Vehicle Preps

This could have gone in a number of places, from News to the Newbie corner, but since many of them were pretty close to built up areas anyway, but still had problems. Hope it's ok here.

I'm guessing a whole lot of people in Spain are now considering the wisdom of having some emergency supplies in their vehicles.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/blizzard-spain-standstill-dead-1.5867647

"It usually takes me 15 minutes, but this time it has been 12 hours freezing, without food or water, crying with other people because we didn't know how we were going to get out of there," said Morena, 22.

 

Spent close to 12 hours in a snowbank in Canada a year or so ago. The border was closing in an hour when I went off the road so I knew there would be no help till the next day. the weather was very windy with blowing snow.

I was not hungry or thirsty. I've been warmer but I ran the engine enough that with the space blankets and bags in my kit I stayed warm enough. Didn't sleep much.

 

Da## this global warming!!!

 

I must confess to having gone to the extreme side of vehicle preps lol. A few stories amoung many that pushed me that way, sorry they are old and I'm not searching for them to reference right now:
Kids playing on snowmobiles found an old lady in her car, dead, after she got lost and stuck. Guy slid off the road in an isolated spot, took over a week to find him. Family lost in central Manitoba, parents tried to hike out, amazingly they were found by a hunter and taken to a warm up hut while he went out for the rest of the family. They would have all died. 3 guys slid off the road, Yukon maybe? I don't really remember but they ended up setting the whole truck on fire to stay warm. These are just a few of thousands of stories.

 

I keep two blankets in my car and also a case of those granola/nut bars....they last a long time..

My main concern is water...and try to keep a plastic Gatorade bottle in my daily to and fro work bag. I often fill it up when I get to work.

I also keep two more Gatorde bottles in the fridge at work...filled with water.

Oh...these bottles do not contain Gatorade..I do not like Gatorade...but appreciate the heavy duty bottles and often buy them and dump the Gatorade to use the bottles for water. They will last a long time....as they are heavily constructed.
That is my main interest in Gatorade...the bottles...not the drink.


People around here in Coastal Virginia can hardly drive in the rain....
They would be in big big trouble in a storm such as described by Rebecca.


Though it was years and years ago...with my first pickup truck...it was an awakening to me to learn how verily light a pick up truck is on the rear end in snow..

That was a serious wake up call.

I also have two way ham radio in my car and truck.

In my car...VHF/UHF...

In my Truck HF/VHF/UHF frequency coverage.

Throw Cell phone in the mix with spare batteries.

Have been keeping my Ham Walkie talkies charged up of late....and also my spare cell phone batteries....and so too the spare batteries for the Ham Walkie Talkies.

Seems like a good idea with conditions deteriorating across the nation of late....somewhat similar to my standard hurricane preps..


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

I have one of those medium plastic tubs with a lid. I have booster cables, air compressor, tire repair kit, first aid kit, candles. water, food, tools , matches , survival blanket and all sort of other survival stuff.

 

ArticBill's list is so close to mine that I've just cut'n'pasted into this response .

I have a ginormous tool box and I try to put as much of the following crap into it, the rest has to be thrown to the side or floorboard: booster cables, small air compressor for tires, tire repair kit, first aid kit, water purifier/filter-type (plus tablets), food (I should put in more, don't have enough), tools, hurricane matches, surplus wool blanket + two "space blankets", 4' crowbar, short axe (need to put that back in, using in yard), and some other crap. Ropes, several ropes; sometimes I throw a chain back there. All this stuff does add a bit of weight to the vehicle.

Oh, and double-ended bolt snaps for smaller ropes (must have 8 or so of these handy hooks). In winter I toss-in 3/4" manila rope; one or two lengths. I have a large pulley for the 3/4" stuff. Got a come-along for light work. Got all kinds of heavy connectors for rope lengths. Tubing to steal gas, but often these days the fuel input pipe has a block to keep one from siphoning gas.

I'm OCD, so could think of more crap to weigh-down my vehicle. I guess I figure that I could come across somebody who needs help -- it's happened in the past.

Found this photo on the web.

Something that biases me is that I used to help my dad haul his machines, to include 4' x 8' one-inch thick slate pool tables. One uses THICK manila rope for those puppies. The pool table MUST NOT shift in the bed of the truck. One's truck must have heavy steel tubing all around the bed and a section that mirrors the back of the truck cab -- this to tie-off tallish equipment.

Here's some fancy chrome tubing for a truck bed. My dad's truck had plain ol' thick steel pipes painted black with no shortage of rust spots. I never knew you could get this fancy-sh## chrome piping. I think I want this red truck. Call me a sissy, but I kind'a would like to have this truck. Once had a fire-engine red Buick (mid 1960s model) with a white roof; thing would fly. Had a 305 or 310 cu.in. (???) "Wildcat" V8, NOT the 340 cu.in., still this little 2-door would fly. Wife and I kept it on into the 1980s; once had it repainted with aircraft-grade paint. Red truck color below reminds me so much of that car.

 

I remember when i was a scout leader many years ago , we had all the kids make a survival kit,
the trick was all kits were good no such thing as a bad kit , it just depended on what a kids saw as being important to him or her.

 

You got me laughing to myself....

I helped my lady friend years ago when a Hurricane was bearing down on us...and I told her to get her kids ready to bug out if the decision was so made...otherwise hunker down.

All the kids were to make a bag of clothes and or toiletries...to bug out and have it standing near by...ready to go.

The youngest boy...thought it important/essential to bring his extensive baseball card collection....

I had to clamp down on this...misplaced drama...

Ishmaelites run wild...a television and or movie education...


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

No pike pole ? no spring-assisted "grappling hook" flexible tool to retrive something ? no roadside shoulder de-icer like VT-1-32 C Mini Dragon vapor torch kit (www.FlameEngineering.com) ?

 

With all due respect, i do not think this would work in Canada, this is what i see happening.
the torch will melt the snow, but then the water will quickly refreeze making a skating rink .
snow is not the problem, but ice is.

 

Good morning Arctic Bill,

Completely agree.

Your point also applicable to many areas south of the St Lawrence.

The torch does have additional uses.

 

Speaking of ice, my winter emergency kit for my car includes a couple pairs of crampons. For about $40 US dollars, this is a very low cost and highly effective safety devise. How much does a hip replacement cost these days?

 

Good point, thanx much. Used mine just a few weeks back. Don't have these puppies in our vehicles however. We should all be putting a pair or two in each vehicle. We get ice storms here. The trees get very beautiful, but ice-coated everything is dangerous.

When I went looking for mine, I only found one pair. Should have found at least two. I need to deal with this situation.
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