Truck Bugout bag

[tortirioan]

Hey everyone, I built a bag to keep in my truck a year ago and just took it apart today to make sure everything was good and I am glad I did, the Sterno survival candles I had bought were completely melted, the Batteries were all completely dead. Any suggestions from folks on things to put into the bag or ways to prevent this? I store my survival gear up in a Thule 1100 on top of the truck so I realize that it gets a little more of the temp extremes but also cools down fast/ heats up faster as well.

The heat issue I think is a problem for more stuff than that, food, water all that will have problems. maybe someone knows a way to fix it?

[StagLefty]

I've used these for my CR123,AAA, & AA. They're not a have to have thing but they keep the batteries separated . My current ones have been in my pack for a couple of years now.
http://www.countycomm.com/cbh.html
As far as the candles go-if their stored in extreme heat I don't think there's much you can do. I usually make a habit of going through my truck bag every few months and check on the status of gear.Rotate MRE'S etc.
I've had a few runny energy bars.

[Wulf202]

Lithium batteries.
skip candles and get a fuel based stove. Solid liquid or compressed gas. Since its with your truck a stove capable of gasoline might be nice. Also consider a hobo stove that uses scrounged sticks and stuff

Lifeboat rations and jerky instead of Mres

Protect your water from sweating on the rest of your gear.

[tortirioan]

Thanks StagLefty, though I'm not sure how the holders help with temperature problems, lol I have been looking for a good way to organize the batteries in my bag though so that is nice.

Thanks a bunch wulf202, I foresee my truck as being my mobile depot so I don't really mind weight, i like the idea of a stove, but I don't like Lifeboat rations, I keep some in my go bag at the house, but I do that because they are light weight, and god I hate the taste so I'm wanting to go with something else in the truck, I keep a sealed bag to trail mix in the truck and cycle it every now and then. I will look into a stove as I said, I have a cheap walmart back packing stove, but I might look into something that runs off solid fuel.

[rbeau30]

Lithium batteries.
skip candles and get a fuel based stove. Solid liquid or compressed gas. Since its with your truck a stove capable of gasoline might be nice. Also consider a hobo stove that uses scrounged sticks and stuff

Lifeboat rations and jerky instead of Mres

Protect your water from sweating on the rest of your gear.

My water is stored in 2 liter bottles in the crates that 2 liter bottles are stacked in. I easily store 16 liters of water in each car without them rolling around and getting punctured.

I made a hobo stove out of a stainless steel thermos. Inside bottle was the pot, and outside is the stove. Tent stakes for holding the pot over the fire at various heights.

I have rice, and ramen, jerky. Ration bars, and tuna/chicken/salmon thgat comes in the mylar pouches that seem pretty bullet-proof to me.


My car bags are to get me home. where I can resupply/meet up with the rest of the family.

[tortirioan]

I agree with the purpose of a car bag, and I have a G.O.O.D. Tub at the house that is for throwing in and getting away (my personal SHTF thinking is based off mobility, using the house only as a storage place, I live a little out in the country but I don;t like the idea of being pinned down to any one location)

I make my hobo stoves out of steel cans, works really good and is dirt cheap.

But the real purpose of this bag is for when i go up into the mountains and my truck gets stuck I can live out of it for a while until the family can come get me lol. I like to take spontaneous day hikes/ camping trips. So that is what I have in mind really.

[StagLefty]

Thanks StagLefty, though I'm not sure how the holders help with temperature problems, lol I have been looking for a good way to organize the batteries in my bag though so that is nice.

If you store loose cheap batteries in a way that they're bouncing around against each other they'll actually discharge-the holders are too prevent that.

[tortirioan]

Now I was wondering this, would a cooler help to protect Some of the more critical weather sensitive items? Walmart sells a cooler which is just the right size to fit into my Thule 1100, My real worry is water, I have been looking at different methods for storing water, and the best I think is either 2 liter bottles or using Hydration packs (I use platypus bags myself in my backpacks and the like). My worry is the water freezing and exploding whatever they are in.

[Danimal]

Now I was wondering this, would a cooler help to protect Some of the more critical weather sensitive items? Walmart sells a cooler which is just the right size to fit into my Thule 1100, My real worry is water, I have been looking at different methods for storing water, and the best I think is either 2 liter bottles or using Hydration packs (I use platypus bags myself in my backpacks and the like). My worry is the water freezing and exploding whatever they are in.

I have 6 liters of water in bottles and I leave a little air gap and even when they freeze solid they wont burst open. Also I carry a little water purifier straw for if I think the supply might run out. I use 2 liter Gatorade bottles because they just seem to hold up better.

[rbeau30]

I just figure that 2-liter bottles are designed to withstand quite a bit of pressure. And be shipped long distances or short distances with many stops in between, so it was the logical choice for me.

More Pros: They are an exact amount of water for any of the purification methods I already carry with me (Iodine, pot perm, etc) Plus if I loose all mt water purification methods and cannot make fire/don't have a container and about 6 -12 hours to waste I can use the sodis method. The bottles aren't banged up (I keep them in the 2-liter 8 bottle crate) so they should work nicely for that. I'm also a homebrewer, so when I fill my water storage for the home (also in 2 liter bottles) I actually go through sanitizing the bottles before filling/capping them, so I can make sure the least amount of ickies are in the bottles.

After a couple years of them being in there, it seems the water level has gone down maybe a half inch? The ones I store in my house in the crawlspace in a cooler/darker environment do seem to have lost any water level at all. I am assuming the porosity of the plastic has allowed some water vapor to escape.