The BOB ..........HAVE YOU....

[Wildthang]

I have been thinking about just adding another BOB, one for winter and one for summer. Here the winters are pretty harsh, and there are quite a few more things I would need in the winter as opposed to summer. Most of the common things are fairly cheap, and that way you are instantly ready for anyhting. Does anybody else do this?

[crashdive123]

My winter BOB has wool socks and flip flops. In the summer I lighten the load and remove the socks.

[BENESSE]

I have been thinking aabout just adding another BOB, one for winter and one for summer. Here the winters are pretty harsh, and there are quite a few more things I would need in the winter as opposed to summer. ost of the common things are fairly cheap, and that way you are instantly ready for anyhting. Does anybody else do this?

Here's how I've dealt with the issue.
I have my one big comprehensive BOB with light thin merino layers of clothing. Right next to the BOB is a space bag with heavier layers, socks & footwear which I can grab & fit in the BOB if I happen to bail in the cold months.

[Celticwarrior]

I keep a dry bag that can be either put into or attached to the outside of my full-sized BOB with a full range of winter gear inside (liner/base layer silks and polypro; heavier expedition-weight thermals, socks and gloves; woolen mittens, socks, balaclava, pants and sweater; Polartec 300 liner jacket and military-grade quilted poly liner pants.

I have a down vest and thermal-lined hooded parka, oversized lined Carhartt overalls, military leather-palmed mitten shells and wool-poly blend liners, a rabbit-fur lined flap-style Ushanka hat, fleece balaclava, 2000 gram Thinsulate lined -50 winter boots and Neos Thermal insulated Navigator -20 overboots that are always either on me or in my car during winter as well.

In summer, I keep it in my front door closet in easy reach and with the rest of my grab-and-go bags/gear. In winter, it is always in my trunk/back seat with my BOB. I always have a pair of winter-weight wool blankets in the car/truck too, just in case.

In northern Michigan in the heart of winter, you never want to have to think "Wow, I WISH I'd brought _______". You better have what you need, or they might be reporting about you on the evening news.

[backup1911]

I have been thinking about just adding another BOB, one for winter and one for summer. Here the winters are pretty harsh, and there are quite a few more things I would need in the winter as opposed to summer. Most of the common things are fairly cheap, and that way you are instantly ready for anyhting. Does anybody else do this?

Yes. Winters are pretty harsh here too so my winter BOB weighs about 15 pounds more than my warmer season one and quite a bit of the gear changes. For example my alcohol burning stove (trangia) in my summer BOB doesn't work that well when temps get much below 20. My winter bag has a poncho/poncho liner, two tarps, gortex bivvy, and an ultra lite 20 degree sleeping bag. My summer bag just has poncho/poncho liner, and 1 tarp.

Both bags have military gortex stormshell and pants set, but my winter bag also has a spare set of ecw thermal underwear, and a down underlayer jacket. Both bags have leather gloves and stocking cap, but my winter bag has two pairs of wool glove liners as well.

Enough gear changes that it just finally made sense to set up two packs. It's a bit expensive but for me I had enough extra gear that i didn't actually have to purchase to much to set up the second pack.

[Rick]

Is there anyone else in your family? It's fine to have a bag for you but have you considered them or if someone is traveling with you?

[backup1911]

Is there anyone else in your family? It's fine to have a bag for you but have you considered them or if someone is traveling with you?

Great question.

There could be up to 5 additional people (including my wife) that would connect and travel together if circumstances permitted. We've opted for each person to equip for and carry what they would need for their individual short term sustainment. We all carry our gear in our vehicles since we all go off to work in different places during most days. Any of us may need our own gear to either get to the meeting points, home, or wherever. We all have very similar kits with some variations due to personal preference, ability, etc. Most in the group are fairly new to the idea so we definitely are still a work in progress. But we do have a designated meeting location set up.

[techiedude]

I dont get it....BOB why...when do you ever see the time when you have to run into the house and grab this bag to have to BUg OUt. Really guys what are the circumstances that you would have to use the BUG OUT BAG.

[crashdive123]

I dont get it....BOB why...when do you ever see the time when you have to run into the house and grab this bag to have to BUg OUt. Really guys what are the circumstances that you would have to use the BUG OUT BAG.

I suppose it depends on what you envision a bug out bag being used for.

For me - it is for a very short term event. Is it the name of the bag that causes your question? Maybe if it were called a 72 hour kit? Here are a few scenarios that may be on people's list of reasons.

-- it's the middle of the night, you're in bed sleeping - you awake to a lot of commotion, and noise - you have to leave your home NOW and have no time to "pack" due to....
...gas leak in your neighborhood
...meth lab next door
...train derailment (complete with chlorine cars) nearby
...fire in the high rise you live in
...explosion at a bread plant nearby (flour dust is explosive - this happened to one neighbor hood here a few years back)
...wild fire
...tsunami warning

The list could go on and on and will widely vary from person to person depending on their location and the situation at hand.

[Rick]

I concur completely with Crash. If there is a cop at your door telling you to GET OUT NOW you won't have time to even think. Make certain back up meds and cash are either in or near your BOB as well as meds and food for babies and pets.

[Ken]

I suppose it depends on what you envision a bug out bag being used for.

The list could go on and on and will widely vary from person to person depending on their location and the situation at hand.

Ex-girlfriend calls. You let the call go to voicemail. You immediately check your voicemail and hear her say she's stopping by in 10 minutes.........

[hunter63]

....house/forest fire
....flood
....tornado
....earthquake
....Nuke plant leak
People live in all sorts of places, and have a vast number of dangers....and even if it's a power outage, helps to be prepared.

Don't get me wrong I'm a bug in kinda guy, but you never know.

[crashdive123]

I think that one of the things that causes confusion is that there are enough people out there that talk about a BOB as a means to running off to the woods and living off the land. Maybe it they lived in a remote forest location that would be the actual purpose, but most that have those plans ( I use the word plans very loosely) don't in fact have a plan other than a romantic notion about something they read on-line or saw in a movie. So much of this (IMO) misconception comes from the popularization of extreme web sites or shows. They may get clicks or sell tickets - they may even present a good idea or two if you can separate the wheat from the chaff, but they are often not based on reality or likely events.

@techiedude - let me ask this (hope I'm not confusing you with somebody else.....but that is entirely possible)..... How convenient would it have been for you (or the person that related the story) to have had a BOB in the corner of their office on what ever floor it was in the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001? Think how useful a BOB with the following items would have been...

rolls of quarters
$200 in small bills
flashlight
water
dust masks
eye protection
sneakers or hiking shoes
sweat pants
a few energy bars
small first aid kit

[backup1911]

Great stuff! This is the kind of stuff I was hoping to learn here. It's really cool to see peoples different prospectives and ideas about this stuff.

I'm thinking maybe I don't have my terminology right yet...give me a few more days in this forum and maybe I'll get it figured out..;-)

For me (and remember I'm only a "budding" survivalist if you will) I have several different kits, in various locations to accommodate for different types of situations.

What I call my "bug out pack" is my kit (backpack) that fulfills my romantic notion of some total societal collapse where I have to leave civilized and populated areas and travel through the back country to get to my "bug out location". I live in a fairly rural area and at any point in most any day of my life I'm no more than 5 miles from being in pretty sparsely populated country. A few more miles and I'm in really sparsely populated country. After that point I have the option of traveling the remaining 60 or so miles to my bug out location through high desert country with a few (and I mean a really few) scattered ranches and only a few paved roads. So this pack is equipped more with the "wilderness" survival mindset. The idea that I may be traveling through desert country, avoiding detection, and well...surviving. The basics...fire, shelter, water, food. For me, I have an advantage in the backcountry given my background and experience. So if society "collapses", I want to go where I will have an advantage, and the majority of the population will be at a disadvantage.

Now I realize the "bugging out to the wilderness" piece is probably a long shot and I'm much more likely to experience an emergency that is some degree short of total societal collapse.

However this BOB lives in my vehicle and also happens to contain the items (I think) that I would need to survive if my vehicle broke down in a snowstorm, or out in the desert or woods on one of my many hunting/hiking/exploring trips. It also gives me the option of throwing it on my back and hiking out of the back country again if my vehicle breaks down. Mind you I also have a lot of other stuff in my vehicle including jumper cables, tool kit, duffel bag of clothing, etc. My bug out pack could also serve as a "get home" pack as it's contents are also what I would likely need if I had to abandon my vehicle (roads blocked) and travel back to my home on foot. So while I call it my "bug out pack" it can facilitate several different functions.

But at home I also have what I call my "grab and go" bag. This contains stuff that could supplement a bug out to a wilderness location if I could travel by vehicle, but mainly has stuff I would need in the event I have to leave my home, and stay somewhere else in civilization where there is power, water, etc. This kit contains more things like extra credit cards, cash, changes of clothing, flash drive and hard copies of more documents, handgun with ammo, etc.

At home, I also have some preparations (food/water supply, alternative cooking/heating/lighting sources) for a dealing with a loss of power or some event where surviving in my home would be the best option.

And...even as I write this I'm considering other possibilities...Which is good, and exactly why I joined this group!

[Rick]

However this BOB lives in my vehicle and also happens to contain the items (I think) that I would need to survive if my vehicle broke down

That's actually pretty easy to confirm. Drive your vehicle out to the desert one week-end turn off the ignition and live out of your pack that week-end. Keep note of any items you needed but didn't have and also keep an eye on those things you have and didn't need. It won't take but a couple of those kinds of trips to have the pack set up for you with the items you will use and no dead weight from non-essential stuff. (Don't forget toilet paper!!). That way if something does happen, weather related or otherwise, you'll have the right gear with you.

[backup1911]

Good point... A vid from a trip a few weeks ago.

[backup1911]

I'm just starting to do some "test" trips. the vid is from one a few weekends ago. I'm planning another one next weekend. It's about 20 degrees colder now so we'll see how my gear fairs for me down below freezing...;-)

[xjosh40x]

BOB are a huge importance and I'm so shocked when I get strange looks from people when I talk about them. Even here we have a major Navy vessel building yard that a target for our nations enemies, I live in a town that has a half dozen pipelines and several fuel depot that could explode or anything. Anything could happen anywhere. Some advice to those on a budget or preparing several bags you can visit your local law enforcement agency, many offer classes, info and even free gear such as pepper spray, hand held tasers, extra. Your local fire department or EMS can offer first aid classes and medical supplies and often are free. Many first responders are peepers also and are eager to share info.

[1stimestar]

Time to move the winter gear into the new Pretty Princess from the old Rust Princess. I'll be cleaning her out for the last time this weekend and putting her up on Craig's List.

[hunter63]

Great stuff! This is the kind of stuff I was hoping to learn here. It's really cool to see peoples different prospectives and ideas about this stuff.

I'm thinking maybe I don't have my terminology right yet...give me a few more days in this forum and maybe I'll get it figured out..;-)

For me (and remember I'm only a "budding" survivalist if you will) I have several different kits, in various locations to accommodate for different types of situations.

What I call my "bug out pack" is my kit (backpack) that fulfills my romantic notion of some total societal collapse where I have to leave civilized and populated areas and travel through the back country to get to my "bug out location". I live in a fairly rural area and at any point in most any day of my life I'm no more than 5 miles from being in pretty sparsely populated country. A few more miles and I'm in really sparsely populated country. After that point I have the option of traveling the remaining 60 or so miles to my bug out location through high desert country with a few (and I mean a really few) scattered ranches and only a few paved roads. So this pack is equipped more with the "wilderness" survival mindset. The idea that I may be traveling through desert country, avoiding detection, and well...surviving. The basics...fire, shelter, water, food. For me, I have an advantage in the backcountry given my background and experience. So if society "collapses", I want to go where I will have an advantage, and the majority of the population will be at a disadvantage.

Now I realize the "bugging out to the wilderness" piece is probably a long shot and I'm much more likely to experience an emergency that is some degree short of total societal collapse.

However this BOB lives in my vehicle and also happens to contain the items (I think) that I would need to survive if my vehicle broke down in a snowstorm, or out in the desert or woods on one of my many hunting/hiking/exploring trips. It also gives me the option of throwing it on my back and hiking out of the back country again if my vehicle breaks down. Mind you I also have a lot of other stuff in my vehicle including jumper cables, tool kit, duffel bag of clothing, etc. My bug out pack could also serve as a "get home" pack as it's contents are also what I would likely need if I had to abandon my vehicle (roads blocked) and travel back to my home on foot. So while I call it my "bug out pack" it can facilitate several different functions.

But at home I also have what I call my "grab and go" bag. This contains stuff that could supplement a bug out to a wilderness location if I could travel by vehicle, but mainly has stuff I would need in the event I have to leave my home, and stay somewhere else in civilization where there is power, water, etc. This kit contains more things like extra credit cards, cash, changes of clothing, flash drive and hard copies of more documents, handgun with ammo, etc.

At home, I also have some preparations (food/water supply, alternative cooking/heating/lighting sources) for a dealing with a loss of power or some event where surviving in my home would be the best option.

And...even as I write this I'm considering other possibilities...Which is good, and exactly why I joined this group!

This kinda mirrors my view of things, build on the basics.
Nice post, and I would have to say as a "beginning prepper, you are headed in the right direction.

We, DW and I, have our BOL.....within a tank of fuel, (provided roads are open) pretty much outfitted for an extended stay with supplies in place....or we thought.
A couple of practice runs punched some holes in the plans, not major, but did require a re-supply .
72 hours/one week, piece of cake
Second week getting a little short on TP and fresh stuff.......and beer....nothing too serious, just inconvenient.......
Trial runs are good.