I made some videos a little while back showing the Rite in the Rain water resistant notebooks, which are pretty neat. I’ve been using them for years myself and have been really happy with them, so adding them to my product selection was a no brainer. I recently picked up their DuraRite pads as well, in 3″ x 5″ and 4″ x 6″.
The regular RITR products are water resistant paper, but they are still paper. They can handle rain, a light dunking, and short term immersion. Water will eventually seep into them though, so they are not considered completley waterproof.
The DuraRite products are made out of synthetic materials and are completely waterproof. You can drop them in water, write on them underwater, leave them underwater, and have no problems.
I have customers that do a lot of kayaking, canyoneering, fly fishing, and other saturated activities that swear by DuraRite. If untreated paper gets destroyed by you and regular RITR pads still get a little ratty from moisture, then maybe you need to try out the DuraRite line.
If you read my blog, then you probably already know that I get excited about my products pretty easily. Such is the outcome of owning a business that focuses on products for activities that you love.
A new line of products has had me ridiculously excited for about a year and I am very happy to finally be able to share the news. The products are GearPods: modular survival, tool, and adventure kits.
The main parts of GearPods are various tubes, connectors, and other pieces that all connect together. You can have your fire tools in one tube, first aid in another, cooking in a third, gear repair in a fourth, etc. Once you have your kits put together, you can connect and arrange them as needed for different trips. The connector and cap pieces have rubber gaskets to keep your gear dry and safe.
The empty tubes and connectors will be available in the coming weeks and months, but for now, very well thought out premade kits are in stock and ready to ship. The Trailhead kit contains basic survival and first aid items. The BackCountry fleshes out the Trailhead kit contents and adds cooking items such as an aluminum cup, stove, and fuel. The Wilderness kit takes all of that and adds in shelter items like an ultralight nylon tarp and an emergency blanket. Covers for the two larger kits are also available.
Rite in the Rain makes a pretty cool line of products. As the name suggests, the pads and pens they make can handle rain and other water sources with no problem. Water beads up and runs off, and the ink isn’t touched.
I discovered RITR several years ago when I lost a notebook of important (to me) notes to a sudden downpour on a hike. I forgot that the pad was in an outside pocket of my pack and not in a dry bag like everything else I was carrying that was susceptible to water. I went searching for a solution and, lo and behold, there is a whole company dedicated to making products that laugh at precipitation and scoff at a dunk in a river.
Here is a video I made showing the products in action:
Rechargeable batteries are pretty wonderful. They save money since they can be used over and over and over. They save resources since you are not buying alkaline or lithium batteries ad infinitum for your electronic toys. They do eventually die, but most chargers will make you think that they are dead long before the end of their useful life.
Smart chargers like the LaCrosse BC-900 can not only extend the life of your rechargeable batteries, but they can also make those batteries last longer on a single charge.
The BC-900, in particular, has some very nice features that set it above your average charger that you pick up at Target. First off, each battery is charged on an individual circuit, which means that you can charge different types of batteries without worrying about damaging the batteries or the charger, like you possibly can with a regular charger. Those idividual circuits have very complex monitoring technology to ensure that they do not overcharge and ruin your battery, a major problem with many fast chargers on the market. The circuits can also immediately detect whether or not a battery is completely shot or not, so you do not have to wait until you need the battery to figure out that it is destined for the recycling center. The BC-900 can charge batteries that my other chargers don’t even recognize as batteries in the first place.
Second, you can change the rate at which it charges. If you want to be nice and gentle to your poor little batteries, make it charge slow. If you want to inundate your batteries with as much juice as possible in the shortest amount of time possible, crank it all the way up. I personally just leave it on the middle setting, so it is not frustratitingly slow and also does not burn out my batteries.
Lastly, and coolest to me (I admit that I am a giant nerd, so take this with a grain of salt), is the “discharge and refresh” function. Most chargers will just charge a battery a single time, which can make the battery not have the maximum amount of charge possible. The discharge and refresh function does just that, discharge each battery completely, and then recharge them with the maxium amount of capacity (mAh) over and over. This process can take several days, but it will also help you achieve those ratings you see on your batteries, like “2600 mAh.” In my experience, just charging a battery once will get you about 2/3 of the capacity that the battery is capable of, which means that you are losing a full 1/3 of what the battery is capable of. The BC-900 will help make sure that you take full advantage of your batteries, which is very nice if you take them on a trip where size and weight matter, like on a hiking or travel trip.
There are other nice featuers of the BC-900, but those are what I believe set it apart from other chargers. The BC-900 and similar chargers are more expensive than your average charger, but if your house is littered with five million flashlights, electronics, game controllers, remotes, etc. like mine is, it will very quickly pay for itself.
I managed to avoid the powerful lure of SteepAndCheap for a good year, mostly thanks to a bank account containing some pocket lint and maybe an Altoid or two. Their recent splitting of ski, snowboard, kayak, bike, etc. gear and focus on traditional camping gear and clothing has pulled me back in with several purchases in recent months. Of course, most of them were some form of merino wool.
The most recent purchase was of the Backcountry.com Merino Crew Short Sleeve Shirt. Three of them, in fact. I already own a few BC merino items and have been impressed with their quality, so this purchase was a safe one. The BC merino quality, softness, and weave easily rival Icebreaker’s, which is a very high compliment judging from the several thousand (retail) dollars worth of Icebreaker hanging in my and my wife’s closets.
Most of my merino is long sleeve, winter stuff, which is quite dumb considering I live in a state that is over 100F approximately 11 1/2 months out of the year. A good bit of my camping, backpacking, and general travel is in the southeast as well, so I was on the prowl for lighter weight merino. Merino t-shirts are actually very comfortable in the summer, due to the temperature regulating properties of merino fibers. They wick moisture, keep you cool when warm, and dry faster than cotton. Plus, they have natural anti-funk properties, which is nice on multi-day outdoor excursions. You might reek and cause other hikers to recoil at your stench, but your shirt won’t!
Man, I can really babble about merino, can’t I? Anyway, the BC Merino Crew Shirts are nice. The shirts have sleeve and shoulder seams that come down on the front and back of the collar instead of the traditional top of the shoulder seams. The different cut seams do not rub your shoulders when you have a pack, meaning that the 50 lbs of crap you have to carry when backpacking with your significant other is not quite as uncomfortable. The merino is very soft and the material is relatively thin, same as the other BC pieces I own. The weave is a tighter weave than a lot of companies use, but it has a lot of stretch to it. The collar itself is a combination of a v-neck along with another piece of material that makes it a quasi crew neck, a combination that is actually nice and comfortable.
The only downside to the shirt is that it is extremely form-fitting, which depending on your fitness level, may or may not be a downside for you. It, unforutnately, is currently a downside for me.
Got another video for you guys, this time showing how to use an Aerowave Zipper Pull Whistle. Using them is pretty easy once you have a couple of simple tips:
A forum member recently asked the above question. There was a great discussion from several members and I figured the blog readers might like to see my response:
My personal level of preparation greatly depends on the situation. My level of knowledge also factors in heavily.
We’ll discuss knowledge first. Many survival instructors I have read about or seen will start out with only a few simple items: appropriate clothing, a crappy knife, a way to carry water, a way to start a fire, and maybe an item more or less. They live and breathe the outdoors and survival situations, so they are prepared to handle almost anything using the few tools they have and what is in the wilderness around them. They understand that if they lose or break their knife, a sharp stone will cut just fine. If they lose their firesteel, they know 20 different ways to start a friction fire. If they lose their way of carrying water, they can use bamboo to hold water, make a clay pot, use a sheep’s bladder, or whatever.
Do you have their knowledge? Probably not. I know I don’t. Because of this, you will probably need a few extra tools to make yourself comfortable and keep yourself and your loved ones OUT of a survival situation. (Side note: I always hate referring to uncomfortable situations as “survival situations” or my tool kit as my “survival kit.” Such language conjures images of Y2K and the end of the world. I use the items in my tool kit on a regular basis and use my knowledge to do everything possible to keep myself and my wife comfortable and safe. The likelihood of being in a survival situation is minimal, but the likelihood of being uncomfortable is damn high, in my experience. I plan and learn accordingly. Back on track…) Plus, how comfortable will you be if you only take a few items? I want a tent or hammock, a sleeping pad, a nice sleeping bag, a comfortable pack, rain gear, etc. I think the experience of going out in the woods with just a few items would be fun and a great learning environment, but to do that every time I step outside? No thanks. Take what makes you feel comfortable and you know will help you handle the scenarios you will likely encounter. As you gain knowledge and experience, the amount of needed gear may go up or down.
Now, different situations can make the amount of gear I feel necessary vary immensely. If I went for a week in the Smokies in the summer with nothing but a knife and a firesteel, I’d probably be miserable and uncomfortable, but I’d like to think I would be fine at the end of it. If I did the same thing in the Sahara or in Siberia, I’d probably be dead in a day.
I may not take an extra fleece (OK, we all know it would not be fleece, it would be merino wool) during a summer trip in the southeast. What are the consequences of this? The temperatures might dip at night, but to what? 75F? The risk is not high if I am not prepared for cold weather. If you do the same thing in Canada in the winter, then you are either an idiot or Les Stroud. I personally do not want to burrow inside a caribou carcass, so I would plan and prepare accordingly.
The point is, pack and prepare the amount of gear that YOU feel is appropriate for YOUR skill and knowledge levels and the scenarios you are likely to encounter. If you think you need 20 ways to start a fire because you are terrible at it, then take 20 ways. If you can start a fire by staring really hard at a downed tree, then you might not need as much.
I went out searching for a good paracord supplier recently, and came across a company that makes some excellent paracord. The first thing I noticed when I received the samples was that it is not 7 strand paracord, but 8 strand. I thought that was pretty awesome and ordered a whole crapload of it.
This is the highest quality paracord you will find. 8 strands of the best nylon the manufacturer could buy, with an outer sleeve of also high quality nylon. I have it in seven colors:
Black
White
Red
Camo Green
Olive Drab
Coyote Brown
Tan
I also have some of their older 7 strand cord, but only in camo green.
Woodsmonkey has a couple of new articles up featuring some of the items I sent their way. Their articles are fantastic (even when they aren’t linking to my stuff), with much more depth than you will see on most sites. Garrett, the lead simian, has a review of the revisited classic BKT BK11, better know as the Becker Necker. He shows some of my capsules and my favorite way to use them, storing tinder. As an added bonus, that tinder is fatwood shavings, one of the best and easiest way to start a fire. The Necker itself is still a slick little knife and I am happy to see it back in production after Camillus bit the dust.
The other article is from Tim and discusses zipper pull survival, which is adding small items to the zippers on your jacket or anything else with a readily accessable zipper so that you always have the items you need when and where you need them. The concept is a great idea, and even though I do not take it quite as far as many people I seen (your zipper items should not wear more than the jacket to which they are attached), I still like to have a whistle and LED light available when I need them. Having items like these might seem silly to the fast and light crowd, but a few extra grams of weight are fine by me if it means faster and easier attention grabbing and stuff finding. Granted, I usually have a headlamp on at night, but how about peering into a dark pack or tree nook during the day? A dim (compared to the rest of my flashlights) LED light is also really nice to have attached to my sleeping bag for finding my Burt’s Bees in the middle of the night or “what the hell just landed on my face” inspections.
If you have something small and light that you find yourself using on a regular basis, consider attaching it to a zipper pull instead of burying it deep inside your pack.
I made some videos a little while back showing the Rite in the Rain water resistant notebooks, which are pretty neat. I’ve been using them for years myself and have been really happy with them, so adding them to my product selection was a no brainer. I recently picked up their DuraRite pads as well, in 3″ x 5″ and 4″ x 6″.
