Help me thin out my BoB.

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Joined
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Alright, in another thread I was discussing the backpack that I am currently using for my bug out bag, and I mentioned that although I really like the bag, it is a little small for my needs. Another member who's opinion I happen to respect stated that he uses this bag and has room to spare, suggesting that maybe I have too much stuff. This is certainly possible, so in an attempt to streamline, I thought I'd post the full list and you guys can tell me if there's anything in there that I don't need, or that I need but don't have. I can take and post some pictures if that would help, let me know.

Here's my current BoB as it stands right now:
Ear protection
Duct tape
Small bundle of paracord
Bandaids of various sizes
Signal mirror
Tac light with batteries for 2 reloads
Steel cuffs
2 permanent markers
Neoprene ankle brace
Multitool
Extra glasses in case with repair kit
Iodine tabs
2 freeze dried meals
Roll of foil
Sunscreen
Candles
Dental kit with small brush, toothpaste, floss
Travel tissue
Micro driver set
Notebook and pencil
Paperback copy of Frank Hebert's Dune
1 change of clothes
Bandana
Magnesium firestarter
Lighters
Wire saw
Plastic rain poncho
Blade sharpener
75 rounds of 9mm ammo
Bundle of rope clipped to outside


I'm pretty sure the candles are going to go, which helps a little. The clothes take up a lot of room but they do seem fairly necessary. Micro driver set is for weapon maintenance.

My weapons, mags, and such are on my waist and legs. Still fine tuning the tactical setup, and that will likely get it's own thread in the future. I'm also toying with the idea of "bug out pants:" a pair of dedicated, lightweight, preferably camo cargo pants with the pockets filled with useful items and my pistol belt and drop-leg rigs all set up and ready to be slipped into should TSHTF.

Alright, let the feedback commence! That's the point of this post, after all.
 
And here's a picture of the bag and my "duty belt." I need an actual legit duty belt and a drop-leg rig for the left side for my mags, but this definitely works for now. Just had it all out and on to move around in it and make sure everything is accessible/comfortable, and test passed. Decided to snap a photo while it was all out.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396316105.127611.jpg


Again, comments, criticisms, and thinly veiled insults welcome. The point of posting all of this is so I can continue to improve my gear selection and layout.
 
The way to lighten your load is to have multi-use stuff.

For Example:
you could replace your
1. steel cuffs with zip ties.
2. Iodine tabs with Betadine cotton swabs (iodine in a cotton bud)

I notice you don't have anyway to boil water (metal water bottle?) and filter water properly. Cotton Wool + empty soda bottle + bandanna (TADA!)

Probably a mess tin would be good, you can use the mess tin to keep your lighters too!
 
Ear protection..i'm sure thats for when you're firing a weapon..but yet what kind of Ear protection is it? im thinking of ear plugs.small but maybe effective enough to work..

dont see any thing about water..got life straw or something else?
 
Definitely need a metal water bottle. My wife has one but I need one as well in case we get separated. Also, "two is one and one is none" as they say.

Great idea with the zipties, hadn't thought of that. Water filtration is high on the list but expensive! Lighters and other hydrophobics are in ziplocs.
 
try this



I was looking at a simple disposable bio filter.

Everything should be able to be fit inside the bottle. Yup including the zip tie.

All you need is
Components
300ml water bottle - drained and dried.
cotton balls - enough to fill the bottle
Stock/Tea bag - one of them ones which you could fill your own stuff
Kitchen tap Filter - just a thick cotton cloth to cover the kitchen tap
Zip Tie - small thin ones which could go round the neck of the bottle mouth

Optional
betadine cotton swabs and/or chlorine tabs

Preparation
1. using a small drill bit, drill a few holes into the bottle cap.
2. fill the bottle with zip tie, filter, cotton balls, stock bag

How to use it
1. When you're out hiking or camping or SHTF scenario, first, use your survival knife to open the base of the bottle. Cut round the rim of the bottom of the bottle.
2. take out the contents.
3. Using the Kitchen tap filter, cover the area where you have the bottle cap.
4. Using a zip tie, fasten the filter to the mouth of the bottle.
5. fill the bottle with the cotton balls.
6. fill the stock bag with sand and if you can, activated charcoal

When you need to prepare the water, you could pour the water into the bottle, then let it filter through the sand/charcoal/cotton balls and out through the bottle cap.

It should filter out most of the sediment and some of the bad stuff through the sand/charcoal and cotton balls.

Filter out to a bottle to either boil or add chlorine tabs/iodine.

I prefer this to what the video is showing and easier to make too. But it is abit bulkier and it is disposable.
 
Ear protection..i'm sure thats for when you're firing a weapon..but yet what kind of Ear protection is it? im thinking of ear plugs.small but maybe effective enough to work..

dont see any thing about water..got life straw or something else?

Yes, it's a few sets of foam earbuds. My range gives everyone a pair everytime you come out so I've been stockpiling them.

Iodine tabs are for water purification and the next thing I'm getting will be a good filter.
 
Sorry but the change of clothes has got to go. Change of underwear and socks fine but get better material clothing and use one pair. Three weeks in field with same clothes taught me to get better clothes. Propper or 5.11 or something that is durable and dries fast. Now I can go just fine without a change.
 
The steel cuffs are fine and zip-ties you should add anyways. Is the brace a necessity for you? If not a good ace bandage can cover most issues including the ankle. Why a roll of foil? How big is the notebook? How big are the dried meals and could you do with out for say Top Ramon or protein bars? Also what does the outside bundle of rope do that 550 can't? How big of a roll of duct tape?
 
I haven't tried running with just an Ace bandage but I'll check it out. Had a really bad sprain a few years back and it's never been the same since with that ankle.

No apology needed on the clothes lol, they were more in there at my wife's insistence. One good pair to put on and keep on when TSHTF makes a lot of sense to me.

Roll of foil because I can cook anything with foil. I guess I need to work on losing that dependency? More of a luxury than a dependency but makes this sooo much easier.

I don't have a ton of 550, hence the rope, and mainly for shelter purposes. Zip-ties would help with this but are not reusable. (And I'll keep the cuffs because I know how to escape from a ziptie.) Cuffs will end up on the belt once I get a pouch.

Notebook is small, think small address book in general size. Thought it might be useful to take records of key things, you never know.

Duct tape is half of a standard-sized roll.

Freeze dried meals are good because they don't require a container for cooking and eating but Ramen would work fine in a metal water bottle I suppose.
 
I guess some questions should be answered before we start. What part of the country to you live in? More concerned about terrain, and weather. What is this bug out bag for? Maybe a picture of the contents would be useful. Foil can be reused but also can be ripped. A cook set or even a steel cup would work. Also, maybe add more to your belt kit. A military web belt with add on pockets and maybe the suspenders, depending on how "tactical" you want to look. Even a civilian butt pack. Next to my BOB I have a second, temporary bag packed for different times of the year and a set of good clothes since I don't dress like I have to run for my life all the time. This bag isn't heavy and will be discarded when I reach my first checkpoint, and I'll be better dressed for the elements. How many lighters are you carrying? Regular or small sized? Do you need the whole microdriver set?
 
Living in the Texas Hill Country. Fairly rugged terrain but by no means mountains or jungle. Weather ranges depending on time of year of course but until November it'll be hot.

Main purpose of the bag is to assist my wife and I (she had one of a similar makeup but includes first aid kit) in disappearing for a few days if we don't feel safe in the house. The idea is to lay low in the wilderness for a few days an then come back to reclaim what's our if at all possible.

I'm thinking the foil will be replaced by a metal water bottle; I can boil water and therefore cook with it.

Definitely want to get a proper duty belt. Not sure but I feel like suspenders would get in the way of the backpack itself.

I really like the bag with the clothing. We have a desperate bag with three changes of clothes each in case of a house fire; a friend of mine just lost everything that way and what she needed most right away was clothes. Disposable bag with the more "tactical" clothing is a good notion.

I have 4 standard-sized Bic lighters. Micro driver set, as I think more about it, is probably actually totally useless as of our current weapons attachments need an Allan wrench anyway. Gonna remove that when I get home, and I'll take some pictures of the inside of the bag while I'm at it.
 
i hitched hike back in my 20's..one thing i learned to save space in my backpack.was,take the pair of pants and fold them as if im gonna hang um on a coat hanger.then roll them up.they take up less space that way..so you might try that if you go with a extra pair or 2.


Zip-ties look at the back side of the end that you run the other end through..chances are,there's a latch/catch there.i learned if i take a very small tip screw driver or the tip of a knife.and move that back and keep it that way.i can undo the zip tie..

foil can be used a certain amount of times when it comes to boiling water and cooking.then it's no longer any good for that.thats why i got a mess-kit.
 
Alright, had time to reorganize it a little and get some pics to boot. Reduced the clothing bundle to a pair of undies, socks, and a bandana and that freed up a lot of room. I also tested the bag and it seems waterproof enough for my needs so I took out all the ziploc baggies that things were contained in and that actually helped as well. Removed the microdriver set because I think I have it all covered with my multitools. Foil stays for now until I can get a good cook set. Next Friday I get paid and then I plan to get a metal water bottle, a water filter, duty belt, cuff pouch, Gorilla tape, and a whetstone disc for the larger blades. Really appreciate all the input fellas, keep it coming! And now, for the tour...

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396539382.192344.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396539400.840132.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396539417.825377.jpg

(Above is more full with all the 9mm ammo in it but for picture purposes, that's about half of what goes in the bag.)
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396539480.711191.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396539495.973881.jpg
 
I always enjoyed that quote from Boondock Saints!

Thanks for the pics and further info. Why so small a bag though? Do you have an alternate destination and this just to get you there? I'm sure you could get a smaller sized sunblock bottle. I'm familiar with the TX hill country. why the tomahawk and mini machete (tomahawk, machete, wire saw)? It may seem old fashioned, but a plastic 2qt GI canteen with a cover will also have a steel cup that can fit in it and have a small container for water purification tablets. they make a collapsible version of the canteen but I like the hard plastic. There's nothing like having your expensive camelback get torn and lose all your water- hard to do but I speak from experience. They also make an arctic version of the canteen with cup and carrier, but I never had 1 that tasted good. I'd keep at least your clothes in a ziplok back, trust me on this one.
 
The idea is to try and get it all to work in the small bag for the sake of mobility. The bag is only meant to assist us in laying low in the wilderness for a week, 2 tops until we can reclaim our house or find another permanent fix.

Tomahawk is my hand to hand of choice. Machete for firewood and clearing areas. Rather do metal than plastic for water bottles so I can boil with it.
 
Alright, in another thread I was discussing the backpack that I am currently using for my bug out bag, and I mentioned that although I really like the bag, it is a little small for my needs. Another member who's opinion I happen to respect stated that he uses this bag and has room to spare, suggesting that maybe I have too much stuff. This is certainly possible, so in an attempt to streamline, I thought I'd post the full list and you guys can tell me if there's anything in there that I don't need, or that I need but don't have. I can take and post some pictures if that would help, let me know.

Here's my current BoB as it stands right now:
Ear protection
Duct tape
Small bundle of paracord
Bandaids of various sizes
Signal mirror
Tac light with batteries for 2 reloads
Steel cuffs
2 permanent markers
Neoprene ankle brace
Multitool
Extra glasses in case with repair kit
Iodine tabs
2 freeze dried meals
Roll of foil
Sunscreen
Candles
Dental kit with small brush, toothpaste, floss
Travel tissue
Micro driver set
Notebook and pencil
Paperback copy of Frank Hebert's Dune
1 change of clothes
Bandana
Magnesium firestarter
Lighters
Wire saw
Plastic rain poncho
Blade sharpener
75 rounds of 9mm ammo
Bundle of rope clipped to outside


I'm pretty sure the candles are going to go, which helps a little. The clothes take up a lot of room but they do seem fairly necessary. Micro driver set is for weapon maintenance.

My weapons, mags, and such are on my waist and legs. Still fine tuning the tactical setup, and that will likely get it's own thread in the future. I'm also toying with the idea of "bug out pants:" a pair of dedicated, lightweight, preferably camo cargo pants with the pockets filled with useful items and my pistol belt and drop-leg rigs all set up and ready to be slipped into should TSHTF.

Alright, let the feedback commence! That's the point of this post, after all.

take the roll of foil out it is a good idea to have it so take a 2-3 ft long peace and fold it up small that will make a little space, is your duct tape on a roll if so wind it around a credit card or a peace of an ink pen tube that will free up more space, if the magnesium fire starter is the rectangular type replace it with a ferro rod smaller and will do better, rest looks good oh! if the sunscreen is a spray can ? toss it and get the type you apply by hand you can get very small plastic bottles from walmart to put it in for more space! invest in a small roll of 3mil. plastic so you have atleast some type of emergency shelter. all i got for now!
 

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