My car survival kit
- Thread starter Tengu
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demographic said:Jeez do you lot live in Siberia or the UK
How long do you suppose your going to be trapped in the middle of nowhere?
Its hard to get more than a couple of miles away from civilization in the UK so getting stuck out there is even more unlikely.
Yes a couple of miles is a long way to walk without a decent pair of boots, a rain jacket, nothing to eat or drink etc.
Proper Plaining Prevents **** Poor Performance.
And my record was getting stuck on the M1/M25 on a nice warm day for around the 4 hours mark. I got out my mini cooper turned the bass up on my favorite trance CD, and had a picnic on the bonnet, I had fun and got some Vit D... but the silly fools who didnt have any water and had over heating cars didnt have such a fun time.
But conversly my cousin got stuck on the M1 two or three years ago for a good 8 hours, in snow with bugger all. So by that reckoning plan for the night but be prepared for the worse.
Tengu; You didnt mention what your car toold kit contained, thinking about it you might want to cheap an eye out for, some of those plastic warming triangle things, a spare ligh bulb or ten, some spare fuses, and a lump of 4 x 8 or something similar makes jacking your vehicle up a lot easier on the soft stuff, snatch straps and a truck tie down strap are also useful.
Perhaps I should have mentioned the three hundredweight of joinery tools in the back of my transit van.
and the fact that I awlays have a decent jacket in there for work.
Basically pretty much everything I need day to day anyway and currently a book about Shackelton that I sometimes read at bait time.
and the fact that I awlays have a decent jacket in there for work.
Basically pretty much everything I need day to day anyway and currently a book about Shackelton that I sometimes read at bait time.
demographic said:Jeez do you lot live in Siberia or the UK
How long do you suppose your going to be trapped in the middle of nowhere?
Its hard to get more than a couple of miles away from civilization in the UK so getting stuck out there is even more unlikely.
Plenty of people get stuck on the roads for hours. In a white out you'd have to be pretty dumb to abandon your vehicle to walk those few miles, with a very high chance of getting lost.
In any case, this 'just in case' gear may not prove necessary to save your life but it more likely might save you from being very uncomfortable indeed for a number of hours.
Freak weather does happen, it isn't that long since we had several feet of snow here and people were stuck in their cars and these were just folks going to work a few miles from home. I bet they were wishing they'd packed a couple of bits and pieces when they were sitting in their vehicles not knowing when the snow would stop or when they could safely get out.
We just had a case in the Pacific Northwest where a man, his wife, and two very young daughters were driving south from Oregon to California, missed his original turnoff, and wound up taking a 'shortcut' up a mountain road in the middle of a blizzard.
The wife and kids were rescued after a week and a half spent in their Saab station wagon, and her husband was found frozen to death 1/2 mile from the car. They were only about 1 mile from a hunting lodge.
The wife and kids were rescued after a week and a half spent in their Saab station wagon, and her husband was found frozen to death 1/2 mile from the car. They were only about 1 mile from a hunting lodge.
Lurch said:
It was only a few years ago when Whitehaven and St Bees were completely cut of from land access roads, all supplies in by lifeboat. There are some desolate places in the UK where you could be stuck for many hours if the conditions change, especially if no one is expecting you!
Better to have and not need than to need and not have, I think I would be happier to have a comfortable night than a cold night, for the sake of carrying a few bits extra
LS
rik_uk3 said:I have to ask, why a survival kit in a car in the UK?
We'll be talking about bug out kits and bunkers next
It's fair to say that survival situations on UK roads are rare but they do occurr occasionally.
I do carry some kit in my vehicle, partly for such possibilities (I travel a lot in my work) and partly because having arrived at a RTA with no such equipment in the past I vowed never to be so helpless again.
The kit in my van is usually what I would term second grade kit. Stuff that I would no longer carry perhaps because it is too heavy or I have replaced it with something better. The other option would be to store it at home where it would be of no earthly use so storing it in the van seems more sensible.
It doesn't take up much space and it may do some good some day.
What's remarkable is how often bits of kit have been useful, not in a life or death situation, but just for everyday odds and sods. I can think of a couple of occasions when such stuff has literally saved the day in work terms.
So what're you going to do? Store it at home or in the boot of your car?
Wayland said:
Wow Wayland, I wasn't expecting to read that!
A few years back there was that real bad RTC when a lot of cars were involved in a major pile up and then the whole lot ignited, There were a few guys who went to the assistance of those they could reach using hammers and chisels from their tool kits and used them to great effect prying doors open and releasing drivers etc, many would condemn these guys for how they extracted the casualties, not exactly medic protocol, but better than burning to death.
I certainly hope I never find myself in the situation you were in nor these other guys, but if I do I am sure to draw inspiration from what you have written.
LS
A lot of this is, to my mind, a matter of attitude.
My life, my comfort and my safety is, in my view only, MY responsibility. This means I carry equiipment so that, if I breakdown on a remote road, I can go for assistance (walking boots and waterproofs), summon help (mobile and car charger) or wait for help (blanket, ability to make a hot drink etc.). Its the same as most Bushcrafters in my view. In the woods, we assess whether doing something is safe, we carry appropriate kit if it isn't (FAK etc.) and, if necessary, the ability to spend a bit longer or summon assistance.
I'll probably get it worng in the end though. I'd just prefer to minimise the chances of that happening. I ahve also been "first on scene" at a serious accident. Having a comprehensive FAK, warning triangles, Hi Vis etc made me feel more in control if nothing else
Red
My life, my comfort and my safety is, in my view only, MY responsibility. This means I carry equiipment so that, if I breakdown on a remote road, I can go for assistance (walking boots and waterproofs), summon help (mobile and car charger) or wait for help (blanket, ability to make a hot drink etc.). Its the same as most Bushcrafters in my view. In the woods, we assess whether doing something is safe, we carry appropriate kit if it isn't (FAK etc.) and, if necessary, the ability to spend a bit longer or summon assistance.
I'll probably get it worng in the end though. I'd just prefer to minimise the chances of that happening. I ahve also been "first on scene" at a serious accident. Having a comprehensive FAK, warning triangles, Hi Vis etc made me feel more in control if nothing else
Red
<Dons flameproof undercrackers again>
Alright then, as I already mentioned that as its winter I was surprised that nobody even thought of a shovel, nobody has mentioned a mobile phone either.
Mebbe a gallon of petrol also.
If the places you usually drive around are particularly remote then I can understand taking more gear but in context to the areas you travel in.
Seems to me that some people are missing out on the main reasons that people get stranded.Mostly mechanical.
When we lived on the fairly remote farm we were often stranded up there for a few days or so, till the snowplough cleared the roads, once the snowplough got stuck and we had to do the 2 miles th the nearest shop by fell pony
Genuine whiteout conditions are very rare though and if they do happen its better to stay with the vehicle.
Main thing we carried was a shovel, warm clothes and jump leads.
The warm clothes I carry anyway as I work outside a lot and same with stuff like a flask and Vizy vest.
Dunno, but it seems that people may be disregarding the main problems.
Just my 2p anyway
Alright then, as I already mentioned that as its winter I was surprised that nobody even thought of a shovel, nobody has mentioned a mobile phone either.
Mebbe a gallon of petrol also.
If the places you usually drive around are particularly remote then I can understand taking more gear but in context to the areas you travel in.
Seems to me that some people are missing out on the main reasons that people get stranded.Mostly mechanical.
When we lived on the fairly remote farm we were often stranded up there for a few days or so, till the snowplough cleared the roads, once the snowplough got stuck and we had to do the 2 miles th the nearest shop by fell pony
Genuine whiteout conditions are very rare though and if they do happen its better to stay with the vehicle.
Main thing we carried was a shovel, warm clothes and jump leads.
The warm clothes I carry anyway as I work outside a lot and same with stuff like a flask and Vizy vest.
Dunno, but it seems that people may be disregarding the main problems.
Just my 2p anyway
demographic,
the post immediately above yours does mention a mobile phone mate
I do carry a shovel. Used to be a foldong nato shovel. Then I had it use one. Comes unver the heading of "better than nothing". Try a long handled Devon spade and you never look back
Also a Hi Lift Jack, 5 litres of water (radiator and the inevitable brew), as you say jump leads (and also if an automatic a battery jumper since bumping is impossible), Big but basic FAK, couple of cheap flashing lamps, two warning triangles (one for each way on the road), two high viz waistcoats, tow rope, fuses, bulbs, concentrated screen wash (for use with water), 5 litres of diesel, spare fan belt, litre of oil, ice scraper, freeze spray, WD40, pry bar (same reasons as Wayland) etc.
Mechanical is important!
Red
the post immediately above yours does mention a mobile phone mate
I do carry a shovel. Used to be a foldong nato shovel. Then I had it use one. Comes unver the heading of "better than nothing". Try a long handled Devon spade and you never look back
Also a Hi Lift Jack, 5 litres of water (radiator and the inevitable brew), as you say jump leads (and also if an automatic a battery jumper since bumping is impossible), Big but basic FAK, couple of cheap flashing lamps, two warning triangles (one for each way on the road), two high viz waistcoats, tow rope, fuses, bulbs, concentrated screen wash (for use with water), 5 litres of diesel, spare fan belt, litre of oil, ice scraper, freeze spray, WD40, pry bar (same reasons as Wayland) etc.
Mechanical is important!
Red
Due to the massive recent publicity of the Kim case in Oregon, there has been a lot of interest on winter survival in the US. Here is a recent article from the San Jose Mercury News, a California newspaper about some examples of trips gone tragically wrong in the winter.
They are going to talk here about the Stolpa family. Now for a bit of historic trivia, I drove through that very same storm down a parallel road in Nevada the same day the Stolpa's got stranded.
Yes, I saw the road closed sign. The wind had blown it over and it was half buried in the snow. I could tell where the ditches were on each side of the road because there the snow was slightly lower. It was so cold, that even with the heater blazing on maximum, frost was forming on the inside of the jeep's back window, but up in the front seats it was nice and warm.
The difference between me and the Stolpa's was that I had a very agile, fuel efficient 4x4 (Suzuki Samurai/Sierra), a gasoline stove, an electric drink heater, wool blankets, a very good North Face sleeping bag, food, water, serious winter clothing, a CB radio, etc. The greatest danger I was in was probably if I had accidently locked myself out of the vehicle whenever I stopped to take a leak - that would have sucked.
***********************
http://www.mercurynews.com/
Posted on Sun, Dec. 10, 2006
A wrong turn, a fierce storm, little food or water, no shelter, could you survive?
HERE ARE THE STORIES OF FOUR FAMILIES WHO FACED THE ELEMENTS
By Truong Phuoc Khanh
Mercury News
Fourteen winters ago, a California couple set out on a road trip with an infant, took a detour off the main highway and found themselves horrifyingly lost to the world.
Jennifer and James Stolpa and their 5-month-old baby survived the wilderness. James Kim, 35, did not, although his wife and two young daughters were rescued after nine days stranded on a snowy road in Oregon.
Both tales captivated the public imagination: Days without food or water. The mothers, weak and hungry, nursing their children. The fathers, despairing but determined, walking away into the unknown to find help.
Now living in Milwaukee, James Stolpa, 35, didn't need to be told why a Bay Area reporter was calling him this week. Yes, he knows about the family from San Francisco who vanished in Oregon.
"The fact is that we're all ordinary people," said Stolpa, who has since divorced and remarried. "And if these ordinary people are facing this, then something extraordinary can happen to any of us, without warning."
Some tragedies take but a second and then they're over, fade to black. But for the Kims, the Stolpas and the Stehles -- the San Jose couple who went hiking and became lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains for five nights after Thanksgiving -- the terror unfolded slowly, surreally over days.
Thanksgiving trip
A missed exit leads to a family tragedy
The Kim family was returning from a Thanksgiving visit with family in Seattle. Heading to the coastal town of Gold Beach on Nov. 25, where they had reservations for the night, they missed their exit. They consulted the map and took another route, which they didn't know wasn't plowed in the winter. They were stranded, and for days no one knew they were missing.
Kati Kim has asked the media to respect her privacy as she mourns her husband. But in interviews this week, survivors of similar ordeals recalled how at first they felt stuck and inconvenienced, then optimistic that any day help would surely come, and finally desperate with the realization they were fighting for their lives.
Their accounts offer some insight into what the Kims might have faced as they huddled in their station wagon during their last seven days together: the excitement of seeing a bird, a living creature; pressing the juice from the tiniest wildflowers; and having nothing but time to ponder, as James Stolpa said, "to really search your soul, to know who you are."
Stolpa was 21 when he spent nine days wandering in a blizzard in the high desert of northern Nevada with his wife and infant son in late December 1992.
"Hours started to feel like forever," Stolpa recalled, "and the days just went on for a long time."
James and Jennifer Stolpa, who lived in Paso Robles where James was a private in the Army, had been heading to a family funeral in Idaho. Their planned route, Interstate-80, was closed because of a snow storm, so they took a detour. Their truck became stranded in snow -- 40 miles from civilization.
For four days, they lived in the truck's camper-shell, hoping someone would come along. No one did. Then they started walking, towing their baby, Clayton, on a makeshift sled until Jennifer could walk no longer. They found a cave-like spot hidden from the wind to shelter Jennifer and the baby, and James continued on his own.
"She didn't really want us to split up. But deep down, I think she knew," Stolpa said, "if I had stayed there, then we all would have died."
Surely that's what James Kim must have felt when seven days passed and rescue did not come, Stolpa said.
"Clayton was completely helpless and needed us to survive," he said. "That was my inspiration and until I found help, I wasn't going to lay down and die."
Quick hike
At first, they were just lost and embarrassed
Maria and Arnaud Stehle of San Jose went missing in Castle Rock State Park the same weekend as the Kims got lost. They had planned only a brief hike and carried no food, water, jackets or emergency supplies.
"It could have been us. It could have been my husband," said Maria Stehle, 30, near tears, reflecting on the fate of James Kim.
Their first night lost, a Saturday, the Stehles remembered joking about their predicament.
"We thought people would make fun of us," said Arnaud, 29.
At night they sought shelter in the dense vegetation to keep warm. Every day, they hiked in search of trails. The terrain alternated between steep cliffs and valleys, with thick brush and fallen trees covering the ground.
Maria Stehle, who plucked wildflowers for their juice, kept fantasizing that a helicopter would fly over them, drop down a ladder "and I would climb it."
Her mind was fixated on one thing, she said: "When are they coming for me? That's all you're wondering. Where is the helicopter?"
Television has discovered Americans have a seemingly insatiable appetite for the drama of real people in precarious situations. But the human fascination with the survival story line, with its hopeful beginning and suspense building to an unknown ending has always existed in literature, most famously in "Robinson Crusoe" the 1710 fictional autobiography of a castaway.
This fall, the Discovery Channel launched a mini-series called "I Shouldn't Be Alive," which, according to its Web site, "explores the very best true stories of survival, focusing on the moral dilemmas, crucial moments, chance events and life-or-death decisions of the survivors." The Stolpas were featured in November.
Backpacking with the boys
Ordinary people are `taken aback by nature'
It wasn't an island but a mountain on which Frank Horath, a financial adviser from Aptos, found himself stranded in October 2004.
For Horath, the media's intense coverage of the Kims has brought back strong memories.
"I've watched it closely," said Horath, 47. "It's just a symbol of how fleeting life is, and how ordinary people doing just ordinary things can be taken aback by nature."
Horath, his brother-in-law Paul Bargetto and their two sons were backpacking in the Sierra Nevada one sunny day when a surprise snow storm grounded them at 10,000 feet.
"We didn't really have adequate equipment," Horath recalled. "On a scale of one to 10, we were at about a three."
He remembered feeling denial at first.
"I just couldn't believe this was happening," said Horath, an experienced wilderness hiker.
Days turned to nights; the storm and rain kept pounding. One night Horath and his brother-in-law had serious talks with their sons, privately.
"This is a bad night and a tough situation and we may not come out of it," Horath recalled telling his 16-year-old. "I love you."
The denouement
Four stories end with painful lessons and loss
HORATH, BARGETTO AND SONS: Horath and his son Dominic, after five days stuck in the High Sierra, were rescued on Oct. 21, 2004, along with Bargetto and his son Michael.
THE STOLPAS: James Stolpa walked nearly 50 miles over two and a half days, in sneakers, before stumbling incoherently -- and accidentally -- into the arms of a passing motorist who helped rescue Jennifer Stolpa and Clayton on Jan. 6, 1993. The Stolpas' tale was made into the movie, "Snowbound" in 1994.
THE STEHLES: Arnaud and Maria Stehle were found, after five nights missing, by rescue volunteer Kevin Donohoe on Nov. 30. Search-and-rescue volunteers used ropes to pull the couple up a steep trail.
THE KIMS: Kati Kim and her daughters, 4-year-old Penelope and 7-month-old Sabine, were found on Dec. 4 in good condition and rescued by helicopter. James Kim's body was found Dec. 6 in a creek four days after he left his family to look for help. He had walked 10 miles along a road and through terrain that challenged even skilled search-and-rescue workers, who said they were awed he made it that far.
They are going to talk here about the Stolpa family. Now for a bit of historic trivia, I drove through that very same storm down a parallel road in Nevada the same day the Stolpa's got stranded.
Yes, I saw the road closed sign. The wind had blown it over and it was half buried in the snow. I could tell where the ditches were on each side of the road because there the snow was slightly lower. It was so cold, that even with the heater blazing on maximum, frost was forming on the inside of the jeep's back window, but up in the front seats it was nice and warm.
The difference between me and the Stolpa's was that I had a very agile, fuel efficient 4x4 (Suzuki Samurai/Sierra), a gasoline stove, an electric drink heater, wool blankets, a very good North Face sleeping bag, food, water, serious winter clothing, a CB radio, etc. The greatest danger I was in was probably if I had accidently locked myself out of the vehicle whenever I stopped to take a leak - that would have sucked.
***********************
http://www.mercurynews.com/
Posted on Sun, Dec. 10, 2006
A wrong turn, a fierce storm, little food or water, no shelter, could you survive?
HERE ARE THE STORIES OF FOUR FAMILIES WHO FACED THE ELEMENTS
By Truong Phuoc Khanh
Mercury News
Fourteen winters ago, a California couple set out on a road trip with an infant, took a detour off the main highway and found themselves horrifyingly lost to the world.
Jennifer and James Stolpa and their 5-month-old baby survived the wilderness. James Kim, 35, did not, although his wife and two young daughters were rescued after nine days stranded on a snowy road in Oregon.
Both tales captivated the public imagination: Days without food or water. The mothers, weak and hungry, nursing their children. The fathers, despairing but determined, walking away into the unknown to find help.
Now living in Milwaukee, James Stolpa, 35, didn't need to be told why a Bay Area reporter was calling him this week. Yes, he knows about the family from San Francisco who vanished in Oregon.
"The fact is that we're all ordinary people," said Stolpa, who has since divorced and remarried. "And if these ordinary people are facing this, then something extraordinary can happen to any of us, without warning."
Some tragedies take but a second and then they're over, fade to black. But for the Kims, the Stolpas and the Stehles -- the San Jose couple who went hiking and became lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains for five nights after Thanksgiving -- the terror unfolded slowly, surreally over days.
Thanksgiving trip
A missed exit leads to a family tragedy
The Kim family was returning from a Thanksgiving visit with family in Seattle. Heading to the coastal town of Gold Beach on Nov. 25, where they had reservations for the night, they missed their exit. They consulted the map and took another route, which they didn't know wasn't plowed in the winter. They were stranded, and for days no one knew they were missing.
Kati Kim has asked the media to respect her privacy as she mourns her husband. But in interviews this week, survivors of similar ordeals recalled how at first they felt stuck and inconvenienced, then optimistic that any day help would surely come, and finally desperate with the realization they were fighting for their lives.
Their accounts offer some insight into what the Kims might have faced as they huddled in their station wagon during their last seven days together: the excitement of seeing a bird, a living creature; pressing the juice from the tiniest wildflowers; and having nothing but time to ponder, as James Stolpa said, "to really search your soul, to know who you are."
Stolpa was 21 when he spent nine days wandering in a blizzard in the high desert of northern Nevada with his wife and infant son in late December 1992.
"Hours started to feel like forever," Stolpa recalled, "and the days just went on for a long time."
James and Jennifer Stolpa, who lived in Paso Robles where James was a private in the Army, had been heading to a family funeral in Idaho. Their planned route, Interstate-80, was closed because of a snow storm, so they took a detour. Their truck became stranded in snow -- 40 miles from civilization.
For four days, they lived in the truck's camper-shell, hoping someone would come along. No one did. Then they started walking, towing their baby, Clayton, on a makeshift sled until Jennifer could walk no longer. They found a cave-like spot hidden from the wind to shelter Jennifer and the baby, and James continued on his own.
"She didn't really want us to split up. But deep down, I think she knew," Stolpa said, "if I had stayed there, then we all would have died."
Surely that's what James Kim must have felt when seven days passed and rescue did not come, Stolpa said.
"Clayton was completely helpless and needed us to survive," he said. "That was my inspiration and until I found help, I wasn't going to lay down and die."
Quick hike
At first, they were just lost and embarrassed
Maria and Arnaud Stehle of San Jose went missing in Castle Rock State Park the same weekend as the Kims got lost. They had planned only a brief hike and carried no food, water, jackets or emergency supplies.
"It could have been us. It could have been my husband," said Maria Stehle, 30, near tears, reflecting on the fate of James Kim.
Their first night lost, a Saturday, the Stehles remembered joking about their predicament.
"We thought people would make fun of us," said Arnaud, 29.
At night they sought shelter in the dense vegetation to keep warm. Every day, they hiked in search of trails. The terrain alternated between steep cliffs and valleys, with thick brush and fallen trees covering the ground.
Maria Stehle, who plucked wildflowers for their juice, kept fantasizing that a helicopter would fly over them, drop down a ladder "and I would climb it."
Her mind was fixated on one thing, she said: "When are they coming for me? That's all you're wondering. Where is the helicopter?"
Television has discovered Americans have a seemingly insatiable appetite for the drama of real people in precarious situations. But the human fascination with the survival story line, with its hopeful beginning and suspense building to an unknown ending has always existed in literature, most famously in "Robinson Crusoe" the 1710 fictional autobiography of a castaway.
This fall, the Discovery Channel launched a mini-series called "I Shouldn't Be Alive," which, according to its Web site, "explores the very best true stories of survival, focusing on the moral dilemmas, crucial moments, chance events and life-or-death decisions of the survivors." The Stolpas were featured in November.
Backpacking with the boys
Ordinary people are `taken aback by nature'
It wasn't an island but a mountain on which Frank Horath, a financial adviser from Aptos, found himself stranded in October 2004.
For Horath, the media's intense coverage of the Kims has brought back strong memories.
"I've watched it closely," said Horath, 47. "It's just a symbol of how fleeting life is, and how ordinary people doing just ordinary things can be taken aback by nature."
Horath, his brother-in-law Paul Bargetto and their two sons were backpacking in the Sierra Nevada one sunny day when a surprise snow storm grounded them at 10,000 feet.
"We didn't really have adequate equipment," Horath recalled. "On a scale of one to 10, we were at about a three."
He remembered feeling denial at first.
"I just couldn't believe this was happening," said Horath, an experienced wilderness hiker.
Days turned to nights; the storm and rain kept pounding. One night Horath and his brother-in-law had serious talks with their sons, privately.
"This is a bad night and a tough situation and we may not come out of it," Horath recalled telling his 16-year-old. "I love you."
The denouement
Four stories end with painful lessons and loss
HORATH, BARGETTO AND SONS: Horath and his son Dominic, after five days stuck in the High Sierra, were rescued on Oct. 21, 2004, along with Bargetto and his son Michael.
THE STOLPAS: James Stolpa walked nearly 50 miles over two and a half days, in sneakers, before stumbling incoherently -- and accidentally -- into the arms of a passing motorist who helped rescue Jennifer Stolpa and Clayton on Jan. 6, 1993. The Stolpas' tale was made into the movie, "Snowbound" in 1994.
THE STEHLES: Arnaud and Maria Stehle were found, after five nights missing, by rescue volunteer Kevin Donohoe on Nov. 30. Search-and-rescue volunteers used ropes to pull the couple up a steep trail.
THE KIMS: Kati Kim and her daughters, 4-year-old Penelope and 7-month-old Sabine, were found on Dec. 4 in good condition and rescued by helicopter. James Kim's body was found Dec. 6 in a creek four days after he left his family to look for help. He had walked 10 miles along a road and through terrain that challenged even skilled search-and-rescue workers, who said they were awed he made it that far.
demographic said:
I don't consider that as "Survival Kit"...Along with jump leads and a vehicle toolkit, I consider that as "standard equipment".
They are permanently fixed into my vehicle along with the fire extinguishers.
By "survival kit" I'm thinking more along the lines of stuff to keep me, or someone else, comfortable for a few hours to a few days until help arrives.
Drink, Food, Warmth etc.
Just a tiny aside here with ref to car kits.
On my two most recent recoverys I have spent more time finding the towing eye in the boot with the spare wheel and then trying to find the point behind front or rear panel where it screws in, than actually doing the recovery! On a VW golf this involves removing a part of the front lights (not an expected place so consequently time consuming looking for the information in the hand book) and on a Range Rover the whole front panel un-clips.(find the clips in the dirt!)
Great for streamlining and aesthetics but annoying and un-nerving when lying in busy road even with a flourescent jacket and hazzards!
Swyn.
On my two most recent recoverys I have spent more time finding the towing eye in the boot with the spare wheel and then trying to find the point behind front or rear panel where it screws in, than actually doing the recovery! On a VW golf this involves removing a part of the front lights (not an expected place so consequently time consuming looking for the information in the hand book) and on a Range Rover the whole front panel un-clips.(find the clips in the dirt!)
Great for streamlining and aesthetics but annoying and un-nerving when lying in busy road even with a flourescent jacket and hazzards!
Swyn.
When my Seat Leon needed towing, the AA man said no can do as it is a sports model.
Couldn't get a transporter until late the next day.
Couldn't get a transporter until late the next day.
D
deezee_uk
Guest
I'm sorry if i'm sounding rude, especially as its my first post, but in the UK there is little reason to carry survival equipment in a car. I drive everywhere for work, from Kent, Cornwall, Wales, Fort William and other places, its all a good laugh. I'd be more concerned in having a well maintained vehicle.
I'm shocked that no one has mentioned a map!!! or sat nav, although a mobile was thankfully mentioned. British Red seems to have the right idea, about looking after the resources you have (A car), although there is little harm in being prepared. Although if your expecting bad weather surely your car should be suitable for the journey (4WD) and kitted out for it. Snow Chains Anyone?
I'm not sure of the odds of you not being able to fix your car AND the AA not getting to you AND no one else passing your location within a couple of days.
This is perhaps a terrible 1st post as it indicates that survival skills have no place during modern travel (not the case) I just believe that a car breakdown in the UK isn't very noteworthy in terms of bushcraft, more so in terms of maintenance.
I'm shocked that no one has mentioned a map!!! or sat nav, although a mobile was thankfully mentioned. British Red seems to have the right idea, about looking after the resources you have (A car), although there is little harm in being prepared. Although if your expecting bad weather surely your car should be suitable for the journey (4WD) and kitted out for it. Snow Chains Anyone?
I'm not sure of the odds of you not being able to fix your car AND the AA not getting to you AND no one else passing your location within a couple of days.
This is perhaps a terrible 1st post as it indicates that survival skills have no place during modern travel (not the case) I just believe that a car breakdown in the UK isn't very noteworthy in terms of bushcraft, more so in terms of maintenance.
Depends where you break down, I have called rescue services and it has taken a couple of hours for someone to get to me, luckily the conditions weren't bad and I had a couple of hours kip. If it had been cold I have at least a sleeping bag in the boot and the means to make a brew, usually. If I need to walk to a phone I am either wearing my boots or they live in the car, same with waterproofs. It is sods law that you break down wearing "going out gear" in bad weather so a bit of preperation can make life a lot easier.
I get what you mean about not needing to "survive" in the UK, although I wouldn't necessarily turn down help from a passer by, I would still prefer to be independant just in case.
I had to explain to my wife why I was carrying a bergen with first aid and sleeping bag etc when we went for an easy family walk, moel famaeu, "so many people walk it someone will stop and help", my reply was "yes, HOPEFULLY someone who is carrying the gear I have in my bag!"
So maybe not survival kit but independance kit?
I get what you mean about not needing to "survive" in the UK, although I wouldn't necessarily turn down help from a passer by, I would still prefer to be independant just in case.
I had to explain to my wife why I was carrying a bergen with first aid and sleeping bag etc when we went for an easy family walk, moel famaeu, "so many people walk it someone will stop and help", my reply was "yes, HOPEFULLY someone who is carrying the gear I have in my bag!"
So maybe not survival kit but independance kit?
deezee_uk said:
Then don't. If you are happy to have a miserable, uncomfortable night in a car stuck on the moors when AA/RAC etc are overwhelmed then go ahead.
The key thing for me is never to rely on someone else. Sure I've got AA, but I've also got assorted stuff in my truck to help me (or someone else I may come across on my travels) out if I'm in a pinch, either to get me out of the situation or to make things comfortable until help gets there. Let's say your car dies on a freezing cold day in a howling wind, it's going to start getting very cold soon. Would you rather sit shivering until the Very Nice Man turns up, or put on your duvet jacket that you have in the boot? Would you rather chew your nails or that choccie bar you've got in the bag with your duvet jacket?
Survival isn't just about schoolboy fantasies about catching fish with the hooks in your rambo knife and cooking them in a tobacco tin, it's about being prepared for the difficult times and making them more bearable.
Yes, definatley.
I helped a car booter the other day, he gashed his hand on some glass, the FAK was in his other car...
But mine was in the car I was using.
I do agree I should get more gear. I have a warning triangle and Hi viz now but I really should have a fire extinguisher and Crowbar.
I helped a car booter the other day, he gashed his hand on some glass, the FAK was in his other car...
But mine was in the car I was using.
I do agree I should get more gear. I have a warning triangle and Hi viz now but I really should have a fire extinguisher and Crowbar.
I have been re-thinking my "breakdown kit"
Have two triangles fore and aft
Hi Viz waistcoat
Torches and strobe
Tow ropes and straps
Tirfor type winch
Two fire extinguishers front and rear
Crowbar
Stove et al
But still more to list and to get...
As I have read on here many times from the guys and girls who "know" that it is better to have and not need than to need and not have...
LS
Have two triangles fore and aft
Hi Viz waistcoat
Torches and strobe
Tow ropes and straps
Tirfor type winch
Two fire extinguishers front and rear
Crowbar
Stove et al
But still more to list and to get...
As I have read on here many times from the guys and girls who "know" that it is better to have and not need than to need and not have...
LS
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