Halve the weight?

[Scythe13]

(4 April 2012, 10:37)bigpaul Wrote: i have a GHB, i have managed to keep the weight down on that by keeping it small, no sleeping bags but about 5 foil blankets, no tents but lightweight plastic shelters...they look like plastic tents but are very light, i keep button compasses and small lightweight binoculars...stuff like that.

I'm going to post up about the contents of my BOB and GHB in a few days.

[Scythe13]

Here are some of the secrets of the Dark Side!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/OnlyTheLight...ture=watch

This guy is like the emperor, but with a more boring voice haha.

Hope those tips help.

[Timelord]

(9 April 2012, 20:26)Scythe13 Wrote: Here are some of the secrets of the Dark Side!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/OnlyTheLight...ture=watch

This guy is like the emperor, but with a more boring voice haha.

Hope those tips help.

Superb, thankyou. That is exactly what I am doing this month. All my kit is spread out on the floor & I am weighing every item. It makes interesting viewing. It is also why I am extensively modding my kit. I will not be able to go as light as the guy on Utube, because my BOB is not just for weekend camping and any materials whilst being minimal, have to be robust of a tried & tested design. Other than that, his ideology is very informative for the prepper community. Thankyou Scythe.

[Nemesis]

I am staying out of this thread if I start there will be no room left on the internet my kit is a sickness lol, I have too much.

But here if you don't know knife/fork/spoon get a spork.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001E7S5BO/re...B001E7S5BO

[Timelord]

I bought one a few days ago. it was one of those plastic ones. I do like the titanium ones and I did buy one as present for a friend a few years back & it was a nice piece of kit. I have umm'd & arr'd about buying a titanium one for myself since then but held off because I have always found more important preps to spend that money on (approx £12+) I actually think it is a tad expensive for what it is. I have seen those plastic ones advertised for ages but also did not buy one as I thought the plastic would probably break or go brittle etc.

I got my hands on one of the plastic ones in an Army Surplus a few days ago and I can say the plastic was of excellent durable quality and had a lot of flex in it. A bit like a polyurethane mix. I bought one and it was only 99p & even lighter than the titanium one. Bargain!!

[grumpy old man]

funny is life?
i started out with just kit for me then wife comes and 5 kids so now i need kit for everyone and it comes out of my spending money ????
wife still gets new creams and all that girl stuff, wish she was into prepping lol

i now know that if i bug out it would have to be bad for me and family to go on foot.
it could be done but it would be a bad place to be in?

so i have a disco and a trailer box type and i keep what we need in that, if the disco dies then i will have to find some other car to tow it i'am sure i could get one give to me ?

the joys of having young kids

[Scythe13]

(10 April 2012, 00:09)WetandCold Wrote: But here if you don't know knife/fork/spoon get a spork.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001E7S5BO/re...B001E7S5BO

What's wrong with you man? Are you insane? Why carry any cutlery at all? You've got a knife, I'm sure you can find some twigs or something. Put those together and you have........wait for it............feel the suspence.......chopsticks! Oh yeah!!! Genius that is Scythe13-Style!!! 10 points for me.

If you have soup.......get a mug and drink it from there.

[bigpaul]

my GHB will allow me to stay out for several days, i need to increase the dried food content and add some trail mix bars,but i think the gear content is about right, recently got a US style round canteen( been after one of these for YEARS!)which holds just over 3 pints.

[Scythe13]

This post is long, but very informative, so if you want to learn about Scythe13-Style Ultra Light (UL) kit then read on.

You can cut a load of weight off the Big 3 (Sleeping bag, Shelter, Backpack/Rucksack)

I've posted up about my sleeping system :http://forum.survivaluk.net/showthread.php?tid=1343 and so far (even though it was tested under good weather, it's been good. I've not got the thermal liner, which I need to properly test, but I also need to get the Bivi. I'll be going for a UL bivi, but one that is space blanket lined, or has some kind of thermal reflector.

Shelter is also covered in the above link. It's a very simple system, but it works. Moreover, I have included a book for long term shelter (no, not a massive book to shelter under) which teaches how to build a very high quality shelter for a very good price.....free, except the cost of the tools.

When it comes to cutlery, screw it. You're going going to need a knife, because you'll already have a few others.What difference will a cutlery knife make if you're already carrying a pocket knife, survival knife, and things like that? If you have one of those knife fork spoon sets, lose the knife. Also, what difference does a fork make? How many foods do you have in your pack that you need a fork for, that a spoon wouldn't surfice for? Lose the fork! And on another note, what can you use a spoon for that you can't use chopsticks for? Soup? Oh yeah, because I really spend all my camping time using a spoon for soup. No, I have soup from a metal cup that also keeps my hands warm. Lose the spoon! Just use chopsticks and enjoy the novelty of making them from a piece of wood, or some small strong twigs.

Okay, next on our list....Cooking stuffs. Thing like pots and pans. I've never fried anything while camping. The reality is that you can even fry stuff in a saucepan! Yeah!!! Learn the skils of being a student and everything else in the kitchen is dirty and you need that full English!!! Get out a saucepan and get frying with that. Lose the saucepan! Next up is a very simple question, if you have a UL cooker, how many pots can you put on it at once? Answer.......1. Result....lose the spare pans. On the terms of using an ultralight cooker, how much gas do you need to cook for 2 meals a day, because let's face it, we don't all cook up that lunch do we? And if we do, what difference would a cooker make to a fire? In the day-time the stealth benefits of using a cooker are negligable. Nobody is going to see the flames, but when it comes to the smoke, by the time anyone sees that, you'll either be back incamp, or you'll have moved on.

Water....THIS IS THE UK!!!! There's loads of water about, everywhere!!! We don't have deserts and things like that. Just carry about 1 litre, 2 at the most, and then pack up a load of water purifiers and that kind of thing. If you've planned your route out, you can always pick up water somewhere else on the route.

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Had to cut that short, the big boss came in.

Please note that a UL BOB will be much heavier than a UL Camping kit. There is no doubt about it. One of the main reasons for this is the requirement for longer term use. A BOB will be put through more testing than a UL Camping kit. So don't expect to be running around with a feather on your back.

Washing....You don't need loads of soap and things like that. These are the kinds of items I'll be caching. Here is a nice rule for you, "If I can Cache it and Cope....Cache it and Cope!" That basically means, unless you need it with you at all times, you should cache it and cope with a smaller portion. Like toothpaste. Don't carry a stonking massive amount! Just carry a small tube, or half a tube, then deal with that until you need more.

One of the main preps I have, and a HUGE weight saver, is knowledge. I'm learning things daily that will allow me to survive better and do more things with less. For example, if you can learn to make a spoon from a block of wood and a knife, then you'll always have cutlery. Same with if you can make a bowl or plate. What about carrying food? Well, if you can find it growing around you, then you need to carry less, or you can make what you do have last longer.

One thing I highly recommend is books. However, loads of books have those heavy covers, loads of boring pages of acknowledgements, and crap like that. Unless you want to use it for tinder, I'd scrap it. Rip out some of the crap pages and you can save a load of weight. Keep the books in sealable plastic bags to kep them try and stop them getting damaged.

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On the note of books, you'll need to learn as much as you can, because books are not light. So when you have something downpat and know it off by heart, you can either take those pages out, or if it's all the knowledge of a whole book, you can scrap the whole book.

Okay, next item....Fuel for the camping fire....Can I cache it and cope? YES. So carry a smaller amount. Speaking of fuel, what about that camping stove? Well, here's a very simple answer....get a smaller one. Maybe even go down the route of a hobo stove/cooker. Also, learn to build a rocket stove. The Chinese used to use them to heat houses, so why not use a similar principle for something else? You'll find loads of videos online about how to make a rocket stove bench....learn it and sleep on a bench! It's not the hardest thing to do, so do it. Anyway, who doesn't want a nice warm bed every night? You're not going to carry a full rocket stove around with you, so why not learn to make one? Uses 25% of the normal fuel of a fire, so it's a damn good thing to learn how to do.

Okay, next up is a really difficult one. Clothing. This is something you are probably going to have to grin and bear it. I mean, let's think about it, we all wear about 7 tshirts at the same time, and 4 pairs of trousers, and things like that.....right? Oh, I didn't think so. 1 space set of everything (2 of underwear) and you're good to go. If you want more, can you cache it and cope?

Shoes! Now here's a big issue. I mean, those military boots are vital! I smaller lightweight pair of trainers couldn't cope with a long hike in the woods. Nor could a pair of Vibram5-Finger shoes. They're ultra-light and ultra-tough! For the weight of the military books, I'm packing 2-3 pairs of Vibrams. They may not be for everyone's liking, but they'll cope just as well and having 3 pairs means they'll last forever! I've pushed mine with around 100 miles of pack running and they're still like new. Also they dry off super-fast! So I'd definitely think about something like that. Don't forget, we won't be standing on landmines and things like that. There might be sharp spikes and things like that, but if you're ahead of the game and get out early, everyone will be getting caught in your sharp spike traps.

Okay on to paracord. Do you need it? Yes, I think you do. So I have that in the form of lovely paracord lanyards. They are really good but also, don't forget that you can compress items with a paracord wrap! It's very easy to wrap up that poncho or those tent pegs. WHAT....TENT PEGS!!!! Go for the plastic ones that are lighter, but if not, then think how you can substitute them. Why not think about making some small wooden stakes with a small knotch in it? That'll do the same job as a tent peg! Another trick is to substitute a tent peg for a whole tree! I had this with AlyBear on our winter cmpint trip. The ground was so stoney, 2 of the guy ropes wouldn't go into the ground, so we attached them with paracord around 2 trees and that held as the guy-line securer. If, like me you're going for poncho's or a basha, why not think about it logically? How many tent pegs do you need? Then add 2-3 more incase of breakages, and you're sorted.

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I should probably stop as I am meant to be working.

What I'll do is write up about everything.....one item at a time, in the Kit section.

[Nemesis]

(10 April 2012, 08:17)Scythe13 Wrote:

(10 April 2012, 00:09)WetandCold Wrote: But here if you don't know knife/fork/spoon get a spork.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001E7S5BO/re...B001E7S5BO

What's wrong with you man? Are you insane? Why carry any cutlery at all? You've got a knife, I'm sure you can find some twigs or something. Put those together and you have........wait for it............feel the suspence.......chopsticks! Oh yeah!!! Genius that is Scythe13-Style!!! 10 points for me.

If you have soup.......get a mug and drink it from there.

Scythe I like the idea of chop stick as long as remove the bark and use the clean inside, One thing to bear in mind, it is quite easy to get a gut infection while in the woods, I have seen it happen a few times and to me it happened once silly mistake I made and I had stomach pain for 3 days really powerful cramps.