Stuff You Do Not Want to Need

 

Like a fair number of folks, I have always had a basic kit for each vehicle we owned. First aid, tools, flashlight, oil, water, blanket, chains, rope, jumper cables, maps, compass, road flares and fire starters.

Cleaning out my old truck and sedan and transferring the kits to the new vehicles, I checked the gear that had accumulated over nineteen years of ownership in the vehicles and trashed some, replaced some and added a few things to update the mix.

I found a few items that I envisioned if I needed them, things were not going well, but, better safe than screwed, so they were added to the kits.

celox51EfnhU8nSL fire41JhxZxwVuL life straw717f-So8y7L._SL1500_

bolt cutters81UJehvv42L._SL1500_power 71ZsxkU6qrL._SL1500_

The Celox is for that big gaping hole in someone where they are bleeding out. You pour this stuff in and it may keep them alive until the EMTs get there or you can get them to the ER. If you do not have it at home and in the car, take a look. Probably the best thing to come out of the Iraq wars.

I have had fire extinguishers in the car before, and they were not cheap and seemed to always have lost their charge when I checked them. The disposable one here is cheap, and according to Amazon lasts for years  and works as well as any small rechargeable unit.

The lifestraw is for that lost in the woods scenario, or stranded due to weather or zombie apocalypse. You can use it to drink pretty much anything that looks like water and be reasonably safe.

I have great boltcutters, in the big toolbox at home. The  few times I needed them was on the road confronted with some fallen  fence, rusted lock or what not. This folding pair fits in a small space and goes with you.

The powercell is one of the Red Headed Irish Wisecrackers favorites. The size of two card decks, it holds a charge for four months and will power your cell phone for days but also can jump start a car without the need to line up, string cables and what not. She has amazed the guys at the shop during the winter when she pulled this little gem out and got their cars started during twenty degree weather.

Any interesting new essentials you have in your travel kit?  Always looking for travel tested recommendations.

TKC1101

About TKC1101

Curmudgeon (Reserve Status), Corporate Refugee, Proud Grandfather, Small Business Advisor and Salvage, Heinlein American
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17 Responses to Stuff You Do Not Want to Need

  1. 10 Cents10 Cents says:

    I thought of buying the deck of cards battery starter. How long have you had it? Recent or over years?

    • TKC1101TKC1101 says:

      I have had one in each car for two years. Both have started other people’s cars. My jumper cables are nice and dry and unused.

  2. 10 Cents10 Cents says:

    Great post. I was just thinking I should be more prepared for trouble.

    • TKC1101TKC1101 says:

      I have carried one in each vehicle in the first aid kit for years. Given we travel together, two makes a bit more sense.

  3. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    Might I suggest you find your local survivalist or Army/Navy store and buy some battle wraps. They are small, light, packaged so they don’t go bad for a long time, and provide a great bandage for more serious wounds, a sling for arms, and help bind up broken limbs. There are Israeli battle wraps that are a bit bigger. Uniform of the day in the weeds was two battle wraps per man, generally worn in the elastic band around the cover to the helmet.

  4. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    Can’t tell. ?Is that fire extinguisher halon. I loved halon extinguishers. They were on all the race cars – at least until you couldn’t get a big one.

    • TKC1101TKC1101 says:

      here is an answer to that from amazon

      “Halotron is a more environmentally friendly form of Halon.Both are extremely expensive and the price of this alone would indicate that neither is being used. Both Halotron and Halon do indeed come in portable extinguishers
      By Taos Guy on May 3, 2017
      No. This model uses “potassium lactate,” as indicated on the can and on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) which may be searched for online (type “MSDS First Alert Tundra Fire Extinguisher” without the quotes, then look for a PDF (Acrobat) file; make sure it’s for the same mfr and model). Potassium Lactate (chemical symbol KC3 H5 O3) is a food additive. see less
      By Skaizun on January 6, 2017 “

  5. EThompson says:

    Pitchfork if you live in Florida and have run across a black racer and coral snake in one week. I don’t know what tool to buy for the 2 ft iguana I noticed crawling up my lantana tree today.

    Honestly… I don’t live in the Australian Outback.

    I’m just a ‘city girl’ looking to live in a non reptilian/amphibian environment! I have a koi pond that is starting to upset me because of the aggressive tree frogs that come out every night and start their very own Bud Light commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVcbasIb8lQ

    • MLHMLH says:

      “I don’t live in the Australian Outback”
      No, you live in the tropics. Well, close.

      In the Outback, I think, your worse problem would be flies.

      The iguana is a good critter

  6. EThompson says:

    Re: the frogs. Perhaps I should hire one of the Robertson brothers?

  7. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    Iguanas are veg eaters – not dangerous.

    ?Was that really a coral snake. King snakes look like corals but are non-venomous. Corals, OTOH are HIGHLY venomous. The ditty taught ED docs is: “Red on black, venom lack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow.”