Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at
you from the KnifeCenter. And today, we're taking a look at some of the essentials you
might want to have as part of your car's survival kit. Let's check them out.
(KnifeCenter.com) So the reason we're taking a look at this topic
today is a little less than a week ago, we had a big storm hit our region here.
And big stretch
of I 95, the major East Coast interstate was essentially shut down for like a day and a half,
in some cases that stranded motorists on this road with nowhere to go, no way to get off. And
that stretch of road was essentially right outside our back door. trees weren't in the way
you could practically see the stretch of highway from our office. So it's a perfect time to
revisit the kind of things you want to keep in your car to kind of ease your time if you word
be stranded in this type of situation, or several others like it's not just a winter time
scenario, we're going to take a look at. So I've got some gear in front of me here. But this
stuff is going to be in addition to some stuff you should already have in your car stuff like
maybe a tire inflator. Signalling and safety stuff, if you get if you get broken down on the
side of the road, that sort of thing. You should also have some food and water with you generally
maybe like two days worth for every person who's going to be with you in the car.
And of course,
stick to non perishable things that aren't going to require cooking as well when you're picking
your food, and stuff that will be able to stand up to extreme swings in temperature as well. But
this stuff, in addition to kind of augmenting that is also a good basis for some outdoor gear,
just some good camping stuff. So it's not just something that might sit in a car and never get
used. Again, you got a solid basis to just get out in the outdoors. On that subject, the first
thing you're going to want is some kind of bag to keep all this stuff organized. And I'm going
to try to keep a lot of these things here. as affordable as I can where I can because this
could be a lot of stuff if you're putting this kit together from scratch. So we don't want to
get too, too out there. But you might already have a pack. In fact, most people have a lot of
extra bags laying around probably at home already.
If not, doesn't have to be huge,
something like this right here. It's a red rock outdoor gear, cactus hydration pack, it's about
50 bucks. And most of the stuff in front of me, for me right here could be made to fit inside
this be a little tight, but you could do it. A couple outside packs are a couple outside
pockets. This also comes with a hydration bladder, two and a half liters that could be a
place you could store your water. I will say though, if that water happens to freeze, it
might be a little more difficult to get to it. But we'll get to that here in a little bit.
But
something like that to keep things organized, as well as carry the stuff with you if you have to
abandon your vehicle in one of these situations. But first, let's talk about tools to help get
you unstuck. Could be snow could be an obstruction in the road could be something wrong
with your car that might just need a simple fix a simple tweak and on that. One thing that I
keep in every glove box of the vehicles I own is a good multi tool. I think I've got a either a
wave or a charge from Leatherman in mind. But the wing man is a great option. A little more
expensive than some of the other stuff we'll see today.
But a good multi tool is probably gonna
cost a little bit of money just about 70 bucks for this folds open. You've got a spring loaded
set of pliers, you've got your screwdriver bits, etc on the inside. Outside accessible. You've
got a nice pair of sturdy scissors right here. We've also got a partially serrated blade, and
actually really like a partially serrated blade in this context, even though most of my EDCs all
my EDC aren't going to have serrations but in a vehicular context, the serrations can be really
helpful and having to cut through things like rubber such as a hose or something like that.
Really handy for some things that you might need that extra bit of bite to get through and maybe
a battery terminals loose or something else could be a simple fix that could get you going
and you're no longer stranded.
If however, need a little bit more oomph, maybe like I said an
obstruction in the road can never go wrong with a good saw. And for my money. I'm a big fan of
the silky saw products just the teeth on these seem to cut faster than just about anything else
out there. Being This is a vehicle kit you don't have to go super small but you don't have to go
super big either. I do like the big boy which is a little bit bigger, but the Gomboy here is a
really good place to start. Also a little pricier than some of this stuff about 52 bucks.
But like I said for my money it's definitely worth it. It's got a rubberized handle nice
cutting teeth folds up onto itself quite nicely for transport. Even got two different cutting
angles on that locking blade.
I really can't say enough good things about a is silky saw and that
might be just what you need to remove a branch that's preventing you from traversing further.
Other things you might need. Well, let's talk about knives or knife shop after all. Last time
I checked, right, Thomas Yeah, we're still a knife shop. Cold Steel SRK can never go wrong with having a
good survival knife in the car for all kinds of reasons beyond just heavy duty knife use that
you may encounter in a vehicular basis. And on that note, it pains me to say it being a knife
guy, but this one, the knife here is probably a little less essential than some of the other
gear we're going to look at today. But if you're going to have a knife, want to have a knife in
your car, something like this is good. Again, relatively affordable to about 50 bucks.
It is
sturdy. We've got three sixteenths inch thick, SK five carbon steel, very tough stuff. So it
can stand up if you need to do some prying which also pains me to say that because it's not what
a knife is designed to do. But in a pinch, something strong like this is going to be very
much a an added bonus. Also for cold weather, we've got a rubber overmolded handle. So that's
going to if you have to take your gloves off while using the knife that's going to shield you
from having to touch the cold steel of this year cold steel in one of those environments. Really
solid comes with a really nice sheaf as well. secure-ex is the material at least that's what
they call it snaps in, you've got a retention loop here.
Just no bones about it a solid,
affordable survival knife. All right next up in the tools to get you unstuck category, a nice
folding shovel folding to keep things nice and compact, so it doesn't take up a ton of room in
your trunk. But whether it is for snow in a winter environment or mud, dirt, that sort of
thing in a non winter environment. This could be what you need to get you moving model like this
is really nice and how compact it is. We've got a telescoping handle right there. And then you
unscrew the head here at the top, and you can rotate that shovel open. Obviously, this is not
the the first choice if you're actually doing shovel work for the sake of shovel work.
But it
is going to get you through in a pinch, these things are fairly sturdy, I've had one of these
myself for a number of years. It even has if you fold it back up, it has on the opposite side
here, a hammering plate. So if you need to use that, for any kind of hammering task that could
also work well for that even comes with a nice little nylon bag to keep things nice and tidy
when it is not in use.
And as well as keeping the rest of your gear clean. Because if it's
dirty, you can put it in that sack and not have to worry about things. Really good, pretty
essential piece of kit for your emergency kit kit. Anyway, moving on from the tools to get you
unstuck, we're going to talk about lighting, obviously, you're not probably not going to want
to keep your car running the whole time. And you're not going to want to run your battery
down by using the light the whole time. So what I recommend is a nice headlamp and there's tons
of different things on the market. I like something like this Fenix HL15, it's about 30
bucks, because there's no extra wires or anything for a battery pack on the back. AAA
batteries go right in the top. Make sure to have some extra batteries, of course, and I recommend
going with lithium, because they're for one lighter than alkaline but they're also not going
to corrode the same way alkaline batteries do.
So for longer term storage definitely a bonus.
And I would actually go with something that takes a replaceable battery cell like like some
AAA's, there could be a temptation to use something that could like plug into a USB outlet
to recharge. But if you're trying to conserve the gas in your car and you happen to run out,
you're not going to want to then start the car up just to charge your little headlamp so few
extra batteries are no problem. And this is something you should have in your car anyway,
regardless of whether it's a part of this kit or not paired up with that multi tool if you're
looking under the hood of your car, that little light is going to be pretty essential about 200
lumens on this guy which is plenty for this type of scenario.
At the next option is both lighting
as well as heat. Something you'll see recommended a lot for winter car survival
especially is candles and a lot of times folks will recommend the little tea lights but I think
those can be a little bit fiddly, although they are very compact. I really like this right here.
It's the UCO the original candle lantern comes in about 20 bucks and a couple of different
colors. It's got the globe that pulls up to the top and
a nine hour candle here at the bottom and it's actually spring loaded from the bottom so it
pushes it up through this shield at the top to help it last as long as they can say it is going
to gives you a little bit of illumination which can be a really big psychological boon. And
don't laugh about, you know, the the little comment about warmth, that little flame actually
can put some heat off into your vehicle. If you're trying to keep things warm without
running the engine. I will say however, there's things you can combine with that to make it a
little bit stronger.
And that would be something like an emergency blanket. And no, an emergency
blanket is not really something you wrap up in to keep warm, that's not really what they're
best at. Should have mentioned, having enough warm weather gear or even a sleeping bag in your
trunk if you're going through winter weather, because that's going to do more to keep your
body warm personally. But something like this ust ultimate survival blanket 2.0 18 bucks. And
I know that's a lot more expensive than those little folded silver things you can get from
like dollar stores. But those things are very fragile, really prone to shredding, and go
something a little bit more more rugged like this two sided, you've got orange on the
outside, which is really good for signaling.
And you've got reflective material on the inside.
Very important. Also good for signaling but also really good for reflecting heat. If you line the
inside of your car with it, this can reflect heat back into and back towards yourself. Rather
than going out the the glass pane of the window essentially, another thing you can do with
something like this, which is a fairly large piece, and it does fall down much more compact
than this, you can actually section off the interior of your car. So you're sitting in not
as large of an open space. And that can do even more bouncing heat back from the candle and from
your body heat into the smaller compartment where you're sitting. Good, good reason to keep
something like duct tape around as well if you need to tape it up to the ceiling.
Alternatively, if this is a hot weather scenario, you can put the reflective surface
facing outside and that can reflect some rays of the sun away from you and hopefully not heat up
the interior of your car as much.
These are also windproof really good for shelter purposes,
especially if you want to crack a window with the flame going inside of your car that can keep
the wind from coming in through that crack. And I should say caveat, make sure to be safe with a
flame in the car. I'm not here to be able to tell you exactly what you need to do.
But you
know, oxygen is important. Oxygen is important, be reasonable. There's plenty of resources
resources out there, from the experts talking about this stuff, make sure to listen to what
they are saying as well. But those are good pieces of gear. Now, next up, you're going to
want to be able to light that won't you? For long term, I really like something like this
Exotac fire sleeve that pairs up with just the everyday BIC lighter. And obviously, there's
plenty of other like survival firestarters out there that if you know what you're doing can be
very effective. But for most people putting a kit together for long term storage, a Bic
lighter in one of these is fantastic. I've had, I actually picked up one of these fire sleeves
when Exotac first launched the product on their Kickstarter 2016. I wasn't there.
Thomas wasn't
there. These are about 15 bucks now. And I've had the original lighter I had in one of those
guys. It's still good. I don't use it a heck of a lot. But it's waterproof. It's going to keep
things from leaking out in a pack. So it works for storage. That way, it floats as well, which
could be a handy thing. Just make sure you you put a fresh one in there and it's going to be
good to go for quite a long time. All right, next up. We talked about water earlier and I
talked about it. You know what if it freezes, heaven forbid, or even worse than that, what if
you're have to resort to melting snow to get water, which, if you're if you don't know it
takes a lot of snow to melt down to get a little bit of drinking water.
So you can use your
candle for some stuff like that, but you're gonna need a metal container. Now stuff like
this Vargo titanium camping cup set, very popular. It fits around a Nalgene bottle which
is handy. These can be a little bit pricey though this one's about $55 right now. Certainly
going to work and you can hold it over that candle flame, which there is a little bit of a
heat shield right there to protect the interior here of your vehicle certainly, but that's going
to help you out a little bit. But what I really like rather than you know that an expensive
titanium mug like this is this aluminum mess tin from SC 15 bucks.
And it's a really nice shape
for storing a bunch of these other pieces of gear in while you're not using it really nice.
Then when you do need to use it you can still melt water or melt snow in there if you need to
or heat things up that way. It's not going to be as like natural feeling to drink out of it. But
doesn't matter that's not what it's here for. Every day, one thing that you ought to keep in
with your food, however, a couple tea bags. If you're having a really long hard night, a nice
hot cup of tea in your car, could just be a nice little thing to keep your morale up.
And a tea
bag weighs next to nothing. So pop one of those guys in there. Now, if you're not keen on having
a flame inside your vehicle for something like this, I definitely get it. But I would still
recommend having something to do these two things with melting snow or ice water. And
something that's going to work really well right outside your vehicle. Old school ultralight
backpackers favorite the Esbit small foldable pocket stove comes with about six of these
little fuel tablets, you can pop it right in the middle, light it with your fire sleeve or with
your BIC lighter right there. And then you can place your mug or whatever else right on top of
that, about 13 bucks for these guys. And then separate fuel tabs are also available, again
takes up next to no room, the fuel tabs itself can actually live inside the stove, while not in
use.
And then you can put that inside that sand if you want to, to keep things nice and cozy.
Alright, so I mentioned morale a second ago with the tea bag can lift your spirits a little bit.
Sure. But you want to stay sane. In a situation like this. If you've got the basics covered. If
you've got the food and the drink you need if you've got the warmth and the shelter you need.
The next thing is keeping your mind sane. Perfect example. Senator from Virginia was doing
his commute from Richmond to DC during the storm. And it's about a two hour trip to three
hour trip, depending on traffic took him like 37 hours, if I'm remembering correctly to get to DC
because he was just stuck for so long in that stretch of 95.
So what are you going to do to
keep yourself going? plenty of options out there. Obviously we've a
lot of us have our devices nowadays. But keeping them charged up over that period of time, if
you're trying to conserve your gas can be an issue can be mitigated a little bit with battery
packs, sure. But something low tech, like a deck of cards is just pure money. Especially if
you're dealing with like a family situation, there's more than one of you in the car. This is
something a group activity you guys can do to keep yourselves going. This Ka-bar set is pretty
cool. It actually has on the face of the card, some wayfinding directions, so you can kind of
quiz up on those as you go. But 13 bucks for this set, which is a little bit of a lot for a
deck of cards, I'll grant you. But you do get the added informational boost right there. And
plus, we're nice people how cool is a Ka-Bar deck of cards. You can also go with something
like this Maxpedition set right here, the tactical field deck all weather playing cards.
And yes, I am shaking my head a little bit at the thought of calling, playing cards tactical.
But these are like six bucks actually.
So you don't weigh less than the K bars right there.
And they're made of PVC, so they're not going to get wet and crumble away on you could be a good
thing in any kind of camping scenario, really. But whether you're playing solitaire or playing
rummy or whatever else, with the kids in the car, something to pass the time and keep
everyone's spirits high. Definitely, definitely that mental aspect, so important in any kind of
emergency or survival scenario. Well, that's all I've got to show you today. Hopefully this kind
of helps you see some things get thinking about things that are going to work for you in your
environment. For instance. Well that saw is going to work great for me right here. Maybe you
live in Central Florida and maybe a machete is going to be better for your environment. Keep
that in mind as well.
If you want to get your hands on any of these things, we will leave
links in the description to take you over to KnifeCenter.com and make sure you sign up for
our knife rewards program so that when you buy one of these items, you'll at least earn some
free money to spend on your next ones. I'm David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter signing off,
stay safe out there everyone. See you next time..
