Just re-reading after talking with gent on HF from Mystic, CT (like the pizza) who got some of Irene after downgrade to TS. Idea you cite above is in category my wife would call scathingly brilliant. Thanks for the lightbulb.

FWIW, Mystic man was on city water, a bit higher than town, and was g2g once he was done buying a gen post-incident (at 2x MSRP). Those gloating that they had wells didn't gloat so much when the com'l AC went out as no way to make it defy gravity...

They need a cistern or a holding tank above the level of the house.

Alternately, a medium sized generator, or a battery bank with a big inverter (or a DC pump motor, but the holding tank helps with all of those methods as well.

TR

Rapid Boot/Shoe Drying using Shopvac
 

Heres a tip that might come in handy sometime when you are in a hurry to get something dried out:

Place the hose on the exhaust port on the Shopvac rather than the vacuum port so you are blowing air. Place hose inside boot or shoe. Depending on boot/shoe construction, an absolutely soaking wet boot or shoe will dry in 5-25 minutes. Repeat process on other boot/shoe.

I figured this one out when I needed a pair of absolutely soaked tennis shoes dried very quickly. Waiting for my Peet boot drier to dry them overnight was not an option. I was very impressed with the result. Each shoe was thoroughly dry in 5 minutes.

I have used this on all manner of footwear since.

You are using a high volume of air slightly warmed from the Shopvac motor, and no real heat to speak of. You are just increasing the evaporation rate about 1000-fold. I have not seen any damage result from this on any of my footwear when I have used this method.

It works on socks, gloves, and other clothing too.

Earlier this year my whole AO got flooded really bad. 15 feet of water with 60% of the population living in the floodzone. When the guard got called in from a state over, me and my battlebuddy show up in full kit, drenched up to our nipples, asking where to report. I get stuck in the TOC getting coffee for this grisly old MSG (when most of these guard units didnt show up until after responding to worse areas, and hadnt slept in 48 hours). As supply guy for my ROTC platoon I had in my ruck several copies of DoD maps of the area in 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 which I give them becuase these motherfuckers ARE USING GOOGLE EARTH (and their cellphones for commo even though the towers are overloaded.) After an hour or so a 2LT pulls me asside and asks what unit I'm with.

"Excelsior Batt 1st Co 3rd Plt Sir"

"no I mean your Guard unit, who do you SMP with?"

"we're not SMP sir, just ROTC"

This guy throws a shit fit about regulations and how cadets can't support active military operations, even though I'm just grabbing coffee and helping this computer illiterate E-5 type up squad rotations on microsoft word. the MSG comes out to rip my head off about his coffee and gets into it with the LT. 30 minutes later me and my battlebuddy get taken home in a 2 ton, and we're sitting on our front porch drinking beers watching some guy raft down the street at the bottom of the hill our street sits on with "dude, WTF just happened?" looks on our faces. Really pissed me off becuase it was OUR hometown and wanted to do something about it. Ya know pull little kids out of the current and shit. Anyway, we had a stockpile of canned goods and water in the basement, but it got flooded with run off comming down the hill. 24hrs no electricty, 48 no running water, 2 weeks boiling it. turned into a major PITA, and could have been much worse.

AND THEY NEVER GAVE ME MY FUCKING MAPS BACK :mad:

The whole experience leaves me with a lack of confidence in disaster response around here. besides, theres no reason not to be prepared.

That being said, my current bug out bag is as follows:

Standard issue MOLLE2 Ruck with Wet weather & Gortex suits, Polypro top& bottom, 3 peice sleeping bag & foam matt. Kindle with small library of FM's and local flora& fuana on pdf in waterproof bag, 6 feild stripped MRE's, duck tape, 100' 550 cord, 50' nylon rope, zippo, flint, 4' gerber tactical knife hatchet & sharpening stone, signaling mirror, whistle, 1 canteen cup, 3 canteens & 7oz Camelback + purification tablets, Maps & protractor, 8x10x16 Binos, med kit. spare change of clothes with crapload of OD green socks. 2 rite in rain notebooks.

Med Kit: dental floss & needles, guaze rolls, cravats, dressings, 1 Tq, double barrel stetho & BP cuff, rebreather mask, Various sized OPA's
penlight & non-laytex hypo allergenic gloves. bacardi 150, ibeuprofin, advil, tylenol, caffein pills, over the counter sleep aids.

theres a large variety of different kinds of sh!t that can hit the fan around here, and I lack the resources to properly prepare for them all. However the one common thread in any scenario I can think of, is that they can all be solved by "GTFO of the affected area". setting up a fortress and holding it off until help arrives is limited by the amount of food&water you can stockpile, and how long you can defend it. being mobile alows more options. Firewood is abundant in 200 miles in any direction, with fire, boiling water from the numerous rivers around or snow in the hills with addition to dew traps cover water year round. As for shelter, the bivvy sack has served me well in sub zero tempuratures, anything else as far as comfort can be improvised. my family was homeless my freshman year of highschool so I can make an abandoned building damn near luxurious. the only real disadvantage of this approach is food. obviously can't carry more than a few days worth on your back, so hunting-gathering-scavanging skills come into play. Suppose setting up a stockpile in an isolated area not likely to be looted would be a good idea. also even the most basic medical training will probably be in short supply, so i suppose I could link up with someone who has some, and exchange one for the other if the opportunity presents itself.

I'll be adding some new items to the list and reveiwing my plan after reading this thread. any criticism/advice is obviously welcomed and encouraged.

Incase I stepped out of my lane here, I'll push out 50 and STFU until told otherwise.

After hearing Isreal might strike Iran in the next few months freezedryguy just got some bussiness. Thanks stingray and koz for the info.

I'm filling up my vehicles and my spare gas cans and hitting them with Sta-Bil this weekend.

Time to test run the generator and charge the battery bank as well.

I'll hold off on filling up my water supply tank till the power goes out. Probably a good time to grab a couple of fresh packets of pool shock.

Might also be a good time time to take a look in the freezer and the cupboard and see what we need to stock up on.

If nothing happens, we can dump the gas in the cars, and skip a few trips to the grocery store. Nothing lost.

TR

Did anyone see the premiere of "Doomsday Preppers" this past Tuesday on NatGeo? LINK

Hour long program, broken up into 3 segments. Each segment was a different person, prepping for a different scenario. When I saw the previews for this show, I couldn't tell if it was serious or if the producers were making fun. After watching the first 2 shows, some of the featured preppers do seem wacky, but there were a few good ideas here and there.

At the end of each segment NatGeo had their "expert" (unidentified) evaluate the person's plan, grade it and provide feedback. It was done respectfully, but not always received enthusiastically by the prepper.

Biggest surprise is that they tell you where each prepper lives. All you have to do to survive is find one of these people's houses and clean them out.

The first 2 shows are being re-aired this weekend. New shows are Tuesdays @ 2100 EST.

Love to hear what some of you think about it....

I think that Nat Geo owes me an hour of my life back.

What a joke.

TR, what size water tank do you have? I am thinking of adding one, however I am thinking about going the route of letting the rain fill it up. Just need to come up with a system for filtration.

I have a 375 gallon container, several bladders, and water barrels for my downspouts.

TR

I haven't had time to read this entire thread yet, but the water storage thing caught my eye. There is a company called "LifeSaver" and they make self filtering water bottles and jerry cans that are good for several thousand liters of purified water. I originally had to watch a speech on TED as part of a college class, and this was a one of the topics. If this has been mentioned before, I apologize.

Mills, you are right. After 3 shows I cancelled the series on my DVR. Much more info on here and on youtube.

T, Just a side note that the type of Sta-Bil may also be important if you use Ethanol gas. I was just talking with a bud and he mentioned that he uses Marine Sta-Bil which helps with ethanol fuel treatment. By the way thanks for starting this thread. I have only gotten through page 13 and look forward getting through the rest of it.

+1 While Sta-Bil is a good thing, I've had several very successful small-engine repairmen also advise that, for fuel stored that you want to use on something that absolutely has to start it's worth considering finding a location that sells you the higher-octane w/o ethanol. (Ethanol in their opinion being a blight on the planet because of its natural tendency to suck moisture out of the air, with the moisture-laden fuel finding its way to said small engine. Cursing that follows is optional.)

Have truly enjoyed this thread, so I thought I would post a couple of the projects we are working on here at our AOB.

We have just acquired a set of horses for the property. Nino a Perychon-Thoroughbred retired police horse age 12, carriage/wagon trained, jump trained, crowd control, and has been exposed to gunfire. Athena age 2 Euro-Belgian /1/4 standard. Athena is not broke yet but a very mild mannered gal, should be good with allot of work and Nino beside her.

Part of the log pulling and farming portion of the prepper plan here. My neighbor also has draft teams as well so we plan on sharing some of the equipment required. Now for me to build a log skidder. Will be talking to a few of our Amish neighbors since they have a metal shop just down the road.

If all goes well, in another season I can slowly phase out my ATV's that we have used last five years for wood hauling, plowing, mowing etc.


Second project that is coming together nicely is a power trailer (used boat trailer converted) With a propane generac generator, Magnum Energy DC/AC Converter and powered by a vulcan gasifier with backup BBQ grill propane tanks, and 400 amp hours set of batteries at 24vdc. The trailer has a spot for my spare diesel generator as the alternate and some storage. Materials are all on hand now, just need to fabricate it all together. In time will add A solar roof.
We decided to go with the trailer just for the bugout factor based on where we live. It will be horse or vehicle towed.

It should have enough power to run our house with running the gasifier and generator about 6 hours a day. Reality always slightly different however. Have a feeling I may need to get one more set of Batteries or run gasifier twice a day.
Will post pics when assembled, probably by end April.