by Ron Foster
“How much gas have you got left in your van?” Lori asked
“A little under a quarter of a tank, how about you?” Sam asked.
“About the same, how much gas are we going to try to take for the outboard?” Lori asked thinking Sam said they were only going to take the 5 gallon jerry can they had discussed.
“I have been pondering on that some, hell I am sort of tempted in a way to leave the outboard and the Jerry can here stashed in the van and carry more food with us but I am trying to be sensible about it and study all my options. On the one hand the capabilities of bringing the outboard mean we get where we are going quicker and can maybe evade danger faster. We will also need it if we plan on going to some places on the gulf in deeper water and probably will be able to scrounge some gas eventually. On the other hand its noisy and even though Honda makes the lightest most fuel efficient one made by anyone for that size boat a bucket of rice or beans and the equivalent weight of 5 gallons of gas and a steel Army surplus container versus a plastic tote full of canned goods and a super pail of something sounds more practical in guaranteed meals. I know I told you we could cache some supplies somewhere around here to return for someday but to be honest with you I doubt we will ever be coming back.” Sam said letting his last statement sink in as he noticed Lori flinch at the thought of leaving yet more gear and survival supplies behind permanently and with no chance for replacements.
“I thought you said any loss of our food stores was not a major worry for you because our chances of living off the land and sea were greatly increased by taking this trip? Wouldn’t the loss of an engine and fuel create its own loss of opportunities or hardships?” Lori said thinking that if food could be more easily replaced than a boat engine then it seemed logical to her to keep the boat engine and gas and lose some food.
“Well I agree with you and I might have us an alternate solution rather than leaving a bunch more stuff but I was just pondering values of things. There is a lot to consider here. The manufacturer lists the boat at “Rated for 2 persons, 3HP, 766 lb. payload” as I discussed with you before the weight limits of what we can float versus what that trailer can carry are quite different. In trailer mode I can load that thing to the gills. That axle on the trailer is rated at 2200 pounds, it is super strong. I could have hauled with us a lot more stuff than we got with us now but what would I do it with it once we had to leave land and cast off? Ideally, I would have loaded that thing almost to the max and we would have parked close to a boat ramp and been living the life of Riley with a hell of a lot more stuff than we brought if it was safe to camp out around here and just use up supplies. Remember we agreed that if the “boat don’t float it, we don’t need it and it ain’t going?” Sam said before he regretted saying it because both vans were loaded down with crap they had refused to leave behind mostly because they had the luxury of an extra day to load them and it was leave it there or leave it here and try to conceal the vans in an out of the way place not far from the boat ramp. Thank the Lord that even though the Tetra-POD Boat? Bug Out Trailer? Had remained pretty much loaded with its own already decided upon gear to leave at a moment’s notice if need be, it hadn’t lost its Prepper capabilities in basic marine long-term survival expeditionary based load out gear. This load wasn’t all that different from their normal camping gear and 72 hour kits that always stayed in it except for a lot more food, guns, ammo, etc.
Sam had studied the small crafts layout and carrying capacity like a naval quartermaster outfitting for the beaches of Normandy with a Coast Guard commander looking over his shoulder to certify the safety stickers on the life vests and ask tons of logistic questions. That dang boat had been measured for load placement, displacement, propulsion methods, passenger spacing, rigging, unrigging, etc. so many times by Sam in his ponderings and contemplations as well as physically, it should have been a science by now. Yet he hadn’t really set his mind to a situation like this where you got a wealth of preps and had to choose to take one thing over another. He had enormous experience thinking about and telling others like so many of his Prepper brethren did of what could be needed or might be needed under some obscure or not so obscure conditions but he still questioned his judgments. No, this was different now, it wasn’t stupid writing or postings of what should be or could be put into a bug out bag let alone a bug out boat. He remembered some of the pictures of bigger island hopping craft he would slobber over which carried more gear on board for ideas and suggestions. Creating load out lists and bug out bags as well as examining other peoples were some of the finer days of being a newbie prepper. After a while you figure out you don’t need as much stuff as you thought and found out real quick there is no way you can carry a lot of what you might want.
Sam had seen it, done it, been there, he looked fondly back at the times he had participated in the preparedness forums and still smiled when he heard a new prepper publish an article gushing about the same stuff we all did on the road to prepperdom and beyond as we tried to convey the preparedness message to others. We found a community of like minded people and joined this miraculous movement that was going on worldwide like a calling from the cosmos for preparedness awareness. Yes, folks do just wake up one day and out of the blue say let’s get ready for me and the people I love to survive because they have an inner or gut feeling that something worse than all the bad news on they see on TV is coming although the news itself should be enough and start studying how to better prepare. It starts with individual survival first though. Call it the music of the spheres or what you will but millions and millions of people listen to the same notes. History recalls many people from Noah on down who feel an almost religious calling to prepare for an event predicted by scripture or otherwise but preppers “smell the woods” as it were and their primal instincts kick in to notice what they need to find out about to get by in that environment. As the interest grows in survival under all kinds of circumstances, so does the idea of self surviving under conditions never before considered and the rabbit hole to explore goes deeper.
For some, this circumspection shows fears we never thought we had or things we can’t bear to hardly contemplate. That’s the difference in a “Prepper” vs. “Survivalist” vs. “Homesteader”, etc. and your average guy or girl that may or may not do at least some preparations of making a 72 hr kit when they are living on the hurricane prone Gulf Coast.
“What kind of idea do you have in mind for carrying the extra food and such? Are you going to try rigging something with those plastic barrels we brought?” Lori asked referring to the empty water barrels Sam had strapped on top of his van. The plastic drums had been an afterthought when they had begun discussing leaving stuff in vans and hoping it wouldn’t be discovered by would be thieves or needy survivors foraging for supplies.
The barrels could be used for burying and caching supplies as well as floatation, if Sam decided to use them for that. Sam had considered lots of possibilities on the way down here for towing extra supplies behind the boat. One of which was a hunting sled of the type used by duck hunters to carry decoys as well as gear on land and water.
The problem with these things was that no one put a flotation weight on what they could actually carry on the water. Sam had one that he fit over the removable luggage or gear rack on top of his Tetra Pod to move camping gear around with as well as he occasionally used it in his gardening chores to occasionally drag stuff around with.
He had also figured out it could fit in his deer cart carrier to do a multitude of tasks. He had even figured out how much bug out gear he could get on that thing if say he unloaded his van and moved way back in the woods. That extra capability was certainly a big consideration.
Sam certainly liked having it on his cargo rack because he could hide fuel cans under it etc, but it also made for a handy way of dragging a lot of weight over sandy beaches, mud flats, leaf covered trails, etc.
Sam figured if it didn’t float with as much as he wanted it to he could add the barrels to turn it int
o a raft if need be and get the task accomplished but he wouldn’t know until he tried just the sled out for flotation capabilities. In pondering this problem he came up with several ideas.
A prepper will take the speculations of a disaster to the inth degree well past the “what if” scenarios some people consider when buying a few extra cans of food and storing some water. Seasoned preppers are known to oftentimes regale in all sorts of fanciful as well as realistic scenarios where they would be the hero if they just had XYZ kind of prep to save the day. Sam learned a long time ago he would be better off though repurposing and reusing things rather than purchasing more stuff.
Stuff happens, deal with it. Just owning junk wont influence things that much. Oh hell I don’t have this? Figure out how to smile and get around it. Can’t do that? Deal with it, chip away at the problem to lessen the impact, look at other options, change your playmates and playgrounds, overcome it and be a better person by being good to yourself. A more pleasant person will attract like minded others to help with the task.
Sam was of this mind bent. He considered himself a lucky man to have lost or gained more than most and followed an old Prepper that he had met once sage advice regarding prepping. The man had said “Be prepared to lose everything but Your Mind” Wise man that author was because once Sam started thinking like that his outlook on prepping and life in general took on a new sparkly twist and his finances improved a bit. ‘Possum Prepping’ the man had called it. Today however he had the capability as well as the mind to save as much of his stuff as he could and told Lori his plans.
Well we talked about using that hunting sled as a tow behind boat barge thing but I believe we can go one step better. Now this is going to sound crazy but believe me it should work. We are going to take that whole steel Tetra Pod trailer with us! Think about it for a moment, the tires on it are buoyant, slap a few barrels on it and put that sled thing on it and it will float like cork!” Sam said smiling. He could easily maneuver the thing around with a trailer dolly he had brought along.
Lori didn’t think the idea was crazy at all and wondered why they hadn’t thought of it before. As long as they were careful loading it and made sure the barrels were well secured under the frame it would be cumbersome but it would float. They were very thankful that the trailer tongue telescoped and made the package much smaller than a regular long boat trailer but Sam commented it would probably be like sailing a chest freezer behind the boat.
After they got the Tetra Pod boat launched they pulled the trailer out of the water and set about quickly strapping the barrels onto it and added some rope lashings for security. Next came the job of hurry up and load the thing and be on their way.
He first asked himself of course the question of what do I have and what’s the most valuable to me as a solution to my survival as all preppers do when evaluating their preps. This age old question of survival if I only had one thing like a knife or a fire starter plagues all survivalists at one time or another but the answer is simple as the statement that old southerner said to him one hot humid day. “Be prepared to Lose Everything but Your Mind”
Why what that man was telling you was beyond naked and afraid, if at any time you want to think about prepping and buying some crap, instead think about ways you could get by without it. This philosophy will save your mind and pocket book as you research more in skills that you can carry in your head vs. depend on bank balances you carry on your back. The one thing all preppers agree with or should by now is that the survival mindset of an individual determines whether or not they will make it regardless of gear.
If you know how to make something out of nothing, its loss or lack of acquisition will not affect your clear thinking. The idea is to teach yourself that you’re comfortable in your skills and mindset that if the unfortunate happened leaving you with just your wits you are prepared for that. Isn’t that ultimate survival? Sure it is, put the credit cards away for now and go learn something useful or use prepper fiction to expand the brain cells like you are now.
When Sam contemplated these statements he began to look at his boat not as just an ark but something he could mindfully create by taking things away from it mentally before adding to its load physically. If for example he pretended this was as restricted as a flight to the moon where every ounce mattered there were several things he could pare down in his gear as nice to have or not that essential. This is the same philosophy most people need to do with their bug out bags they plan to strand themselves out in the woods with. Its weight, it doesn’t matter that you have a use for it when you get somewhere if it’s going to kill you carrying it there.
7
HANGING IN THE BREEZE
“Ah finally!” Lori said as she pointed ahead and advised Sam that a beach area was up ahead and was big enough to pull the boat up on the bank and let them camp for the night.
“It’s about time; first we see all kinds of nice camping spots, then nothing for the last 6 miles or so. I was getting worried about what we were going to do before nightfall if something didn’t come up quick!” Sam replied cutting his trolling motor and deploying his Super Stick to anchor themselves as he observed their landing point for any apparent dangers.
As he stood there loosely holding the pole, Lori looked at the bottom of the river heading in for any rocks or submerged tree limbs they needed to worry about.
Sam had evaluated his and Lori’s chances of not only surviving but quality of life they would be living in a number of scenarios. They had their big tent with them but they knew lots of time when you were river camping there were no suitable ground campsites nearby. Because our hammocks do not require a flat spot, finding a site becomes much easier. You never know what kind of beach you'll be landing on that night because shorelines are often steep and rocky and sometimes covered with dense underbrush. With Hennessy Hammocks, it's very simple to tie off to two trees above this dense ground cover with minimal damage to the local environment. In a variety of regions a hammock would also provide shelter above ground that is muddy or swampy.
Lots of times you just need to clear some brush out under your hammock to have a good place to hang. Lots easier than clearing a campsite for a tent. Sam had seen the work horse machete of Asia called a Barong many times. It was used by indigenous peoples both as traditional weapon as well as a sugar cane cutting blade and a tool for building houses etc. Sam was looking for such a tool as exactly what he wanted to depend on for river and coastal camping. Axes don’t cut vines and bushes very well and regular machetes don’t usually have the thickness of blade needed to cut the hardwood poles he needed for shelter or an emergency replacement pole for a Super Stick Duck Foot to propel the boat. Machetes in Sam’s opinion just don’t have enough meat in the blade to make cutting large tree limbs an easy chore if they ran into a snag blocking their passage on the river or to use as a draw knife to make an oar or a bushcraft bow and arrow and other functions he thought might be needed.
Sam found the perfect solution in his opinion for clearing tough tall grass, harvesting palmettos, cutting cane poles and firewood gathering chores. It was a 14 inch blade from Schrade that was beefy as well as razor sharp. One of the features Sam really liked was that it could be slung over his back when he was sitting in the boat ready for use if he knew they were in an area where tree limbs and brush might block their way in narrow creeks and rivers. It was also handy to just pick up and sling on his back when going ashore to make camp or leave camp to collect firewood, it was a great bush craft tool well suited to many tasks.
Schrade Bolo Machete Full Tang Fixed Blade, Titanium Finish 3Cr13 Stainless Steel Blade, Ergonomic Safe-T-Grip Handle with Lanyard Hole, Shoulder Carry Sheath with Removable Storage Pouch, Extra Large Ferro Rod and Sharpening Stone
Its blade style is very similar to the traditional weapon of certain tribes in the Philippines, the barong was feared by its forward-weighted construction makes it the perfect tool for chopping and batoning wood,
the barong machete
is used in the forms of martial arts known as Kali, Eskrima, or Silat, all of which originate from the Philippines. Sam liked it not because of its warlike effectiveness, he liked it was resistant to rust and since this blade would get lots of hard use the included diamond sharpening stone was a huge plus. Good stones like this cost more than $20.00 and when you also added the big fire steel they provide with the package it was a great value for a time proven chopper.
The ergonomic curve of the non slip safety handle and the big belly of the blade afford several grips that make it easy to really take a bite out of wood. This is a heavy blade it weighs in at over a solid pound and half, it’s made for serious chopping not fighting, but it is finely honed and it comes paper slicing sharp right from the factory and the steel has good edge retention. It’s a wicked blade that uses its weight to get a task done with the least effort of the operator. What primary blade would you pack in your bag for performing heavier tasks like trailblazing, building a shelter, or basic bushcrafting? A large survival knife, a small or large hand axe, maybe a Kukri or a machete? A small handsaw is used by many Kayakers but try getting rid of ankle deep grass or reeds with that. Since no one tool can be the best at everything, what feature or function is most important to you? This will clear the brush in a short minute under a hammock and cut you a pole for your Jon boat propulsion or as a pokey stick with just a whack or two!