Here is photo of a leaking 20L water container failing under use. The container was one of two I purchased from Kmart to use camping. I was moving water from my car to the camp site when one of the two containers sprung a leak. The container had only been used twice, carrying water for maybe 800 meters in total before failing without suffering any serious drops, knocks or scraps.
This failure illustrates three key things you should think about for all your survival or emergency equipment:
1. Purchase good quality equipment
2. Test all your equipment in realistic conditions prior to being forced to use them when you need to rely on the equipment for your survival.
3. Make sure you have redundancy built into all of your systems.
ISSUES EXPLORED.
1. Good Quality Equipment - “A poor tradesman blames his tools”
The phrase “a poor tradesman blames his tools”, is commonly used to imply a tradesperson with poor skills uses his tools as an excuse for poor work. At times this may well be the case however when I started work as a young and poor gardener I initially could only afford cheap tools and soon found myself “blaming” them each time they failed to cut, bent or broke in use. I soon found myself purchasing the best tools I could buy, tools that would not break or bend within the first hour and that ultimately lasted for years when looked after well.
As a general rule the cheaper equipment the more likely it is to fail. Failure is a particularly important consideration for survival and emergency equipment, where failure at the wrong time could mean significant suffering or even death.
Price is generally a good indicator of quality but not always as some products are deliberately marketed at higher prices despite their poor quality construction and materials. If you have time, check reviews of any product you are interested in and check out the alternatives.
Also consider the design and manufacture of your product. For example is your product double stitched, does it feel strong and is it made with sturdy and durable materials. I recently was looking at purchasing a bug out bag for testing. I looked at three well know brands, one brand looked much stronger, felt much stronger and seemed to be made stronger than the other two – so that was the one I choose. Similarly one of the main reasons we have chosen to stock Schrade knives at our Survival Equipment Sales business is due to their durable construction despite their relatively cheap price.
Look for the weak points of the equipment before you buy.The water container in question had a plastic seam which looked like an obvious weak point when I purchased it and ultimately was where the item failed.
This failure illustrates three key things you should think about for all your survival or emergency equipment:
1. Purchase good quality equipment
2. Test all your equipment in realistic conditions prior to being forced to use them when you need to rely on the equipment for your survival.
3. Make sure you have redundancy built into all of your systems.
ISSUES EXPLORED.
1. Good Quality Equipment - “A poor tradesman blames his tools”
The phrase “a poor tradesman blames his tools”, is commonly used to imply a tradesperson with poor skills uses his tools as an excuse for poor work. At times this may well be the case however when I started work as a young and poor gardener I initially could only afford cheap tools and soon found myself “blaming” them each time they failed to cut, bent or broke in use. I soon found myself purchasing the best tools I could buy, tools that would not break or bend within the first hour and that ultimately lasted for years when looked after well.
As a general rule the cheaper equipment the more likely it is to fail. Failure is a particularly important consideration for survival and emergency equipment, where failure at the wrong time could mean significant suffering or even death.
Price is generally a good indicator of quality but not always as some products are deliberately marketed at higher prices despite their poor quality construction and materials. If you have time, check reviews of any product you are interested in and check out the alternatives.
Also consider the design and manufacture of your product. For example is your product double stitched, does it feel strong and is it made with sturdy and durable materials. I recently was looking at purchasing a bug out bag for testing. I looked at three well know brands, one brand looked much stronger, felt much stronger and seemed to be made stronger than the other two – so that was the one I choose. Similarly one of the main reasons we have chosen to stock Schrade knives at our Survival Equipment Sales business is due to their durable construction despite their relatively cheap price.
Look for the weak points of the equipment before you buy.The water container in question had a plastic seam which looked like an obvious weak point when I purchased it and ultimately was where the item failed.
2. Testing you equipment
Regardless of how much you have paid for a piece of equipment or its reputation you should test all your equipment in realistic situations and test it more than once. By using your equipment you will see if it can actually withstand its intended use and if it fails have the chance to buy an alternative.
By using it regularly you will also get use to using your equipment. Under survival and emergency situations you need to be able to use your equipment without too much if any thought and use it correctly. The reason the military drills it soldiers again and again is so they can use their equipment without thinking. This means soldiers can for example fire, clear blockages and strip their weapons in extreme circumstances such as combat and also have more of their minds free to focus on other issues such as spotting the enemy while doing these tasks. The more you practice with your survival equipment the easier time you will have if ever forced to use it.
3. Redundant systems
If in a survival situation the breaking of a seam on your main water container could result in serious consequences. To help avoid negative situations arising around equipment failure or loss always have redundant systems in place.
The first redundancy option you might consider if seeking to carry or collect large volumes of water would be to use two water containers rather than one. Personally I choose to use a pair of 8L collapsible containers (pictured below) rather than one 20L container.
Why go for two containers?
1. You can choose to to use only one container at a time, leaving the other stored.
2. If one container springs a leak or is lost you have a second container ready to use.
3. Though you don't have to fill it all the way up, one container of 20L can be quite heavy to carry in one hand while two 8L containers are much more manageable.
4. If forced to flee you may consider abandoning one of your two 8L containers rather than try and hold on to your 20L container. Holding on to your 20L container full of water and making a fast get away is almost impossible, unless you are extremely fit and strong.
Other redundancy options include smaller water containers carried on your webbing, back pack or on a shoulder strap or carrying repair materials such as duct tape.
In conclusion choose the best quality equipment you can afford, test it in realistic circumstances and have back ups for every critical function you need. See our Survival Equipment Sales website for quality survival and emergency kits.
Regardless of how much you have paid for a piece of equipment or its reputation you should test all your equipment in realistic situations and test it more than once. By using your equipment you will see if it can actually withstand its intended use and if it fails have the chance to buy an alternative.
By using it regularly you will also get use to using your equipment. Under survival and emergency situations you need to be able to use your equipment without too much if any thought and use it correctly. The reason the military drills it soldiers again and again is so they can use their equipment without thinking. This means soldiers can for example fire, clear blockages and strip their weapons in extreme circumstances such as combat and also have more of their minds free to focus on other issues such as spotting the enemy while doing these tasks. The more you practice with your survival equipment the easier time you will have if ever forced to use it.
3. Redundant systems
If in a survival situation the breaking of a seam on your main water container could result in serious consequences. To help avoid negative situations arising around equipment failure or loss always have redundant systems in place.
The first redundancy option you might consider if seeking to carry or collect large volumes of water would be to use two water containers rather than one. Personally I choose to use a pair of 8L collapsible containers (pictured below) rather than one 20L container.
Why go for two containers?
1. You can choose to to use only one container at a time, leaving the other stored.
2. If one container springs a leak or is lost you have a second container ready to use.
3. Though you don't have to fill it all the way up, one container of 20L can be quite heavy to carry in one hand while two 8L containers are much more manageable.
4. If forced to flee you may consider abandoning one of your two 8L containers rather than try and hold on to your 20L container. Holding on to your 20L container full of water and making a fast get away is almost impossible, unless you are extremely fit and strong.
Other redundancy options include smaller water containers carried on your webbing, back pack or on a shoulder strap or carrying repair materials such as duct tape.
In conclusion choose the best quality equipment you can afford, test it in realistic circumstances and have back ups for every critical function you need. See our Survival Equipment Sales website for quality survival and emergency kits.
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