Bug Out Boat Survival

Preparedness Brings Peace of Mind.-2-1

Of course, the ones that had their suspicions about him but still came around for his advice anyway seemed like they expected him to answer the door dressed in a ghillie suit or something just because it was a national emergency that they used to refer to as his fantasies with. This was his chance to go full tilt Doomsday Prepper, in their opinion, wasn’t it? They had scoffed a bit too much in his opinion at his suggestions of them doing some just basic preparedness measures for themselves previously. Often these were same ones that he had occasionally conversed with at a local watering hole and they were the ones after they found out he was a prepper that bedeviled his psyche by immediately wanting to get on the gun subject in conversations or say something like they supposed “he was getting ready for the end of the world right? Are you stocking up on ammo?” By definition he would explain that “prepping” generally means the preparing you do in advance of hard times, not after. This little subtlety most people have a hard time grasping- that is that preparing is best done before rather than after a serious event seemed to escape a lot of people Sam knew. They might talk about prepping for something not to happen again like running out of toilet paper and remind themselves to buy a little extra next go round at the grocery store to make sure they had stuff on hand next time they needed it, (usually to be purchased right before they actually needed more of it the day before a storm) but they did not seem to plan very well the other way around and get their supplies long before an event.

When he had first moved here from the city he had tried to get others into the preparedness lifestyle occasionally and in a small area like his became known as “one of them” and was amusedly but respectfully tolerated and taken into this country enclave as an eccentric part of the scenery the same as they all had their quirks as their odd relatives and the rest of the local yokels present.

Sam explained that preparedness is acquiring the knowledge, skills, supplies and strategies necessary to mitigate the negative consequences of an emergency. You didn’t need to experience a big emergency to find out you needed more of something like stocking up with extra toilet paper. A well stocked pantry wasn’t called prepping by your grandparents but they knew to do it to overcome lots of life’s emergencies. Not Doomsday Prepper Apocalyptic stuff. The emergencies he tried to get them to consider could be personal (illness or job loss), regional (national disaster, terrorist attack), or national/international (solar flare/EMP attack, economic crash).

Sam felt that it was important to point out that being prepared doesn’t prevent bad things from affecting you. It means you hope to be less affected by those bad things and prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

However when the grid went down, he wasn’t regarded as being quirky anymore at all, the message for the need to have been already prepared beforehand had gotten through and whatever Doomsday Prepper Hollywood notions they had of him as a survivalist with lots of guns and ammo and an itchy trigger finger, they could keep to themselves or believe in so long as the myth or fact kept them afraid of him and somewhat distant from his land if they happened to know where he lived.

The people that knew him best, (the people he actually cared to talk to occasionally on a regular basis) or the closest neighbors that knew of him a bit differently regardless of that bit of awe they had of him at first, that he had actually been prepared and had been preparing for a solar storm to take the grid down for a long time, all now flocked to his door to swear their allegiance in hopes of gaining some of the mythical food stores that they thought he had on hand.

Sam had some long term food stored around his small place, but not a lot and not near as much extra as he thought he needed for what he saw the future to be. He had on hand in his house and stored in a small metal shed in the yard about the equivalent of one years worth of food split two ways between him and Lori and then he had some more sundries to extend it further as his odd way of estimating provisions went.

He calculated that with his extra supplies that they could easily extend his one year individual supply into two separate personal one year supplies for them both no problem based upon their regular eating patterns. That was if everything in those No 10 cans remained consumable and fine like stored long term like it was supposed to. He had been buying long term storage foods for over 10 long years a little bit at a time and purchasing mostly freeze dried entrees and basics as his retirement plan in lieu of cash money savings because his limited income forced him to make some hard choices. The way he figured with prices going up on that stuff every year so sharply that it was smart having cans of food around as a life security measure and it beat having devalued dollars In the bank and he instead invested in his own personal retirement food bank. Sam figured to date he might even have gotten himself a nice 50% return or more on his investments in big cans of dried and dehydrated food when looking at the cost to replace what he had these days. He had seen a lot of it go from $20.00 a can to $50.00 per in a relatively short period of time.

Hell Sam was in his late fifties now and to his way of thinking before this disastrous event had even occurred considered strongly that he had a good investment in all that long term food storage as his personally controlled lifetime resource that he might have been possibly be needing to eat someday during hard times. Particularly what with the way social security was going insolvent etc. and the way his finances were sometimes the pits anyway etc. it made sense. He also had this collection of long term storage in his food bank in his hand and felt if you can’t touch it you don’t own it in regards to other investments such as paper retirement funds like stocks or bonds or anything else he couldn’t afford just made sense.

Sam planned not only for disasters but for old age as best he could and life in general with a homesteading preppers twist. Just like his decision to purchase that wonderful Tetra-POD Boat this type of planning had many applications in the here and now uses he felt enhanced his quality of life. The problem though was deciding what exactly deserved its own special cargo place on board the boat at the moment and why it should be stowed that had been his constant battle since the grid went down.

In trailer mode only, he could haul a year or so’s worth of food in it and on it no problem. Hell in Canada he had seen pictures of people hauling a whole big Moose on top of the trailers strapped on as an extra load. The trailer has a 27 cu. ft capacity w/2000 lbs. payload. However transformed into a 10’-10” Jon Boat (rated 3hp / 2persons) mode it is quite a different mathematical calculation and you can’t load that heavy and keep your waterline where you want. In boat mode it has plenty of capacity at a satisfying rating of 766lb. payload but you got to mind your P’s and Q’s on what you’re putting in it because the weight onboard adds up quickly. It’s the ultimate tool for any outdoor enthusiast to take what they need for an outing but Sam didn’t know a prepper out there that wouldn’t find themselves gleefully trying to overload that sturdy thing like it was some kind of a giant tackle box for a SHTF situation! It could certainly carry the kitchen sink if he wanted to but he was careful in his selections of gear and supplies.

A key advantage of bugging out by boat is the ability to predict and prepare for gathering food in the wilderness using the most sensible and effective manner available. A hobbyist fisherman prepares to catch a game fish or a meat fish by going after a particular species known to frequent a specific habitat chooses his selection of fishing gear almost religiously, you might say. The angler understands to a certain degree the target of the fish’s habits, diets, best fishing depth etc. and uses these traits when choosing their gear to maximize their success such as line weights, rod capabilities and hook sizes. A person fishing for bass primarily will have a different concentration of gear than someone that concentrates on catfish or panfish. A saltwater fisherman will have a different selection of rods reels; lures etc specifically suited to the environments and targeted sport fish they seek to take. It would be rare to find a prepper thinking about putting an entire tackle box into his bug out gear. The boat allows you to do this as well as practice with it. A survival fishing kit is not long term survival nor would I consider it application for practical or enjoyable recreation. Also if you were bugging out on foot and your primary destination was say a lake you would surely depend on and bring a real fishing rod and some tackle over some other things and not stake your life on your ability to cane pole fish with a survival kit. Try surf fishing with a survival fishing kit, not going to happen unless you have some serious survival fishing skills or the ability to get out on the water.

Your bug out plan starts with an assessment of the conditions you may be facing when the time comes to leave and when the time comes to settle in at your destination. If you are like most of people nowadays you live in an urban environment, therefore you will likely be looking at a hopelessly clogged transportation grid when you go to leave it. If the car doesn’t move you don’t move so you’re not going to be able to carry all your gear you got loaded in your vehicle. Do you have an alternate means of carrying gear like a collapsible hand truck maybe that could help you move your gear once you got to your destination or you could drag your gear off the road and cache it if you got lucky and stuck in a likely place. How about a bicycle, skateboard, wagon etc or like Sam and Lori had Adult NyceWheels scooters for compact alternative transportation? Most people don’t think that far outside the box. Sam and Lori each had a scooter in their personal vehicles in case they broke down and had no other means of transport.

Let’s say that you live in a large metropolitan area. If the SHTF occurred in a sudden fashion that had some drama to it like a dirty bomb goes off that was planted by a terrorist you can bet your two cents that everyone in town will get likeminded and have the same idea you do; get out of dodge fast.

The important difference between you as a prepper and the rest of them will be that you will have acquired some of the knowledge needed to bug in and wait it out or get yourself back home to your support group and plan your withdrawal from the city. But what you have to consider immediately is the same immediate problem that the masses have. How will you get through the grid lock and possibly panicked mobs to reach the relative safety of home or open country? Hopefully you will travel as fast as you can. If someone passes you as you trudge along with your pack with a scooter like Sam and Lori, bicycle whatever or for that matter a kayak, well then they will be first to the supplies that have not been claimed.

If like Sam you live in the eastern half of the country it wouldn’t be presumptuous at all to say that you probably have a large river near your home. That river will connect to other rivers and waterways that will make miles of liquid highways for those with the means to use it! Most people will never think of the water and will limit themselves to land travel. A small boat and good prior planning could allow many people to bypass all that turmoil on the roads and slip nearly unnoticed from the area.

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