Should You Start thinking SYSTEM

[NorthernRaider]

Should You Start thinking SYSTEM
NR ©2013

No this is not an edict just a bit of food for thought, every time we add something to our kit or preps we tend to look at price, quality and suitability for the job in hand. Let us say as examples RUCKSACKS, APPROACH SHOES, HUNTING BOW, FLASHLIGHT,AIR RIFLE and erm… A WATER FILTER for the retreat.

So off we go trawling the shops and the web looking for views, reviews and the best deal and in no time at all sitting in a pile on your floor is a
RUCKSACK
APPROACH SHOES
HUNTING BOW
FLASHLIGHT
AIR RIFLE and
WATER FILTER.

You are naturally delighted with your purchases or shop lifting expedition you now have the mutts nutts of gear to add to your prep supplies, but wait just a moment is this the end of the story?

Your RUCKSACK did it come with a water proof liner, a rehydration bladder and spare fastex buckles or does it have some weird foreign system of buckles and fasteners that if you broke you would not know where to get spares from?

Your APPROACH SHOES fit like a slipper and will last you years but on your first blast across the Quantocks you repeatedly snag the sausage skin type laces on gorse and by the time you get back off the hills they are knackered, and oh dear your arches are aching like mad.

You venture out with your new BOW, you love it, it’s going to serve you well for years but after only a few dozen arrows you notice the bowstring supplied with the bow is already fraying, Have you got a spare string or the material to make one at home or are you going to have to mail order one and hope TEOTWAWKI doesn’t occur before it comes. If you have a COMPOUND bow have you got a bow restringing jig or do you have to take your bow to the shop to have a new string fitted. (I saw strings for some compound bows for sale listed at over £70 each only yesterday. I hope that is not the norm?)

Your AIR RIFLE, it’s a precision tool it’s going to bring home bunnies and pigeons galore, you soon find it being used every day, but after a few years EDC duty it doesn’t appear to be as reliable or accurate as it once was. It needs new spring, guide, top hat washer, seals and o rings and a bit of TLC.
Can you still get them? Are they still being imported? Does it need specialist tools to do the job?
Is the importer still trading or did you get a UK made one?

Smashing Flashlight always ready to rock, until one day you notice the on/off switch is spilt and water if getting into the the switch head which also houses the circuitry for regulating the batteries feed to the Luxeon LED and now it’s getting temperamental.

Ahhhhh Fresh drinking water, a joy to behold and the savior of your family after the worst drought in history or terrorist outrage left your main water tainted. Your neighbours are fighting each other almost daily for a share of the water the government drops off twice a week in a bowser, You are laughing at their plight because your beautiful berky has been cleaning and polishing the water from the butts in the garden non-stop for over a month………. But the filter is slowing down as the filter elements become exhausted.

If you had viewed your individual purchases as part of a SYSTEM then perhaps you could avoid many of the pitfalls and find your items of kit stay fully operational for years because of Maintenance and system planning.

If you had bought a RUCKSACK as part of a SYSTEM and
Waterproof liner
Bladder
Spare buckles
Fabric repair kit

If you had bought APPROACH SHOES with a SYSTEM in mind and bought
Spare laces
Orthopedic arch support insoles

If you had bought your BOW as part of a SYSTEM
With multiple spare strings and nock ends if needed
A few extra self-adhesive arrow rests
A spool of dental floss for repairs

If you had bought your Fenix super FLASHLIGHT as part of a SYSTEM
With spare O rings, Silicone grease and spare Switch rubber kit

If you had bought your AIR RIFLE with a
Full Service kit of seals, springs, breach seals, O rings, Top hat washers

If you had bought your gravity WATER FILTER with
Spare filter elements
Spare O Rings for the tap

Imagine how less stressful and how less troublesome if you could almost instantly bring your best pieces of kit straight back to 100% operational status because you planned each purchase as a SYSTEM with maintenance and back up as part of the original plan.

Food for thought nothing more.
NR

[Scythe13]

This is a very Nutnfancy style thing. He loves going on about systems.

The type of system he uses is phenomenal, but he's allowed things like guns and all that, being American.

If you want to see some awesome systems (sorry MB, I know you're not a fan, but I like his vids) check him out on youtube.

[Mortblanc]

You have to watch out for old Nutjobfancy. Every since he got that video camera for his birthday and learned to hook it to the computer he has been an expert on everything, with emphasis on the "spurt".

Systems are a good thing but they are ruled by a set of constants that must be included in any decision involving kit or people.

1. Anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails...Peter principal.

2. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong,,,at the most critical point in time...Murphy

3. No plan survives first contact with the enemy..Von Moltke

As an example, have you ever had a spare neoprene seal go bad sitting in the spare parts tray?
Ever opened a "sealed container" to find the parts inside rusted?

I have found that the most successful systems operate on the old Kiss" principle; Keep It Simple, Stupid!

[bigpaul]

its this strange thing called "common" sense.....fairly obvious really!: just bought a new crossbow? then buy some extra bowstrings and end tips. just bought a new longbow? buy some extra bowstrings. bought a catapult ? then buy some new elastics.