Episode 10 – Winter Auto Survival Kit
With the winter months coming soon those of us in the parts of the US with actual seasons should prepare our autos for winter, one of those preparations should be a good Winter Auto Survival Kit. I have a comprehensive outline below in the post with a LOAD of links… I spent all night pulling links for this bad boy!
After the fold you will see the podcast and probably the longest blogpost ever…
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I have broken the following suggestions down into 6 categories (Prevention, Water, Food, Communication, and Tools)
NOTE Any Amazon links that you buy from will give me a tiny bit of advertising revenue, if you don’t like that feel free to purchase on your own. Also, I have not researched all these products individually, I just selected them as examples, so feel free to do your own research and local pricing.
Prevention
- Service your car! Have anti-freeze,, battery, tires (check the spare too!), jack, wipers, etc.
- Have a Map (Minimum) Rand McNally 2011 Road Atlas: United States, a GPS isn’t a bad choice either but a map is much more important. Garmin nüvi 265/265T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
- Have spare washer fluid
- GOOD Ice Scraper
- Spare Gas Can
Shelter / Heat
- [EDIT 12-20-2010] Just added another podcast for an Emergency Car Heater check it out!
- Have a Shelter kit with a good wool blanket such as Heavy Blanket
or even better OD Wool Blanket -US Army Style
, a tarp like Reinforced Rip-Stop Polyethylene Tarps
, and some cordage Rothco 550lb. Type III Paracord
.
- Emergency blankets are critical and very useful Emergency Thermal Blankets (4 Pack)
- Have a fire kit with matches, a lighter and a survival candle. Coghlans 9248 Emergency Survival Candle, 36
- Chemical hand warmers HotHands 2 Hand Warmers Up to 10 Hours of Heat
- Flashlight Super-Bright 9 LED Heavy-Duty Compact Aluminum and headlamp Streamlight 61052 Septor LED Headlamp
- 12 volt heater Roadpro 12V Heater and Fan with Swing-out
- Backpack JanSport Super G – Empower Classics Series
Water
- Have 1+ Gallons of water in STRONG (Gatorade) Jugs
- Keep a metal water bottle 3/4 full in the car Innate Fresco V2 29oz Stainless Steel Water Bottle
- Get some purification tablets Potable Aqua Water Purification Tablets
- Keep a bottle in your “briefcase”
Food
- Keep a 1-3 day supply of easy to consume / prepare food.
- Mainstay emergency rations require no cooking Mainstay 3600 Emergency Food Rations, 9 Bars
- Mountain House freeze dried backpacking food is easy if you have water available Mountain House Breakfast Course and Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food Pouches
- You might want something to cook / heat water in… CAMPING SET 1.5L ALUMINUM
- Keep some Aluminum Foil, it is versatile.
Communications
- You should have a cell phone (unless you are Amish)
- You should have something to charge that cell phone Etón American Red Cross CLIPRAY ARCCR100R_SNG USB Cell Phone Charger with Hand Crank LED Flashlight (Red)
- Perhaps a portable CB radio Midland 75-785 40-Channel CB Radio
or a HAM radio if you are licensed.
- Flares and LED beacons TerraLUX TLF-30 FlareStar30 Red LED Emergency Flare
Orion Safety Prod. 3153-08 Safety PlasTcap Flare
- Paper and Pencil, you might also want to try “Rite In Rain” products.
Good solid shovel, NOT PLASTIC! You could use a “GI Folding Shovel” like this or even better a good square nosed shovel Ames True Temper 1551800 Classic Square Point Shovel With 30-Inch D-Grip Wood Handle
- Booster Pack, I’ve mentioned this before, and it has lots of extra features. Wagan 400-Watt Power Dome EX Jumpstarter with Built-In Air Compressor
- Even if you have a battery jumpstarter have jumper cables as well, make them Good (8ga or better) and Long (10’+) Schumacher BC-1606 16′ 6-Gauge Orange Battery Booster Cable
- Tire Chains if needed in your area.
- Bag of sand or kitty litter or strips of wood for traction.
- A good First Aid Kit. Seriously a GOOD one. The following one will not get me any money, I just have one and it is excellent! http://www.practicaltrauma.com/respond.shtml
- I would not suggest using this stuff if you can avoid it, but it may be the difference between life and death, “Fix-A-Flat” and or equivalent product. Slime 60090 Large Tire Quick Spair – 20 oz
- An appropriately sized tow strap Keeper 02922 2
- A good Knife Wenger 16939 Commander Swiss Army 3-1/4-Inch Knife
or Frosts Carbon Clipper Utility Knife
- Compass Suunto A-10 Compass
- Duct Tape LePage’s Seal It Duct Tape, 1.88 Inch x 10 Yards (GLD21110)
and electrical tape Duck 667 3/4-Inch-by-66-Feet-by-0.007-Inch Vinyl Electrical Tape, Black
- Decent Tool Kit Apollo Precision Tools DT1241 95-Piece Mechanics Tool Kit
Further Hints
- If you are stuck in the snow and need to run your car for warmth CLEAR THE SNOW FROM AROUND YOUR TAILPIPE! You need to get those fumes away from the car.
- Use floor mats to help with traction.
- Only run car for a few minutes to warm car.
- Use Emergency Candle for heat.
“Zip the bag up and just massage it really good until the outside of the balls are covered in vaseline.”
Seriously dude.
HaHaHa! I guess I coulda phrased that better!
Before I started doing any of this stuff I got a AAA 102 pcs emergency roadside kit and threw it in my trunk. Just got it out and went over it piece by piece and it’s a pretty decent starting point for $40 if you don’t want to build your kit completely from scratch.
That does look like a good starting point as it does cover several $10 items. I would be wary of the “first aid” kit, as we will describe in the next episode. At least add a box of 3-4″ gauze pads and 2-3 rolls of gauze in there for traumatic injuries.
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[…] project, and since it involves fire it’s pretty fun too. It’s kind of an adjunct to Episode 10 the Winter Auto Survival […]