> TEOTWAWKI Blog: What have you been up to lately?

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5/31/13

What have you been up to lately?

A couple projects that I'm working on...

Repacking the bug out bag into a smaller, more streamlined package. Swapped out a few things to reduce weight/bulk. Really happy with how things are sizing up - down to around 12 pounds, dry weight - 18ish with water. Cut some stuff, added some new capabilities, focused in on what was most important to me given the likely use scenarios. Related posts are incoming...it's a bit different than your typical bug out bag. Have a couple other items I need to acquire, T&E before I'm going to call it done, but its in a pretty good place now.

Also got a great eBay deal on a very nice solar panel - a 28 watt folding panel from PowerFilm. Paid less than half the usual retail...I've been watching PowerFilm auctions for a year or two now and finally won a good one. These things are amongst the best portable panels in the world at this point--totally weatherproof, you can shoot bullet holes in 'em and they continue to work fine. Very manageable size and weight for a 28 watt panel.

The panel will be used to charge a battery, and I need to decide what I want to do for a battery set up and charge controller--if I want to just go with out of the box or DIY something. The battery will then be used to charge 12v stuff - lights, radios and battery chargers. More detailed posts on the panel forthcoming, too.


Project 590A1 needs a little bit more love from me...a light is the last big thing I'm looking at, and I'm on the fence about going with a dedicated Surefire fore end or just slapping some rail on and using a pistol light. Will probably go for a pistol light. Anyone have any shotgun light mounts they particularly like? I wish MagPul had their Mossberg stuff out.

I am also doing some window shopping for nylon gear...chest rig, holsters, some BDUs, etc. Will probably wait until the army announces their newly selected camouflage scheme, which is rumored to be in the next couple weeks on the army's 6/14 b-day.

Got another subscription to Panteao Production's train online. Going to do some marathon training video watching. $20 a month, but access to their whole library. Not a bad deal, especially considering the videos run $40ish dollars on their own.

Eating less junk and doing more exercise has got me down about 15lbs. Have another 15-ish to go, but feeling pretty good about it.

I am also doing some shopping for a training class, probably this fall. May try for a survival class and a weapons course of some kind--pistol or carbine, likely. Need to figure out my work schedule, vacation time, moves and all that jazz and then pull the trigger.

Those are the highlights from our neck of the woods. What have you been up to?