My system.

[Dojo97]

Five layers:
1st layer) Bug out clothes: Second hand woodland-camo trousers and jacket, with a bag full of trail mix, a "food for free" book, a camo head net, in the pockets. And a survival necklace with: swiss army knife, flint and steel, duct tape, a few aspirin and a tenner in one tin, and water purification in the other tin, and a whistle/compass/whistle/mirror/ that has tinder and a few matches inside, all on a paracord necklace.

2nd layer) Snugpak response pak with standard stuff, eg. knife, saw, tarp sheet, others.

3rd layer) I have a 50l backpack from mil-tec, with the normal gear (one of these days i will post it fully on here).

4th layer) A cargo bag with the stuff that has been replaced from the main B.O.B, eg. old knives etc. More food, water, clothes. This layer is more meant for multi-seasons as it has different clothes, and will mainly be used if travelling in a car when the SHTF.

Questions:
I have in the 3rd layer, eg. BOB, a rain suit made of an old thin waterproof coat and water proof trousers vacuum packed (with a straw lol). Should I leave the house in the camo clothes so I am camo'd up fully, but have to take the waterproof coat in the rain suit. Or should I leave the house in a decent waterproof coat, which is olive green so is kind of camo'd, and means I save space because I do not have to bring the coat in the rain suit.

Is the cold steel SF shovel, or Marbles Devil's Tail Shovel, good enough to replace a nice hatchet in a BOB?

Cheers gang.

[Highlander]

We have no idea of your location, we dont know if you are country or town so we dont know if you need to be `camo`d up` or not.

What ever is needed is the clothes that make you blend in and become less visible, if you are in a town with other people around then you will likely look out of place in camo gear,..wear what everyone else is wearing so as not to draw attention

If you are in the country and are not likley to meet so many folk then probably the camo gear will be better

Its really the kind of question that no-one can really help you with, because we cant see your location, only you can see how many street lights you have, are you close to woodland, what kind of ground do you need to travel through, how fast can you move, will you need to travel during the day and or the night,... all these things need to be thought about

[Dojo97]

I live in bedfordshire, so in a village near a lot of woods. Also near a few towns though.

[Mortblanc]

(13 June 2013, 17:28)Dojo97 Wrote: Is the cold steel SF shovel, or Marbles Devil's Tail Shovel, good enough to replace a nice hatchet in a BOB?

NO!

A sharpened shovel will not replace a proper hatchet.

[Grumpy Grandpa]

I think you've already answered one of your questions in the description of your waterproofs. "Old thin waterproof coat and water proof trousers" versus, a "decent waterproof coat". You already know which is going to stand up best to a British summer!

Only you can best judge whether being "camo'd up" is necessary but as the Highlander has already said, the last thing you want is to attract attention.

[Dojo97]

What do you think of the layer system? cheers.

[Timelord]

(14 June 2013, 00:57)Mortblanc Wrote:

(13 June 2013, 17:28)Dojo97 Wrote: Is the cold steel SF shovel, or Marbles Devil's Tail Shovel, good enough to replace a nice hatchet in a BOB?

NO!

A sharpened shovel will not replace a proper hatchet.

^^^ That is v.true >>> and a hatchet will not replace a shovel. .
It really comes down to what purposes you wish the tool to perform..

[Highlander]

(14 June 2013, 22:58)Dojo97 Wrote: What do you think of the layer system? cheers.

I am sorry,.. but I dont understand what you mean by the layered system.

They are clearly different bags, are they for different levels of danger???,...sorry

[Binnie]

I think the layers are like those russian dolly's my gran used to have,

in theory you'd have the whole kit assembled as one pack, popping out locally for a few hours? grab "layer 1"

away for the weekend? grab "layer 3" (which includes 1+2+3)


seems ok to me, whatever you find easiest really, i don't have a GHB as such, i've just got a few things i carry with me that can get me home, my bag is only 35l, but i reckon i could sustain myself for quite a while with that!

[Highlander]

The key to what you said there,.. and to Dojo,.. is do what ever you find the easiest for you to do, it doesn't matter what bag we are talking about, I only have one bag, and I try to keep that as light as possible.

Keep looking at your bags, keep re-evaluating whats in them try and carry as many items that can do multiple jobs,..really look at each item and think,.. ` do I really need to carry that?`,.. if in doubt, then dont carry anything for the sake of it,..or because it MIGHT come in handy,... because the chances are that it wont

as Binnie said, keep it simple, keep it light, you have to carry it