Issue 3: Water in Your Vessel
Water in Your Vessel
Water is life! It has also been referred to as the elixir of life (and for good reason). Your body is comprised of 90% water, and it doesn't take much for you to start feeling its absence. Even mild dehydration will cause your body's function to suffer. Severe muscle cramps can cripple you physically, preventing you from achieving elementary tasks. More importantly, your mental faculties will suffer as well, reducing your ability to comprehend and even solve transparent problems. That's why water is vital, essential, mandatory, an UN-LEAVE-OUT-ABLE element of your car kit!
Since this is a 72hr emergency kit, forget about packing water for hygiene or other tasks; Baby wipes will come in handy for that. Your kit's water should be for drinking ONLY!
The easiest, quickest and simplest solution is a case of water from one of the box stores. 24 bottles = a little over 2 gallons of some high-quality H2O. You'll need one case per individual for 72hrs (i.e. 3 people = 3 cases of water).
*Side Note ‑ You should switch out the case every year or so, the longer the water sits in your car, the more it gets jostled, crushed or even sometimes punctured. The last thing you want is for your kit water in containers to break or even fail on you when you need it most. Plus, believe it or not… water has an expiration date as well!
Another solution to consider is to have a plastic Naglene bottle (Reference image below) or a Camelbak hydration bladder (Reference image below) with an inline filter to get rid of any microscopic crawlies that might give you the creeping awfuls. Understand that unless you are above the tree line in the high timberlands, never assume that a potential water supply is safe or potable to drink. Just a few sips of unsafe water can reward you with a crippling case of energy-sapping diarrhea, leaving you unable to continue your crusade, not to mention a bad case of dehydration.
Here's how we've quantified it ‑ In super-hot summers, it'd be wise to sacrifice trunk space for a case of water. If you happen to break-down in the middle of a city or a metropolitan district, the water will make the wait safer and more comfortable, Sure ‑ But, if you break down in NO-MAN'S-LAND, that case of water could be the difference between life & death!
If you decide to go with a filter in addition, we recommend any of the Katadyn series of small filters. Another awesome choice is the CamelBak "Groove" series of bottles that have their own inclusive filters. While there are other filters on the market, a lot of them don't perform as well.
So, in conclusion:
WATER…. A SURE THING LIKE DEATH & TAXES. BETTER GET SOME!
This wraps up our third issue on "Water in Your Vessel". Standby for next month's issue: Survival Snacking! Everyday above ground is another day in paradise…
My furry little paws are pretty tough, but the way I have seen some of you humans hopping around and screaming when you grab a hot pan, yours aren't. Maybe you should look at getting a good pair of gloves! I've heard a few humans discuss some manmade paw covers called Mechanix Wear, they seemed pretty happy about how they worked. Something about being useful for not only Tactical endeavors, but also changing tires and doing other dirty work. That sounds like a good deal to me, I guess that's what you get for not grooming yourself with your own tongue! These guys weren't fancy-rich either, so I imagine the gloves must be pretty affordable! Which means you'll have some extra monies to buy me some tuna as a finder's fee! Yowzers! That's all my wisdom for today folks, scratchya later!