Prudent Prepping: Bottle Bag Challenge

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping. 

Well, I tried to get this thing done last week, but it didn't happen.

Water Bottle Challenge
Erin set out specific but also very vague guidelines for this challenge. Everything has to go in or be attached to the bottle carrier is what I understood the rules to be. (Correct. - Erin). My bottle carrier was shown in this blog post, right after Erin announced the challenge. Here is what I have going into my bag.

The big pieces

The bag was written up well in the original post, but with a little time to fool with it, I believe this setup will be used when I'm in the local parks this spring and summer. There are plenty of attachment points for clipping to or use MOLLE straps. There are even loops on top of the bag for another patch!

(Speaking of patches, this one is from a BCP Facebook group member and friend, Jonathan Sullivan. If you'd like to buy one contact him, but hurry up because they are going quickly.)

The water bottle is one I've had for a while and don't carry often, since it was purchased from REI. I've limited what I buy from them over the last two years to things that I can't wait for Next Day from Amazon.

Next to that is a Maxpedition PLP cell phone case. More on that later.

Next to that is my latest item bought from Amazon: FUNANASUN 2 Pack Molle Pouches

https://amzn.to/38jhiA6

From the Amazon ad:

• One item includes 2 tactical pouches and 2 carabiners. Dimensions: 8.3" x 4.7" x 2.2". Constructed by durable 600D nylon material and internal surface are made of waterproof material.
• The tactical pack has vinyl sewed inside to keep moisture from soaking through to the material on to the outside, and a steel drain hole rivet in the bottom.
• The molle attachment bag with 2 buckle straps on the back could be attached to tactical backpack, combat vest or other tactical gears as an extra exterior pouch or carry it as a normal pouch to secure essential gears.
• The utility molle pouch with two-way zippers in silent cord pulls allows you to quickly zip the military pouch shut from either both sides or access just one side of the tactical pack without completely opening it.
• The main compartment and 2 internal pockets are perfect for storing cell phone, tactical pen, keychain, GPS device, digital cameras, medical supplies, ammo, paracord or any necessary gadgets you need.

I chose this because I needed a bag about this size for carrying some extra items on my sling bag, but never ordered one, so I ordered two for this challenge.

What It Holds

The Contents

I decided to use the water bottle as a water bottle by keeping it empty and carrying everything in the pouch and existing pocket on the bottle bag.

The contents, from left to right and top to bottom:

• Sawyer Squeeze Filter 
• Hand sanitizer from CVS
• Pencil wrapped with duct tape
• Hatori AAA pen light
• Mints
• Eye glass repair kit
• Gum
• 3 Clif Bars

Bottom Row

• SOL Survival Blanket 
• Leatherman  multitool
• Mini Johnson and Johnson 1st Aid Kit
• Magnifying Tweezers

Everything but the first aid kit fits into the molle pouch.; that, I had to put into the pocket on the Bottle Carrier itself.

All that's left is the cell phone pouch mentioned earlier.

Maxpedition PLP Phone Case

Maxpedition PLP and contents

I've had this case for some time and carry it with me at work and elsewhere. I wrote about the first version of this kit in this post and have been fooling with the contents ever since.

What you see is:

• North American Rescue CAT tourniquet
• H&H mini compression bandage
• 2 pair rubber gloves
• Six alcohol wipes 

The wipes sort of migrated to this pouch and so I left them. Everything else should be fairly self explanatory when you read the linked post.

There is still room in the Bottle Carrier pocket for more things, but for what I want at the moment, this is enough... until I start fooling around with it again.

Recap And Takeaway

• I was surprised with how much I was able to fit into the available space. There is even room to add more without using the empty water bottle as extra storage.
• I bought a FUNANASUN 2 Pack Molle Pouches from Amazon for $15.99 with Prime. If you aren't a member of the BCP Facebook page, you missed my explanation of why I chose a different model of carrier than Erin's.
• Nothing else was purchased this week.

* * *

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Shootist's Water Bottle Bag Challenge

Less may be more, but lightweight still is king.

I apologize for talking so much.

Buy your water bottle bags here.



Godspeed to you all.

Erin's Water Bottle Carrier Challenge

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

It's late, but here's what I came up with for turning a water bottle carrier into a small BOB. I'm not entirely happy with it, but this is the best I've been able to come up with in a week's time.


Erin's Amazing Expanding Carrier
What I'm most proud of is how I managed to fill the bottle with water without losing storage space. What I'm most upset about is that I know there has to be something I can affix to the top of the carrier with velcro, but I don't know what to put on it.

This is its stowed configuration.

Front

Back

Exterior Attachments

Attached to the front of the unit is a folding dump pouch. This is kept mostly empty (but see below) while the pack is stowed. When deployed, I plan to empty the contents of the water bottle into the pouch so that I can keep them handy while still having access to water. 

Attached to the sides are two MOLLE strobe/GPS/phone pouches, carrying bulky items that I couldn't get into the bottle.

Attached to the back is a Hawke Peregrine.

Inside the dump pouch are two lightweight objects that roll up easily: a 32 ounce Sawyer squeeze pouch and 25 feet of Parapocalypse cord. If I were building this kit for actual use rather than proof-of-concept I'd upgrade that to at least 50 feet.

Left pouch: an S.O.L heat reflective waterproof poncho and a hard-cased booboo kit filled with an assortment of band-aids, gels, 3 types of painkiller (Aleve, Tylenol, and aspirin), anti-diarrheal, Dramamine, Benadryl, and a sheet of steri-strips.

Knife pouch: a Speedy-Sharp and a Lansky Quadsharp.

Right pouch: a one ounce bottle of Gold Bond medicated body powder, a bottle of hand sanitizer, and a Tiny Survival Guide that I got as a present. It's slightly silly, but it takes up negligible space, has some useful info, and also comes with a fresnel lens.

Integral Gadget Pouch


This is the good stuff right here: a mylar sleeping bag (like a space blanket, only in tube form), a Gen 2 Firebox Nano ultralight stove, a disposable lighter, Pro-Knot cards, an UltraFire 300 lumen mini Cree flashlight, and 5 tabs of Wetfire fuel.









Water Bottle Compartment
This contains (surprise!) a Nalgene 32-ounce wide mouth bottle, which is exactly the same volume as the squeeze bag mentioned above. This is so that if I have time I can filter water straight into the bottle.

Also present are a stainless steel cup of unknown make and origin (seriously, it's featureless and I don't know where I got it), a simple cotton bandana, and a Coughlan's 36-hour survival candle.

Within the bottle we have, quite frankly, what I could fit inside it: a spork & spatula set (bought at Walmart, I think); an energy bar, powdered coffee, and powdered sports drink; a Swiss army knife; a container of safety pins; a Sawyer Mini filter; UST SparkForce striker; bottle of New Skin liquid bandage; a roll of duct tape; Adventure Medical Rescue Howler whistle and mini signal mirror; straw from the  Sawyer kit; travel toothbrush; toothpaste; and dental floss.

Biggest Failing
There isn't more than a snack's worth of food here. I tried, but food is big and heavy.

I am still annoyed that I couldn't think of anything to put on the velcro lid of the bottle carrier. No doubt one of the smart people who write for this blog will find a way to exploit that.

If I had the time and was serious about making this into a survival kit, I would probably find a way to mount gear to the strap... but then, if I were serious about this, I would use a larger bag.

Biggest Success
I managed to double the carrying capacity of the bag by adding the collapsible dump pouch. That way I have access to water and all the things I stowed inside the bottle.

Its empty weight is 6 pounds and it is very compact, able to fit underneath most car seats. Filled with water, it weighs 9 pounds and is still very portable.

If I pair that with my every day carry (which includes a pistol, a leatherman, a tourniquet, and wound bandages) I am pretty prepared for most things the world can throw at me.


All right, BCP authors. I've set the bar. Can you clear it?

Prudent Prepping: Bagging It

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.


As mentioned by our esteemed founder and Editrix Extraordinaire in her bottle bag blog post, we have been challenged to fill a bottle carrier with useful items. This means that I need to have a bottle carrier. Here is what I ordered.

Procase Water Bottle Pouch 

https://amzn.to/2ulPfB7

Bottle for demonstration only. Not included with the bag.

From the Amazon ad:

• Water bottle holder size: 11"×4"; Practical size, exclusively designed for storing your water bottle, water bladder, DJI Mavic Pro device and its batteries or other gears
• Accessory bag size: 6"×1.6", zippered accessory pouch on the front for more stuff, like cell phone, keys, wallet or map; Built with quality two-way zippers, easy to open and close the pouch
• Material: made from 900D Oxford fabric, durable and water-repellent; Keeping your water bottle and other supplies well protected and providing long-term durability in outdoor environment
• Molle webbing throughout the pouch allows users to attach extra accessories and Molle gear to the bag firmly; Hook-and-loop for attaching personal tags according to one's liking
• Comes with a comfortable detachable shoulder strap, easy to carry around; Or you could remove the strap easily and hang the pouch in your backpack with two buckles on the back

There is a slightly different version of this bottle carrier available, which uses draw-strings to close up (or at least wrap around) the bottle top. I chose the enclosed version, since this bag could get banged and bumped around, even when stored empty, let alone full of water. I'm excited to get started on figuring out what my contents might be. Stay tuned!

(Editrix's Note: David bought a more expensive version of the carrier. I don't know why. The one I linked is here.)

Christmas Close-outs
Your local Home Depot may or may not have Christmas leftovers around. If they do, look for this deal: Plano Large ABS Case with Handle in Orange

My picture. The Depot ad sucks!

This is a Plano Model #PLA1460HD and it appears to be a Home Depot special, since I can't find the exact item listed on Amazon. If you embiggen the picture you can see that this model has a foam liner pre-cut for picking out custom shapes to better protect your electronic bits. The last store I was in had three at a markdown price of $11.99, while normally you special order these for $13.99. I did not buy any, since I do not have smallish electronics to protect at the moment.

Recap and Takeaway

• One Procase Water Bottle Pouch, Tactical MOLLE Hydration Carrier Bag with Extra Accessory Pouch and Detachable Shoulder Strap -Black, from Amazon $14.99 with Prime shipping.
• Look for this storage box, you could save a couple bucks, since it is definitely not stocked in all locations.

***

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

The Bottle Carrier Challenge

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

While in the process of repacking and slimming down my Get Home Bag, I had an idea for making a minimalist Bug Out Bag or GHB. To that end I have decided to issue a challenge to my fellow BCP authors in the style that Chaplain Tim did last with his $30 IFAK Challenge.

https://amzn.to/36625k6

The rules for The Bottle Carrier Challenge are quite simple:

1. If you do not own one already, acquire a bottle carrier similar to the above picture. The specifics are unimportant; all that matters is that it has a main compartment able to hold a 40oz / 1 liter bottle, a secondary "gadget" compartment of roughly 6"x4"x2", and have MOLLE straps on it. 
2. Declare what kind of emergency kit this will be: Bug Out, Get Home, First Aid, whatever you like so long as it's related to prepping. The idea here is to demonstrate that you don't specifically need a backpack to make a good emergency kit. It's obviously not a BOB, but it's sure better than nothing, and it's obviously portable.
3. Fill carrier with / attach to carrier prepping items for your stated emergency. You don't have to buy them new; you can use what you already have or borrow from a friend. But you must have the item for photographic purposes.
4. Don't get cute by attaching an obviously larger and heavier container to the carrier, like a full-scale backpack. The carrier itself must be portable in its own right. 
5. Take pictures of what goes where and, if necessary, explain your reasoning behind why you included certain items. 

I look forward to seeing what our esteemed authors do with this challenge! I will be posting my own results next week. 

When You Need a Long Hex Key

A friend of mind needs a long one to reach down inside an AR handguard to adjust a gas block. Have you ever tried to find a 12" long hex? We couldn't either, so we made one.

Materials

• A spare key of the right size (5/64" in this case) 
• A piece of music wire of 5/32" diameter*. To get the length, measure from the gas block to the front of the handguard, add an inch or two as suits you, then another few for the handle. 
• A center punch & hammer 
• Propane torch 
• Some solder 
• A drill press (unless you're steady enough to do it with a hand drill) 
• Either a drill press vise or some other way to hold the wire steady. (I clamp the drill press vise in the workbench vise for the filing and marking) 

*Yes, a larger diameter -- as long as it'll fit -- will be easier, as you'll have more leeway for the hole to be a bit off-center.

Process
Step One: Use the torch to normalize** an inch or so of one end of the wire. If it's mild steel, you can skip this. If it's something like the music wire I used, you HAVE to do this before drilling, or you'll wind up with destroyed bits and no hole.

**Strictly speaking, 'annealing' involves getting the piece up to suitable temperature, holding it there for a couple of minutes (in the case of something small), and then cooling it down very slowly to get it as soft as possible. 'Normalizing' means to get it hot -- a low red will do -- let it cool to dark, repeat that a couple of times, then let it cool to ambient temperature. It won't get it as 'soft' as annealing, but it's much easier to do and it'll be enough to do the job.

Step Two: Square-off one end of the wire. The easiest way is to clamp it in the drill press vise (which usually has cuts milled in the jaws to allow better holding of shapes other than flat) with just a tiny length of it sticking up. Take a file and file that exposed bit down; the jaws should help you square it off nicely.



Step Three: Use the punch to mark the exact center(or as close as you can get), to give the drill bit a place to start.




Step Four: Take the vise to the drill press. In this case I used a 3/32" bit, which is just a touch larger diameter than the hex key. You want as little slop as possible in the fit when drilling stuff like this,


I set the press on the slowest speed it has, then drilled with light pressure, just enough to make sure the hole is centered. If it's off, or too far off, now's the time to take it back to the vise and file it square and start over.

If it's good, put some lube in the hole, and proceed to drill with light pressure. Pull the bit back up regularly both to clear chips and to add a bit more oil.*** Continue until the hole's as deep as you need. I went with 1/2" here.

***Much like with guns, any oil is better than none; it both lubes the surfaces and helps chips flow up the flutes on the bit. If you're going to do much drilling in metal, it'd be worth it to find a bottle of actual cutting oil.

Step Five: When the hole's deep enough, try the hex key in it to make sure of depth and see if it sit in straight. When it will, figure how much of the hex key to cut off (1" in my case). You can either cut it with a rotary tool and a cutoff wheel if you've got one, or do it fast & dirty by clamping that length in the vise, grabbing the rest and bending it until it snaps off. These things are hard, and the small ones break easily.

Step Six: Clean the hole in the rod and the piece of hex. It doesn't matter if it's dish soap and water, brake cleaner or whatever else, just as long as it gets rid of every trace of oil. It's amazing how little it takes to screw up a solder joint.

Step Seven: Solder it in place.

1. Clamp the rod upright in the vise with a couple of inches exposed.
2. Put some flux on the bottom of the hex piece and work it into the hole.
3. Cut off a couple of pieces of solder, in this case about 3/4" or so total in short pieces, and push it into the hole.
4. Set the hex piece into the top of the hole.
5. Start heating the rod a little below the bottom of the hole.
6. As the solder melts, the hex will sink into the hole. I wanted the solder to fill in all the way to the top, and the first time it wasn't, so I lifted the hex out with pliers, added another piece of solder, and heated again.
7. Do NOT push the hex into the hole; it'll act like a pump rod and may well pump molten solder out. This is Bad. 
8. Let it sink in, give it a few seconds to make sure the bottom of the hex gets hot enough for the solder to grab, then remove the heat. Right now is the time to make sure everything is straight; while the solder is still molten you can push things around a bit if needed. 
9. Let it cool. If you did everything right, that hex will be locked in; if you didn't (probably having left a trace of oil), it may slip out. If that happens, clean the hex again, flux, and heat it in again.

Step Eight: Make the handle. Clamp the other end in the vise, heat at the appropriate spot until it's a low-to-medium red, grab it with a big pair of pliers, and bend. Let it cool.

That's it. At that point you can clean it all off thoroughly, if there's any roughness on the end of the handle you can file or sand it smooth, and it's ready to use.

The finished product. 

The Difference Between Solder and Flux

General-purpose solder used to be a mix of lead and tin, the tin both lowering the melting point and making it flow a bit better. Now the stuff is almost always tin with a low percentage (usually around 3%, I believe) of silver. It's non-toxic, and will hold well, but I've found it's more sensitive to oil or other contaminants than the lead stuff.

Flux definitely helps by doing several things: cit helps clean the surfaces, masks them from the atmosphere to prevent scale (mostly in high-temperature situations), and helps the solder flow.

The stuff can be found everywhere from Wally World to auto parts and hardware stores. Some solder comes with flux, some you have to buy it separately.

BCP Skills Challenge: Some Prizes

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

As a follow-up to my Skill Challenge post, here are just some of the prizes which can be won:















Starting from the top:

• Adjustable wrench multi-tool from Husky with blade, saw, pliers and bit driver. It's just a bit too bulky and heavy to carry on my belt, but could be a good fit for someone with a toolbelt. Alternately, it could fit nicely in your car's toolbox.  Comes with nylon pouch. 
• Puuko knife by Kellam Knives of Finland. A very sharp knife with and adjustable plastic sheathe. Never used; its slick plastic handle and lack of any substantial finger guard makes me uncomfortable. 
• NRA-branded flashlight with "tactical striking surfaces" front and back. Takes 2 AA batteries, not included. It's an okay flashlight (not very bright and beam isn't adjustable), but it's a pretty blue color not found in nature and made from machined aluminum. Use it to store dry tinder, or mash edibles into paste with the striking surfaces. 
• Mora Classic #1. 4-inch blade, carbon steel. This has been used some, but gently, and has the marks to prove it. Be aware that carbon steel rusts easily. Ask me how I know this. 
• Foldable credit card knife. This made the rounds a year or two ago in prepper circles, and I bought it as a curiosity. The blade is all right -- reasonably sharp, but I don't know what it's made from, likely 420 steel. I don't know how durable the plastic is, though, especially along the folds. I have my doubts it will hold up under stress, but if you need a "use once, then throw away" knife, like for a trauma kit, this ought to do the trick. 
• Nite Ize Tool Holster. Nothing wrong with it; just too bulky to fit comfortably on my belt. Great for securely holding items like flip phone, mp3 players, etc. 
• Fire Keeper. Basically a kydex sheath for a Bic lighter with a paracord lanyard. I prefer to carry my lighters in other ways, but a good gift to someone who uses one a lot, like a smoker. 
• Wallet Ninja. 18 tools in one card. I found it rather awkward to use and a bit too thick to comfortably carry in a pocket or a wallet. On the other hand, it's supposed to be TSA-approved. 

There will be more prizes listed later. 

Get cracking on those articles, folks! You have until January 2nd, 2016 to submit yours.

BCP Skill Challenge

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

We seem to have run out of guest articles (and Mondays are currently open for someone to become a regular contributor), so today I have decided to issue a challenge to our regular readership in the hopes that it would solve a problem of mine and simultaneously get us more submissions.

As a prepper and an enthusiast of gun accessories, I am constantly acquiring hex wrenches that come with new pieces of hardware. While it's convenient to have the proper size of wrench during installation, afterwards I don't need them -- I have my own set of very nice metric & imperial wrenches that I keep in my tool box.


But I am reluctant to throw away these spare wrenches, because that seems wasteful. They're still perfectly good tools; they just happen to be unnecessary. Since I couldn't think of what to do with them, I decided to pose the question to you, dear readers, as the


BCP Hex Wrench Skill Challenge!
The rules are quite simple:

1. Think of something non-wasteful to do with these pieces of steel. I want a solution that is constructive, useful, and preferably ingenious. Do not suggest I put them in the recycling bin or give them to someone else.  
2. Practical applications will be deemed more worthy than purely artistic solutions. The ideal submission will be both practical and attractive. 
3. The solution must be something that someone without technical skills can perform. For example. Firehand is a blacksmith, so I imagine he has all sorts of notions for melting them down into ingots or hammering them into nails using his knowledge and equipment. However, I don't have that knowledge, nor do I have access to a forge, bellows, etc. 
4. If you provide detailed, step-by step instructions, preferably with photographs or illustraions on how to do these technical things (such as making a forge using simple household items). then that will make you eligible for this contest. This is called "Leveling the playing field."
5. Write an article using the guidelines on Guest Articles page. If you have pictures, you can get by with fewer words; fewer pictures means more words. If it's a concern, I'd rather you write too much than too little; I can edit out unnecessary elements but I don't want to put words in your mouths. 
6. The contest starts now and runs through the end of the year. I realize I'm asking for something very technical, so you have 4.5 months to put it together. 
7. Because I am running this contest myself, other members of this blog can compete if they desire. Lokidude and Firehand, I'm looking at you in particular. 

Prizes

Because this is out of my pocket and born of a desire to de-clutter my life, prizes are in a similar vein: Anyone who writes an article gets to pick an item out of my swag box. Some items in the swag box are tools which didn't quite work the way I'd hoped they would; some are goodies that I've reviewed, or which came in Apocaboxes, and I don't have room for them. (For example, I have multiple knives, both fixed and folding, in the swag box; it's not that I don't like knives, it's just that I have no current use for them and no place to put them, so they're in my way and gathering dust.)

Nothing in the swag box is junk.  I wouldn't do that to people. 

The person with the best article gets first pick from the box. Other winners get subsequent picks, until everyone has had a turn. 

Anything left over will be given as thank-yous to future BCP guest authors.

This is the Swag Box as it currently stands. It's likely to fill up more as I clean and de-clutter my life. Please  keep in an mind that between now and the end of the contest, there will be 3 more Apocaboxes (August, October, December) arriving, along with whatever I acquire for product testing and for the holidays, so this picture is not everything that is available. 

Got it? Good! Now get to work!