What do you prep that you don’t see on BOB lists?

Frenchiepants - April 10, 2021

For me it is definitely a hairbrush and a solid conditioner.  Granted in a long term situation the conditioner is quickly consumed but I have very long hair and keep a folding brush and a comb in my kit.  The comb weighs almost nothing.  

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Good morning Frenchiepants,

Part of my BOB, both physically and conceptually, packed on top, is my hard hat.

My hard hat is a basic orange ANSI I pith helmet outfitted with chin strap having a lanyard w/ whistle and a strong mounted light. Inside helmet is stuffed a mosquito net and a kevlar hood (watch cap next to helmet in BOB).

 

A bicycle helmet or hard hat is a really good emergency supply

 

I’ll third this. I’ve scored a few hard hats from the neighborin thrift store in the past and it’s a good item to have, especially if you live in earthquake country. A bonk to the head will set you back. And if a disaster is goin on, then hospitals will be full of people with bonks on their heads.

 

Very often I see folks having eye glasses/ shades / contact lenses but no method of cleaning or sterilising them.   I also often put an aerosol of flourescent paint to mark routes or to mark places I have already checked out.

 

Indeed!  My eyeglasses case has a microfiber attached (readers) and I’ve put one in the hard case for my spare prescriptions.  

 

I might just be looking at the wrong bug out bag lists, but I do not recall seeing a disposable razor. Can get them for as cheap as $0.10 each in a 10 pack at the dollar store, and they are extremely light. 

Definitely a must for both BOB and your emergency kit in your car. Did you just get to work and forgot to shave or missed a spot? Get your razor out of your car and you are set to go for that big meeting. 

In a prepping scenario this can help you shave an area around a wound before putting on something like a butterfly bandage  which wouldn’t be able to stick that well on hair. 

 

Why a disposible? I use a safety razor. The blades are inexpensive and tiny so you could easily add them to a kit. My soap (made it myself) also works as a shaving soap, provides a good lather. The safety razor is far easier to clean as well.

 

I like disposable Bic razors because they weigh nothing.

 

I’ve never used a safety razor before. How do they compare in use to a disposable razor?

 

I have found safety razors really good. When I was researching them one thing that was mentioned was that the number of blades on disposable razors can cause skin irritation. You don’t apply pressure with a safety razor, you let the blade do the work. The razor can also come apart so it us easy to clean, and the blades are so small, they are easy to pack.

I have a Q Shave adjustable razor which weighs 88gm. There are lots of videos on YouTube re safety razors.

 

LBV – Thanks for teaching me about safety razors. If they help prevent skin irritation, i’m all for that! I’ll let you know if I get one

 

I actually keep the little shave kits you get from a hotel and throw one in my bugout bag.  

 

Me two, little travel kits, razor, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, wipes etc.

 

Toiletries as you mentioned – comb, dental floss, lotion in addition to sunscreen; Sanitation supplies like a  backpacking trowel (has other uses too) and female urinal device; Cleaning items like a small dish scraper and a dry bag to launder socks/underwear (organizes pack as well); Small repair kits: for glasses, tents/tarps, inflatable sleeping pad (I know these are not recommended, but what I had already), tiny sewing kit; cooling neck bandana as it gets into the 100s and I don’t do heat well; mini sharpies (BOB and FAK) and extreme post-it notes for leaving messages for friends/family and also to write on skin for first aid; titanium backup wood burning stove – that fuel won’t last forever or may have evaporated.  Water enhancers like tea/sugar (step down that caffeine habit and comfort), instant bone broth and gaterade packets.  

 

I already have repair/sewing kits, but I don’t wear glasses.  My husband does however. I should see if he carries a repair kit and if he doesn’t add it myself.  

 

That’s nice to see you looking out for him.

 

Speaking of toiletries/grooming items and, as usual, looking for common-denominators, …

I studied 3 of my BOB lists: the grooming list, the IFAK list and the emergency signaling list.

The common-denominator was the mirror.  Got both an emergency signaling mirror and also a small 12X magnifier, other side regular size mirror. The magnification used for first aid matters.

For a vehicle evac, both are packed to bug out.  For a F L C evac (Feet, Leather – Covered [infantry]) with weight being of utmost concern, only take the grooming/first aid kit mirror.

 

Even though it is on some bug out bag lists, it should be on every and all lists! SOAP.

Just save the little bar of soap from your hotel trip, done! Not much room, keep disease down, feel great while the world is collapsing and burning around you, and ya. Soap guys!

 

Just thought of a few more items for longer term disaster.

Portable bidet – where water is not an issue it makes your toilet paper go further.

Sodium hydroxide (lye) – knowing how to make your own soap is good. A little goes a long way. If you hunt, knowing the calculations for the animals you butcher.

 

Gaviscon. Pepto tabs. Upset tummy may not kill you but you may feel like it! 

liebrecht

 

Pepto and Imodium AD are in the FAK list on this site for that very reason.  Definitely something for BOB and every traveller.  I’d not heard of Gaviscon.  I’ll check it out.  

 

I like disposable Bic razors. They work great.

 

Not sure how to answer.

Kind of like being pulled over and being asked “Do you have any weapons with you?” My answer would be “I don’t know, officer, because I don’t know what you may decide is a weapon.”

I have a lot of things in my bag, that you don’t see on a lot of lists.

Air shim, heavy gauge wire coat hanger, motion alarm. rat traps, aerial flares, smoke grenades, white noise machine, 1/4″ Metrinch socket set, 1/4″ hex bit set, micro hex bit set.

 

Good evening Ranger John,

Am sure the white noise machine is a radio pre-tuned to Bloomberg Business Report. This report is my white noise.

Here, the problem is not LEOs but the augmenting auxillery deputies.   They are just too zealous and not keeping up with the times.

The bigger headache than the machete will be the flares and smoke grenades. Believe both are HAZMAT class C requiring special packing and label. Consider staying below the threshold requirement but still label and pack to max.

.

 

Mine are consumer standard, the flares are available at the Evil Empire. The smoke is sold for Airsoft/paintball.

 

Good morning Ranger John,

Well received. Appreciate additional info.

My flares are industry approved for offshore oil industry; hand launchable.

No smoke carried but do have oxygen candles, situation governing when in loadout. Everything documented and labeled to the max and packed to exceed the strictest demands typically being those of DHS / USCG in US.

 

Morning Bob,

Oxygen candle? I am guessing that they are used to generate oxygen for underwater welding?

I didn’t google it.

 

Good morning Ranger John

These candles are used in the offshore oil industry for below surface welding.

I use them when O2 will help project eg making a fire under adverse conditions.

A group member knows how to use them for respiration matters.

 

Thank You, for replying, and confirming my guess.

 

I’ve never heard of someone carrying smoke grenades in their bug out bag, so definitely fits this topic of things you don’t usually see on a BOB list. That being said, I can see cases when you would want to use it.

Have you set one of your airsoft/paintball ones off before? I’ve dabbled in DIY smoke grenades and they haven’t amounted to anything usable besides possibly signalling. Definitely not enough to provide cover.

My grandfather used to be in the military and had a military-grade smoke grenade. He set it off in the middle of our street during the 4th of July and it completely smoked out the entire street. It even went down people’s chimneys and flushed them out of their house. Now that’s what I would want for my BOB!

 

I am copy and pasting a comment by Clark Thompson from the Emergency kit / bug out bag list article that I thought fit in well on this thread: 

“Two things I’ve used many times but almost never see on these lists:

1. small binder clips to use with 550 cord as a clothesline… weigh almost nothing and along with the drain stopper and camp suds already mentioned can turn any space with a sink into a laundry. The chromed ones last longer before rusting. In a survival situation that might not matter but…

2. Nails. Wrap a handful of assorted nails in heavy duty tinfoil. Unless you want your cordage permanently deployed for any fixed shelter building, a few nails can mean many hours of saved labor. Or safer shelter in an uncertain environment”

 

Spray flourescent paint / coloured chalk sticks. I pinched this from some hybrid Urbex explorers and preppers for marking routes they have explored / cleared / reccied especially in underground tunnel networks / tub lines etc and in abandoned sky scrapers.   I also use them to ” tag” where I’ve been for other family members to follow when going through woodland.

 

An Air carbine for taking small game / pest control, the modern ones are almost silent compared to firearms. These ultra compact full power air rifle can average 30 to 50 shots per fill.

Artemis PP700 with optional folding shoulder stock

Edgun Leshiy

Brocock Ranger XR

 

Do you carry an extra reserve of air or will you just dump the rifle after the 30-50 shots?

Guess it’s the same decision you have to make with carrying a gun powder powered rifle or pistol in your BOB as well. You can only carry so many boxes of ammo, so after you use it up, you’ll have to decide if you will be able to obtain more in the future of if it’s better just to dump the gun.

 

So you can get very small buddy bottles from 500 Ml up to 1 or 3 litres, sometime allow or carbon fibre so they weigh very little. Usually enough to get a couple of hundred shots extra.

I have a 1 litre buddy bottle with my rucksack kit, and a 5 litre and 12 litre bottle at home, enough to fire thousands of shots,   Plus a 3 stage styrup for topping up the rifles directly.  And you can now buy small 12 volt airgun compressors for a few hundred $.

On some makes of PCP carbines the bottles or air tubes have self sealing valves fitted so they can be simply unscrewed and swapped out for a full spare bottle / tube.

Good quality hunting ammo can be had for $12 to $20 for 500 pellets. I know preppers your side of the pond who have hunted Coyotes with US market full power PCP guns.

 

That’s such a economical way to shoot! 

 

What would be your strategy of marking? Just a dot, a directional arrow of travel, or something else? 

Good idea by the way.

 

Always something original regardless, and differing with each visit so you know how long since your last visit, Dots, *s X’s, tics, letters, numbers etc and different colours for different dates as well.

 

items that used to standard back before the 1990s and “peace” with the Ruskies were nuke war oriented – you field prepped to be caught away from your prepped shelter – not so much about bugging out after a strike …

you had your lite weight protection suit – mask – goggles – isotope pills and more concern about food/water to be able to sit out the fallout once into some protection …

an item rarely mentioned these days was a street manhole cover remover – getting under cover in minutes was everything – it was just a hand grip, a flex cable or heavy wire and then 1/2″ bolt or rod about 4″ long – it gave you enough leverage to pop the cover and drag it to the side >>> any “port” in a storm 

late 80s/90s started carrying a simple socket holder and 5/8″ hex socket to access underground communication vaults – usually the covers were simply bolted down ….

 

What are these communication vaults you speak of? 

 

all kinds and sizes – AT & T buried a 3′ X 5′ X 3′ deep vault by my home for a fiber wire junction box – empty except for a single strand of wire running the length – two more down the street are the same – covers are just hex bolt fastened …

perfect cache locations for gear after serious SHTF takes things down – initial thought is to safety some gasoline and propane down there – especially if the disaster & destruction side of a SHTF would allow some clutter camouflaging ….

some of the larger vaults can hold a few people and are ladder accessible – from the surface it’s just a door showing ….

there something similar for power distribution – wouldn’t be messing around with those unless it’s a total WROL SHTF and the grid is dead dead ….

 

Had mentioned somewhere at TP.com, I carry 2 – 4 black triangle paper clamps to carry wool socks washed and in drying mode.  They will be dangling from my load-bearing suspenders when walking.

Next to the socks and also dangling will be a small tube of Liquid Nails brand adhesive, some mallable wire and a small roll of tape – all for emergency field repairs.  Recently changed tape from sturdy roll of duct tape to USPS cellophane shipping tape. It is a small roll, lightweight and grips BETTER than the other traditional repair tapes. When properly applied, it is not affected by rain. Costs only $3.49 a roll.

 

Can you buy small tubes of liquid nails or did you pour a larger tube into a smaller tube?

 

Good evening Dragoon,

I carry the 4 fl oz size.

Don’t know if there’s a smaller side.

Liquid Nails brand also has a 5.5 fl oz size of clear seal sealant.

 

Good evening Bob,

Any particular reason for Liquid Nails, as oppsed to another type of adhesive?

Copy that, on the USPS tape, I actually found a couple of rolls in my truck.

 

Good morning Ranger John,

A couple of reasons I carry Liquid Nails rather than other adhesives:

It is available here at my local big box stores. 

It is easier for me to use rather than the adhesive tubes w/ funnel nozzle.

Although Liquid Nails has less solvent than other types of adhesives, it is still easier for me to squeeze out. I’m carrying the ideal size (~ 4 fl oz) based on my experience for emergency field repair projects.

North of here in big town, there’s more of an adhesive selection along with more sizes. So far the 4 oz alum (compared to plastic squeezable) squeezeable tube of Liquid Nails is easy enough for me to use during adverse weather conditions involving my injured and arthritic hands.

That USPS tape is one of the few improvements USPS made along with the history and artsie postage stamps usually not used by the buyer.

 

don’t know about Liquid Nails – have carried meltable glue sticks in my various BOBs and tool kits – works for both an adhesive and sealant – temperature doesn’t matter – they don’t age or dry out – cheap as hell in the craft stores …..

 

I love hot glue. So versatile, strong, and easy to work with for what it is. I made a comment about hot glue over on this thread months ago.

What you can also do with hot glue is to melt some around the mid section of a strike anywhere match and keep a few in your car or bug out bag. Then if you need a dab of hot glue, heat up the match and it will melt the glue which then can be spread on what you need to.

 

Bob,

I understand the value of the tape; I keep Gorilla tape in my trunk, although it can get nasty in August (maybe keep this in my house/office transfer bag) but I am not tracking the Liquid Nails. I understand the value with sheet rock and around the house. Can you give examples of how you have used it in your BOB or what problems it may solve?

 

You say that your gorilla tape gets nasty in your car in August, is that because the heat melts the adhesive and makes it all sticky?

 

Yes, it sometimes turns ‘wavy’ in high heat (I assume +120F in my trunk) and it doesn’t unravel evenly. I toss them out if they get like this.

 

Good afternoon Shaun,

In the cargo bed of truck was carrying an industrial ring buoy … not high quality nor high cost … and noticed one of the 4 fittings holding the outside of buey rope was loose and slowly tearing off buoy.

I repositioned fitting, then lifted up. Cleaned the surface rag clean – no soaps, no solvents. Smothered the fitting section and buoy section with Liquid Nails. Wrapped this with mallable wire. Then held wire in exact place with USPS cellophane tape. It takes ~ 2 days to completely dry/cure … when solvent evaporates.

It worked for a makeshift field repair.

A walking example; Had to check if a blister on a foot was forming. For taking off boots I carry lightweight “shower shoes”.  I noticed the toe injury section was pulling out of main flip flop section.  With multitool, replaced this section into hole on “sole section”.  Next I pulled the toe injury section down beyond flat portion of flat sole flip flap section.  Smothered this area and top with Liquid Nails and held in place for drying by the cellophane tape. 

It worked for an emergency field repair. Since I only had one pair, was working only with socks on top of a 2X4 kept in cargo bed.

……

Had kept that USPS roll of cellophane tape in truck cargo bed on the hottest of days and it still unrolled easy enough and worked.

 

Bob,

Ok, got it. Just a failure of my imagination. I keep Loctite in my vehicle toolbox for those problems. I also have (3) old wire hangers for broken exhaust pipe brackets. Liquid Nails is cheap and easy to put in the BOB too. Thank you.

 

Shaun,

The idea of wire hangers is solid, I have about a dozen or so. Actually they are becoming kinda rare, as are metal coffee cans.

I once had a Comet, couldn’t keep an exhaust system on thar car, had to keep coat hangers and tin cans on hand.

 

Now that’s some ingenuity there! Lots you can do with a coat hanger or spool of wire.

 

Some kind of TSA compliant cutting tool (strap cutter, or multitool with scissors and no regular knife blade) in case I have to go somewhere security won’t allow my usual EDC pocket knife or multitool with blade.

 

Do they allow strap cutters?

I have seen quite a few movies of people trapped in their seats and go down with the plane during a crash because their belt is stuck. ✈️ A belt cutter would be a good tool to prevent that.

 

Yes I have gone through airport security with a small Gerber strap cutter about ten times, no problem, no questions.