Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Someone asked in comments how to keep water from freezing in BOBs in this cold climate. Valid question. I’ll expand on it a bit further.

Obviously, if youre going to leave a pack in the truck when the outside temperature is below freezing whatever is in that pack is going to freeze. Since water is a staple emergency item to keep in the truck, it stands to reason that youre going to have some problems when the temperature gets below zero.

Normally, I keep a five-gallon jerry can of water in the back of the truck. In winter it freezes into a solid block of ice, which makes it fairly useless. The solution to the problem of water freezing is not in how to avoid the situation, because you really efficiently cannot, but how to deal with the situation. The simple answer is: you thaw your frozen water. Obviously the smaller the frozen water supply, the faster it will thaw. Lets say you have a liter bottle of ice, and you have a bunch of ice cubes that, when melted, equal one liter. Spread your ice cubes out, and lay your frozen one liter water bottle next to them. Which one is going to melt first? The smaller ice cubes, of course. The smaller the package of water the faster it will freeze, but it will also thaw faster.

In the winter, I like the foil pouches of emergency drinking water. They’re compact, easy to distribute in a full pack, and if you stick one in a pocket it will thaw very, very quickly. Each one is around 4 oz. so a dozen or so scattered amongst your gear gives you a good supply of water and if they freeze you’re not going to have any trouble at all thawing them in a hurry with anything other than simple body heat.

Plastic bottles seem to hold up very well to repeated freezing/thawing cycles. Several brands of bottled water are available in ‘hand grenade sized’ bottles that should thaw significantly faster than a 20 oz. bottle. To play it safe, I usually keep the water bottles in a ziploc bag or two just in case things do explode from the cold. As long as a Nalgene bottle is not filled to the brim, it seems impervious to freeze/thaw cycles.

When out in the field I usually use a CamelBack-type hydration system. I carry the water reservoir inside my pack, closest to my back. Freezing is never an issue, the body heat transmits through the pack into the Camelback and keeps things warm enough, along with the constant motion, to keep things from freezing. What about the water in the drinking tube? Easy – when youre done drinking, blow into the tube and force the water back into the reservoir so there is nothing but air in the tube. No problem.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

For the last week or two, I’ve been playing around with the insulated poncho that I got from Wiggy’s. I had a post about it all written up and ready to go but I kept changing because rather than judging the product on its own merits, I compared it to its next closest competitor, the Kifaru Woobie. As I thought about it, I came to think that although a comparison is inevitable and worthwhile at some point, the initial impression of the Wiggy’s product should be on its own merits, not compared to something else.

First impression opening the box was that they had sent me two by mistake. Nope, it was one…its just bulky. Im hoping that translates into warmth. Compressing it into the smallest possible package is going to be interesting. I have a compression sack from Kifaru that does an excellent job on other gear, and stuffing the Wiggys product into it and cinching it down reduced the size of the poncho considerably.

The Wiggys poncho came in a woodland marpat pattern on one side and a greyish/silver on the other. The edges were hemmed with a strip of black fabric and there were snaps along the edges. At the four corners were sewn-in loops. There were no grommets. The hood, which seemed more generously insulated than the rest of the liner, has a drawstring for cinching the hood down. The snaps along the edges allow you to snap the sides of the poncho shut as you wear it, but the snaps will not work if you fold the Wiggys poncho in half to use it as an impromptu sleeping bag.

I tried the Wiggys product using a current issue USGI nylon poncho, an older rubberized USGI poncho, a West German rubberized poncho (my favorite), and a nylon flecktar poncho. The Wiggys poncho was several inches longer than all of these ponchos and thus only two corners could be tied into the military poncho. So, the idea of attaching the two garments together an wearing them as one is right out of the question. You can, however, wear the Wiggys poncho and simply pull your other poncho over it and wear them that way. This made me read the description of the product on the Wiggy’s website a bit more carefully. It is described as an insulated poncho, not as an insulated poncho liner. Big difference.

How is it for warmth? Well, its definitely warmer than the issue poncho liners. Its at least as warm as the Kifaru Woobie. Theres enough room to wrap yourself up in it and have some extra to fold under your feet to keep them warm. For what it is, an insulated poncho (basically a zarape) its pretty good. As an insulated poncho liner, not so much since it wont actually tie into any poncho I had available. But, as I said, there is nothing to keep you from wearing both items on top of each other without tying them into each other. As an emergency blanket it would seem to be an excellent product. It’s plenty big to wrap yourself up and have extra material to wrap up your feet and head, although, really, you should just wear it as intended rather than as a blanket.

MSRP is $95…worth it? Probably. Quality is good, and although the design is lacking in its shortage of snap/tie options it’s still just the ticket for huddling under a tree on a frosty day.

Now, the inevitable comparison against the Kifaru Woobie.

The Kifaru Woobie, which I give two thumbs up to, is a great piece of kit. It does compress pretty small but still does an excellent job at keeping you warm. The drawback is that its use in conjunction with a poncho puts you right back at the use-it-as-a-blanket-you-cant-wear-it situation.

How does it compare to the Woobie? This is a good question, I think, because both of these products are designed to fill a particular roll – tucked into your pack, unobtrusively, just in case you need protection from the elements.
The Wiggys has a hood, the Kifaru does not. Thats the biggest difference.
The Kifaru has no snaps, but has more sewn in loops for attachment than the Wiggys.
The Wiggys was not compatible in terms of attachment to any of the ponchos I had, the Woobie is.
The Woobie ‘drapes’ a bit better than the Wiggys and isnt as stiff a material.
Both products compress to acceptably small packages, but the Woobie compresses smallest. When compressed to its smalles size, the Wiggy’s poncho was the same size as the uncompressed Woobie. The Compressed Woobie was much smaller than the Wiggy’s.

The Wiggys biggest selling point is the hood and opening for your head. The ability to wear this as a poncho is the main attraction for this product. However, lets say that it didnt have a hood and hole for your head, it was just a tie-in blanket like the Kifaru Woobie…then Id take the Kifaru. However, if Kifaru offered their Woobie with that kind of feature, and retained their other current features, I would go with the Kifaru with no reservations.

What would I change about the Wiggy product? You know, its just a couple simple things and I’d be their biggest fan. Sew in some tie-in strips at the proper places to mate up with the grommets on the GI poncho. Use a more windproof/water resistant fabric like they use on their jackets and vests. Add a few more sets of snaps to allow configuring it as a sleeping bag.

Short version: between the two which would I take with me in the field? Im leaning towards the Kifaru. The larger size, compressability, additional loops, and weather resistant material mean more to me than being able to wear it in conjunction with a poncho. Yes its more expensive than the Wiggys, I think its worth the difference. The Wiggys product is great, no two ways about it…and I love that its a response to customer input…but for my particular needs and anticipated uses, I think the Woobie comes out on top.

Compare apples to apples – If both products did not have openings for your head and a hood, and were meant to be worn blanket style, which would I go with? The Kifaru Woobie. If both products did have openings for your head and a hood, which would I go with? The Kifaru Woobie. The Wiggys is a good product and a good idea, make no mistake, but it isnt as versatile as the Woobie.

Most of the things I thought were lacking in the Wiggys product all relate to its ability to function in conjunction with a military poncho. Theres enough material around the edges of the poncho that you could have someone bartack some loops of paracord, or small grommets, in the proper positions to work ties into your favorite poncho. A simple task, I would imagine, for any sewing shop or talented amateur, that would carry the Wiggy’s poncho right into the lead position.

Full disclosure: I emailed the folks at Wiggy’s and politely asked them if they’d give me a discount on their product so I could review it. They did offer a discount and I purchased the poncho for a good bit off MSRP.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

From the I-Am-Not-Surprised-At-All-Department:

Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash

This is a surprise to who, exactly? This sort of thing would be the ultimate in asymmetrical warfare. The US, naturally, has its own history of trying this sort of thing…pretty much every major world power at some point has counterfeited currency, started rumours, engaged in a little industrial espionage and generally done some Nasty Things to sink the economy of an enemy. Heck, we’re doing it now by freezing Libyan money.

Certainly the financial fubarfest of the last couple of years had its roots directly in our own missteps, but it’s entirely reasonable to believe that there were some subtle and not-so-subtle nudges along the way.

Right after September 11 I thought that there was more to things than a buncha guys flying planes into a pair of skyscrapers. There was an economic component that, at the time, I dont think anyone really paid much attention to. You cant really bring down a country like the US through force. Can’t happen. What you can do, however, is get it to destroy itself from the inside. Anyone remember the atrociously hysterical “Invasion USA” with Chuck Norris? (The man whose tears can cure cancer but, unfortunately, he never cries.) The bad guys simply fomented unrest within the US and let the US tear itself up so they didnt have to. In this manner they effected more damage than their small numbers would allow them to inflict directly.

Who benefits? Well, the list of folks that would be happy to see the US drop to a level of global economic/political irrelevance rivaling Canada is pretty long. Im sure theres a big country over on the Asian continent that is quite actively working towards this sort of thing.

Just grist for the mill…the notion that maybe it isnt all Bush’s fault is going to sit poorly with some but the notion that our economy hasnt been tarfetted by unfriendly interests is just nuts. Moral of the story: being prepared includes being prepared for an economic Pearl Harbor.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

This was a departure from the usual. I don’t normally go for memes or things like that, but since ,Rawles was nice enough to put me in his list of websites to pass it on to, I figured I’d go along. There arent any websites that I’d tag to forward this to that he hasnt already mentioned so I’ll just answer the major component. “…(1) I must divulge seven things about myself, and then (2) pay the Stylish Blogger Award forward to fifteen other blogs.”

Seven, eh?

1) My feet are EEEEE width. Finding shoes and boots that fit is a tremendous pain in the ass. I am also very hard on footwear. If I can get a year out of a pair of shoes I feel fortunate. Zappos is pretty much my one-stop source.
2) “Atlas Shrugged” was the most influential piece of fiction Ive ever read. I may not necessarily agree with all of it, but it made me think (and changed the way I think), which is what a good piece of literature should do.
3) I think Im the most optimistic survivalist out there. I just dont see Peak Oil, the Rapture, 2012, Planet X, or any of those things plunging us into a worldwide Mad Max dystopia.
4) I dont smoke, drink or do drugs. Just never developed a taste or interest for it. However, this doesnt mean Im without slef-destructive or stupid habits…its just that those ain’t them.
5) I have friends who are gay survivalists. It just isn’t a Big Deal.
6) Two is one, one is none. I have an identical twin that I might be able to use for spare parts.
7) I met my wife on the internet back when such a thing was still considered a bit weird. What she sees in me, I have no idea.

I only have a handful of blogs that I follow that could be tagged by this thing, and most of them were already tagged by ,Rawles so I’m just gonna leave it at that.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I was looking for a bag to replace the simple flyers bag I keep in the truck. Ideally, it would carry everything I needed in case I get stuck somewhere or just need to spend the night out in the truck. Originally I was going to use my Blackhawk Patrol Pack but I wanted something with a little more room so I could stuff a sleeping bag inside it, rather than attach it to the outside. Because I have no self-control, and they’ve been getting in some fascinating stuff, I wound up picking up one of these Italian military packs that was being mentioned on arfcom. The one I got was new with the detachable day pack, much like the CFP-90 in that regard. Quality seemed pretty good but for slightly less money I could get new in the wrapper latest-generation-framed MOLLE packs from this place. But, those are desert and while the great state of Montana certainly has its desert and desert-colored regions I was wanting something a little more subdued. Plus, I love checking out foreign military surp.

The pack is pretty nice..not as rugged, IMO, as the US one but Id say its as rugged as it needs to be. Like the MOLLE it has a plastic (‘polymer’, I suppose) frame. I was able to stuff a sleeping bag and all my other gear in there with room to spare. Score! But, there was a problem. The lid of the pack is secured by two fastex buckles…pretty much like every other pack. Trouble was, one buckles female end was not securing the male end of the buckle securely. A bit of a firm tug on the strap and the buckle would release. This wasnt good since ideally you wanted to be able to pull hard on those straps to cinch things down. Additionally, the male end of the buckle was threaded through a strap, as is the norm, but the female end was contained within a sewn-in loop of webbing. To replace the buckle would mean slitting that loop open, replaceing it, and then stitching it shut. What to do?

Well, they make fastex buckles (and a good bit of other materials) for just such an event. They are split at the top so you can slide the loop of webbing between them. Trouble is, while I knew such products existed (they come standard on my Kifaru gear) I had no idea where to buy them. Searching for fastex buckles on the interweb gave me zillions of useless results. Finally, on one of the military gear forums I found these guys. Turns out they had a package that replces the most common buckles on US military gear and I figured they’d probably work on the Italian pack. I was right. This package had what I needed ( the 1.5″ buckle set) and a few extras that will be handy to have. So, since TPIWWP, some side-by-side:

On left is the original buckle, on right the replacement and in the middle an unattached replacement showing the split bar used to thread the webbing loop. The iPhone washed the color out a bit…its nowhere near that bright. Just your regular coyote color (or as we used to call it, ‘brown’).

I should mention that I never contacted the folks at Old Grouch about the problem with the buckle. If I had, Im sure they would have sent a replacement pack. It seemed silly to go through all that headache for a simple buckle replacement (and I had no idea if they had these kinds of replacement buckles, anyway) so it made more sense to sharpen the old Google-fu and find a solution. Glad I did, since it gives me a source for some excellent replacement parts as well as upgrading older systems.

In other news, I got one of those Wiggys insulated poncho liners. Details on that in a couple days.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Every now and then various pieces of gear will combine in a Voltron-like fashion to form a ‘perfect’ piece of kit. Of course, your mileage may vary when it comes to what the definition of ‘perfect’ is. What some might see as shortcomings, I may view as strengths (or be willing to ignore completely) and vice versa. Everyone has their own guidelines…Im as big a fan of lightweight gear as the next guy but it seems like often the tradeoff is durability…and if a piece of gear cant take abuse then what good is it, really? See, other folks might find lighter weight or cheaper price to be their criteria for ‘perfect’. Its all subjective. Having thrown that caveat out there, lets move on.

A year or so ago I picked up this. It’s basically a MOLLE-type pouch for the ubiquitous Nalgene bottle. The pouch itself has several redeeming features. First, it has no less than three different attachment methods to other gear – attachment points for a sling, webbing, and an HK-style snap hook. The pouch has thick padding for insulation, which can be handy in the winter. Slip a little chemical hand warmer in there next to the bottle and you shouldnt have any problems with stuff freezing all day long. Theres an attached compartment for accessories and thats what really makes this thing shine.

Although the standard Nalgene bottles are wonderful pieces of gear, I use a military surplus canteen with this thing. A few years ago I found a deal on these Swiss canteens with cup. The selling point, other than the usual Swiss quality, was that the caps were compatible with NBC drink tube systems. (A small detail, and one Ill probably never need, but nice to have anyway.) Various makers also offer a nested cup that will fit on the bottom of the Nalgene bottle in a similar fashion as the surplus canteen and cup that I use. I am especially enamored with this setup. The cup will fit on the base of a Nalgene bottle so it will nest inside the bottle carrier, and the lid can sit on the bottom inside of the carrier, with the Nalgene bottle resting on top. The advantage there is that the lid, which is flexible, won’t get dinged, warped or bent if the bottle carrier takes some hits. Not a fan of the price, but it looks to be almost exactly what Im looking for.

So….A canteen and cup go into this bottle carrier. What next? Well, an Esbit stove with fuel tabs and some matches leaves room to spare in the accessory pouch. A folded up sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil is always a good idea. Add a couple packets of instant coffee/soup/tea/cider/chocolate drink and you have an excellent, compact, contained and fairly complete ‘field kitchen’. This little package has everything you need to set up under a comfortable tree somewhere. fill your canteen cup, light the stove, boil some water and reconstitute freeze drieds or make a life-saving hot beverage.

What you see in the image is:

Liter canteen with NBC cap and cup
Matches (usually I use strike anywhere matches stored in a small poly ziploc bag)
Sugar, creamer, coffee, tea, oatmeal
Spoon
Esbit stove with six fuel tablets
Folded sheet of aluminum foil for windbreak/cup lid

Pretty much everything you need to setup a comfy little field lunch under a poncho shelter or a convenient sheltering tree. And, yeah, it all packs into the attached accessory pocket on the bottle carrier.

Although I normally use a hydration bladder system when Im out in the sticks I do carry this package in case I need extra water, want to make a ‘field lunch’ of soup or cup-o-ramen, or during the winter have the option of a hot drink. The MOLLE attachment points make it nice for attaching to whatever gear Im using, and the options it affords me are definitely nice to have. I’ll probably phase out the military canteen and cup for the Nalgene bottle and Snow Peak cup kit. So, all in all, a good piece of kit and highly recommended.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I would imagine that should NYC suffer some sort of devastating incident the last thing on the minds of the judges, court reporters and attorneys will be “How can I safely stay here and continue this hearing?”. More likely they’ll be thinking “How fast can I get off this freaking island?”

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The Worst Hyperinflation Situations of All Time

An interesting little slideshow showcasing some of the lesser known episodes of hyperinflation. Whats interesting is the brief explanation they give behind each case explaining why it happened. Many times it had to do with wars, but theres a good bit of government bungling in there.

Relatedly, the headline from Drudge today is: Debt Now Equals Entire Economy

Interesting stuff.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Took the bioweapon to the vet today to get him weighed. I’d figured he’d have to be pretty close to about 60# or so. Nope….the ‘little’ furball weighed in at an even 70#. Thats at the tender age of seven months. I think a 90# dog may be in the works.

Took him for a stroll out into one of the recreation areas outside of town. In town, the law is that dogs must be leashed. This is, in my opinion, a sensible law although many people flout it regularly. However, I care about what happens to my dog so I do not allow him to run around off-leash in the city except under very tightly controlled circumstances. (For example, there is a fenced-in schoolyard near here that we sometimes use for exercising him and since it is fenced in we can take him off leash without worry.) The rec area is a no-leash area and many people take their dogs there. So, we packed up and took Nuke for a romp through the snowy hills. It got to an amazing 51 degrees today. Short sleeve weather! I packed my Kifaru bag with a few incidentals and therein is the meat of todays post.

Montana is a lovely place but the unfortunate truth is that you can go from sunny and summery to deadly cold and wet in less time than it takes to type about it. This state, in fact, holds the record for extreme temperature variation within its borders..187 degree spread between 117 and -70. Some places are hotter, some are colder, but none have as great a distance between the two as the Treasure State. So, even for a short sojourn of low-impact hiking within eyesight range of a fairly large population center it is still a good idea to pack a few things.

Since I only wanted to grab a few things, I took the Kifaru Scout pack that I got for my birthday last year. I originally got it as a small pack for hunting but it really seems to fit into the role of being used for short outdoor day trips…hunting, fishing, hiking, etc. Since I had only a few things to throw in it, I left the waistbelt at home. I threw in my down vest (which compresses nicely, a major plus), a pair of wool mitts, a hat, and an UnderArmor poly turtleneck just in case the weather turned. I wore a longsleeve shirt, my Filson vest, and a ranger cap for the initial hiking and as things warmed up I packed the vest and hat away. I also brought along a couple bottles of water, a sheath knife, and a .357.

What I should have brought with me, and I’m kicking myself for this because I know better, was a poncho. If theres one piece of kit that should always be tucked into your gear, its a poncho. Yes, for the love of Crom, pack firestarting and a solid-quality knife but a good poncho is right there on that list. Why did we need it this trip? Well, once we hiked a good bit it would have been nice to sit down and take in the view for a while. Problem was, theres a foot of snow everywhere. We managed to find a tree with a good bed of pine leaves underneath and hang out there for a while, enjoying the day, but if Id remembered to bring the poncho we could have spread it out, pretty much anywhere, and sat around and been dry.

Nonetheless, it was a nice little excursion. The missus took a bunch of pics and heres a good one of me and the BattlePup: