I watched a Wranglerstar video years ago comparing and testing jerry cans. His tests showed that the waivian metal cans were the best, so I purchased 8 as soon as I saw them on a good sale. They are now almost 3 times the price I paid
Thank you for sharing. Being able to reflect on how to improve our plan is a big. How water is more than a luxury and moral booster - it's good hygiene. Look into recycled 50gal plastic drums or IBC tank to harvest rain water. With a rocket stove you can have endless hot water using twigs and trash.
Pferd chainsaw file and guide built into one. Simple to use, files tooth and drag link down together. Just have to buy the correct size to work with your chain size. Any oil can lube a chain in a pinch: used motor oil, cooking oil, ATF, whatever. Loggers cutting on Federal land are required to use nontoxic bar oils like canola or vegetable oil. It looks like there are several stand alone propane showers for sale on Amazon. I used one in a remote region of the rockies we were visiting. Beat the heck out of a whore bath with a bowl and rag!.
Excellent info Shower, look in to portable outdoor shower, battery powered. Heat water on camp stove, fill 5 gallon bucket with warm water. Drop pump in and shower away. Chainsaw, I store bar oil when it is gone I will use motor oil, then used motor oil if needed. I need more 2 cycle oil mix, and to inventory chains. Gas cans, yes to eagle type 1 cans but make sure to get the funnel that goes with it. I need to work on the bug out as I do not have a plan to leave.
I was just going to comment the same about showers. This is the setup I recommended to a friend who's updating post-hurricane and realized a shower was one of the things she really wanted to keep up the spirits of her and her daughter. I know she can't hoist a 5 gallon bag of water into a tree for a solar camp shower, so a battery-powered, USB-rechargeable, drop-in-a-bucket pump with a shower head on it for about $35 looks like the best option to me. I also suggested an electric immersion water heater that drops in the bucket and has a thermometer so she didn't have to guess how much boiling water to add to cold water to make warm water. It'll eat up some of her power station battery, so she'll have to choose depending on the circumstance if she wants to heat with propane of electric, but for under $20 it's good to have the electric option if you have a power source. For a family of 4 and wanting to help neighbors, then a dedicated shower system might make sense. For 1 or 2 people, it's overkill.
I have one of the battery powered water pumps with the shower head and had to use it once when my water lines broke due to a bad freeze. I keep 40 gallons of water stored. I boiled some water on a stove, diliuted it down to a safe temperature in a 5 gallon bucket and took my shower. The only thing to watch is the batteries. When I had pulled it out during another recent power outage , the batteries were dead and had to be recharded.
For fuel storage you might look at the Flo-Fast fuel cans. They are plastic, but they are very thick walled. You can also mount a hand crank pump to it to pump fuel in and out of equipment. I only have one for diesel for my tractor, but I am impressed enough with it that I plan to get some for gasoline as well. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I have a couple of hand pull wagons that I use on my property. For heavier loads, pulling by hand can get tiresome very quickly. So figuring out some kind of a harness system for pulling a wagon could be useful.
I live on the North Oregon Coast. We get several minor Outages most Winters. THIS Year, I've managed to boost my Storage Battery Capacity to over 5 KWH. This is broken up into two Separate 2.5 KWH setups. I'm lacking in the Solar Array; just 560 Watts, so not a ton of Amps available. I did an experiment Yesterday and this morning. I have a single 100 Amp LFP Battery. I ran the array through the controller to this single battery. From the single Battery to a 500 Watt PURE Sine Inverter; from that to a 6 Amp Lithium Specific charger. It takes awhile, but it DID Charge the bigger bank to full capacity. So, now if we have an extended outage, I can use this system to charge 1 2.5 KWH Battery, and use it while charging the SECOND Battery. By alternating the two Banks this way, I can STAY powered almost indefinitely, WITHOUT the need for a Gas Generator! With this system, I can keep the house lit, the Ham Radio Station going, keep the phones and the handheld radios and flashlights completely topped off. I can even run the Home Entertainment system off of this, and I have power to spare! As soon as I can, I want to add another 1,000 Watts of Solar and a 50 Amp Controller to my system.(I have TWO 50 Amp Controllers in storage)
I agree with you as well on your chainsaw, and your hot shower assessment. You would be surprised what a couple passes with just a hand file does to a chain to re-sharpen it. When I first moved from the city to the country, I would throw the chain out every time it got dull, that was not sustainable with the 20 inch bar. And a power outage we were doing so much snow clearing and woodburning, tree removal I really worked up a sweat and wanted nothing more than a hot shower. I took advantage of some tax incentives and got a heat pump, hot water tank, that my generator and Eco flows can run. The next time power went out. We were able to have hot showers for the week just running the generator about two hours a day as The solar array wasn’t as substantial at the time.
If I may, I have a lesson I learned the hard way, I got some very nice 5 gallon Justrite gas cans several years ago. They were EXPENSIVE. But at the time I thought they were bomb proof and would last me a lifetime. Yeah, not so much. I was pretty pissed. So I started looking around and found what I think is the solution. There’s a product called Red-Kote that’s used to seal the tanks of motorcycle fuel tanks. It’s kind of a pain to apply, but I’m hoping it’s solved my problem. Something to keep in mind.
Where are your plastic gas cans getting holes? In the bottom where they contact the floor? Maybe something like these would help. Those metal cans are ridiculously expensive. Not in my budget, especially since I already have the plastic ones... Slipstick GorillaPads CB147 Non Slip Furniture Pads/Gripper Feet (Set of 16) Self Adhesive Rubber Floor Protectors, 1 inch Round, Black
Gas, yes, I had the plastic cans, enough for 27 gallons. The gas is stabilized and rotated every 6 months. These are only for the generator. None have every leaked, however, the seal(tightness) on the caps is not great. A few years ago I watched a video about storage and stability of the cans, and the eagle cans tended to be less tippy. So for Christmas, I asked for one eagle metal can($69). and for the past 3 years, I have received one Eagle gas can. Now I have 15 gallons of good sealed gas can for stabilized fuel. Maybe i will get another this year. The goal is to have 25 gal which will last me 10 days of normal emergency generator usage. Hot water heater, tankless may not be the way to go. Propane tank water heater is less expensive and more likely not to scale through use from the city water. It also runs without electricity (natural draft) as long as you have water. Look at the failure rate of tankless before making a decision.
People need to prepare now and not wait until the next hurricane season. You never know what might happen or when. We lost power today. The weather was fine. Maybe a car crash? Who knows. It only lasted an hour, so no big deal, but you just never know.
I watched a Wranglerstar video years ago comparing and testing jerry cans. His tests showed that the waivian metal cans were the best, so I purchased 8 as soon as I saw them on a good sale. They are now almost 3 times the price I paid
All are great observations and lessons learned. 👍
Thank you for sharing. Being able to reflect on how to improve our plan is a big. How water is more than a luxury and moral booster - it's good hygiene. Look into recycled 50gal plastic drums or IBC tank to harvest rain water. With a rocket stove you can have endless hot water using twigs and trash.
Pferd chainsaw file and guide built into one. Simple to use, files tooth and drag link down together. Just have to buy the correct size to work with your chain size. Any oil can lube a chain in a pinch: used motor oil, cooking oil, ATF, whatever. Loggers cutting on Federal land are required to use nontoxic bar oils like canola or vegetable oil. It looks like there are several stand alone propane showers for sale on Amazon. I used one in a remote region of the rockies we were visiting. Beat the heck out of a whore bath with a bowl and rag!.
Experience makes "perfect." Everyone can improve on prepping. It just takes a lot of foresight and thought. Great video!
Excellent info
Shower, look in to portable outdoor shower, battery powered. Heat water on camp stove, fill 5 gallon bucket with warm water. Drop pump in and shower away.
Chainsaw, I store bar oil when it is gone I will use motor oil, then used motor oil if needed. I need more 2 cycle oil mix, and to inventory chains.
Gas cans, yes to eagle type 1 cans but make sure to get the funnel that goes with it.
I need to work on the bug out as I do not have a plan to leave.
I was just going to comment the same about showers. This is the setup I recommended to a friend who's updating post-hurricane and realized a shower was one of the things she really wanted to keep up the spirits of her and her daughter. I know she can't hoist a 5 gallon bag of water into a tree for a solar camp shower, so a battery-powered, USB-rechargeable, drop-in-a-bucket pump with a shower head on it for about $35 looks like the best option to me. I also suggested an electric immersion water heater that drops in the bucket and has a thermometer so she didn't have to guess how much boiling water to add to cold water to make warm water. It'll eat up some of her power station battery, so she'll have to choose depending on the circumstance if she wants to heat with propane of electric, but for under $20 it's good to have the electric option if you have a power source.
For a family of 4 and wanting to help neighbors, then a dedicated shower system might make sense. For 1 or 2 people, it's overkill.
I have one of the battery powered water pumps with the shower head and had to use it once when my water lines broke due to a bad freeze. I keep 40 gallons of water stored. I boiled some water on a stove, diliuted it down to a safe temperature in a 5 gallon bucket and took my shower. The only thing to watch is the batteries. When I had pulled it out during another recent power outage , the batteries were dead and had to be recharded.
VP Racing fuel jugs can be tossed around and not leak.
And they are called utility jugs to avoid having an unusable spout😄
For fuel storage you might look at the Flo-Fast fuel cans. They are plastic, but they are very thick walled. You can also mount a hand crank pump to it to pump fuel in and out of equipment. I only have one for diesel for my tractor, but I am impressed enough with it that I plan to get some for gasoline as well. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
I have a couple of hand pull wagons that I use on my property. For heavier loads, pulling by hand can get tiresome very quickly. So figuring out some kind of a harness system for pulling a wagon could be useful.
I live on the North Oregon Coast. We get several minor Outages most Winters. THIS Year, I've managed to boost my Storage Battery Capacity to over 5 KWH. This is broken up into two Separate 2.5 KWH setups. I'm lacking in the Solar Array; just 560 Watts, so not a ton of Amps available. I did an experiment Yesterday and this morning. I have a single 100 Amp LFP Battery. I ran the array through the controller to this single battery. From the single Battery to a 500 Watt PURE Sine Inverter; from that to a 6 Amp Lithium Specific charger. It takes awhile, but it DID Charge the bigger bank to full capacity.
So, now if we have an extended outage, I can use this system to charge 1 2.5 KWH Battery, and use it while charging the SECOND Battery. By alternating the two Banks this way, I can STAY powered almost indefinitely, WITHOUT the need for a Gas Generator! With this system, I can keep the house lit, the Ham Radio Station going, keep the phones and the handheld radios and flashlights completely topped off. I can even run the Home Entertainment system off of this, and I have power to spare!
As soon as I can, I want to add another 1,000 Watts of Solar and a 50 Amp Controller to my system.(I have TWO 50 Amp Controllers in storage)
I agree with you as well on your chainsaw, and your hot shower assessment.
You would be surprised what a couple passes with just a hand file does to a chain to re-sharpen it. When I first moved from the city to the country, I would throw the chain out every time it got dull, that was not sustainable with the 20 inch bar.
And a power outage we were doing so much snow clearing and woodburning, tree removal I really worked up a sweat and wanted nothing more than a hot shower.
I took advantage of some tax incentives and got a heat pump, hot water tank, that my generator and Eco flows can run. The next time power went out. We were able to have hot showers for the week just running the generator about two hours a day as The solar array wasn’t as substantial at the time.
If I may, I have a lesson I learned the hard way, I got some very nice 5 gallon Justrite gas cans several years ago. They were EXPENSIVE. But at the time I thought they were bomb proof and would last me a lifetime. Yeah, not so much. I was pretty pissed. So I started looking around and found what I think is the solution. There’s a product called Red-Kote that’s used to seal the tanks of motorcycle fuel tanks. It’s kind of a pain to apply, but I’m hoping it’s solved my problem. Something to keep in mind.
Where are your plastic gas cans getting holes? In the bottom where they contact the floor?
Maybe something like these would help. Those metal cans are ridiculously expensive. Not in my budget, especially since I already have the plastic ones...
Slipstick GorillaPads CB147 Non Slip Furniture Pads/Gripper Feet (Set of 16) Self Adhesive Rubber Floor Protectors, 1 inch Round, Black
Gas, yes, I had the plastic cans, enough for 27 gallons. The gas is stabilized and rotated every 6 months. These are only for the generator. None have every leaked, however, the seal(tightness) on the caps is not great. A few years ago I watched a video about storage and stability of the cans, and the eagle cans tended to be less tippy. So for Christmas, I asked for one eagle metal can($69). and for the past 3 years, I have received one Eagle gas can. Now I have 15 gallons of good sealed gas can for stabilized fuel. Maybe i will get another this year. The goal is to have 25 gal which will last me 10 days of normal emergency generator usage. Hot water heater, tankless may not be the way to go. Propane tank water heater is less expensive and more likely not to scale through use from the city water. It also runs without electricity (natural draft) as long as you have water. Look at the failure rate of tankless before making a decision.
People need to prepare now and not wait until the next hurricane season. You never know what might happen or when.
We lost power today. The weather was fine. Maybe a car crash? Who knows. It only lasted an hour, so no big deal, but you just never know.
Where are your plastic gas cans getting holes? In the bottom where they contact the floor?
Vp racing fuel cans , plastic heavy duty been beating those up for years and they last if you don’t cross thread the lid
I have plastic cans twenty years old...