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BOB question

4K views 40 replies 16 participants last post by  rokitman 
#1 ·
I've never been in the BOB club, but I'll ask a few basic things and see if anyone can answer.

So the purpose of a BOB is to provide you stuff while you get from A to B. Right? OK, I guess it can also be for other things but lets assume what I said.

Say for some reason we cannot just take the car and head for the cabin. We have to walk. Say it is late spring, summer or early fall. Without pushing too hard, we could make that walk in 5 days. If the weather is not too bad, all we'd need is a rain poncho to curl up under and a warm blanket. Some calorie dense food would be nice and a water bottle (You could likely drink from a creek here without getting sick).

Meaning, the BOB could be really minimal. Basically grab anything and we would be fine.

Now for winter. Say for simplicity there is not a lot of snow or I'd need skis, but it is still dead cold. There is just no way we could walk for hours on end in the winter. Making camp would be hard. Need a good tent, very warm sleeping bags etc. Still we would be cold all along. Would need a whole lot of gear, food etc and still we probably would freeze to death half way. Wet clothes would never dry. Would need a lot of clothes or some really pricey type that doesn't absorb sweat.

Suddenly the BOB gets really complicated. Actually almost impossible.

Under these circumstances I feel there is no real use for a BOB.

Prove me wrong.
 
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#3 ·
For gods sake Speedy! Have you not been paying attention, lol! I'm betting there have been a thousand + posts about why a Bob is a good idea! I'll give you one! I went offroading several years ago and was 32 miles from the nearest highway and after taking a hike I find my battery was dead in my truck! So I had to walk out with my pooch! I always keep 4 quarts of water and a couple of MREs in my truck along with a first aid kit, heavy jacket, matches, flashlight and on this occasion a 22 pistol! After spending part of a night trying to stay warm by a fire, driving off a pack of feral dogs, sharing my food with my pooch, and walking 32 miles in daylite and darkness I made it to the highway some 32 hours later! Probably would have made it without my supplies but goes to show how important my preps were! Me and my pooch were none the worse for wear! We probably would have been in bad shape otherwise! And if I had spained or broken an ankle or foot, my supplies would have keep me going a few more days just in case! Any more questions?
 
#5 ·
Sweet story rokitman!, good for you!

And a BOB is for say you have a flood coming or a blizzard or a fire etc, and u need to grab something and get the hell out of the house, u know some things that will get you by for a couple days till u can make it back or whatever. its not designed for the world being nuked and u have to walk across the planet book of eli style with your back pack just to make it to your cabin.

If you have a blizzard and are freezing to death well maybe ur luck just sucks and its your time but being prepared sure beats being not!
 
#6 ·
...
Under these circumstances I feel there is no real use for a BOB.

Prove me wrong.
Reason for a summer or winter BOB...

House fire or forest fire. Everything is burning up fast and seconds count. Grab a bag and go rather than acting frantic "grabbing stuff" that you are sure to forget something.

Like you said, don't need it t be complicated "live in the woods" type. But just something to keep you going a little while longer.
 
#15 ·
Well living in an APT makes it easier. I always thought you lived in cabin in the woods or something LOL. :D: :D: Maybe you talked about going to a cabin one time or something.

Look have the bag by the door. And throw it over your shoulder on your way out like a purse. Heck it can BE your purse with a few extra provisions! You will have to go through that way anyway when exiting. No need to go out of your way to "grab" it.

Since you live in an apartment, you could have things like a small amount of cash, cat food, people food, emergency phone charger, phone list, toiletries for a hotel stay, jump drive with pictures and such etc etc.

It doesn't have to be End of the World survival bag. The point is to have quick access to needed essentials when time matters.

BTW when living in an Apartment, fire was my MAIN concern. You can control fires somewhat when you live in a house... in an apartment, you are under the mercy of your neighbors stupidity. One time living in my apartment, neighbors set their apartment overloading an outlet. Firemen kicked down my door at about 2-3 am in the morning. Luckily I grabbed my gym-bag which had clothes and money. Otherwise I would have been in my pajamas. This was before cats, wife and kids.
 
#16 ·
It would be a long way from impossible. It is simply winter camping which a lot of us do. You do need suitable clothing. In very cold weather there is no reason to be wet unless you fall through ice.

Snow makes it easy because you can use skis or snoshoes and pull a small toboggan. If there is no snow you must be prepared to carry your pack. I have camped many times in weather as cold as Sweden and it only adds another dimension to the camping, keeping warm. There is an abundance of lightweight cold weather camping and mountaineering gear out there and my advice for you is to get some and experiment with it until you feel confident, Like anything else it just takes a little experience. Get a sleeping bag that is rated for a colder temperature than you expect. The best way is to use one inside the other and then you can use a single in warmer weather.

Oh don't sweat while you are walking, shed clothing instead. While you are moving with a load you WILL keep warm. Have high calorie food and a way to heat it. Fats and sugars are needed to stay warm at night.
 
#17 ·
7445 posts?

If you can live without a bob your amazing and a billy badass.

If armies since the dawn of time can cross thousands of miles in all terrain in all weather types

So can you

A bob is the sexual lubricant which is survival sex

Sure you can go dry..... But why would you?
 
#18 ·
Mtnairkin, the problem is following. And I have been taking hikes in the winter so I know how tricky it gets. If you walk, you sweat. If you take off clothes to make you not sweat, you will be exposed to snow instead (OK now in my scenario it suddenly started snowing). You will be snowy and the snow will melt on you and you will be wet. Either dang way.
 
#24 ·
Quit trying to be difficult. :) Snow brushes or shakes off easily. A cold freezing rain is much more problematic. If rain gear is not in your supplies, it should be. A poncho keeps you dry and can serve as a tarp (there are other alternatives). I'll say again very little is impossible. Also I'll stress, practice with it in non survival conditions. Sleep a few nights in winter in your backyard or a cold rainy night now and if your butt gets cold, walk into the apt. Assume nothing until you try it.

Try it, you'll like it :)
 
#26 ·
It is just my opinion, but a BOB doesn't have to be a bag you carry on your back. Though I do have a small pack, I can't carry a large one. Here in Nevada where it can be from 115* to -30* with winds up to 70mph winter or summer, so surviving any season of the year can be a challenge. And can require more gear than can be carried in a pack. Like a winter tent and sleeping bag and enough food to get me to my BOL. So I use a game cart and plan to get a pulk to go on top of it so I can carry the cart in the pulk when there is snow on the ground.

It is still a BOB in concept, the things you need to get from A to B safely, despite not being carried on my back. (Since I can handle the weight of the game cart, it is also an INCH bag, GOOD bag, BIB, and DHS bag all rolled up into one.)

I carry enough food for at least a month, perhaps two, plus I can probably take a deer or two, even an elk. And be dry and comfortable in severe weather with the clothing I have. I only open up clothing enough in winter to moderate the temperature. I don't go from Artic Carhartts to a teeshirt. I just undo a zipper here and there to let the heat vent and close them back up before I take a chill.

Just my thoughts on the matter.
 
#30 ·
I've never been in the BOB club, but I'll ask a few basic things and see if anyone can answer.

So the purpose of a BOB is to provide you stuff while you get from A to B. Right? OK, I guess it can also be for other things but lets assume what I said.

Say for some reason we cannot just take the car and head for the cabin. We have to walk. Say it is late spring, summer or early fall. Without pushing too hard, we could make that walk in 5 days. If the weather is not too bad, all we'd need is a rain poncho to curl up under and a warm blanket. Some calorie dense food would be nice and a water bottle (You could likely drink from a creek here without getting sick).

Meaning, the BOB could be really minimal. Basically grab anything and we would be fine.

Now for winter. Say for simplicity there is not a lot of snow or I'd need skis, but it is still dead cold. There is just no way we could walk for hours on end in the winter. Making camp would be hard. Need a good tent, very warm sleeping bags etc. Still we would be cold all along. Would need a whole lot of gear, food etc and still we probably would freeze to death half way. Wet clothes would never dry. Would need a lot of clothes or some really pricey type that doesn't absorb sweat.

Suddenly the BOB gets really complicated. Actually almost impossible.

Under these circumstances I feel there is no real use for a BOB.

Prove me wrong.



the idea of a BoB is also to grab and go.can you gather everything you need with in 5 mins? and not for get something? remember you will be understress. think of it as in the movie "war of the worlds". they only had a couple of mins. to gather up some stuff and go while being in a state of shock/panic from what is going on,and your thinking isnt clear at that moment so haveing a well planed BoB will help LOT :thumb:


ppl go backpacking in the dead of winter with alot of snow. but yes you will need cold weather gear but as long as you dont have small children it is possable to make it no problem.







frankly there are very few reasons why and a very slim chance that anyone will ever use their BoBs but there have been cases where BoB's have been very useful.it all depends on where you live and what your running away from.
 
#35 ·
lol yea planet X is comming :eek:


but it was an example of how everyone will be in the 1st moments of the SHTF and your needing to bug out, the shock ,confusion, no organization...ect all you know is you need to be at your BoL

the only way ill be bugging out is if its a have to thing. i must bug-out to survive (just like in the movie ;))

bugging -out isnt something your wanting to do it the last ditch effort to survive the situation
 
#37 ·
That is a long time but a long way from impossible. How many kilometers and what kind of terrain? Also are you ruling out being able to traverse the road? I've never continously winter hiked for 14 days but have winter camped well in excess of that. Is it shorter cross country than by highway?

Can you imagine a scenario where you might just have to accomplish this or is this just mental exercise? If you can't use skis and a toboggan, then you can use a cart. Yep snowmobiles are nice but it's a loooonng way back when they break down. :) Especially with aliens about!! :)
 
#36 ·
Fail to plan, plan on failing in whatever endeavors you pursue throughout your life.

Throw up your hand, quit and you can bet one day someone will be stepping over your cold stiff decomposing body on their way, probably to your warm cozy little cabin in the woods.

I happened into an experience back in September, 1981 a bit outside of Chicken, Alaska right down the road from holy crap comrade with a busted wheel bearing, young wife and 2 little daughters in which a BOB played an important part in keeping our fat from the fire. I have no desire to ever BO as I have too much "stuff" I've acquired over a lifetime however, if forced out I do have 4 extensive BOB's for the wife and I which will hopefully supply us with the cash, clothes, meds, beans and bullets to make it to our little cabin on the lake in Texas by whatever means are required. The BOB is just one aspect of the overall plan that thinking men and women have.

The real point of your question is not rather there is a "real" use for a BOB but instead, are you a survivor through whatever calamity may come your way or just another piece of dead meat for carrion to feed on? Fail to plan plan to fail. It's a choice. ;)
 
#38 ·
Started thinking about the whole BOB thing.. and it went from there. Both my friend and I live in the same area in the city, and I go where she goes, within reason. We own the cabin in the woods together.

The easiest way to get there would be driving. If we make a successful drive, we have what we need at the cabin. If roads are clogged, I think bicycling could probably be an alternative, with a fairly light bag.

More thinking out loud what I really need rather than just theory. Also, even if we have a long way there, I have to sync my plans with my friend's eventually. And then it helps if I know what I really think about things.

(Right now I hope nothing bad is going to happen as we're focused on smaller repairs at the cabin, still they will take up a lot of this summer, next summer we will need a new roof and then we need to save up for solar. Hope there will be no bugging anywhere in the meantime.)
 
#41 ·
Now that I think about it, you live in a cabin which is your Bol therefore you need no Bob to get to your Bol since you are already in your Bol. But if your Bol acts like a marshmallow you need to get to your backup Bol so you need a Bob afterall since you will soon run out of cats to eat!
 
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