Category: Vehicles

Bug Out Boats, by Budget Boater

As a man of the sea, the topic of using a boat for the purpose of escape and survival seems to be misunderstood in many instances. I can even remember JWR dismissing the idea several times in the past. I can only assume that it comes from lack of knowledge and understanding of the “cruising” community. Recently there has been some discussion about this topic and some questions, so I thought this might be time to shed some experienced light on the subject. First, I will answer the questions posted recently: Question #1: If it’s a true EOTW scenario, establishing …


Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Hugh, Living in a coastal city on the northeast has had me thinking of bugout boats for some time. A cabin cruiser with supplies and full tank would make for an expedient exit from a burning city. Having a retreat to arrive at would beat trying to make it on the boat à la “waterworld”. Sadly the logistics are daunting. A year around-maintained boat is not easy in a zone 5 climate, plus a maintained retreat to arrive at and then trying to make it in your “new home”. As mentioned in numerous survival articles, you will most likely not …


Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Good Morning Hugh, I’ll begin a reply, but I don’t really know where it will ultimately lead. GS’s comments this morning (1/26/16) ought to be enough to take the wind out of anyone’s sails regarding bug-it boats! Although he makes some valid points, the overall tone is so negative he’ll put folks off the idea. But if you’re not already into boating/sailboating that may be for the best. It is a learned skill set. Some random thoughts: You don’t have to cross an ocean to ‘escape. There are many places much closer that would probably suffice. As mentioned previously, I …


Letter Re: Bug-Out Boats

Team, Regarding Bug-Out Boats, I can answer a couple of questions and add a bit to the discussion. You would be buying the most exotic, expensive, fragile, and defenseless retreat ever. The only benefits you have going for you is utter isolation when out in blue water and the ability to go continent to continent. No sail boat or power boat is going to survive many small arms hits below the water line, even with high-end carbon fiber hulls. They are not designed like submarines or fighting ships, where water-tight bulkheads can stop the flooding. One small hole in the …


Internet Auction Sites for Preppers, by B.F.

I suspect most of us who are interested in self-reliance are preparing on a budget. While it would be great to order a year’s worth of food at a time, and rotate them by donating them to the local food bank, that is just not practical for most of us. Likewise with equipment, tools and other survival needs. It would be easy to just go to Amazon and order whatever we want, but I for one will need to wait until I win the lottery first. The Internet is full of places you can buy supplies, tools, food and anything …


Survive the Drive – Vehicle Survival Preparedness, by Prepper Ray

Where will you be when the SHTF? You need to consider that you may not be at home when the world around you begins to fall apart. You are very likely going to have to travel to get home or a bug out location. You may be at work out shopping or even on vacation. No matter where you are the problem is going to be just being able to get from point A to point B. The type of vehicle you have and the equipment you have in that vehicle may in fact determine your ability to get to …


Letter: What You “Learn” Can Kill You

HJL, My name is Mark and I’m a Prepper. Sounds faintly like how you’d introduce yourself at an AA meeting, but even though I’m afflicted by the Prepping bug it’s not a disease like most of America would want you to think. Most of my family years ago were farmers and poor backwoods people. So prepping was the only way to survive the harsh winters after the short growing seasons. I fell into it easily being raised to hunt and raise a garden. When the last administration was installed in 2009 I saw what was happening. And being former military, …


Wilderness Fire: An Unexpected Retreat From Our Retreat, by L.F.P.

We have a boat-in only glamorous camping (“glamping”) retreat on a large lake in the West on the very edge of Wilderness-designated public forest land. The nearest road is more than three miles away. We were there in early August on summer vacation from the city. Several small lightning-caused wilderness fires had been burning for more than a month during the ongoing drought conditions. These fires flared up in very rugged terrain due to a rare severe August windstorm with gusts above 60 mph. The smoke had started to get noticeable on the lake and light ash was raining down …


Letter Re: One Source of Emergency Fuel for Diesel Engines

Mr. Rawles, I really enjoyed your Christian-themed survivalist books and always wondered what my family and I would do under similar circumstances. Now I’m a little too old to be doing any of that;. But I thought I’d pass on something to you for for your future books and for the SurvivalBlog readership. I worked for more than 45 years in the electric utility industry in substation construction and maintenance. When our large transformer oil trucks were finished work at the end of the day, we’d always dump the left-over transformer insulating oil into our diesel truck’s “saddle tanks” and …


Letter: Buying Land Inside a National Forest

Hugh and Jim, I have been reading SurvivalBlog for several years now. I’m retiring next year and am currently looking for our retirement “farm”. I never refer to it as my survival retreat. I have seen several properties for sale, apparently, inside national forests. Some have even been working farms. We have several national forests here in Michigan and many people live and apparently own land inside of these forests. My questions are: What are the ramifications of owning land within a National Forest? Do I own the trees on the land, do I own the ponds, streams, etc.? What …


Reality Checks for a Grid Down Scenario, By Blueleader

I sometimes hear misguided individuals who repeat the statement going around that if the grid goes down we will be thrown back to the days before electricity: The 1880s. The prevalent thought is that folks back then did fine so it wouldn’t be so bad for us to simply revert to that level of technology. Well, what if we examine your day in a post grid failure scenario? Here is a reality check for you to consider: Let us say you get up ‘the day after’ and you’re cold. Bummer. Well, in the 1880s if you got up and you …


Letter Re: Vehicle Fences

HJL, I wanted to make a comment about this great letter. I think it may bear mentioning that in an emergency situation the weak point in the fence is the concrete. Having watched one get hit and seen many more that were hit, I can say that the concrete set post will give way before the cable. This being said I can’t for sure say the best way to knock one over but bumper up to it at a 90 degree angle and the post should give way then the slack between the posts should allow you to drive over …


Letter: Flying

Hugh, I have to fly to the east coast soon for work. I am already feeling naked with the thought of not having a good pocket knife and pistol on my person. Is there a good tactical pen or something along that lines that I can legally carry on a plane? Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks! – M.B. Hugh Responds: The airlines will let you fly with both pistol and knife in your checked baggage. Check with each airline for their requirements. Usually, it consists of a checked, hard-sided, and lockable case. You are not required to have …


Letter Re: Emergency Car Kit

The article by Z.M. was a good start for a car kit. I would recommend a few additional items. A set of road flares. These are multipurpose. Clearly they can be used for signaling. (I personally prefer them as a driver because they are more visible in my opinion than reflective triangles.) Additionally, they can be used to help start a fire in an emergency as well. Regarding food, two types of food may be helpful as very few foods are shelf stable in the high temperatures that the inside of a car can reach. I highly recommend Datrex Emergency …


Letter Re: Car Emergency Kit, by Z.M.

Hugh, First, I’d like to compliment Z.M. on a well written post regarding a Car Emergency Kit. For most car related situations, this kit would be very useful if not down right critical for self preservation! These things need to be in each vehicle in every season of the year. However, I need to point out that this is not a winter survival kit for a car. A winter survival kit needs everything mentioned plus a lot more! I live in a region of the country where blizzards and heavy snow can strand hundreds of vehicles on Interstate highways overnight …