Re-doing my E-bag - Part 1

An E-bag, a.k.a. B.O.B, G.H.B, GTHOOD Bag, GTH Bag and many others, is a bag or pack that has enough materials and supplies to last you a minimum of 72 hours, to get you either out of your neck of the woods or BACK to your home where you can shelter in place during an emergency.

Before the transmission in my Suburban went out, I had a plastic footlocker in the back which I called the "Truck Box", which contained a portable 1 burner butane stove and 3 extra butane cylinders, over 5 lbs of raisins in small boxes and large, cans of Armor Canned Ham, cans of chili, Ramen Noodles both in the individual packets plus the cup style, a gallon of water in the 1 quart/liter bottle (the thick plastic kind not the thin crinkly ones that leak if yo look at them wrong).  A first aid kit, 3 cans of sterno fuel, a sterno stove, cooking utensils and pots/pans.  and other assorted implements of cookery and food preparation.

That box was all well and good for the many times at the range the kids and I stopped shooting, opened up the truck box and made ourselves something to eat before resuming shooting.

However.  For a disabled 49 year old man, with multiple spinal fusions and 6 further herniated and bulging spinal discs, torn ligaments in my knee and damage to my hip.  I can't CARRY the dang thing in an emergency if I have to.

When I've gone on trips, I've always packed up a quick E-bag to take with me in addition to my other luggage and stuff.

Now I'm slowly going through all the gear I have here at the house and putting together a bag that will ALWAYS be available.  Not something I unload at the end of a trip until next time.

First is the size pack I'm planning on using.

30L Assault ruck I already have one of these, however the boys and the dogs have messed it up pretty bad and destroyed many of the buckles and straps.  So I will get a new one.  I already know that I will have to replace the hip and sternum belts and their buckles with something sturdier, but the seamstress I use in town says she can do it just fine as long as I don't mind paying for the heavier needles and thread her machine will need.  My plan is basically replacing ALL of the buckles with heavier ones, and having her sew additional padding from a yoga mat into the shoulder straps and inside of the hip belt.

Then for water,  I already have 10 AquaMira filter Straws, so I'll add 2 of them plus my one of my Sawyer water filter's.  I got a good deal on the 3 packs of the Sawyer filters, so I bought 4 of them.  I will also add, just for triple redundancy, my chinese military water filter and spare filter/pre-filter.  I'm not finding the link for the pre-filters on E-bay, but you can make your own with some stainless steel window screen, a coffee filter, a prescription bottle and an aquarium airline jag fitting with some super glue or J.B. Weld, in about 6 minutes.  Add in some spare tubing from the aquarium section and you're good to go.

I'll also need a way to carry extra water so this Stansport 2 gallon water carrier will fit the bill.  I even have a small nylon string pack that it would fit in just right, making it easier to carry when it's full.  I've purchased a dozen of those style packs from a party supply website, but mine are all black.  By buying a dozen of them I got them for under $1.00 a piece.  Just do NOT overload them as the bags tear if you try to cram a weeks worth of wet dirty laundry in them, as my youngest daughter found out.  But I've carried a Spam Can of 9mm ammo in one easily.  My intention is to use it to hold/carry the 2 gallon water back so I don't tear up my fingers trying to carry the plain bag.

For cooking and eating I've got one of my Serbian mess kits with canteen, which will be attached to the waist belt after I get done modifying it.

For sleeping, I already have a "Sleeping Envelope", a Mylar "Sleeping Bag" and a Fleece Sleeping bag liner.  Those three are actually quite comfortable.  Put the fleece in the envelope and then put the both of them inside the mylar sleeping bag.  As long as I'm not sleeping directly on the ground, the bag keeps me quite comfortable.  To KEEP me off the ground I usually stuff leaves and other ground litter inside a 55 gallon heavy duty contractor trash bag.  Leaves, grass clipping etc.  Get it filled with about 4 inches of material, and even when it packs down from my weight, I'm still insulated.

My meds are kicking in right now, so I'm going to schedule this to post at 0400 and go to bed.

If you have any ideas or suggestion, please feel free to leave a comment.  I use comment moderation, so your comment won't make the front page until after I approve it.  But never fear, unless you are rude or trying to spam my comment section it will get posted.