One of my friends is running a contest over on the Zombie Squad Forums and asked if I was interested. I love contests, especially ones that put constrains on you that make you really work hard. For this contest you must create a Survival Nalgene Bottle on the cheap. I like both the limited space of the nalgene bottle and the cost restriction. This contest has the insane budget of everything has to be under $5 except the bottle and one item that may be $10. I figured I had enough gear laying around I could throw one together. I did and I am rather proud of the kit I made. Let me show you what I tossed together and tell you how you can enter this contest.
The Five C’s
I really like Dave Canterburys Five C’s of Survival. Whenever I making a kit I build it with those in mind. The Five C’s are as follows: Cutting tool, Cordage, Container, Combustion, and Cover.Those will help you survive in most situations, although it is the bare minimum and you will not be comfortable. The list extends into the 10 C’s for further survivalbility and comfort. I dip into the next ten for this kit but don’t focus on them. The ones I cover are Candling (kinda) Cloth and Cargo. I feel comfortable with those eight items.
The Items
For My Items I chose the following Items:
- 1 Red Nalgene Bottle
- 1 Nesting Cup
- Ducktape
- Paracord Bottle Sling
- 1 Drum Liner
- 1 Mora knife
- 2 Glow Sticks
- 1 Stuff sack
- 1 Mini Bic Lighter
- 1 Film Canister with Vaseline Soaked Cotton Balls
- 1 Gallon Sized ziplock bag
- 1 Bandana
- Folded Aluminum Foil
Uses
With the Nalgene I can carry everything and hold water. The Nesting cut can boil water, cook in or with the aluminum foil make char cloth. The bandana has an endless amount of uses. The paracord is used to carry everything but could be used to build a shelter, although for most cordage needs I would just the duck tape to avoid undoing the sling. The drum liner is used for Shelter either to be used as a bivy, tent, tarp or many other configurations. The bic is inside the ziplock bag to stay dry and will give me plenty of fires. Even if the butane ran out I would still have the flint to throw sparks. The stuff sack is used to carry stuff around. I could empty out the nalgene pack everything in the sack and hook it in my belt to free up the Nalgene for water. I like to use sacks to collect wild edibles to bring back to base camp. I included the glow sticks because I had them and unlike my flashlights, the glow sticks met the under $5 requirement. The ziplock bag has many more uses as well, It can hold water, be put on plant life to gather water through transpiration.
In this set up you can keep it around as a last ditch kit to keep you alive. With the items removed from the Nalgene and placed in the stuff sack it makes a nice light weight hiking kit. As soon as my ankle heals up I’ll be taking this kit out and testing it.
The Contest
So If you want to enter the contest head over the the thread here. If you are not a Zombie Squad member you will have to join the forum to post and enter. The prizes are still being determined however I will be tossing a Survivalpunk shirt into the pot for the winner.
I’ve seen a bunch of Survival Water Bottles for sale and they all look overpriced and under built. by putting your own together you have much better quality items. My only issue is how hard it is to get the stuff out. I guess if you need these items though it really is an emergency.
Do you have a Survival Water Bottle? Did you buy or build one? Whats in your kit? Are you going to enter the contest? Let me know in the comments!
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