NR Prepping guide pt3

[NorthernRaider]

WHAT ARE THE RISKS & THREATS WE MAY FACE?

Oh boy, what should we be prepared for as survivalists is the question most frequently asked and the common answer of "everything" will not satisfy the enquirer.

Spatial bombardment (meteors, comets, asteroids)
Solar flare radiation bursts (like the ones that crippled Ontario Canada in 1988)
Crop / food destruction caused by the holes in the ozone layer.
Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Ice storms.
GM crops spreading uncontrolled and becoming dominant then going sterile.
Over fishing causing a species extinction cascade.
Deforestation and its myriad of local, regional and global problems.
Pollution poisoning,
Global earth changes that are manmade, CO2 ,N0x etc
Earthquake/Seaquake/volcanic activity/ seismic activity/tsunamis.
Flooding.
Over extraction of ground water from aquifers causing saltwater encroachment of water supplies.
Exhaustion / shortages of coal / oil / electricity etc
Food shortages / crop failure / blight
Over population / overcrowding
Political unrest / war / terrorism / civil unrest / industrial action / mass protest
Crime
Poverty
Disease epidemics
Mass hygiene failure
Mass hysteria
Prolonged extreme weather events
Government extremism / Tyranny (banning guns, certain books, certain groups, unauthorised meetings etc)
Major power failures
Economic collapse or global recession or both.


That's enough to worry about for now, but remember if you prepare today, tomorrow won’t come up and bite your ***.


TERRORISM

In the latter half of the 20th century and gaining pace in the first part of the 21st century global terrorism is becoming an issue we all must address in one form or another.

When insurgency or terrorist activities were fairly localised in individual countries the trend among the terrorists themselves was to strike at government owned targets first, then foreign owned economic targets, then domestic and economic targets, lastly attacking the general population of the target nation.
But now extremists strike at any target anywhere in the world, planes, trains, shops, offices, schools hospitals are all fair game to today’s hate mongers.

The facts are now plain for all to see that no matter where you live, no matter how peaceable you are, how benign your nation at some point you are going to become targeted by hostile groups or nations in acts of terrorism against unguarded civilians.

What can you do if a news report really worries you?


This question is frequently asked when for example global tensions rise because of a war, or drought, or act of terrorist does something THAT MAY INDIRECTLY AFFECT YOU. You may read about a drought wiping out a year’s grain crop across Europe and Russia. You may hear about Islamic extremists taking over a country that provides most of your nations winter supplies of food. You could hear that something is preventing the oil and gas supplies reaching the refineries that our nation is utterly dependent upon.

It’s not something that is direct affecting you, it’s not in your face and happening in your town now, but it is something that makes you sit up and take notice to a point you want to do something, but what?

The first thing you need to do is try and separate tabloid journalism and media hype and access solid reliable facts from multiple sources where possible. Compare your own states media reports with other organisations like Reuters, Al- Jazeera, UPI,
etc and check on the survivalist and prepper forums to see if any preppers in the affected country are getting information out.

Accurate reliable information is the best tool you have compared to the man in the street who is more interested in the sports news than what is going on in the bigger wider world.

Once you are accessing useful intelligence from various sources you can then look around to see if anything appears unusual or out of place that COULD be associated with the problem.

Such as
Watching for unexpected or unusual government activity
Ministers being recalled from leave or their constituencies
Military and or police leave being cancelled
Reservists being called up
Increases in military traffic
Increases in security checkpoints
Sudden shortages of fuel (sure sign the military is being mobilised)
Foreign media sources being blocked
Overly enthusiastic denials about a problem by your government
Shipping news reporting the non-arrival of multiple vessels
Access to the internet being blocked
Senior public and state employees you know taking sudden unexpected family holidays.
A sudden wave of Fire arms licences being withdrawn
Known political activists suddenly going very quiet
More armed cops lurking around major road junctions
Sudden shortages of vital consumables from fuel to rice to bread to ………

Nine times out of ten your instincts will be right, don’t ignore them.

So what physical steps can you take?

Obviously first of all check over, clean and repack your
Survival kits and tools
EDC kits
Bug out Bags
And Medical kits

Check and rotate your stocks of supplies and if you are seriously concerned increase your food and fuel stocks accordingly.

Top off your vehicles fuel tanks and your bulk heating oil tanks, perhaps get an extra delivery of timber or coal in for the stove

You may decide to bring forward your vehicles annual service to ensure it’s in tip top condition.

Empty, clean, flush and refill your water containers and ensure your water filter is in good condition.

Obtain extra prescription medicines and script eye glasses etc.

Other steps you can consider are

Delaying or cancelling trips away from home until you know more about how the situation is developing.

Restricting family members travels to friends thus keeping them closer to home.

Ensuring family KNOWS to check in frequently. Do not rely on the cell phone service, instruct the family members that if the phone system goes down to treat it as an order to return home at once.

Check out your Bug Out Routes to ensure they are still accessible and viable.

Contact other preppers out of area if possible to see what they know and what steps they are taking.

Try and work from home or put in some leave if possible.

STAY CALM, it’s the informed, prepared and calm prepper who generally comes out of the crisis in the best condition. It’s better to be proactive than reactive so try and keep as well informed of the situation as possible and react accordingly, things may settle down and return to normality, or you may feel concerned enough to stay off work a while or perhaps head out to your retreat location for a while if you have one.

Reducing the risk to your family?

Once again it’s a case of looking closely at your lifestyle, IE Where you live, Where you work, How you spent your free time, How you shop, How you communicate, How you prepare for trouble and the choices you make.

Simple steps such as shopping mail order when possible, getting your groceries delivered or shopping in smaller towns that are less appealing to terrorists as potential targets. Refueling your vehicle at rural gas stations, not using public transport, avoiding air transport like the plague, working from home, tele-conferencing, putting the kids in non-faith based schools, avoiding major cities etc. All can all go towards reducing the risk of you being in the same place at the same time as a terrorist bomb going off.

Similar considerations should be made on other things like for example where you go on vacation; currently it is not very wise for American or British passport holders to go on holiday to many Islamic states.
Choose your make of car wisely when driving abroad, When possible drive a locally built vehicle or one that is not produced by a nation that is out of favour with the people of the country you are visiting, Often protestors and terrorists alike will attack symbols of the nation they are in conflict with, so driving a Buick through Baghdad, Bombay, or Beirut is simply painting yourself up as a target. You may live in a large town or city and for reasons best known to yourself you are unable to move out, but you can still take sensible steps to reduce the risk to yourself. If for example you hear on the news that country A has just killed a large group of people in country B and you have a large local immigrant population from country B living in part of your town, then it makes sense to stay away from that area for a while in case the expatriates from country B decide to riot in protest.


EMP and Preppers


EMP is Electro Magnetic pulse, it is a burst of high energy electromagnetic energy released both by the sun and by Thermo Nuclear Explosions. In modern day Britain it is not the multi megaton Russian ground burst nuclear warhead to fear but the much smaller better targeted very high altitude nuclear bomb enhanced for EMP energy that is the greatest threat.

Back in the 70s the risk was from huge Russian ICBMs of megaton capacity raining down across the western world and in response we would send the soviets hundreds of multiple warhead re-entry Vehicle ICBMs like Trident, Polaris and Minuteman. Most of these old HUGE weapons were designed to go off at ground level or near ground level in an effort to wipe out each nation’s normally hardened subterranean military infrastructure. BUT the problem was when those Megaton bombs went off they irradiated thousands of tons of earth which was thrown tens of thousands of feet into the air only to return to earth in the following hours and days as highly radioactive and very lethal fallout. This fallout could leave cities uninhabitable for hundreds of years which is not want most invaders sought, they wanted to capture intact as much of the enemies material wealth as possible.

Modern nuclear weapons are in the Kiloton range (Thousands of tons of TNT) compared to the Megaton range old weapons (Millions of tons of TNT). Primarily they are much smaller today because the targeting systems are far more accurate than in the 70s. Way back then it was estimated the Russians would need to fire 3 or 4 multi megaton weapons at a city like Birmingham because they accuracy of the weapon was only accurate within the ten miles of the target bracket. But todays weapons especially those mounted in guided munitions and cruise missiles can be targeted at an individual building with a 99% probability of hitting it.

So for today’s mad dictator or jihadist the objective is to cripple and disable the target nation as cheaply as possible and to do as much damage to the economy and cultural system of the targeted country without poisoning it for a 1000 years.

By using an EMP device detonated very high in the atmosphere (Do a Google for the Compton Effect of EMP) above the target the burst of energy will in under a second almost completely cripple a modern nation. For example everything with a micro processer fitted from cell phones, car ignition and fuel management systems, personal computers, amateur radio equipment, telephone exchanges, most modern medical equipment, chemical and steel making production control equipment, aircraft flight control systems, railway signalling systems, training control systems, power station control equipment etc will be ruined. Also unhardened magnetised electrical windings from start motors, power station generators etc will also be damaged. The list goes on and on all the way down to your toaster.

So to you the Prepper what would you notice if an EMP hit your homeland, Firstly you may not see or hear any sort of explosion and you personally won’t feel anything untoward unless you have a pacemaker fitted, but as you look around you will find that in a millisecond your world has changed forever. The lights won’t come on at home or anywhere else because the power system is wrecked and will take years to repair, a Canadian report suggested a nation that is hit by EMP could take over 20 years to get the power back on across the country. Instantly a nation without any electricity is a nation in meltdown.

Soon the gas will stop flowing to your central heating and cooker as the gas is pumped by now dead electric motors, but it won’t matter anyway because your boiler is microprocessor controlled and its now toast.
Then not long after that the water will stop flowing to your home as in the UK over 90% of homes rely on pumped water supplies and powered sewage systems, no electricity to power any pumps.

Your house and cell phones won’t work anymore nor will your radios, the streetlights are not going to come on at dusk either, by tomorrow your fridge and freezer goods will be spoiling. Oh and your new plasma TV is now just an ornament.

Cars, Buses, Trains and Planes will sit immobile, just hope that any of the 500 airliners that were passing over the UK any given hour were not over your house when the EMP wrecked their engine management systems. You nations computer controlled food and goods distribution systems have gone the same way as your transport systems.

Mills, Looms, Lathes, Drills, Welders, Weavers, Furnaces, Kilns, Casts, etc all sit silent with no power or control systems, the industrial era is back to square one.

In under one second any completed unhardened electrical circuit and micro processer controlled system that is in line of sight of the EMP device as it went off is now ruined, In that same second your world has changed from the Technology era of the 21st Century to something akin the beginning of the Victorian era of the 19th Century.

So can you spin and knit wool , sheer sheep, skin a chicken, tan a hide, make bronze, make a bow, weave cloth, forge a plough, extract insulin from sheep, make alcoholic spirit, build a sail boat, make a boiler, brew beer, home grow penicillin cultures, preserve food, make buttons, make thread, refine vegetable oil, make black powder, cast fishing hooks, hand make bricks, cut slate tiles, weave willow baskets, grow your own food (and hang onto it) resole shoes, make glass, sail a boat, weave fishing nets, make charcoal.

NO!! Oh boy are you in trouble if that EMP is ever set off.

What can you do as preppers?
(1) Move out of the cities ASAP, even without EMP risks they are becoming just too dangerous and vulnerable to live in
(2) Learn traditional skills you can use to provide essential service as barter with other survivors after the sheeple have finished rioting, raping, looting, burning and killing each other.




INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

"Intel", sourcing and finding information that may be relevant to your position, being well informed, gaining an advantage, knowledge is power, knowledge is wisdom, getting the edge over others, That's what it’s all about for survivalists, you use whatever sources of information that are available to you at the time collecting, collating, sorting, absorbing and utilising as best you can. Using information wisely should ensure you and your group survives while Joe Public believe without doubt what snippets of propaganda the government decides they need to know.

You watch the TV news, listen to the radio, monitor the web, subscribe to publications that provide info you want, you join groups of like-minded individuals to share information, it’s all good stuff but what is useful and what is not?

It’s difficult for one person to absorb and digest all of the Intel that comes their way and all too often they may miss something important. You may as an individual see the relevance of a news article that is released from source (A), and another member of the group may have missed article (A) but seen article (B) in a magazine, but if one of them had shared this snippet with the other they would have been forewarned of a flood, storm, kit sale, free booze up, cheap holiday, police clampdown etc.

To give yourself the advantage over the rest of society firstly you must obtain the Intel, then understand it, then put it to use, You need to have a radio tuned to a station that provides good current affairs news all day, You need to read your paper mail, you need to check your E mail, You need to get the world news from differing sources so you can get an unbiased overall view, you need to subscribe to magazines and E groups etc.

What use is getting half the facts or information if you cannot be bothered to cross reference it with others in your group, It may then cause you to be caught out in a big way, You should open your snail mail in the morning and check your Email as well, If you find some news you think may be important to others then get it out straight away don't wait till the weekend.

It is for everyone’s benefit to keep up to date so we can prepare accordingly. Here is a hypothetical scenario to chew over.

Neil hears in January of an outbreak of some fungal disease that effects wheat grain, In April Debbie finds that her favourite grain seed is unavailable from her suppliers, during June Dave finds no one can guarantee to deliver his bulk grain before the winter for his stockpile. Steve during this time hears of unspecified problems with the grain crop in the US, Canada and Russia, and as time goes by can no longer get in touch with his contacts in Kansas. September comes and the cost of bread quadruples, the govt say there is no problem its just the grain ships are delayed by storms in the Atlantic, October arrives and tales of mass starvation creep out of Russia, November comes and the US declares it wishes to return to a state of isolationism for nationalist reasons and is no longer prepared to sell grain abroad. In December the Arab states say that because America has cut off the grain they are going to cut of the oil to the west in protest. January arrives with the worst winter storm for 60 years. Escalation is followed by deterioration followed by chaos followed by collapse. THE GROUP SHOULD HAVE BEEN RESPONDING AND REACTING BY JUNE, making enquiries, discussing possible consequences of grain blight, making plans to ensure you are prepared.


If you do not cooperate on a regular basis, if you don't communicate frequently, if you do not continue to stay informed you will not be any better off and will throw away your main advantage over the rest of society. We all have work commitments and responsibilities to consider every day which must be addressed in a responsible way. Work issues, health issues, family commitments, business needs etc all which put a strain on the amount of time you can devote to survival preparations. So the best option left is to be as well informed as possible, and to compensate for your preparation shortfalls.
All of your "other commitments" don’t count if you are dead.



MUTUAL SUPPORT

As survivalists we try to become as independent of society as we can and to this aim some of us attempt to become more self- reliant by working from home or turning their retreat into a source of income, I think that survivalists who are trying this route to independence should be supported where possible by the rest of us.

If for example an associate decides to buy a small holding and starts producing homemade produce it would be beneficial to all for more than one reason.


To start with if you all went to the farm and helped to get it sorted by doing a bit of work on it FOC you would be able to socialise, cross train, build trust and relationships. You would become familiar with the area and see if that route is suitable for your own needs. If you went at harvesting time it could also be turned into a RENDEZVOUS where you could barter, learn new skills, get in some practise as well as help a colleague, and of course it would be good for our associate to have that support when they need it most.

Of course it would have to be a two way trust gaining exercise because the last thing a new farmer needs is loads of strangers running riot on his / her land and eating her limited food stocks and playing silly buggers around the farm. Equally it could become the start of a low cost break in the country through working the farm in return for cross training and a change of scenery and building trust up with the retreat owner.

Another aspect are survivalists who work from home and retailers who support survivalists with discounts etc, These people to require your support as and when you can, If there is one member of your group who deals in military surplus equipment it makes sense to try him out first because he's just at the end of your keyboard. Another associate may make soap in various forms and it would be a sign of solidarity if we at least tried her products out, who knows you may prefer her stuff to the chemical crap that you get at Safeway.

Between us there are a hell of a lot of useful skills, crafts and hobbies and the sensible thing to do would be to start to create our own market place for goods and services.


FRIENDS AND SURVIVAL

We try to the best of our beliefs to gain all of the necessary skills, knowledge, logistics and kit to ensure our survival long term and enable us to rebuild a healthy sustainable community. We build relationships and friendships with other survivalists to improve our chances of making it through and beyond the collapse to come but in all honesty we will be hard pushed to achieve all of our goals on our own.

Perhaps the way ahead for some if not all of us is to develop working links with other groups who have the skills, crafts and knowledge we seek.

There are groups in society who are into developing Eco-villages and Transition towns, these are totally environmentally friendly low impact back to nature types of residential developments that utilise all of the latest "green" techniques in the building of residential communities and villages. There is a very good example at Findhorn in northern Scotland that has been featured in a TV series on the discovery channel, then there is the “green” co-ops who are trying to develop low cost alternative energy sources, You could consider making approaches to leather workers, blacksmiths etc as well.

Then there are some charitable organisations looking into low cost self-build property developments that have a strong green self-reliance perspective to them.


If we want to Survive we can achieve this by ourselves as Preppers, BUT if we want to SURVIVE and FLOURISH we need to adapt and expand our sphere of influence by developing contacts with others with similar aims to ourselves.


TRANSPORTATION

In theory this bit is easy, Ideally you need to get fit enough to be able to walk long distances whilst carrying a full pack on your back containing everything you need to sustain you and your family on its journey to your place of safety. BUT in the real world we are not all fit enough, nor can we carry all we need about our persons, add to this equation a wife, two kids, a baby and an elderly in law. So you need to consider transport. Think about fuel types and its availability after a disaster, think about type and style of vehicle that suits you best, think about power to weight ratios when you have the entire family aboard plus food and other outdoor survival kit, think about having to sleep rough using you vehicle as a bedroom, think about storing your full bug out kit aboard and the family, think about maintenance, think about having to go "off road", think about fuel tank range, and think about its suitability for your survival needs.

You need to discuss your requirements in depth with other survivalists and overland expeditioners to get the best advice you can. Most favour large bodied large diesel powered 4 wheel drive utility vehicles; though camper vans and panel van conversions are gaining popularity.

Learn new skills, If you get the chance to learn to ride a horse, grab it. Same with a motorcycle, motorboat, sailboat, quad bike etc, if the opportunity arises get on a course on how to use a 4WD properly off road then take it.

The more operator skills you gain with differing modes of transport the better your chances are in bugging out or getting home safe after a disaster.

If more members of your family or group are capable of using the methods of transport chosen then get them trained up as well?

Try and match your transport system with the environment you live in, IE in cities bicycles probably are best, In a heavily wooded hilly area horses may be best.


A FAMILY BUGGING OUT BY ROAD VEHICLE.

OK Let’s say you are a prepper or at least someone taking disaster prep seriously, there's you and your partner, couple of preteen kids and perhaps say grandma or a similar permutation of relatives.

Your prime choice of bugging out is by road (as it is for the majority of us)

So what criteria do you use when choosing what sort of vehicle to use and what to put inside it?

What I want people to try and realise that for many families or even couples that bugging out from City or Rural location is simply not rushing out and buying a big bloody 4x4 jeep with loads of gadgets fitted.

Things people need to consider are (but often ignored because a jeep looks cool and macho on the drive)

Belted Seats for everyone (it’s no use piling the kids on top of the guns and fishing kit as you try and drive down a gravel slope)

Internal sleeping space (Camping out In the real world the chances are it will probably be hot/ cold/ windy/ wet/ snowy/ dusty or susceptible to being eaten live by anything from soldier ants, fleas, chiggers, ticks etc all the way up to grizzly bears and humans. You really need to be able to accommodate your peoples sleeping needs inside your BOV.)

Catering, Washing and Toilet access (face it if you have to survive for any length of time you don’t want to be washing and crapping in a stream in midwinter, and that is providing grandma or the kids can get down the slope to the stream, nor do you want to be eating or feeding your kids MRE's Jerky or snickers bars every day possibly for weeks on end. You need a cooker, fuel, internal water supply, camping toilet, and waste water tank)

Equipment storage It’s simple your group kit needs to be carried INSIDE the vehicle on two counts, (1) SECURITY: IE to stop people stealing your kit, or advertising yourselves as fully equipped with valuable kit.
(2) CONCEALMENT, there’s nothing more likely to attract the attention of undesirables or even other survivalists than a vehicle liberally draped in winches, jacks, jerry cans, ropes, food lockers etc)
Stay sensible before you spout off about being armed, there is a damn good chance that anyone stumbling into you is better armed, better trained, more numerous and more desperate to resupply. (It’s better to still be armed for defence but to have no one even notice you.)

Range (During Hurricane Katrina and in New York State on 911 two things occurred you need consider.
(1) Down New Orleans way even some survivalist families that were fully prepared got caught out. Because of the mass evacuation order so many vehicles were on the road at one time, all heading away from the area, many drivers found themselves crawling along at 5 mph for up to 12 hours in first gear. This caused them to run out of fuel long before they reached safety even when they had a couple of Jerry cans of fuel extra on board as full tanks.

(2) In New York as soon as news broke about 911 many gas stations closed, some chose to close, other were told to close by cops who feared war had broken out. But the effect was the same, people ran out of fuel trying to flee the area. Other gas stations were simply sucked dry in hours by the surge in demand. You need to store enough fuel to travel from your home to your place of safety by the longest route possible, and having to do it in low gear.
A rough example is if your retreat is 150 miles away you really need enough fuel aboard to do 450 miles).

Fuel Safety and Availability (This bit many people hate thinking about or choose to ignore). If you need to carry lots of fuel to get to your retreat and possibly back as well it means you are carrying a lot of volatile material. The fact is that it’s simply safer and fuel efficient to drive a diesel powered vehicle.
Yes your V 8 small block hemi engine is sexy, but it’s also a liability in the fire and fuel availability stakes. Gasoline is simply dangerous to handle, it does not like being stored without being treated, it explodes far too easy, and after TSHTF it’s much harder to get than diesel, even in the US. Currently if you wanted to get some extra gasoline you can go to the gas station along with all the panic stricken Joe Publics and that’s about it.

BUT with diesel you can try gas stations, truck stops, trucks themselves, freight depots, freight yards, locomotive stables, railroad sidings, military depots, boat yards, airports, farms, farm suppliers and other agricultural sources. Even in the US there is billions of gallons more long life diesel available than gasoline).

Flexibility ( There is simply no reason why your BOV cannot be used as your everyday drive to work vehicle, millions of people drive, panel vans, camper vans, SUVs, and Day vans as their normal means of transport. You can even use it to go on camping vacations with.)


SELECTING A BUG OUT VEHICLE

The Chances are if you are a fit single young man you will get by with a good SUV 4x4 type vehicles with camping equipment fitted wherever you can, But if you are a family man or not in the first flourish of youth you are going to need something more spacious like a Van or Overlander RV
(Overlanders are basically heavy duty expedition vehicles)

I think very few people will need a huge coach built camper conversion like a Winnebago, the upper limit is likely to be the very rugged ex school bus in the US and the ex-army bus in the UK. But generally the trend does appear to be for a self-contained BOV usually a van conversion, rather than an upgraded SUV with external camping equipment. But not entirely, there are still many survivalists who are more than happy with their Land Rovers and Jeeps and there are people who are more than satisfied with their upgraded family cars as well.

FITTING OUT YOUR B.O.V

There are some very important things to consider when designing, fitting out and loading your Bug out Vehicle, they range from
1. Selecting the best vehicle you can afford to buy and run.
2. Fitting it out as best as possible.
3. Distributing the load evenly between the axles.
4. Keeping heavy items stored as low down as possible.
5. Balancing the weight evenly along both sides of the vehicle.
6. Keeping often needed and important equipment readily to hand.
7. Ensuring you don’t have to offload kit to get to the bed, toilet or kitchen.
8. Not overloading your vehicle so as to affecting handling or ground clearance.
9. Ensuring the vehicle is made as BOV suitable as possible (IE Rugged).
10. Remembering to redistribute weight in the vehicle as fuel, food and water are consumed.
11. Incorporating as many useful features as possible / affordable.
12. Making it easily repairable as possible


Ideally if you want a BOV with internal sleeping accommodation a 4x4 panel van conversion will meet your needs the closest, followed by a 4x2 panel van, the other common option of course is the 4x4 SUV or utility truck with a roof mounted tent or towed trailer containing some sort of opening or demountable sleeping arrangement.


Many survivalists choose the Off Road vehicle option as it suits their needs best, but I feel that many survivalists with family members both young and old will be better suited to sleeping inside a BOV rather than in a tent or trailer tent.


Your BOV should have the capacity to carry extra fuel, extra food, extra water, extra clothing, extra equipment and logistics to make the bugging out event as least traumatic as possible, it has been debated to great length over the years but a commonly held belief is that your vehicle should carry enough fuel to cover a distance four times of that equaling the most direct route to your final destination, IE if its 150 miles to your retreat you should carry fuel enough to go 600 miles. This allows for road blocks, diversions, natural and manmade hazards and pure bad luck. You can supplement and extend your range by caching fuel along the most likely routes you will follow to get to your retreat, but what you must NEVER do is plan on using gas stations to obtain extra fuel in an emergency, not only could they be closed, empty or looted but you can guarantee trouble makers will be loitering around them waiting for people just like you to pull in.

I believe that the case has been made firmly in favour of diesel powered vehicles ahead of gasoline powered vehicles, though I do respect other people’s choices, reasons and desires in selecting gasoline power. But for economy, reliability, accessibility, storage and safe handling, efficiency and availability Diesel is in my honest opinion the best choice for survivalists.

Your BOV will ideally be able to provide enough sleeping space for all of your group/ family MINUS ONE, because at all times someone should be outside keeping watch. You do not want to have to unload equipment or supplies in order to make up a berth because if you are forced to suddenly flee for your lives then you will probably have to abandon the stuff you offloaded.

Use your head when designing and loading your vehicle, if for example your fuel tank is on the right hand side of the vehicle then position the extra fuel tank on the left to balance the weight. As you use up your supplies do remember to rebalance the vehicles load to compensate.

As well as balancing the vehicle keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, keep all the heaviest stuff as low down as possible, fuel , bottled gas, water etc on or under the vehicle floor, followed by food and tools, with lightweight stuff like clothing and bedding stored in the highest spots. Make sure you have adequate ventilation in your vehicle when burning gas for cooking or heating.



What should your vehicle have in an ideal world? (Only my opinion)

Good ground clearance (better off road capability).
All wheel drive (Selectable 4wd preferred to save fuel)
16 inch steel wheels & light truck re-enforced tyres
Diesel engine, none turbo preferred for reliability
Manual Transmission (Automatics waste far too much energy from an engine)
Long range fuel tanks (Greater independence and security in avoiding gas stations)
Twin Batteries (charged from Engine and Solar Panel when stationary)
Auxiliary power supplies (PV Cell, Micro turbine, Bottle gas powered generator)
Upgraded Lighting (with auxiliary driving lights on separate circuit to main lights)
Belted Seating for everyone.
Domestically manufactured (for spares accessibility)
Internal insulated water tanks (Drinking/ washing)
Dirty water tanks (leave no trace of rest stop)
Toilet (with sealed easy clean tanks)
Shower (an external spigot will do)
Strongly build cabinet fittings
Kitchen Unit (sink, cooker, grill, fridge)
Dirty / Wet Locker (keeping wet and dirty clothing separate)
Vented Bottled gas locker (Min two 7.5 kg bottles)
Satnav / map locker
Good quality AM FM DIGITAL radio in cab and saloon
Power / light fused distribution board
External hookup for 120/220v
A ceramic or Reverse Osmosis water filter (if you fill up at possibly impure water sources).
A mobile phone charger.
External storage racks for stuff like Jerry cans, Bicycles, Spare wheel carriers etc.
Winch and bull bars & swivel spotlights (protection and self-extraction and lighting)
Tool & spares locker (vehicles tools and common spares).

Please do remember that for the average modern western family all of the above can be accommodated into a long wheel base panel van like a Ford Transit or Econoline, and accordingly can be used as everyday transport for one of the family, the vehicle can most certainly be used for leisure purposes as well as survivalism.


Vehicle Jacks, Spare Wheels & Wheel Braces

Have you noticed just how badly located many spare wheels are located on our vehicles and also how utterly useless the standard vehicle jack is, very often the OE jack can only be used on one specific spot on each corner of the vehicle, that’s no good if that spot is sited over a rock or soft ground when you get a puncture.
One thing I always try to do to my vehicles is to relocate the spare wheel if it’s stored UNDER the vehicle, I either bonnet, roof or tailgate mount it, or even leave it inside the vehicle. I'm sick of having to crawl under the vehicle to unwind the securing bolt in the pouring rain, then trying to drag the blasted thing out from underneath the vehicle.

I also very often scrap the OE Jack and replace it with one with a wider base so it works on soft ground (stops the jack sinking in) and one that will go under the vehicle easily and lift in multiple locations on the body or suspension, rather than many OE jacks that can only lift in specific locations on the vehicle body. You can compromise by welding a bigger steel footplate to the bottom of your OE jack.
At the very least you need an extra foot plate made from steel or thick timber to be kept with your jack, 12x12 or 18 x 18 inches.

Some folks now use AIR jacks which are basically a re-enforced neoprene bag you push under the car and inflated it via a compressor ran from the cigar lighter socket, or from a 3 litre diver’s bottle.
I have also noticed in their mad dash to make vehicles as light as possible that the manufacturers are now making the wheel brace for undoing the wheel nuts very short indeed, often requiring someone with super human strength or a piece of scaffolding pipe to free off tight wheel nuts. I strongly recommend you get hold of a chrome steel extending wheel brace, they are only about £15 and also double up nicely as a defensive weapon.
Don’t forget in a real Bug Out situation the spare wheel, jack and brace need to be very easily accessible so you can change a wheel quickly and get going again ASAP, Having to unload the BOV to get at the spare is definitely bad practise to be avoided at all costs.
Also if you are likely to be sleeping overnight in the vehicle in a BO situation and end up parking off the highway it is well worth keeping four pieces of 13 or 19 mm plywood at least 18 inches x 12 inches to park the vehicle on during the stopover, this will help prevent your vehicle sinking into soft ground overnight and getting stuck. The bigger the vehicle and heavier the load the bigger the boards need to be.




THE CASE FOR DIESEL

Yes I know there are far more people driving Cars, Vans, SUVs’s , Pickups, 4X4’s etc with petrol (gasoline) powered engines than there are driving similar vehicles running Diesel engines, But hang on a moment is that a good thing for us claiming to be switched on survivalists?

Some points I think need chewing over by the preparedness communities especially those with retreats, homesteads, secure homes and bug out plans.

If (or more likely when) TSHTF and fuel availability & storage becomes a major issue what will society in general start doing?

Let’s accept that most of us already keep our vehicles topped off most of the time and also keep a few gallons of fuel stored for “The Day” but nearly all of us must admit that overall we have not got enough fuel cached to get by with.

Question? What is the general public going to do as soon as finding fuel supplies become difficult?

Answer, yes they are going to form huge queues at almost every petrol (gas) station they can, the rest of this tale you already know, huge queues, long waits, rationing, violence, riots, people getting killed for a gallon of fuel. The public will go berserk in next to no time at all.
(This scenario came 100% spot on accurate during the 2005 hurricane season in the US)

So what are the big boys and the prepared people doing?

What do the Railways (Railroads), Truckers, Maritime trade, leisure boats use as fuel? What do farmers choose as fuel for their tractors, ploughs, etc? What do the military choose to power their vehicles?

Diesel, Yes Diesel, This fuel is found almost everywhere a survivalist would choose to look. It’s safer to handle and store than petrol, it’s got a better shelf life untreated than petrol and it’s used to power most of our commerce.


Next time you are out and about take a look around and try to identify places you could ‘Source’ petrol (gas) and diesel. Petrol in general is only available at fuel stations and in other petrol powered vehicles (cars, lawn mowers and jet skis?).It’s only found in fairly small quantities as well. If you are lucky you will be able to fill your vehicle and a few jerry cans from a retail source before government restrictions or shortages become an issue.


But look at places you can find diesel in an emergency and in what quantities? Trucks alone have tanks that carry many hundreds of gallons of diesel, truck stops hold huge amounts in comparison to petrol stations. Look at your local railroad locomotive, even the smallest carry 1500 gallons of diesel whilst the mainline locos can carry as much as 6000 gallons.

Also in recent years modern diesel engines have advanced technologically, to a point that the power issues that traditionally separated diesel vehicles from petrol (gas) powered vehicles has been eroded. So that unless you are into sports cars a turbo diesel can and will match your gasoline powered car in everything except the 0-60 MPH stakes, plus modern diesels are still more economical than petrol engines.

Then of course when it comes to the reliability and vulnerability aspects of comparing the two types of engine diesel wins hands down.

I am also advised that certain types of heating oil can be used to run a diesel engine. Certainly after the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina you need to carry enough fuel to travel 3x the distance to your retreat, this allows for diversions and long periods of very slow driving in heavy traffic.

So in closing if you have a rural retreat or bug out plans and you believe that sourcing fuel is going to be a major issue common sense directs you to choose the good old compression ignition engine.






Inflatable kayaks and similar craft


A few preppers on various forums have chatted in general about using waterways for bugging out along and a few others have mentioned keeping a boat at home because they live in areas at risk from severe flooding.

Now it does not take a genius to realise that playing around on the water can be dangerous if not deadly for the unskilled and inexperienced people, and its out and out lethal if you normally take to the water if its surging in and inundating your street.
It could be pushing trees, cars, lumber, oil drums, and heaven knows what else under the surface just waiting to puncture your boat or tip you out.
There could be horrendous hidden currents just under the surface during the initial part of the deluge at least just waiting to tip you out of pull you under, so taking to the water during the initial stages of a flood is definitely not wise nor recommended unless the only other option remaining is drowning.

Most experienced boaters and water sports type agree that is most cases leaping into a boat during the initial part of a flood is suicidal and to be avoided at all costs if possible.
BUT using boats and kayaks as silent methods of bugging out along normal waterways like rivers, lakes and canals is very viable and often the best choice for some people, so at least it must be considered and debated by the prepper community.

Being terrified of water myself I think I will choose very deliberately to make the point of EVERYONE WEARS SUITABLE BOYANCY AIDS, properly selected and fitted, plus safety helmets in case you are tipped out.
You must put SAFETY absolutely first on this issue, flood water, rivers, canals, lakes and the sea does not give the foolish a second chance.
So bugging out by boat is and can be a very viable option for more than a few people and for most of us with finite storage space and limited funds I reckon inflatable kayaks with built in buoyancy chambers is worth looking at. I’ve posted a few links at the bottom of the page.

Escaping flood water.
OK so let us assume you have been caught out at home by a flood that has inundated your home which is located on a flood plain. (Over 60% of UK homes are built along ancient river courses and deltas, and plenty are located in the path of water from failed dams.)

A boat, kayak etc may be a prudent if risky investment if there is a likelihood that a flood could either totally cover your house ( bungalow dwellers beware) or the flow of the water could demolish your house both scenarios happened in both the UK and Holland during the winter storm in 1953/54. Hundreds of people drowned on the east coast of England and thousands drowned in Holland.

Victims not only drowned but some were crushed by debris, burnt by chemicals floating on the surface and died of hypothermia after being immersed in icy water for hours.

So using that as a historical warning and remembering that the UK govt has consistently failed to update many flood defences and failed to properly maintain even more we need to consider options for surviving a flood (You rather than me because if my house floods chances are you lot are already fish food, my house is 389 ft above sea level 12 miles from the coast. But taking in the lessons from Fukushima complacency is something I cannot really afford).

If you think you are at risk consider getting a boat or inflatable of some sort plus life jackets / buoyancy aids plus doing a course on basic boat handling skills.

Should you be caught out and forced to take to the water a few people I have spoken to suggest that trying to navigate your way through debris laden swirling flood water will probably be the quickest way to kill yourself, they suggest donning your wet weather gear, plus buoyancy aids and helmet, (don’t forget your Bug Out Bags)

Then getting into your boat if you absolutely must then try and tie up straight away in the lee of a solid tall object such as an office block, phone mast, etc, try not to be carried away by the flood water. By tying up in the lee of an object you reduce the risk (not entirely) of having a submerged tree of semi submerged piece of debris smashed your boat and possibly sinking it. Taking to the water MAY save your life but flood water in not your friend.

They also suggest that when and where possible you stay in a spot of calm water in the lee of a shelter for as long as possible because not only does debris laden sea / lake flood water rush in, but it also rushes back out carrying even more junk with it. (In the case of Tsunamis the surges can come and go many times over many long hours).

If and when things calm down and it appears to be safe enough to row or sail towards dry land or a big building above the water you must travel very carefully and slowly as you don’t want to puncture your hull or get tipped out by submerged objects from telegraph poles, street lights, trees, etc, slow but sure is the way to safety.

Getting boating lessons and taking regular practise is the best way of prepping, plus being familiar and skilled with your chosen craft is a must, you also need to know how to fix leaks and punctures and have the kit to do the repair with. You may need to find a safe method of cooking on your boat without burning a hole through it; you will need a good water filter like a Katadyn. You will need long quality mooring rope, waterproof flashlights etc. Speak to boating experts for advice not boat salesmen.

Boating to bug out of to reach safety is an option for those with the skills, but I suggest that it really needs to you develop EXPERT levels of skill and knowledge in boating.