A place for me to review the various rugged, nifty and needful kit that I've accumulated, for every-day preparedness in the event of accident, disaster or world-shifting end-times Apocalypse, be it zombies, triffids or Mayan divide-by-zero errors.
So, it takes something a little different to catch my eye in new hammock design. The kind of design seen in the Treeo. You may remember I did a Wish-lust piece on the Treeo a while back, well, it finally arrived and I eventually got around to testing it out. Designed with the outdoors in mind, the designers wanted to create a product that could be utilized by anyone, anywhere:
Easy set-up made easier with extra hands
From the avid adventure seeker to the family who spends summer nights at the park, the simplified design can be taken full advantage of with it's 3-in-1 capabilities. From hammock to ground sheet to rain fly within seconds (minutes, realistically), the Treeo is like the Swiss Army Knife of hammocks.
The real magic behind the Treeo is the Quick Draw Cord System found at either end (inspired by the simple draw-string backpack). By pulling the cords tight on each end, it creates the hammock function which then attaches to the tree strap and carabiner. The heavy Blaze Orange paracord of the draw-cord adds other slinging options too, depending on the space you have at hand.
By slinging the guy lines up high you can hang the Treeo above your encampment to provide shade from the sun or shelter from rain. And finally, by pulling the cords apart and staking each corner down, the Treeo can be used as a beach blanket or ground cloth. Made from Ripstop Nylon Material known for being lightweight, durable, and waterproof thanks to its PU 2000 coating. It features triple-stitched & taped seams preventing any rips or tears. The heavy paracord style drawstrings are made from single length of looped to enable it to be tightened from both corners of each end simultaneously.
accessories in a zippered side pocket
Doing so gathers up the corners and the short edges 213cm (7') to bundle into a hammock. The generous 274cm (9') long edge makes for a large hammock. The drawstrings then becomes part of the suspension rig. The double thickness 198cm (6.5') webbing 6.5' tree straps are wide enough to be grippy to tree-bark without being bulky. They feature 8 loops sewn in at the working end with heavy bartacking to make very stiff and secure points to feed the included carabiners.
bomb-proof webbing loops for optimal hang adjustment
The webbing has a triple line of bright green trace threads run through it which helps identify twists in the webbing when setting it up. Twists in webbing reduce the stability of the loop against the surface it is holding onto and reduce the overall strength of the webbing to support the load (you). The webbing also has a eye-loop at end of its length to facilitate forming a knotless loop for hanging the hammock by feeding it through itself. The included steel carabiners slip neatly into these loops and take the drawstrings ably to ensure a very secure attachment.
The combination of the long drawstrings, long webbing and the overall length of the hammock makes for a long span that can be bridged by this system, shorter distances are easily managed by adjusting the point at which the webbing and drawstrings are connected.
snug as a bug in a rug. deep sides to snuggle under
The four corners and the midpoint of the long edge feature well sewn-in webbing loops to be used as anchor points and tie-down points when used as a cover sheet or ground sheet. Four hefty aluminium tent-pegs and a bundle of guy-rope with slider tensioners are included to make staking out or stringing up as a shelter very easy.
When in hammock mode, the corners are all drawn in tight so aren’t really usable but the midline loops are and could be used as gear hangers or stabilising tie-points if desired. The attached stuff-sack, (sewn into the mid point) also affords gear-storage, by putting a draw-string closing bag with a zipperaeble side-pocket. The pegs and guy-ropes all stow away neatly In that zippered side pocket when not in use.
When packed down in its stuff-sack the system packs down to a mere 28cm x 23cm (11" x 9") and weighs only 1.3kg (2.8 lbs)
solid stitching and impeccable finishing
As a hammock, the ample expanse of fabric used affords a comfortable hang. Even with is classic “banana” shape, the broad sides allows a good spread and stretch in its folds. The PU coated fabric was smooth and whilst not breathable, it also cut the wind nicely, adding to the comfort on a cool windy day whilst testing it. I chose to lay on the uncoated side to avoid the “laying on plastic” feeling and was happy. The triple-stitched and taped seams held weight nicely and gave no impression of stretching . The Treeo certainly catches the wind, so staking out when used as a ground sheet is crucial. I suspect that when used as a rainfly, care will need to be taken ensure sufficient tension is maintained to avoid rain collecting in pools, nor the sheet blowing around negating cover.
well placed stuff sack for slung gear stowage
One thing I noted was the tie-down loops are not placed such that the Treeo can be used as a hootchie tent without some additional work. A couple of extra loops of webbing would suffice and I may look into setting this up myself. It’s certainly good size for it and that PU coating will make it excellent at shedding rain.
included accessories from the zippered side pocket
as a ground sheet it is Tactical Baby approved
lots of leg room for lanky bloggers
a comfortable and supportive hang for supervising playground antics
I have a number of survival caches, but they are all pretty small, such as the neat aluminium Sentinel-X by Ti2 and of course, the PathoPak "Dead People Jars" but having a purpose built food-storage, especially with rugged and dependable construction. Having enough storage components to make a whole meal or meals worth of food travel with you, up and down mountains, and along the trail. Something like the Green Traveler from My Green Traveler is in order.
It is only in its pre-production state currently, and I haven't had one in hand as yet, but here is what they say about it, and what I think about that. Made from injection molding out of ABS, and is made from 8 pieces. Two flat bottomed tray sections, each with a sealing lid, and two cup end pieces, with screw caps.
The tray sections, called Nooks, each hold 355 ml (12oz), and the cups hold 237 ml (8oz) for a total of 1.3 L (44 fl.oz) with overall dimensions of 34.5 x 9 cm (13” x 3.5”) and weighs 500g (1.1lbs) on its own. Solid. Heavy is good, if doesn't work, can hit them with it.
When sealed up, the Green Traveler has four isolated compartments, is reliably liquid tight, so won’t come apart inside a bag. It has two sets of clips on the top side of the nooks, to allow it to be clipped to be the outside of any bag, strap, sling or belt loop and fits in the beverage net on the side of most backpacks. It can keep items inside dry as well as hold liquids in.
It is designed for everyday uses such as around a city during your daily life to carry food, while traveling on airplanes, or driving to the park and is rugged enough for hiking, skiing, rafting, kayaking, canoeing, climbing and other adventure sports.
I suspect it wont like a rapid altitude change, such as on an airplane of a sea to summit trip, so be sure to burp it, if that's you plan, but the combination of screw clips on the cups, latch clips on the nook lids suggests
•Pack a lunch for a day trip
•Take food to-go or meal leftovers
•Pack a lunch for your kids
•Fill with pre-made food at a hot bar or food truck (this sounds excellent)
•First aid or other supplies to keep dry while boating
• Prevent soggy food from melted ice in a Esky
The Green Traveler looks like it will be a good sturdy food container, not to mention other supplies that can be stowed in it: medical supplies, fire starting kit, or electronics might well work in it, for kayaking trips or the like. ABS is a great plastic for this kind of build, and I think it will hold up well. I have LEGO that's almost 35 years old and still kicking around and going strong. I'll be curious to see how well the seals hold up, but as a one-piece set of food carriage gear, I'm impressed.
Every now and then a piece of gear comes my way through .... unconventional means.
One time an IR strobe mysteriously appeared in the post, another time the same thing happened with a set of lockpicks. Other times I have found gear discarded and added it to my collection (some would say hoard).
This time it truly was a case of "gear adrift is gear a gift", in that in the flotsam and jestam of my local beach, I spotted a water-filled bottle, and fished it out.
It was full of fresh water, and had obviously snapped loose, fallen overboard or been washed away, as the lid-to-bottle retention strap had been snapped away, and only a stub remained on the lid.
I am all for reusable drink bottles, and the clear-plastic, wide mouthed Nalgene's that I have been using for years have served me well.
That link is for a slightly different design, as the one that washed up appears to be no longer available but here is the Dead link anyway.
Apart from the obvious aspect of having a reusable and sealable water bottle, that holds a liter of water for hydration purposes, this kind of bottle also has the capacity for storage for any number of small needfuls to set it up as a survival cache or just as a waterproof storage system for those of you with phones or still use paper money still ...
As a reusable drink bottle, it is only 155g (5.5oz) Eastman Tritan co-polyester, which makes it both odour and shatter resistant, freezer safe as well as withstand temperatures up to 100 degrees for washing in a dishwasher. They aren't recommend for hot beverages as the plastic will become too hot to touch but make for a great hot-water bottle if you wrap a t-shirt around it once it's sealed up tight. Even after being lost at sea, and losing its retention strap, and being sandblasted rather thoroughly, its held up really well. The volume increments are still visible, which is good for measuring cordial or tracking how much I've drunk and how quickly, but that's not nearly as useful as the addition of moulded finger grip points on both sides of the bottle.
When you've just filled the bottle, or washed it, or worse, filled it AND washed it they get slippery. so having a textured gripping surface really adds value to the bottle. I dummy-corded a new retention string to my bottle, so I don't loose my lid, and have something to tie MY bottle down with, so I don't loose it overboard.
Certainly a good addition to my bottle collection, and the price was right, that's for sure.
Always be on the lookout for gear adrift, it's gear a gift. I'm still enjoying a number of items I salvaged off the Tough Mudder courses I've run.
This is a much delayed post, and I owe Jörg Peitzkerof GoST Paleo Barefoots a big apology for not getting it out sooner.
That said, this is my fourth pair of GoST Barefoots that I have trialled, and the second set of Barefoots with their imbedded "PAWS" traction pads. These are the CAYMARO design, with the GoST new and improved PAWS2.0 style, as my first set was really a prototype version.
I contacted Jörg after I found that the PAWS on my Anterra's had worn off or worse worn down, to such an extend that some of the chain links had been trapped from the inside and not rotated freely as I ran.
I found that they had then worn unevenly, and had actually damaged the rings! Not impossible, but unusual, so when I told Jörg he informed me that it was indeed an issue they had seen with the early versions and he sent me out not only replacements, but a new model as the replacement too!
Made of the same "4 in 1" welded 0.55 mm gauge "1.4404" stainless steel with a 4mm external diameter chain and an internal diameter of 2.9 mm as the PRONATIV's, and the ANTERRA's. The CAYMARO's have a slightly different lacing and tongue pattern, and I really liked it.
Rather than a 1/3 sized lacing bracket, the CAYMARO's laving runs almost 2/3 down the length of the shoes, which means you have a lot more play to adjust the fit and feel of the shoes, which given they essentially become a second skin, it allows a far greater range of customisation. I found that over extended runs (I've done several Tough Mudder events, and hundreds of km's on the track and trail, having a good fit is key to the freeing feel of the Barefoots. These are the best fitting models yet, though getting them to fit right takes a couple of moments longer than the ANTERRA or PRONATIV's it is time well spent.
The new and improved PAWS are thicker, broader, firmer and more deeply embedded in the rings, this changes the feel of the ground underfoot, mostly because of the harder beads and the more coverage, but when running on hard rocky surfaces, gravel or the like, that can actually be an advantage. They certainly still feel good on man-made surfaces like polished wood or concrete. No more slippery shopping centres!
The improvements are spot on the money, and I had expected no less from the GoST team. Keep your eyes out for their new "less like socks, more like runners" versions, the Urbans ... coming soon!
It might sound like a silly name, but the Power Practical Luminoodle is a serious product. At its heart, it's pretty simple. Take a 5-foot length of flexible circuit, string it with 26 LED's, give it a dual sided USB power plug, and sheath it in a waterproof case. Unlike a hand held flashlight, or a dangling lantern, having a flexible string of LED's means you can put a band of light where you want it, just where you want it and keep it there. That's what the folks at Power Practical have done. More than that, they put a fair bit of thought into how you'd actually use the thing.
My friends at HORNEST in Singapore sent me this Helinox product, and I've really enjoyed the Helinox Tactical chairs, which have accompanied me into snowfields and jungles, beaches and backyard cookoffs. So I was only too pleased to add some more Helinox products to my loadout. They are light, rugged, and portable.
The Helinox Tactical Umbrella is an ultra lightweight, yet highly durable take on the ubiquitous umbrella. Featuring a lightweight DAC aluminium pole at its center, which reminded me of one of my Easton Redline arrows and strutted with carbon fiber rods.
The canopy is teflon-coated polyester for superior water repellency and I put that to the test with some fairly heavy Melbourne summer rain, on several occasions. It worked really well, which was at first surprising given how small the umbrella is when stowed, being only 63.5 cm (25") long. The canopy boasts an UPF 25 rating (it blocks 96% of UV radiation)
It only weighs 210g (7.5 oz) but when opened up, it spreads to a broad full 100 cm (39.4") canopy. At that size, and weight the Tactical Umbrella is light enough to bring anywhere, and keep ready to deploy when the skies open. Never go without protection from the elements again, with the Helinox Tactical Umbrella.
What makes it 'Tactical"? I suppose that's mostly advertising wank by the marketing team at Helinox, but then again, with its coyote brown finish, metal free design, and lightweight, compact design, you can forgive them their stretch. It also goes by "Trekking" and that name is more than fitting. I strapped this to the side of my backpack and whip it out when the skies open, it's out of the way until needed.
Being one piece and not folding like other "trekking" umbrellas, the design is both metal and mechanism free. There is no latch to break, no springs to jam or break, the tension of the canopy and the carbon fibre struts is perfectly designed and opens which a gentle slide of the strut-ring. It's held in place by a hook-and-loop closing strap, which even features a small loop field on the back side, to affix a 1" sized patch, perfect for a ranger-eye!
The closed cell foam grip and strap give you pretty good retention, especially important given the very breeze catching canopy, which is one of the things I've never liked about umbrellas. This handle however, along with its cord retention strap, is solid enough and robust enough that even Tactical baby can manage it in a breeze. The balance is really good, and whilst it's not long enough for me to use as walking pole, a shorter person could easily. It has a tip of the same closed cell foam as the handle, which makes it unsuitable for use as a walking stick over the long term, but does avoid the eye-poking risk that regular umbrellas may offer. This is a two edged sword however.
Having a soft tip makes it less able to be used as a damaging tool, in he way a hard spike ended umbrella might be able to, such as with the Unbreakable Umbrella. I found that by gripping the handle and choking up to the bottom of the canopy spars, it was possible to hold the closed umbrella like a baton.
A soft tipped baton, perhaps, but a baton. With the carbon fibre struts and the aluminium shaft at its centre, it's pretty rigid, and could be quite effective as a last-ditch defensive tool. I think it would stand up against a knife for long enough to make a break for it, or for a skilled user to use some hanbo or singlestick techniques as a defensive or even offensive tool.
Another aspect of the umbrella that I really likes comes from it's short handle, but broad canopy. It was possible for me at 193cm (6'4") on a tall day to scootch down and be almost entirely covered by the umbrella as I squatted. Consider this for both conceilability, by obscuring yourself under it directly, which could be supplemented by local foliage to form a hide of sorts. This also equates for use in its primary capacity as a shelter from the rain, it is entirely big enough to shelter under in a serious downpour you could drop down and almost entirely cover yourself.
For raingear, I usually opt for a boonie hat, poncho and maybe waterproof pants . However, I've been wearing the Helinox Umbrella slotted into my Mystery Ranch 1Day Assault Pack and have found it was easy to store and then deploy when needed. It worked really well, and I've had no regrets looking that extra bit like a Kingsman ... from a certain point of view, anyway.
I was lucky enough to be given a new piece of camping and travel gear for my birthday and I've finally gotten around to writing it up. I took it with me to Bali on a recent holiday, although it didn't get a very thorough workout there. This is the Scrubba washbag
The Scrubba is essentially a dry-bag which has been fitted with an internal washboard surface, a viewing window and an air vent, in addition to the watertight bag and roll-top closure
As a modern and convenient take on the old fashioned washboard, the Scrubba wash bag enables you to achieve a machine quality wash in just minutes. I wanted to give it a fairly good test, so I found a couple of t-shirts with some pretty suspicious and gross stains, and a couple of pairs of socks to give a good indicator of what it is capable of, and a standard travel-load of washing.
The Scrubba is pitched as perfect for holidaymakers, business travellers, backpackers or even for washing gym and cycling gear. The bag weighs less than 145g and folds to pocket-size, as with any dry-bag, making it small enough to take anywhere. I used it as a wet-clothes pack when on the last legs of our Bali trip, to stow Tactical Baby and Triceratops Girl's beach clothes before we headed off for the airport.
Here's how you use the Scrubba for its designed purposes:
1. Fill: It takes about 2L of water, on top of clothes, to do a full wash. Add water, cleaning liquid and clothes to the Scrubba. I used dishwashing soap, just a quick squirt, on top of my load, and the wash bag was at about 20-40% capacity. I used the printed-on guidelines, and with my two-shirts, two pair of socks load, I felt I had a good sized volume
2. Roll & Clip: I removed the excess air from the bag by scrunching it down, then rolled down the top around 4-5 times to get a good tight seal, and then clipped the ends shut, as you would with any dry-bag.
3. Deflate: By opening the nipple cap and squeezing the valve, as you would on any set of arm floaties, inflatable sheep or camping mattress, you need to expel all remaining air from the Srubba wash bag. This gives you a good working volume with which to scrub your clothes. Too much air leaves the bag inflated like a bag balloon and makes it hard to work the clothes. Too much water can have a similar effect, but less noticeably.
4. Rub: By pressing down and rubbing clothes against the Scrubba’s unique internal flexible washboard, which is a moulded-in set of nipples set into the back wall of the bag. Rubbing for 30 seconds gives you a quick traveller's wash and going for around 3 minutes should do for almost a machine quality wash. I wondered how my fairly scungy shirts and socks would fare, and was not surprised to see the water darken and grey-up. There was surprisingly little froth, probably due to the lack of air in the well vented bag.
5. Rinse: Uncliping and unrolling the Scrubba’s seal is as easy as it is to roll up. Removing dirty water from the Scrubba is as simple as carefully up-ending it to mouth it from the wide-mouth opening. I took care to retain my freshly washed clothes, and not dropping it in the dirt again. I wrung out my clothes to remove as much of the grey-water, and then tossed them all back in. I rinsed the clothes with another couple of Liters of water in the Scrubba and gave it a good shake, with the roll-top closed but not evacuated of air, and again poured it off, and wrung out my clothes. You could just as easily rinse them under a running tap or shower, but I wanted an all-in-the-bag method.
I hung my freshly scrubbed clothes out, and left them on the line overnight. In the morning, I was pleased to find not only did my shirts and socks look much cleaner, but they also smelled much better. The Scrubba bag had certainly worked well enough for a travel, camping or survival setting. I might not want to do my next job-interview in a Scrubba-washed suit, but if I were traveling and spilled cooled monkey brains down the front of my dress-short, I might certainly look to pull the Scrubba out to set me fresh for my next engagement.
Well worth looking into if you're either traveling off-grid, or frequently grot yourself up. I'm thinking it would make my next Tough Mudder trip home a lot cleaner!
I had missed the release of this particular product when it ran through its Kickstarter campaign, mostly for financial reasons, but my dear friend and Kickstarter aficionado Gareth Hodges had one and wanted to pass it on, so I snapped it up at a generous discount (thanks man!), so I have had one in my hot little hands, and pack for a while now.
This is the "utility" model of the VSSL which is to say, one of five models they offer, and this one is filled with s variety of useful and needful survival items. The main body of the canister is a machined aluminium tube, with end caps that screw in to give a gasketed airtight seal. Each VSSL unit is 23cm (9") long by 5cm (2") diameter made from seamless extruded mil-spec anodized aluminium, and this model weighs 510g (18 oz).
The unit is very sturdy, the two end caps are knurled, and the body has engraved details on it, as well as some knurling as well, giving a solid grip to open either end.
The real utility of the unit however is in its contents. As well as the two end caps, one of which has a dual mode (static high/low and SOS) LED ‘flood’ beam lantern light, illuminates a large area ( which runs on 3x N type or Energizer E90 batteries), and the tail cap holds a 4 hour burning pure Canadian beeswax candle and has an oil filled compass on its surface.
The seven little aluminium pill-boxes each with a
small collection of survival needfulls, some in pairs, others singly.
The contents are thus:
Razor blade
6 Aquatabs® water purification tablets
Wire saw (high tensile, 60lb working strength with handle straps)
Aluminium beadless emergency whistle
Waterproof matches
Tinder Quik® fire starters
Fishing Gear
Signalling Mirror
Marine grade rope (250lb breaking strength)
Reflective trail markers
P38 military GI Type can opener
First aid supplies
VSSL priorities of survival and instructions
There's a good spread of items, and here they are itemized:The
pill-boxes aren't hermetically sealed, but they don't really need to be,
as they all live in the VSSL tube. The contents aren't meant to be for long term sustainment, rather to help out in the event of a short term emergency, or even to fill a gap in your EDC when out adventuring. It's solid construction and precision machining makes it a very well put together survival cache.
The weight is a bit of a concern considering the overall size and scope of the contents, however, they are well packaged, so would be safe and ready to use when you need it, whether it's been sitting in your pack, in the back of your car or buried in your safe-drop spot.
VSSL also produce several other versions of the flask: a Fist-Aid canister (full of boo-boo repair items), a Shelter canister (with a tarp, line and the like), an empty canister (build your own), a Flask (300mL of capacity and two collapsing shot cups) and their Zombie Spike version (for brain stabby goodness).
[EDIT] Now on the front page of Propper's website as "in the news"! In my recent bundle from Propper, there was a lightweight shirt that caught my eye, and I've had some time to give it a good trial and can report back on it. Winter has rolled around here in Melbourne, and we get a fair share of wet and windy days. It rarely drops below freezing, due to the local geography, but we do get some cold weather from the Southern Ocean which can roll in unpredictably. Melbourne has a reputation for having Four Seasons in One Day, Crowded House even wrote a song about it. I hate umbrellas. Really, with a passion. Being as tall as I am, I'm forever being jabbed in the eye by them when the scurrying masses are running for shelter.
So when I'm not restraining myself from throat-punching the perpetrators, I prefer to feel superior by wearing and carrying wet-weather gear for the occasional flurry. Propper have catered to this nicely with their Packable Windshirt, which offers offers lightweight wind protection whenever you need it. This lightweight garment has to look of a jacket, but feels like a light shirt, due in no small part to the silky 100% polyester it is constructed from. With a Durable Water Repellant (DWR) surface finish, partially due to a surface coating, and partially due to the material and weave of e surface layer, I found that light to medium sprinkles were shrugged right off. Better yet, that weave stopped medium to strong gusts of wind dead. I was pretty impressed with that, given how lightweight it was.
Usually with this kind of wind stopping you either end up with a plastic-bag feel, or a Siege of Stalingrad feeling heavy coat. Amazingly, this had neither, I was hen suspicious that it would be a steam-trap, but somehow they've found that magic balance of permeability and breathability. This is helped along with the honeycomb-mesh pattern inner liner. This liner runs throughout the windshirt, and adds no appreciable bulk.
Twin hand pockets with reverse sewn zippers grace the sides, with rubber-covers toggles and are silent operating, and a single pectoral pocket big enough for a phone, note book or in a pinch a STANAG magazine, but the heavier the load, the more it sags. A pretty spacious hood is stored in the neck seam, and is elasticised in a couple of spots to ensure a snug fit. I mostly kept the hood stored, and found that bulk added a nice snug seal around my neck, trapping heat in and keeping dribbles out.
The sleeves have elasticised cuffs, to shut out the elements, which aren't my preference, but certainly work well enough. With arms as long as mine, I found that the Medium wasn't quite long enough, although the body-fit was good, so it meant that to feel comfortable I had to push the sleeves up. That or have half my wrists dangling free, and the shoulders dragging. For longer wearers, opt for a bigger fit. The main front zipper is likewise a reverse zipper design, with the same rubber toggled zipper-pull, and has a overlap panel running its length to eliminate any wind chill through that seam. That's something that makes a lot of difference to me, and is also carries over into the design of the bottom seam of the windshirt, which is generously long, especially useful for us long-bodied types, and much like a cyclists shirt, ensures good coverage when you're crouched over. No more chilled kidneys! The main zipper is also double-headed, so you can upon the windshirt from top or bottom, meaning you can access belt-worn gear without exposing your chest to the elements, or from the top down.
One nice feature is that the windshirt comes up with its own storage pouch, accessible via a quite unobtrusive zippered pocket in the small of the back on the outside, you could also use this as an extra storage compartment for paperwork or what have you, as lon as you don't mind it being out of line of sight. The whole windshirt folds in on itself easily enough into that pocket, although I think I would have preferred it to have done so from the inside out, rather than outside in. Once packed up, it is a fairly small, and springy bundle, which I've used as an impromptu pillow and gear-rest and the whole thing fits into a cargo pocket easily enough, or jammed into the bottom of a pack.
The
cut and look of the windshirt is pretty neutral, no loop fields on
shoulders or chest, no pen holders, or any external features other than
the single pectoral pocket and two hand pockets, is is a pretty
innocuous looking garment, perfect for being they grey-man in the crowd,
albeit in black, coyote or olive.
