My PSK

[MatthewnOK]

I keep my survival kit on a 4"x6"x2" belt pouch it contains the following: I also carry a tool logic survival card in my wallet with a flint rod, a knife, a compass, and a magnifying glass.
First Aid.
2 packets of Neosporin antibiotic cream.
2 medium, 1 large, 1 small adhesive bandages
2 knuckle bandages
1 2x2" non-adhesive gauze pad
1 4x6" adhesive gauze pad
1 large butterfly closure
1 small butterfly closure
a days dose of ibuprofen, Benadryl, and Immodium
Water/food.
1 quart Zip-lock bag
10 Katadyn Micropur tablets (Enough for 10 quarts
3 sq. ft of aluminum foil for a pot to boil in (has other uses)
A small fishing kit with 6 assorted hooks, 50 ft. of 30lb. test Spyderwire and a bobber.
Fire
A bic
the flint rod and mag. glass in my survival card.
Misc.
5 ft of 2 inch wide Duck tape.

a small sewing kit with:
1 small needle
1 large needle
2 strait pins
1 safety pin
Some really strong thread (breaks at almost 15 lbs.)
several assorted buttons

10 ft of 550 cord.
a 33 gallon trash bag
and a Inova X5 flashlight

I always carry my case stockman and a locking blade along with my Gerber Diesel and a Photon Microlight II on my keys.
The only thing I think I could use is more para-cord and duck tape. What do you think I should add/remove?

[endurance]

It's a good solid kit. The changes I suggest are personal and reflect my experience, climate, conditions and experience. Obvious your experience and conditions will impact your kit.

I agree, more cordage would be nice, ideally 25', but if it's real 7 strand 550 cord, you can always use the individual strands for light work. While the trash bag is a good multiple use item, I much prefer space bags because of their length and they tend to reflect more heat. On the otherhand, they make a lousy poncho compared to a trash bag, so I end up carrying a disposable poncho, too. A 55 gallon barrel liner might be the proper compromise worth considering.

I love the Photon II. That along with a knife and mag firestarter never leave my pockets, even in the city. I don't know what the other flashlight is, but it might be redundant with the photon. I've gone to carrying the small Doug Ritter headlamp and my Photon and I feel it's overkill.

I like safety pins, so I usually carry two large and two small. For me, they're also a first aid item, as I can make a good sling by just untucking a t-shirt, pulling it up over the elbow and forearm, and pinning it in place. It takes two large safety pins to do it properly, but it's smaller than a triangular bandage.

I prefer vasolined cotton balls in a film canister over carrying a bic. One strike with my mag firestarter and it's instant flame and burns for 5 minutes, which will start even damp tinder.

I like iodine tablets because they treat water quicker than the tasteless tablets. I've never found the taste all that bad and being able to drink the water in 20-30 minutes is important to me. If I'm using tablets, I'm already out of water and don't have 2-4 hours to wait. Of course that requires a full bottle of tablets, which does take up more space, but I usually carry at least a fanny pack, more often a camelbak.

If you have some leftover vicodan or percocet, they belong in your kit, not under your bathroom sink. Two years ago, while riding with a friend about two miles from the trailhead, she fell and gashed open her shin. Thankfully, someone had a percocet and it held her over for the 45 minute walk out, the 30 minute drive into town, and the one hour wait in the ER before she could be seen. While I'd never recommend using any form of pain killer for a joint injury because you risk further damage, with a severe cut or puncture, it's a real lifesaver.

Buy some surgi-strips (you can get them on e-bay). That's what they'll patch you up with in the ER with anyway and they're much better for larger cuts than butterfly bandages. Each pack has 8 strips which should close most cuts up to 2 inches. Obviously it won't replace stitches, but they're good to have around.

An oddball item I carry is 6-10' of surgical tubing. It can be used as a straw to get water out of a solar still built with your poncho or trash bag. It can be used to build a slingshot. But the most useful purpose I've found is to tow exhausted companions. I've used it once on my bike and while it's not strong enough (or maybe it is, but I don't trust it) to pull someone who's not pedaling uphill, it is plenty strong to make your weakest rider easily keep pace with the strongest rider. On level ground it will pull someone with a mechanical, too. Even hiking and running they will help lengthen the stride of a slower person and make it easier for them to keep a good pace without jerking someone around like cordage would. If rolled flat, 6' will roll to about a 1.75"x 3/8" disk. Longer than 6' is impossible to roll and keep flat in my experience.

[MatthewnOK]

I much prefer space bags because of their length and they tend to reflect more heat.

I tried the poncho and the space blanket neither one wood fit.

I don't know what the other flashlight is, but it might be redundant with the photon. I've gone to carrying the small Doug Ritter headlamp and my Photon and I feel it's overkill.

The inova is a small light about the size of three potable aqua vials stacked on top of each other. It weighs nothing and provides and bright beam of light up to 70 feet away.

I like iodine tablets because they treat water quicker than the tasteless tablets. I've never found the taste all that bad and being able to drink the water in 20-30 minutes is important to me. If I'm using tablets, I'm already out of water and don't have 2-4 hours to wait. Of course that requires a full bottle of tablets, which does take up more space, but I usually carry at least a fanny pack, more often a camelbak.

The thing about this pack is that it can be stepped on, dropped, and any number of things without worrying about breaking glass. The glass shards could damage important equipment. The thing about katadyn tabs are that they don't take the 4 hours. In 30 minutes it will kill all virii and bacteria and gyro. In that time it MAY not kill crypto but neither will iodine. Plus the little foil packs weigh much less and are smaller too.

I like safety pins, so I usually carry two large and two small. For me, they're also a first aid item, as I can make a good sling by just untucking a t-shirt, pulling it up over the elbow and forearm, and pinning it in place. It takes two large safety pins to do it properly, but it's smaller than a triangular bandage.

good idea.

I prefer vasolined cotton balls in a film canister over carrying a bic. One strike with my mag firestarter and it's instant flame and burns for 5 minutes, which will start even damp tinder.

Come to think of it i have room for both...

If you have some leftover vicodan or percocet, they belong in your kit,

have some left over for my apendectomy

Buy some surgi-strips (you can get them on e-bay). That's what they'll patch you up with in the ER with anyway and they're much better for larger cuts than butterfly bandages.

An oddball item I carry is 6-10' of surgical tubing.

I can get both of these from my uncle who's a DO

[endurance]

Well, you've got the right idea. Better to have a small kit that might be lacking one or two items than a big one you never have with you. You can always stick extra clothing and other items into a day or fanny pack if you feel the need for more kit. I'm trying to get down to just one minimal kit that I alway have with me, but I frequently end up just grabbing a pack so I can have more clothes, or water, or food... I'll have to look at the Katy tablets. I thought all but the iodine took forever and that's one reason I didn't go smaller. I bought a Steri-pen this year, but it's definitely too big for my smallest kits, but much smaller than my smallest pump.

[Stairman]

Ive been looking at the steripen.They do make a smaller version.Im not sure how rugged they are.I rarely buy items when they first hit the market.Theyll make changes for the better if it has flaws.Remember Betamax?

[endurance]

Of course that's always a risk with new technologies. I still plan on having tablets around as a back up plan, at least this first year, maybe always. I agree that there's things that can go wrong that you don't have to worry about with filters, like batteries dying, breaking the bulb, and having the bulb die. However, the speed at which it can treat crypto, the size, the weight, and the inability to clog give it advantages that filters don't have.

I remember camping along a tannin laden stream on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and cursing my MSR Waterworks. I'd get about a half pint filtered, it would clog, I'd have to disassemble it, clean it, reassemble and repeat. After five days of that I was ready to pitch the thing in the ocean. While the Steripen wouldn't clog like that, I also doubt drinking that water unfiltered would have tasted very good or been very good for me.

At the same time, if it comes down to whatever you're willing to carry into the backcountry every time, I might be more inclined to carry a steripen than a filter nine times out of ten. Weight and size-wise, it's more comparable to a couple bottles of iodine than any backpacking filter, which means I'm more likely to have it when I'm out riding. I don't see it as a replacement of filters so much as another tool in the quiver of a well prepared outdoorsman. I also know that if I'm going to Mexico for a week, no one in the restaurant will think I'm that strange if I stick a funny looking light into my water for a few seconds, but getting out your filter, now that will draw some strange looks.