Rethinking my ditch kit....

[yellowcanoe]

I am wondering just how to get a small pot in a ditch kit. I think of a ditch kit as something you wear. I figure cup can be made out of birchbark, foil and a couple of safety pins. I hate bras in the wilderness. But the heating vessel has me stymied!

Rob how do you wear the pot?

 

[Guest]

I really like that old time mug/billy can thing of yours OldieM. Where did you get it? My fanny pack/ditch kit is easily large enough for a mug sized thing, but I wonder if my kit will become overstuffed. (I’m still not going down that road.) Right now I’m considering an old aluminum 8oz drinking glass, into which I can store zip locked soup mix, hot chocolate or whatever

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Upon rethinking

Upon rethinking

So this thread motivated me to rethink my ditch kit. Here is the result:

-- Pre-thread: I have no ditch kit.

-- Rethinking

-- Post-thread: I still see no reason to have a ditch kit.

I interpret "ditch kit" to mean some sort of pack or container that I wear on my body. I see no reason for that for the type of paddling I do.

Do I carry first aid, rescue and survival gear in my canoe? Yes. Always. Even on day trips. Some of it is always on my person (PFD, pants or shirt), such as a PLB, a knife, one prescription medication, and usually a light and a lighter. The rest of the stuff is in my day pack.

The way I look at it is this:

1. I don't think it is very likely that I would get separated from my day pack in flatwater canoeing. That would require some sort of disaster scenario whereby I would get permanently separated from both my canoe and my day pack. I have never come close to that scenario. It's more likely to happen after an upset in whitewater or strong currents. So, I might shift more stuff onto my person if I were running a lot of whitewater or strong currents alone in the wilderness.

2. If the permanent separation disaster happens, regardless of whether I have a full ditch kit or not, I will use the PLB. I'm not going to try to survive alone and canoe-less in the woods even with the contents of a ditch kit, awaiting some unknown and probably unlikely rescue, unless I know I can walk back to civilization. Since I don't paddle in really remote wilderness, I would expect a PLB rescue to happen fairly quickly.

As to the contents of my rescue and survival gear, I have nothing significant to add to the thorough commentary already here.

 

[oldie moldy]

Well, Yellow Canoe, I kinda hate to say it but I've ditched the "Ditch Kit"! Several times now I've tried to reduce the emergence gear down to where I'd have some hope of being able to get it into something like a fanny pack. The resulting package was more a gesture rather than something I'd have any confidence in.
So I re-packaged what I wanted along into a day pack (my 42DD pack) (would a dairy farmer have a 42DDDD pack?) and will place the pack within reach in the canoe.
My canoeing isn't a patch on the kind of canoeing you do, for my sissy pants stuff I will probably will be able to rescue the canoe and go from there.
About the pot: What I was thinking was you could start pumping heat back into a really cold person by chugging down quantities of tea, bullion, coffee and just hot water. To do that I'm thinkn' it will require a real pot over the fire. It goes in the pack along with everything else.

Brad: That pot is a left over from when I did living history here (civil war era). It's called a "Mucket" the very old joke is that the thing doesn't know if it is a mug or a bucket. Mine is stainless steel as opposed to authentic soldered tin. The hard core guys look down their noses at s/s.
Mine is about twenty years old but I looked for them offered today:

fcsutler.com

crescentcitysutler.com

blockaderunner.com

Near as I can tell they all look OK, in fact it may be the same mucket offered in three different places. On mine there are places where food could become trapped and give you the trots (absolutely authentic by the way..) So I only use it for drinks like coffee or tea that rinses out nicely.

Best Wishes, Rob

 

[Seeker]

I am wondering just how to get a small pot in a ditch kit. I think of a ditch kit as something you wear. I figure cup can be made out of birchbark, foil and a couple of safety pins. I hate bras in the wilderness. But the heating vessel has me stymied!

Rob how do you wear the pot?

Get a "Trangia Mess Tin" (not the mess kit... that's entirely different), the kind with a folding handle. It will tuck into a SAW (squad automatic weapon, a light machine gun) ammo pouch, which can go on a 2" wide nylon belt. I actually found 2, sewed them together, and can carry a kit in the small of my back... the two belts make a pouch into which you can fit a 2' length of bowsaw blade. There is room left in the pouch for a USGI casualty blanket.

Pot/container
http://www.globalmilitarysupplies.co.uk/product_images/n/282/Trangier_Mess_Tin_ezr2__75849_std.jpg

SAW Ammo pouch
http://www.armygear.net/armygear/images/items/00812_lg.jpg

Casualty Blanket (NOT a space blanket... way thicker. can be used as a tarp. also comes in orange)
http://www.militaryuniformsupply.com/files/products/g/g-i-o-d-aluminized-casualty-blanket.jpg

 

[memaquay]

I'm with Glenn, no ditch kit for me. Belt knife and a couple of lighters on my person. Up here most of us have a small day pack that we call a "bullish@t bag", mine usually has a big tin cup, collapsible fishing rod and gear, water bottle, water filter, whatever I need to get to during the day. I always strap it on when i port the canoe, and it sits in front of me when I paddle. I've only had one bad trash out in rapids when solo, found out the most important thing to hold on to when that happens is the paddle. The canoe and gear eddied out faster than a whitewater pro, but the paddles went a fair distance. I usually keep that second paddle lightly secured to the canoe now with bungees, so that if I break a paddle in white water, I can still get at it quickly, but if I dump, it stays with the canoe. I've busted paddles about three times running rapids while tripping, and I've had it yanked out of my hands once or twice two with a bad pry, so that second one has to be ready to roll.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Rob - is that 3/8" poly? Where did yo get that pouch?

So this thread motivated me to rethink my ditch kit. Here is the result:

-- Pre-thread: I have no ditch kit.

Yes, you do, Glen. Knife, firestarter, PLB = ditch kit. If it's all you need, why carry more - but it's still a ditch kit. And you obviously have a plan for using it. Might not be enough ditch kit for some, but plenty for others.

Get a "Trangia Mess Tin" (not the mess kit... that's entirely different), the kind with a folding handle. It will tuck into a SAW (squad automatic weapon, a light machine gun) ammo pouch, which can go on a 2" wide nylon belt. I actually found 2, sewed them together, and can carry a kit in the small of my back... the two belts make a pouch into which you can fit a 2' length of bowsaw blade. There is room left in the pouch for a USGI casualty blanket.

Pot/container
http://www.globalmilitarysupplies.co.uk/product_images/n/282/Trangier_Mess_Tin_ezr2__75849_std.jpg

SAW Ammo pouch
http://www.armygear.net/armygear/images/items/00812_lg.jpg

Casualty Blanket (NOT a space blanket... way thicker. can be used as a tarp. also comes in orange)
http://www.militaryuniformsupply.com/files/products/g/g-i-o-d-aluminized-casualty-blanket.jpg

Thanks for that info, Seeker! I like the looks of that pot & pouch system. BTW - I used to see a cup (Sierra cup?) similar to that Trangiar pot in some outdoor stores. Always meant to get one, but never did. I think that pot may be more useful anyway....

 

[oldie moldy]

Steve, Near as I can remember the poly rope is 7/16" from the New England Rope Company. I think that for me that's as small as I could grip with cold wet hands pulling the canoe to the bank.
The pouch I sewed using my wonderful old Singer sewing machine. In my opinion that guy Singer deserves a free pass to heaven for inventing such a great machine. Maybe the guy who invented vice-grips too.
Best Wishes, Rob

 

[Odyssey]

Survival kit critique recommences......... Perhaps a rethink deja vu.
Everyone has an opinion (IMO) on what is necessary and what is useless in emergency preparations, and so does Les Stroud (aka Survivorman).
But what do you think? I agree with better quality items in our pockets and/or on our person...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

NB - L Stroud differentiates between survival kit and first aid kit.

 

[Canotrouge]

Survival kit critique recommences......... Perhaps a rethink deja vu.
Everyone has an opinion (IMO) on what is necessary and what is useless in emergency preparations, and so does Les Stroud (aka Survivorman).
But what do you think? I agree with better quality items in our pockets and/or on our person...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

NB - L Stroud differentiates between survival kit and first aid kit.

For paddling, I have in my pfd, a knife, fire starter stuff, extraction/pin kit, snacks... In my day dry bag, I have first aid kit, more food, more extraction components, a "proper" first aid kit, a saw, a repair kit.... I don't carry much on myself, and I also differentiate between survival and first aid and repair kit. I don't trip solo much or at all, so each member of the group is expected to have the same stuff I carry. All my gear is properly secured to the inside of the canoe cause up here on river trip and large lake if you capsize you'll never find your stuff again, but it is easy to stay with you boat!