by Ron Foster
When you think about it, the primary advantage of bugging out by boat is the consideration that a boat can get you places that can only be reached by other boats, so the act of taking to the water immediately separates you from the vast majority of people who do not have boats.
A bug out boat survival trailer outfit like Sam and Lori had was just the ticket for this sort of adventure. That foldable Pod of a Jon boat would be a real life-saver in this bug-out situation. Others may be retreating to a cabin in the hills but they will be living off the sea and exploring islands.
“Lori try to keep an eye out and watch for any V-shaped patterns on the surface of the water up ahead. This could give you an early warning of stumps, sandbars, branches or other objects that are under the surface and can damage our boat or cause some kind of an accident or injury.” Sam said manning the tiller.
They made the first mile with no problems; the river flowed steady deep and clean here. No other boats were to be seen, they weren’t too worried about a confrontation but if need be they could utilize their boats shallow draft to slip into shallow estuaries and creeks off the main river all the while carrying enough stuff to be self-sufficient for months if they just felt like it or they wanted to hide. These famous flat boats commonly called Jon Boats can be "launched and run in a mud puddle," as one skinny water forum recently put it.
The bays where Lori and Sam were going are, hands down, some of the best fishing destinations on the entire Gulf Coast. Estuaries are basically the nurseries of the ocean, where most fish start their life. This bays most valuable resource is the numerous finfish residing there. A shallow draft boat will get you back into the thousands of nutrient rich salt marsh incubators, spanning over hundreds of miles throughout the bay. These nurseries make it a veritable "Garden of Eden" for the 162 species of fish who reside there. For the most part you can only get to them in a skinny water boat. Bays offer the "Big 3," as they are affectionately known to Gulf coast anglers. This would be Redfish, Specks and Flounder. They are so popular due to their exceptional taste and how fun they are to catch. Flat bottomed boats are well suited for protected coastal waters because of their construction, in contrast to the open ocean. They are quite adept at all of the shallowest inshore tasks and can be called on for almost anything. The Tetra Pod boat was superbly engineered to fit Sam and Lori’s salt or freshwater lifestyle.
There is something like 70% of the U.S. population that lives within a few hours of navigable waterways. How many of them would try hooking up their boats and bugging out? Sam and Lori didn’t know, less than those trying to leave the city by car that was for sure. The majority of those that did get their boats in the water would now face new obstacles, mainly they would run out of gas fast and most would have no way of recharging their electric trolling motors. Their edge would soon dissipate and largely disappear.
The capability of recharging Sam’s boat trolling motor batteries with solar power was paramount to their ability to take this long trip to the Gulf. Jon boats are not made to be paddled. Sam had charged up his batteries and checked their voltage the day before with a set of folding 200 watt total Zamp solar panels.
Sam and Lori looked at a lot of companies before choosing Zamp Solar which is a U.S. based manufacturer that produces its own panels. This is a very key point most people do not understand when they invest in solar technology. All of their solar kits use the highest quality CLASS A Crystalline solar cells.
What that means is that when they grow the silicone crystals that make a solar panel they only use the center of the crystal. The top and bottom lower grade slices that are sawn off are sold to companies that manufacture lower grades of solar items or to China. That is why they offer the best guaranty and feature a 25-year power output warranty for rigid panels.
When you start with the best material like craftsman of old chose heart of pine to build the best homes to last, the quality remains evident over time.
Zamp Solar was the first to design and develop Portable RV Solar Kits that were powerful enough to charge single and multi-battery systems designed for RV’s, Campers and Travel Trailers. You can’t argue with knowledge like that and so many satisfied customers and dealerships.
When Sam was designing his system he had a question or two and called the company’s main office, the main office at the factory does not sell direct but they are happy to help you size your system and answer questions. One of the biggest things beyond the quality and price of the panels that sold Sam was the company’s dedication to producing products that last and providing unmatched customer service.
They were not the new cool soft ones but they more than served his purpose. Soft panels of this wattage would be something like 12 feet or more and would just not be suitable for his applications. Having this set of panels and the capabilities they gave him put him miles ahead of those who were dependant on regular electrical grid battery chargers for their trolling or starting motors. Sam even figured he had a scheme or two that might work and he could do a little barter business with his solar charging capability if he thought it through.
Figuring out how to charge his batteries while operating the boat was first a matter of figuring out how to brace the panels.
Various PVC configurations had been created mentally by Sam for the purpose but he had yet to put any of his ideas into practice physically. He conceived something like a Bimini cover above him so the panels could also block the sun some. This was something he needed to do once they got settled and he regretted he hadn’t got around to it before the grid collapse. He had purchased the various PVC elbow joints he thought he might need but no pipe yet. Well he probably could scavenge some PVC tubing easy enough and if nothing else he could bushcraft something out of lashed tree limbs he was sure. Meantime he had a viable solution done to get the task of solar charging his battery on the move.
The Tetra-Pod had substantial steel cargo tie down straps on the sides. Sam saw these as ideal points to secure his framework to. He had envisioned lots of different personal modifications to the boat that could incorporate these straps but he was still pondering and learning about its functionality as well as increasing his own personal boating knowledge.
Learning boating and seafaring skills as well as studying how to catch new species of saltwater fish and crustaceans had taken up a lot of his time watching YouTube Videos, checking out the internet etc. One thing he had learned was outfitting a boat to a specific or multiple tasks required much thought and every boat was different even if you started with the same bones. For instance he used those straps often times to secure his boat anchor.
(What Sam Had In Mind)
He had been constructing a removable wooden console for the middle of the boat to organize his gear. He slotted and mortised a grid to try to accommodate some of the items he wanted to carry so they would be handy when needed. During this process, Sam also was thinking of how he could currently deploy his Zamp solar panels in the most expeditious manner.
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He discerned that his center console he had been constructing fit over the hinged area of his Tetra Pod boat to accommodate his panels either folded or fully extended. This was his quick, easy solution to upgrading his boat to full solar power capability at this time. He could work on the rest of his plans for a Bimini-style setup to free up that space at a later time. It doesn't get any bigger or better when it comes to portable solar charging. This 200 Watt Zamp Solar Portable produces a mind blowing 11.43 Amps! Designed for the big boys, this system works great on large 2-4 battery systems.
The Tetra Pod trailer could be scaled up or down as a minimalist type of mobile retreat in tow or adding things like one chuck wagon style kitchen box and a pantry box for dry food for longer retreats.
With the addition of additional or foraged and trapped food and water re-supply, we could live out of our camp indefinitely. If Sam and Lori used it as a plain utility trailer loaded with supplies in tote boxes for getting the stuff to a BOL (Bug Out Location) more so
than anything else it could really haul a ton of goods. This off road/on road trailer might be the perfect mobile off grid bug out shelter and gear transport! Load it up with your emergency survival gear, food, water, add in some solar panels, get crazy maybe and add a mini wind turbine, and this trailer becomes an all-in-one solution for survival. Now park it near a stream and you have an indefinite supply of electricity and water.
Sam also run liked to run trot lines and jug lines and crawfish traps. He used it to hunt from usually ducks but he has been known to drift down a lazy flowing river flanked by hardwoods with mast crops sniping off a limit of squirrels. It is illegal in most states to hunt deer from a boat but you know what to do in a true survival situation.
“Hey Lori, sometime on this trip we need to do some drift jugging. That’s where you get you some plastic milk jugs and float with the current following them and then play hurry up and paddle or cut your engine on when you see them go under or take off. That usually means you have a big catfish on and it’s time to play chase. That Super Stick Pole we have has a slot in the duck foot on it made for retrieving duck decoy lines that is perfect for grabbing them.” Sam said looking forward to just doing some lazy drifting if they wanted to going with the flow until lunch or dinner decided to give them a thrill by taking the bait.
“You mean like the fixed ones we use on the lake but without the anchors?’ Lori asked?
“Yea it’s pretty much the same setup but sometimes if the current is strong you have to leash them together so they don’t get away from you.” Sam replied.
“Sounds like fun but I just soon keep pushing along towards the gulf.” Lori replied.
“I agree with you, we got to make a little time but I was probably going to have to end up doing that if we took the longer route by way of the Alabama River. Kind of a catch our dinner on the move sort of thing.”
When fishing free floating jugs, a fisherman will simply place jugs in the water that have hooks and lines attached to them, they have weights but are not anchored in place. The jug will then be free to move about in the water’s current. Since this method allows the jug to drift through a large area of water, this method is useful when a fisherman is uncertain of the location of the fish. This method is very simple to set up. However, since the jugs are free to drift across the lake, the jugs are easy to lose (especially if a fish is hooked) if a fisherman does not pay close attention to the jugs.
When fishing with fixed floating jugs, a fisherman will place the jug in one location and fix the jug to that location by one of the following of two ways. The first is by tying the jug to a branch, stump, or another fixed object on the water. The second way is by attaching large weights (approximately one to three pounds depending on the current in the water) to the bottom of the fishing line below the hook to keep the jug from moving. This method is particularly effective for catching large fish. Also, the jug will not become lost since it is fixed. However, since the jug is fixed, this now requires the fish to find the jug which is always an uncertainty
Course you can always catch something unexpected down here in the south but they are edible also.
If you don’t know how to land a snapping turtle or a loggerhead and keep your body appendages don’t mess with them. Cut your line, the hook will rust out quickly. They also are a pain to clean if you don’t know what you are doing but turtle soup is a delicacy around here.
9
WATER WEALTH
Sam described the scenario they would most likely see when they got to the touristy spots with all the condos and hotels along the beaches in Florida. Anywhere freshwater wasn’t obtainable, people would have mostly moved away from the area long before they died of thirst. Many people would be within commute distance to fresh water and therefore would remain until starvation required them to make decisions that soon require them to go or stay depending on limited resources. The giant abandoned condo canyons would be empty of life mostly as the vacationing owners had long since left for home or had been trapped in their main residences in other states. The retiree nature of many of the normal inhabitants would indicate that a higher and quicker death toll would hit the housing communities at higher rates due to lack of medical assistance, prescription drugs, heat strokes and general reduced physical stamina and ability to forage effectively.
A simple method of distillation such as the one shown would have saved many lives.
The area has its fair share of homeless people; some of them will have a hey-day now because they are resourceful. They also started out as the most vulnerable so their ranks are pretty well thinned. This is not a gang oriented town or culture like further north in Tallahassee to worry about these elements much. Like any coastal town, you have some tough breeds of men and women but not so vicious and used to community interaction.
Plenty of sportsman and plenty of rich people abound usually means plenty of guns. Not so much here, lot of retirees, lot of food and entertainment workers (most live on other side of bridge or band together to rent) depending on the time of year say in the winter time the area is a ghost town except for those businesses staying open for the tourist trade from the “Snow Birds” from Canada and a New Yorker or two.
The area is made to be seasonal and shut down, place also shuts down and boards up for hurricanes. People are used to evacuating and used to taking awhile to recover. Most people these days don’t understand or have the equipment to make sea water potable in quantity.
Sam knew many ways to distill water in a survival situation using common items but had availed himself with a permanent solution in a Survival Still. This patented technology was the only water purification and desalination solution Sam knew of that would never wear out. When you have to depend on something with your life and for the rest of your life, you want something that is damn near bomb proof and no weird parts or filter replacements going on. Simply put, you wanted something kind of like an axe as Sam was wont to say “I never had an axe fail to start” solid as rock dependable.
Well he had one, an emergency drinking water system so effective that you can even turn ocean water into high-purity drinking water, forever! With the Survival Still, Sam and Lori would be completely water-independent in an emergency situation for as long as needed. Safe drinking water – it’s a fundamental need. They had the ability to produce pure water for weeks, months, or even years. Sam bet it could be used for generations with hardly more than cleaning it out. The Survival Still was indispensable to him; living on the coast would make it the most important thing that they owned in all their preparedness supplies. For an old prepper like Sam to make that claim and value it so highly meant it could be used for more than one purpose.
Not only could they make bay and seawater drinkable it could also …
• Provides the highest degree of protection from the widest range of possible contaminants, including biological contaminants, toxic metals, radioactive contaminants and petrochemicals.
• KILLS AND REMOVES bacteria, viruses and parasites, FOREVER!
http://survivalstill.com
During checkout use the coupon code: foster
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Now Sam had saved up for this item to add to his preps instead of having to rely on less efficient or less sanitary methods because he could get predictable results every time. Water is not something you want to play around with or worry about in a disaster. Those cheapie straw filter type water filtration units will not remove near as much as this method and with raw sewage, petrochemicals and who knows what going into the ocean or river. It was best to only depend on this type of device .Even the more expensive water purification units were no match for it. It gave Sam the means to keep his family healthy and safe in an emergency and it had no filters or seals to replace.
It gave Sam the means to help other people and be a good neighbor and it also gave him the means to be a water seller or barterer should the opportunity or need arise. It’s not farfetched at all in a grid down situation where water
is scarce not to see its value or as a means of exchange.
No I don’t mean big quantities like a Chinese street vendor selling to a business.
Or traditional mostly touristy sellers we have in the world still.
Water-sellers in Marrakech, Morocco. (Cossa Bruno) Festooned in brassware and looking somewhat like displaced mariachis, the Berber hawkers traditionally fetch water from distant cisterns on the outskirts of the city and dispense it to visitors in tiny cupfuls from a goatskin bladder. Even when flavored with mint or lemon, the water always tasted rather of goat, but to fierce Tuaregs and thirsty Sahrawis just arrived from the desert and to the gentle folk of the Sus, in town to trade in the souk, the eau de chèvre went down like chilled Bollinger.
People have been individually selling water for years to the public. Do you really have to ask yourself why?