we have a friend in Somerset who has a solar panel, a wind turbine- one of those little domestic ones-looks like a toy! and a mini water wheel works off the stream alongside her property, and all that lot powers is the lights- all 2 of them, and her laptop for a couple of hours each day, sufficient for her meagre needs but I don't think I can be bothered with all that, i'll just go completely off grid when TSHTF, I did it for 12 years before and I enjoyed not having the light pollution all around me. i'll just get up when it gets light and go to bed when its too dark to see anything with my storm lantern!! I do love the simple life!
I can not fault you BP , i to have storm lanterns along with oil stoves ...but they will only be good so long as you can fill them and make a wick ...just a lower technology but worth knowing how....when my panel stops working or the battery and the inverter fails i will drill a hole with my brace n bit and use a screwdriver instead of my battery gun ...The most important lesson here for all of us is to acquire the knowledge to sustain us at the basic of levels .....by hand..... and on balance i would lean into the by hand camp ...to the point of most of my prepps go along those lines...low tech 90% hi tech 10 %....which brings back a memory of when i first started my apprenticeship....when fixing frames to a wall back then we used a star bit...like a cold chisel ...you would hit this then twist till the required depth was reached into the masonry...then make a timber plug and wack that into the hole ready to accept the screw ....and yes i still own one but for some odd reason i like my hammer drill and the plastic plugs lol.
i spend a lot of my time sourcing HAND tools and associated equipment, one of the reasons I go to car boot sales and markets is to see what I can pick up, I've had some useful stuff in the past and am sure I will again this year, its a bit early for car boots yet- easter they all start again.
Yes a very good source to pick up great old hand tools ...i have had some real great stuff ...quality stuff for peanuts.
You can do an awful lot of good prepping at these gigs and not for much money....another good gig is your local council recycling yards ....i have had some great success there...sheeple throw some excellent stuff away ....just ask if you can have it ! you would be very surprised what you can get for free ...i got a stacker trolley a few years back ...got it home put some air in the tyres and been using it ever since....and like brand new..
yes, every time I take a load to the recycling centre I have a look to see what they've got, I don't go very often because its a 30 mile round trip so only go when we've got a full load to take and only then when were going on somewhere else.
"RE: Hi-Tech or Low Tech
we have a friend in Somerset who has a solar panel, a wind turbine- one of those little domestic ones-looks like a toy! and a mini water wheel works off the stream alongside her property, and all that lot powers is the lights- all 2 of them, and her laptop for a couple of hours each day, sufficient for her meagre needs but I don't think I can be bothered with all that, i'll just go completely off grid when TSHTF, I did it for 12 years before and I enjoyed not having the light pollution all around me. i'll just get up when it gets light and go to bed when its too dark to see anything with my storm lantern!! I do love the simple life! "
They ain't doing it right if thats all their rig powers, numptie
(13 March 2017, 14:53)harrypalmer Wrote: [ -> ]"RE: Hi-Tech or Low Tech
we have a friend in Somerset who has a solar panel, a wind turbine- one of those little domestic ones-looks like a toy! and a mini water wheel works off the stream alongside her property, and all that lot powers is the lights- all 2 of them, and her laptop for a couple of hours each day, sufficient for her meagre needs but I don't think I can be bothered with all that, i'll just go completely off grid when TSHTF, I did it for 12 years before and I enjoyed not having the light pollution all around me. i'll just get up when it gets light and go to bed when its too dark to see anything with my storm lantern!! I do love the simple life! "
They ain't doing it right if thats all their rig powers, numptie
]you don't know her, don't be so rude.
If she generates enough for her needs and she is happy with her lot...that does not make her a numptie....at the very least..... she IS having a go at it ! not all of us are superior beings.
It all depends on the particular survival situation. High tech is fine when it is there, but it can't be relied on. If the net were to go down there would be chaos.
If we were talking long term wilderness living/survival where people have to bug out from the city to survive, then you are in my opinion better off ditching your modern gadgets. If you start off with mostly modern gadgets, sooner or later they will start to break/run down/run out, then you will be thrown back into the stone age. If however you start off with primitive technology, say 18th century, then you will never drop below that comfort/sustainability level. When we moved to New England we lived with no electricity, no running water on tap. We did our washing in a copper, grew our own food & I hunted with a flintlock fusil to put meat on the table. We did that for 20 years, & in fact we had been without electricity in the Territory for a number of years before moving.
Yes we have some modern technology now, & I have a number of modern guns, but if we ever had to leave our forest home & go further into the wilderness, there would be no high tech items adding weight & taking up room in our packs. There are far more important items that we NEED to carry.
Keith.
I love my new Galaxy S8+, had it a week, a stunning phone. Easily charged from a portable solar panel and even without the internet you have GPS, great camera, maps, music, videos et al.
My little portable Yaesu ft-817nd lets me transmit hundreds of miles or more (in good atmospheric conditions) using Morse code and again it can be recharged via solar. I have a good set of bushcraft/survival skills to use and fall back on but won't ignore modern technology.