Mark's response to Mike is not surprising. We had plain dental floss in some of our Navy aviator survival kits 25 years ago. Makes good snares for birds, fishing line, etc. Lotsa uses. Also effective in getting bits of snake skin out of your teeth. That was the same kit that included Charms --- the old fruit-flavored hard candy, and the small, square foil packets enclosing a rolled up latex cylinder, closed off at one end, labeled "water carrier". Guess if the candy was effective --- well, never mind. They <could> serve as water carriers if you could even get the solar still to work! Joq *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Jack_Martin_at_jtif.webfld.navy.mil wrote: > > Mark's response to Mike is not surprising. We had plain dental floss > in some of our Navy aviator survival kits 25 years ago. Makes good > snares for birds, fishing line, etc. Lotsa uses. Also effective in > getting bits of snake skin out of your teeth. I mention dental floss in my book on folding kayaks as part of emergency gear to have along (37 items altogether). It can be used in repairing broken wooden parts of a frame in conjunction with duct tape. Wrap the broken part first with the dental floss to help hold things together real tight and then duct tape. Could be use tie first aid splints as well as a number of other uses. Takes up almost zero space. > > That was the same kit that included Charms --- the old fruit-flavored > hard candy, and the small, square foil packets enclosing a rolled up > latex cylinder, closed off at one end, labeled "water carrier". Guess > if the candy was effective --- well, never mind. They <could> serve > as water carriers if you could even get the solar still to work! That latex container is something I recently recommended in my newsletter that one have in the pocket of their PFD. Same water container idea. The person who suggested it to me, who did not want to be named, said that when he would swim off of the city's beaches as a young man he always had one of those latex stretchy devices in that small coin pocket on bathing suits. He said it worked as an emergency flotation device. Blow it up and you had an instant primitive personal flotation device. The problem with having one in your PFD pocket is explaining it to your significant other. Print this out to show it is for _true_ emergency need. ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Ralph Diaz: > That latex container is something I recently recommended in my > newsletter that one have in the pocket of their PFD. Same water > container idea. Audrey Sutherland, at an LL Bean Symposium, said a condom was an ideal item for a safety kit. Water carrier, air bladder, turniquet strap, slingshot band.... Her other favorite item was the bladder from a box of wine - medium sized water carrier, kayak seat, pillow, and possibly as a signal (using the aluminum coating as a reflector). kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> That latex container is something I recently recommended in my > newsletter that one have in the pocket of their PFD. Same water > container idea. The person who suggested it to me, who did not want to > be named, said that when he would swim off of the city's beaches as a > young man he always had one of those latex stretchy devices in that > small coin pocket on bathing suits. He said it worked as an emergency > flotation device. Blow it up and you had an instant primitive personal > flotation device. The problem with having one in your PFD pocket is > explaining it to your significant other. Print this out to show it is > for _true_ emergency need. For the record, many land-based survival schools recommend the same "latex cylinder" as an emergency water carry. Also quite handy (according to some) when camping in extreme cold and nature calls in the wee (or is that "wee wee") hours of the morning. A bit off topic............ couldn't resist ;> *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:48 PDT