characters in …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, more about drone warfare. How to Survive Drone Warfare A very useful new video from Garand Thumb: How To Survive Drone Warfare In Ukraine (Ukraine Veteran). AI-Powered Lawsuits …