“Live every day as if it is your last, for one day you’re sure to be right.” – Edward Woodward, portraying Harry Harbord Morant, in the movie Breaker Morant, 1980. Screenplay by
Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens, and Bruce Beresford, based on the stage play by Kenneth G. Ross
Today we present another two entries for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.
Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
What will you do when your fuel runs out, or your energy system fails? How about burning wood? I used to dismiss burning things for energy off-hand as a dirty and wasteful heating tool, nothing more – not a source of actual power or energy. However, learning what I have in the past few months has given me a new appreciation for this readily-available resource. My perspective was changed somewhat, and it was kind of a shock to me, because i’m pretty open-minded to alternative solutions. My mindset is this: until I have a wealth of food and supplies in storage, I can’t afford to ignore a resource – especially cheap and renewable ones. Can you? Even if you’re prepared for the long haul, it pays to have a couple contingency plans, and this could be one of them.
Definition:
“Gasification” is the use of heat to transform solid biomass or other carbonaceous solids into a synthetic “natural gas like” flammable fuel. “woodgas” is the term usually applied to the fuel itself. The basic idea isn’t a new idea as much as it is an improvement on the basic principle of burning biomass for heat and light (like a fireplace); in fact, this has been around for more than 100 years. A “gasifier” is typically a multi-tank design that burns wood to create gas, cleans it, and cools it before it is used. And here’s the clincher: when done properly, and routed to an engine or a storage container, the gasses can be used to power machinery and (drum roll please) your off-grid home power system.
History:
The use of woodgas really became popular with the proliferation of the automobile, when inventors modified internal combustion engines to run off everything imaginable, including peanut oil, steam, and compressed air (a subject for another article). Gasification came into widespread use during the fuel crisis of WWII as well as during the OPEC fuel problems of a few decades ago, and the ever-increasing fuel prices make it just as relevant right now. There are a couple industrial power plants in places like Svenljunga, Sweden and Gussing, Austria, but this is a version that can be made small enough for personal use.
Building your own:
I’m going to stick to the details of my own experience, since that’s more beneficial for you than simply sharing the research; you can find pictures and details online yourself, and you’re welcome to email me for suggestions. Anyway, since my new goal is to convert everything of mine to run on woodgas(or a mixture of fuels), I decided to start small and work with a simple woodgas stove. The stove idea works like this, to give you an example:
Start with a small enclosed container, which could be cubed or round. I picked a barbecue propane tank, since they are easy to acquire and had the right size. The next major element is the flue and/or fuel inlet. (I picked 4” steel stainless pipe). This I cut into 2 sections and welded into an “L” shape. The bottom emerges from the side, and the top emerges from the center of the tank. The third step would be to add a fuel tray, like in a fireplace. (I stuck with the barbeque theme and used part of a barbecue grill, cut to fit) This I inserted through the side (where you’ll put your wood fuel) and tack welded in the center (little lower) of the pipe.
And that’s pretty much all there was to it. I welded up the edges, where the pipe meet the container, and it worked like a charm.(Though in the absence of a welder you can get by just fine with a tube of high-temperature automotive caulk, like Gasket Goo) This is something that can be made in your garage or metal shop with a welder and a saw, although you don’t have to follow my design – test models can be built out of soup cans or soda cans, with little or no fabrication.
You can imagine how it works, in principle; it’s quite similar to your chimney at home. This air flow is the same reason that campers will build a fire in a ‘tent’ shape. Once the fire is lit, hot air rises, drawing cold air into the vacuum. I made mine so that I could take it camping; the propane tank perfectly fits a small pan or pot on top, has a base for stability, and works almost as well as a gas-powered camp stove that you would buy at a retail camping supply outlet. In comparison to my simple stove, most gasifiers will utilize some kind of fan, in line, for two reasons: to help kick-start the process by improving air flow, and then to propel gasses thru the device and to the engine/container. At this scale, pressure and volume become an issue, and to standardize the process things like this become necessary; some users even use computerized controls to regulate burn and flow.
Storing Woodgas:
Most woodgas users produce it on-demand, which is preferable if you can afford to build a large (or efficient) enough system. Personally, I wanted to be sure I could save it, in some way, before I dumped any more time or money into this technology. With this in mind, I picked up a small air compressor and modified it to work with my camp stove. I routed a tube (flexible rubber automotive/compressor hose) from the top of the woodgas stove to the air intake on the compressor, so that as my compressor operates, it fills the tank with gas, instead of air. Using a regular tire style air fitting, I was able to fill an external compressor tank, from my compressor. I will use this method to fill similar tanks with a basic woodgas mixture, which I can use to run gas lanterns, a gas stove, or a basic propane-style camp stove. In the long run, I will store fuel in a much larger on-site container, but I chose these elements to fit my circumstances.
Fuel sources:
The woodgas stove or gasifier is not limited to wood. I have run my camp stove on the chaff from coffee husks, for example. I don’t have first hand experience with these, but here’s a list anyway, of other fuels, to get you thinking: walnut or peanut shells, charcoal, coal, sawdust, wood pellets, buffalo chips…. I think I’ll continue to stick with cordwood as my main resource, though, even if it has to be chipped up to fit in a camp stove. I can find it for free all week long and in fairly large quantities. I have started scouting my local online classified ads for free woodpiles around town, and I’ve already filled one section of fence with cordwood. Of course, it needs to be relatively dry to work well, so it helps to live in a dry climate and have an out-of-the-way place to store materials. You may have access to other kinds of fuel in your area, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.
Camp stoves are easy; building actual gasifiers is a little more complex and actually requires some precision design work, so I’m going to need some expert assistance when I scale this system upward, to power a truck or a home generator. This doesn’t require a huge systems change for me, since I had already started collecting the electrical supplies I would need to start going off-grid – just a change in the fuel supply. Rest assured that I will write again with the results of the next woodgas project, in greater detail. For those of you with construction experience (or if you’re just motivated, like me), there are schematics and drawings available online for a few different gasifier versions, one of which you can find by searching for “gasifier” on Wikipedia. If anyone’s interested, I have found plans (complete with images) and instructions from a 1950s design, that was used to run a farm tractor. I don’t have the original link to where this manual came from, but I’d be glad to forward on the information
I’ve been a prepper for several years now. Living in South Louisiana kind of forces one to be with the high probability of hurricanes. I’ve taken it to the next level and want to be as prepared as possible not just during the summer months for hurricane season, but year round for the litany of other possible disasters whether they be natural or man-made. With the help of this site and several others I thought I was well on my way to having things pretty well covered. We have the house prepared for a temporary short term dislocation, and a hunting camp in the boonies of North Central Louisiana that I along with my in-laws are turning into a functional retreat for TEOTWAWKI. One thing that I’m ashamed to say never dawned on me was what happens if disaster strikes while you are on vacation. This came very close to happening to me while in Hawaii, and it taught me a very valuable lesson. There are no vacations from being prepared.
Due to the massive earthquake in Japan, our family vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii over the Mardi Gras break was interrupted by a tsunami. While sitting on the lanai with my wife and my father in law, enjoying the cool Hawaiian night breeze, we were jolted out of our relaxing conversation by the shrill sirens of the tsunami warning system. There we were, people who have had the foresight to try and prepare ourselves and extended family for just about every possible situation at home, getting caught with nothing but cargo shorts and flip-flops. From the long process of getting our homes and our retreat ready, we had the awareness to see that we were not in a good situation. My brother in law and I immediately jumped in the rental van, which was thankfully a big 12 passenger Ford, and went to the nearest gas station to tank up and get some groceries just in case. By the time we had gassed up the van and bought a couple of cases of water and some non perishables, the lines at the pumps were 10 to 15 deep, the store was already running low on bottled water, tempers were staring to flare, and being defenseless was starting to make me feel uneasy. Our plan of action was changed from moving everyone up to the rooms on the 5th floor, to leaving the crowded beachfront resort area before the tsunami hit.
We planned to take some extra clothes, blankets, pillows, toiletries and other items “borrowed” from our hotel rooms, and head for higher ground to spend the remainder of the night in the van and ride out the tsunami in the nearby mountains. On our way out after gathering up our “supplies” and family members, the Hotel public announcement system was announcing that they were evacuating the hotel and were asking people to put on warm clothes and load up on busses that would take them to a safe area. Not wanting to be herded with several hundred strangers to a shelter, we just quietly set out on our own. As I mentioned previously, we live in southern Louisiana and are familiar as to what happens to tourist in a disaster situation. We ended up finding a fire station in a little village up at a higher elevation and spent the night there. The six kids slept on the benches in the van and the adults spent the night watching the news on television with the firemen in the firehouse and taking turns trying to sleep in the front seats of the van. Thankfully the Tsunami did minimal damage to the island and we were able to return to the resort the next morning.
These are some of the things I learned from this experience that will hopefully help others:
Most of the items listed above take up little to no room and could have been easily packed in a small book sack and carried onto an airplane except for the personal protection item. What was the real punch in the gut is that I have all of these things in duplicate at home. I just didn’t have them with me when I could have really needed them. If the Tsunami would have hit Hawaii harder, we could have been in a bad way. Thankfully we had the presence of mind and ability to take care of ourselves and the Tsunami did not do any real damage to the island.
I guess my advice to fellow travelers is to take along a cut down version of a G.O.O.D. bag when you go on vacation. You don’t have to go overboard and there are many items you would like to have that will not make it past an airport screener. But there are some things that I really would have liked to have had and really could have needed had things gotten worse than they did. I know that with all the things you have to pack for a week long vacation, especially with kids, having to pack another bag that you will in all likelihood not need may seem like overkill and paranoia to many people. But driving up a mountain in the middle of the night to escape an oncoming Tsunami, kicking myself for getting caught with my pants down, is not something I’m going to repeat. I wasn’t prepared for this vacation, but I will be for the next one.
Sir,
One of your readers emailed you regarding using a $38 tool box in lieu of funds for a “great professional” military or civilian aid bag.
I would highly recommend to Big Mike to seek out flea markets, garage sales and the like (also Craig’s List) in his area. I recently attended a local flea market and purchased a great COMPACKTEAM compression pack for $25 that’s larger than my $130 military pack! Way bigger and with more support than my US Army issued assault pack (the new age kind that hook to one’s ruck sack).
Sometimes you luck out, but always remember to seek local gear sources before buying anywhere else! – Cole B.
For nearly a decade, I’ve advised buying silver rather than gold. This is because 1.) Silver is more useful than gold in post-disaster bartering, 2.) I expect the silver to gold ratio to continue to fall, perhaps to as low as 16:1. And, 3.) The chance of silver ever being confiscated by bureaucrats is much lower than for gold. If you are planning to ratio trade out of gold into silver then try to sell your gold coins on a up-spike day, and then wait briefly and buy silver on the next dip day. That might make the dealer’s commissions less painful. In a couple of years you will probably be very glad that you ratio traded.
Nine Ways That Being Frugal Can Cost You More
John R. flagged this over at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute web site: What’s Wrong with Government Debt
John also like this one: Quantitative Easing Is The End Of America As We Know It
Items from The Economatrix:
Japan Disaster Hurt World Economy?
World Energy Crunch As Nuclear And Oil Both Go Wrong
Japan Crisis Takes Toll On U.S. Economic Recovery
Gallup: 1 in 5 American Workers Can’t Find Full Time Job
Japan Quake Shakes U.S. Treasury Bond Market…Get Ready For Financial Meltdown
Ron G. sent this: The Psychology of Disaster
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K.A.F. recommended a site with a lot of recipes for storage food: EverydayFoodStorage.net.
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Thomas M. pointed me to the documentary film The Battle of Chernobyl, available for free streaming.
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Reader Tim R. suggested this news article: Japan’s mafia among the first to organise and deliver aid
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Here’s an interesting new product: The Sun E-Box. Keep in mind that for those that are handy with tools, that the same components are available off the shelf. Also, several of SurvivalBlog’s advertisers offer comparable systems. Regardless of where you decide to buy, keep in mind that you’ll need to size the system (including battery capacity) to match your power needs, and that only deep cycle batteries should be used!
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Is a new UN “principle” now guiding US foreign policy and intervention? (Thanks to K.A.F. for the link.)
“If we let one ant stand up to us, then the other ants, who outnumber us 100 to 1, will all stand up to us. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life… It’s not about food, it’s about keeping those ants in line.” – Hopper (the Grasshopper Leader), in A Bug’s Life
For those that have asked: Yes, the SurvivalBlog archives on CD-ROM are indeed fully searchable in both the HTML and PDF versions. (Both formats are included on the CD-ROM.) And Yes, the archives also can be sorted by categories, in HTML. (So for example, you can see just the articles on Earthquakes, or just the articles on Gardening.) The CD-ROM is optimized for modern laptops, but could conceivably be used on other devices if they have the requisite processing horsepower. It is now orderable through Lulu.com, for $19.95. Even without an Internet connection you will have all of SurvivalBlog’s archives at your fingertips. And if you are online while using the CD-ROM, then the links to external web sites are fully functional.
Many readers have been sending me questions about radiation. One, from a reader in Los Angeles asked: “Mr. Rawles, Should I sleep in my basement for the next few weeks?”
Please don’t over-react, folks. I must state, forthrightly:
1.) The gamma emitters at the Fukushima reactors (and more importantly, their spent fuel ponds) are a long, long way from America.
2.) In my opinion, the only significant risk to health here in CONUS is possibly a chance that a bit of radioactive dust (with isotopes like Strontium-90 or Iodine-131) could end up deposited on pasture grasses and then subsequently become concentrated in cow or goat milk. (Remember what I posted the day after the first news report about the Fukushima reactors–about keeping powdered milk on hand? Stock up.)
3.) It won’t hurt to spend a little extra time washing fresh fruits and vegetables.
FWIW, I was stationed TDY in Stuttgart, Germany and was working a live intelligence mission with the 2d M.I. Battalion (AE) in the Spring of 1986. So I was down-wind when Chernobyl melted down. Been there, done that, got the isotopes. But I still ate a lot of white spargel, after Chernobyl. Coincidentally, we were bombing that same misanthropic dictator in Libya, then too. (Operation El Dorado Canyon.) History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes. So I think of early springtime as the season of Isotopes and Misanthropes.
Radiation, By The Numbers
Here are some useful numbers to file away in your Key References binder:
First, for those not familiar with the term Gray–the standard unit of measurement for radiation, and Sievert (“Sv”–the now standard unit for an absorbed dose) that replaced REM (Roentgen Equivalent, Man), and RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose). The metric SI system makes a lot of sense, but some of us are still wet-wired for the Old School units of measurement. So for us Blast From The Past era dinosaurs who still think in Roentgens, conversion from Grays to RADs are as follows:
1 Gy equals 100 rad
1 mGy equals 100 mrad
1 Sv equals 100 rem
1 mSv equals 100 mrem
And here is how Sievert numbers relate to REMs (found at Wikipedia):
1 Sv (Sievert) = 100 rem
1 mSv = 100 mrem = 0.1 rem
1 ?Sv = 0.1 mrem
1 rem = 0.01 Sv = 10 mSv
1 mrem = 0.00001 Sv = 0.01 mSv = 10 ?Sv
Now what does the foregoing really mean, in terms of human health? That is best visualized with a good summary chart, posted over at Next Big Future. Please take the time to look at that chart, and ponder it.
To Journalists, All Math is Fuzzy Math
I must warn you, folks; beware when watching news reports in the mainstream media that mention anything related to radiation. Keep in mind that most of these people are hired because they look handsome (or pneumatic) and have pleasant speaking voices, not for their technical knowledge.
Remember that in general journalists:
Make no mistake, I really like .44 caliber handguns, and in particular, .44 Magnum handguns. I still remember getting my first .44 Magnum handgun, back in 1974. Like many guys, I loved the Dirty Harry
Over the years, I’ve owned more than my share of S&W .44 Magnums in one guise or another. However, one that really caught my attention is the Model 329 Night Guard.
I was impressed with the Model 329 Night Guard for several reasons. One is that the gun is only 29.3 oz total weight, the other is, the barrel is only 2.5″ – we’re talking small and light-weight – for a handgun meant to handle the .44 Magnum round. I requested a sample from Paul Pluff at S&W, and in no time at all, it was in my hands. The darn Night Guard felt like it was gonna float out of my hands in was so lightweight – I kid you not. The Night Guard comes on the S&W “N” frame – this is a large framed gun, to be sure. It still holds 6-rounds of either .44 Magnum or .44 Special ammo, so you’re not giving up anything there in the way of fire power. The frame is made out of a Scandium alloy, and the cylinder is stainless steel – and the entire gun is finished in a nonsense matte black color. S&W intelligently added the XS night sight – that is tritium for night work – it’s a big sight and easy to pick-up in the Cylinder & Slide u-shaped rear sight. This set-up is extremely fast to pick-up, believe me.
Thick rubber grips come standard on the Night Guard, and when I touched off the first round, I sincerely appreciated the thick rubber grips. Ok, my Dirty Harry days are over – you won’t catch me carrying a full-sized all-steel .44 Magnum on a daily basis, while going about my routine. However, I think the S&W 329 Night Guard has a real niche in the scheme of things. If you live out in the boonies, or make it a habit of being out in the woods on a regular basis, or as a hunter, the Night Guard really shines. When loaded with .44 Magnum ammo, the Night Guard can handle just about anything you might run into – including elk, black bear and moose. I wouldn’t knowingly go looking for big Alaskan Kodiak bears, but I believe the Night Guard would sure discourage ’em if they came after me.
If you live in the city, and your state allows concealed carry, I think the Night Guard deserves a close look. I don’t advocate carrying the Night Guard loaded with full-power .44 Magnum for self-defense. Full-powered .44 Magnum loads might over-penetrate a human body, and you might hit an innocent bystander or loved one if your round penetrates the human body. My long-time friend, and fellow gun writer, John Taffin, has forgotten more about .44 caliber handguns than I’ll ever know – he literally wrote the book on .44s and I trust anything he tells me when it comes to .44s. John strongly recommends carrying .44 Special rounds for self-defense, when carrying a .44 – and we’re talking about self-defense against a two-legged critter. And, full-powered .44 Special rounds are fully capable of taking small and medium-sized game as well. One of the nice things about a .44 Magnum is, you can load the rounds up or down, in power, according to your needs. Or, you can shop around and find just the right powered load in a factory round, that can handle just about anything you might run into.
Okay, so how did the Night Guard fair in my testing? Well, to be honest, I was more than a little apprehensive before I touched off that first round in the Night Guard. I had a variety of .44 Magnum ammo to test, including 240-gr JHP rounds from Black Hills Ammunition (www.black-hills.com) and 240-gr SP rounds from Winchester (www.winchester.com) and some .44 Special round from Buffalo Bore Ammunition (www.buffalobre.come) in the guise of their full-powered 180-gr JHP load. Black Hills Ammunition also provided some of their .44 Special 210-gr flat point lead “Cowboy loads” for testing. Now, John Taffin tells me that, you shouldn’t shoot anything more than around a 240-gr full-powered load through these lightweight Scandium framed guns, and when experts talk, I listen. I had some 300-gr JHP rounds from Black Hills, and a variety of +P and “heavy” .44 Magnum loads from Buffalo Bore, but as advised, I didn’t test any of these rounds in the Night Guard.
One thing you have to take care with, in light-weight framed big bore revolvers is, “bullet jump”. That happens under the recoil of these light revolvers – the bullet can possibly jump forward from the case and tie-up your revolver, and it’s not a quick or easy fix. If you reload your own ammo, and you want to shoot it in light-weight revolvers, you want to put a heavy crimp on the round, so the bullet stays in place under the heavy recoil. The target was set-up at 25-yards, which is about as far as you’re gonna want to shoot this snub-nose Night Guard. Once I touched off that first round, it got my attention, no doubt about it. One saving grace on the Night Guard are the extra-thick rubber grips, that really help absorb the recoil under full-powered .44 Magnum loads. I’m not (too) ashamed to say, that at 25-yards, all my shots didn’t hit the target. I caught myself flinching several times because I thought the recoil was actually going to be worst than it was. To be honest, the recoil wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be – but it did get my attention. After a couple cylinders full through the gun, I was hitting the target 6 times out of 6 times, and most groups where around 4-inches – give or take – if I did my part.
The Winchester white box .44 Magnum loads are a little lighter loaded than most .44 Magnum loads, and I don’t have a problem with that – they were the lightest recoiling .44 Magnum rounds tested. I fired the Buffalo Bore and Black Hills Ammunition .44 Special loads next. The Buffalo Bore .44 Special loads are full-powered loads, and they were a bit hotter than I thought they would be. The Black Hills .44 Special Cowboy loads were sedate, cruising along at about 700 feet per second – they were a real pleasure to shoot, and I could shoot them all day long. Then again, they aren’t meant to be a man stopper – they are cowboy action shooting competitions and just fun plinking. The S&W 329 Night Guard isn’t for everyone. I found the thick rubber grips were at the far end of my reach for double-action shooting. I don’t have overly large hands, just “average” sized. If the grips were any thicker, I wouldn’t have been able to fire the gun double-action – so if you have small hands, or if you’re a woman, I don’t think the rubber grips that come on the Night Guard will work. Then again, you can replace the grips with some thinner “Combat” wood grips – however, that will increase the felt recoil substantially. S&W sent me one of their leather belt slide holsters along with the Night Guard, and I packed the Night Guard on a regular basis for several weeks, and didn’t even know it was on my hip. I carry concealed on a daily basis, so I’m used to packing something on my hip. I loaded the Night Guard with the Buffalo Bore 180-gr JHP load for serious self-defense work against two-legged critters. However, if I were out hiking in the mountains – the gun would be loaded with either the Buffalo Bore, Black Hills or Winchester 240-gr loads for defense against 4-legged critters.
I would have no problem carrying the Night Guard with full-powered .44 Magnum loads, as a back-up to whatever rifle I might be carrying while out hunting big-game during hunting season. The Night Guard would make an excellent back-up gun to any sort of “battle rifle” as well. If you love the .44 Magnum like I do, then the Night Guard deserves a close look. I used to think, that if I were limited to owning only one handgun (heaven forbid!) then it would be some sort of .357 Magnum revolver. However, the older I get, the more I’d be likely grab a .44 Magnum revolver of some kind, and have it loaded with .44 Special loads for “social” work, and .44 Magnum loads for wilderness tasks.
The 329 Night Guard isn’t for everyone, it will take some dedicated practice to get your rounds on-target. And, I found myself quitting after firing a 50-rd box of ammo for the day. I would catch myself flinching as I approached the end of a box of ammo – that is, .44 Magnum ammo. And, if you have smallish hands, the grips that come with the gun simply aren’t gonna fit your hand properly. Make no mistake, the gun really does recoil with full-powered .44 Magnum loads, and if you are recoil sensitive, this gun isn’t for you – unless you load it with .44 Special rounds – that really helped tame the recoil. Retail price on the Night Guard is $1,049 – then again, quality doesn’t come cheap – and the Night Guard is high-quality in my book. If you’re looking for something a bit “different” for self-defense, survival or back-up to your big game rifle, then take a look at the 329 Night Guard. I just find it hard not to like a good ol’ .44 Magnum revolver for many types of “chores.”
Dear Jim,
One huge disadvantage of sailboats is that one must comply with the firearm/weapon laws of every port one plans to visit. This means in most cases, nothing larger than a pocketknife, and not even flare guns in some jurisdictions.
I would be uncomfortable with this in peacetime. In a SHTF scenario with no coast guards to interdict pirates/smugglers/desperate refugees, I’d consider it suicide.
The alternative is to carry credible weapons in violation of local laws. This is a poor survival tactic. If you are entering, or arriving from, a nation in distress, expect that your boat will be searched.
Also consider that harbors are somewhat limited and very predictable. There are no terrain features to hide behind at sea. Offshore anchorages can be limited and distant. Hijackers have only to wait for your arrival, effectively leaving you besieged at sea, unless you have fuel/food to get to another port without similar problems.
Boats require ongoing expensive maintenance even when not in use, more so than dry land and a sealed retreat do.
The time to use a boat to bugout would be during a predictable slow crash, before things bottomed out, and only to avoid things like airports, aircraft damaged by EMP, etc, or restrictive police and border guards. A boat might offer some less monitored options for escape from such a nation. – Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large)
Mr. Rawles,
I would like to point out a few potential negatives that must be considered when looking to bug-out in a sailboat (or any other marine vehicle) that I think were overlooked in the article posted by StudioMan. On the surface it seems like a good idea but I think there are also some major problems with the idea, similar in scale to bugging out in an RV on the land I think, something you yourself advised against doing if I recall.
1. Spare parts/repairs/maintenance. Just like any other vehicle boats will need ongoing and regular maintenance in order to be seaworthy, though potentially less than a trawler or other motorized boat. The average sailboat’s hull is made of fiberglass these days (not simple to repair in the case of damage) and the sails and rigging are no longer made of natural materials as they were hundreds of years ago. In order to just maintain this gear, never mind repair or replace it, scavenging would be required in the event of a catastrophic collapse of society, and at a minimum expensive trade would be required in a soft crash. If the owner of the boat doesn’t have the skills himself to affect the repairs it would make things even more costly or simply impossible and could potentially leave them stranded or worse in a place not of their choosing.
2. Fuel. potentially a minor issue if the owner actually sails the sailboat most of the time, but there will be times when sailing is not the best option and getting underway with power might be more advisable. Engines need fuel, fuel will be expensive or difficult to acquire without exposing oneself to danger on shore.
3. Defense. Yes pirates are, today, restricted to areas of the world easily avoidable by just paying attention to maritime news sources. After a collapse though anyone living by the shore with a boat is a potential pirate, everywhere. The sailboat owner may be able to efficiently travel the globe with little to no fuel use but that is at a very slow pace, the bad guys just need to have enough fuel to shoot out to the sailboat, take what they want, and get back to shore. Today’s Somali pirates successfully ply the waters ranging out to hundreds of miles from shore without any high tech gear, unless the owner keeps to the deep ocean chances are someone will find them at some point, and sailboats do not have the speed to get away. Sailboats in most cases also do not have the capacity to house a sizable crew in order to help repel boarders.
4. One will have to land sometime and local intel will be lacking. For repairs, resupply, scavenging etc eventually one will have to make landfall. Because the sailboat crew is mobile on the boat all landfall will be into what must be treated as hostile territory. Intel will be old at best, nonexistent at worst on the areas where they are forced to stop and will put the crew at risk. Things may look fine but there is no way of knowing that perhaps thirty miles inland a nuclear reactor’s spent fuel rod pool might have burned off a year ago, or the river’s mouth they are currently navigating in might have four or five sewage treatment plants that, due to not being in operation or manned, have been leaking filthy runoff from rain flooded facilities directly into the river for a long time. In the case of a full blown TEOTWAWKI event I myself would do my best to stay away from any major river or bay myself due to the potential of it being polluted from any number of potentially deadly sources.
5. Potentially the most important point for me: simple survival is a short term goal, long term ‘healthy’ goals should not include perpetual solitude (saying safe out in the deep ocean) or limiting social interactions and responsibilities. Yes, obviously if I was on Long Island in New York and a catastrophic event occurred I would use a boat with my family without much thought as opposed to trying to navigate by land through New York City and the outlying masses of humanity. But I would then simply head to wherever is the next step on my bug-out plan, ditch/hide the boat and be off towards safer areas inland. Outside of an initial survival tool I think the boat would act as a limiter and as a divisive object as far as the goal of finding others and creating a positive social circle. In order for a healthy rebuilding of people’s mental states as well as the state of society children and adults alike will need to learn how to deal with real world problems not how to just run away from them perpetually. Learning this on a well controlled and properly vetted retreat with like minded people would make that goal a bit easier.
Thank you for your time, – I.B.
Mr. Rawles,
I thought you might want to mention a product with your readers. I must admit that I am kind of a gear head and am constantly trying to come up with better ways to organize and store my preparedness supplies. The one storage issue that I have always been indecisive about was how I wanted to store my medical/trauma/surgical supplies. There are lots of great professional bags and military medical cases out there, however their cost just didn’t seem reasonable to me or my budget. One day while checking out the latest and greatest tools in my local home improvement store I came across what I feel to be a great, economical solution. The Stanley “FatMax” 28-Inch Toolbox
Although the idea is not new and I have kicked around the idea of using tool boxes in the past, none really seemed to fit the bill. This tool box is constructed of what seems to be a heavy plastic polymer, is large, deep and has a handy tray which spans only half the storage space allowing the placement of large bottles of alcohol, betadine, wound irrigation solutions etc on the open side. There is enough clearance under the tray for 4×4 pad boxes etc. I will use the handy tray for surgical instruments, syringes, etc.
Although these boxes may be a little large and heavy for a bug out by foot, they would be very manageable for a bug in, vehicle/wheeled bug out or pre-established retreat. In fact, I am getting a second to add the remainder of my supplies. Some great features of these boxes are that they have a tough integrated waterproof seal, heavy duty lockable metal latches (for those with children), comfortable rubberized handle are stack-able and extremely heavy duty. The latches area a bit stiff due to the tight waterproof seal (watch your fingers) however I believe they will become smoother over time. (Be aware when under noise discipline because they due tend to make a significant snap if not latched slowly)
These tool boxes are manufactured in the USA. Mine retailed for only $37.07 including tax which to me is an acceptable cost considering the value of the contents within. I will add identification medical stickers to the boxes and also hang tags from the handles with content expiration dates so I can easily rotate the contents as need be. Keep the fire burning. – Big Mike
Mr. Rawles,
Your books are truly eye openers. Thanks for your work in the preparedness field.
Regarding your recommendation of getting OC with at least a 12% concentration, as an OC instructor, I recommend that buyers ask: “12% of what?” A 12% concentration of a 250,000 Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) spray may prove ineffective. The true test of an OC spray is the SHU rating. I recommend a minimum 2,000,000 SHUs. The concentration only affects recovery time.
The 5% is great for training. You should recover in 15-20 minutes. Anything over 10% is great for application to the faces of bad guys. It takes as long as 45 minutes to recover. Just my two cents. Thanks again for the lessons that SurvivalBlog provides. – Brian M.
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