Trailer for emergencies- what's your plan?

[Captleemo]

Anybody that likes Powerade they make great 32 oz water bottles.

[R Evans]

Good call on the PowerAde bottles, they are very durable.

Beware of using milk jugs for water storage. Milk jugs are specially designed to biodegrade after about 6 months. If you use them for regular water storage you may wake up to find a wet floor. When using them for freezing, the bottle won't leak only due to the difficulty of ice passing through the decomposing bottle. I learned of this decades ago from a preparedness seminar presenter from the state's department of emergency management; it was his personal experience.

I use distilled water for my CPAP and make sure I don't have lots of water in aging bottles since they appear to be no different from milk jugs, and after all, they will normally be recycled or disposed of in a landfill.

[stude]

handles and little red off and on also they sell hard sided and round Blue 5 gallon plastic tubs with a grip on top and a tap set up where you refill the jugs.
How long will water last in these, I have heard 6 months but then empty and refill would be okay, or is there a way to keep what water is in them fresh by adding something?
Also those food packages that have to much sodium inside them what it there life span? Sure hate to buy them at $11 a pop and only last for say 1 year as we have no idea when the big Q is coming.
We have a couple of outside sheds that shoul keep items warm during winter months or to store gas in, I have a real small heater I let it run on 500W which keeps the 6'x10' room quite warm, I have a cple of smalle vents in the one we keep warm and I have a set of bunks built into it for Guests with toilet, which has to be dumped occasionally etc.
Stude

[Captleemo]

Be careful about where you store plastic containers of water. The place I used to work bought Ozarka bottled water by the truck load as they were very serious about everybody having plenty of water to drink in the hot summer months. We had a whole pallet delivered to our shop once and just stored it outside. A few weeks in the sunlight caused the water to taste like plastic so we had to dispose of it. As long as we kept it in the shop out of the sunlight it was ok.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by stude

How long will water last in these, I have heard 6 months but then empty and refill would be okay, or is there a way to keep what water is in them fresh by adding something?

Also those food packages that have to much sodium inside them what it there life span? Sure hate to buy them at $11 a pop and only last for say 1 year as we have no idea when the big Q is coming.

Technically water has no expiry date so it will be safe to drink as long as it is stored & sealed properly in a food safe and not previously contaminated container. Adding chlorine to it is a good idea if the water is not city water that already has chlorine added to it.

If you purchase your freeze dried foods from Mountain Equipment Co-op for example you will find lots of brands are not high in sodium. How long they are labelled to last varies by what the package contains & manufacturer and they all have a expiry date stamped on them. Some of the better tasting/healthier ones I have currently have a shelf life of about 6 years. Hard to know how long they had been on the shelf at the store prior to purchase last year.

Still do backpacking trips so about every 3 years I purchase all new packages of freeze dried foods and replace the ones I keep for emergency use in the trailer and in the emergency back pack kit. I put the old ones in the cupboard so they get used up that year on actual backpacking trips rather than throwing them away.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by R Evans

Beware of using milk jugs for water storage. Milk jugs are specially designed to biodegrade after about 6 months. If you use them for regular water storage you may wake up to find a wet floor.

I think I can recently attest to this. I've used 1/2 gallon milk jugs for years. Freeze water in them and put in my cooler. This last trip, one of the milk jugs leaked. There wasn't any hole that I could find, it just leaked.

I'm going to start using rectangle plastic juice containers (64 oz). They'll nest better and have heavier plastic than soda containers. I love to reuse and recycle!

[Kai in Seattle]

One problem with milk jugs is that plastic tends to be "oleophilic," which means oil-loving; that is, has an affinity to attach to fats. Plastic will absorb milk fat from even skim milk, and there it stays, going rancid, tainting your water. FEMA (I know, I know) suggests NOT using milk jugs for drinking water. It'd be fine for ice you don't plan to drink.


I hadn't heard that they deteriorate so quickly. Guess we'd better rethink our milk jug pop-up canopy weights, then! Or we'll end up with four gallons of water in our car boot.


There IS something you can put into the jugs to neutralize the milk fats, but I don't remember what it is. Something fairly common, however. Maybe someone knows what it is?


We do like the 2-liter pop bottles...and the 32-ounce drink bottle sounds good, too. There are many options for water bottles out there.

[Paul O.]

Originally Posted by Ice-breaker

We can also bring the poutine!

Qu'est-ce que c'est? - English answer, please?

[Kai in Seattle]

Poutine:
noun
1. (Canadian) a dish of chipped potatoes topped with curd cheese and a tomato-based sauce


Sounds good--I think I made a version of that the other day out of leftovers!


Got a proper recipe?

[R Evans]

Milk jugs are fairly fragile, too. They don't like friction - things rubbing against them. In normal use they are fine from the dairy to home to recycling. They are handy for canopy weights, but I would suggest replacing them frequently. There are some larger squarish translucent jugs with screw lids that will accept a spigot. They are plenty strong.

Using clear bottles, like 2 liters, labels removed can be used to expose water to sunlight for UV purification. Usually one day is enough so you don't get nasty bottle taste in water that is already questionable filtered river water.

[Lercs]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

Poutine:
noun
1. (Canadian) a dish of chipped potatoes topped with curd cheese and a tomato-based sauce


Sounds good--I think I made a version of that the other day out of leftovers!


Got a proper recipe?

Tomato based sauce? No way, it's fries, curds and gravy. The best thing in the world (if made correctly)

[Bobbie Mayer]

Originally Posted by Carol H

I have a small hand pump type water purifier from backpacking days I keep in the trailer if worse comes to worse in regards to safe drinking water.

These are the "deal of the day" at Amazon today. (Monday, October 24.)

[Eddie B.]

Originally Posted by Dave Fish

We have both the MH and the Campster. I consider both of them potential escape pods. Each has beading and other supplies year round and water except in the winter.

Like a previous post, I will most likely deploy for emergency communications in a major event once I am sure that the family, including pets, are taken care of. I plan to equip both units as mobile ham shacks as well as having needed survival gear and supplies in each.

Although I am near Bobbie, I am high enough and positioned where I am not concerned about the tsunami but there are other risks such as fire, land slides, trees, etc.

I'm also a hamradio operator,W4EBX
I use two 50 amp gel cell batteries in my Casita,charge them with a 5 amp battery tender.Would be interested in seeing some antenna options on campers,for VHF,UHF,Hf.Eddie

[Erik F]

Originally Posted by Bobbie Mayer

In our recent threat of power outage, I figured I would use the new trailer as backup fridge (on propane) and backup heater (propane). So that would be use one, power outages.

Second use- in case of tsunami threat, moving out of range. I live in a low-lying spot in Puget Sound so if the big Cascadia quake happens, I'd have warning enough to tow the trailer up the hill to safety. Assuming roads stay good we should have plenty of warning. (More local earthquakes I don't worry about- we'd have no warning of a tsunami from those quakes so the only chance would be to head upstairs.) So stalking for an emergency use would include the same things that ought to be in my earthquake kit- water, food for a couple of weeks, batteries, and so on. I'm doing okay at getting one emergency kit together upstairs and figure if the plan is evacuate instead I can gather supplies from there- I guess best bet would be to stow the stuff that isn't duplicated in the trailer in an easy-to-grab bag. The Red Cross has lists for emergencies:

Survival Kits | Emergency Preparedness Kit | Red Cross

Does your emergency plan include your trailer?

Seemed like a good idea for me. Keep my larger "go bag" in the camper and a mini "go bag" in the house. Trailer being the biggest "bag" is first resort then the other bags. Live on Vancouver Island close to ocean.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Eddie B.

I'm also a hamradio operator,W4EBX
I use two 50 amp gel cell batteries in my Casita,charge them with a 5 amp battery tender.Would be interested in seeing some antenna options on campers,for VHF,UHF,Hf.Eddie

I have a Diamond VHF/UHF antenna mounted on my truck.
When camped I use either a Buddie Pole Diapole or an EndFDZ antenna. The Buddie Pole is self supporting. For the wire EndFDZ I use a telescoping fiberglass pole either 19' or 33' tall on one end the end is closer to the ground so it's usually in sloper configuration. A steel short fence post and bungie cords hold the fiberglass pole upright. The EndFDZ antennas are quite compact, I carry 3, a 20 meter, 40 meter both have a 200 watt limit and 10, 20, 40 with a 25 watt limit. All three fit into one brief case.

[redbarron55]

KE4MD here now in Florida.
I Haven't set up a radio yet, but I might later.
We keep go bags ready along with a small HF inverter generator.
I think I will drag out the Yeasu and the 2 meter rig.
I inherited the radios from my father-in-law and haven't really gotten back into ham radio again.
They might come in handy in a hurricane though.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Eddie B.]

Originally Posted by Eddie B.

I'm also a hamradio operator,W4EBX
I use two 50 amp gel cell batteries in my Casita,charge them with a 5 amp battery tender.Would be interested in seeing some antenna options on campers,for VHF,UHF,Hf.Eddie

This is a big subject
Depending on what happens,area we live in,city or country.I keep most of our supplies in the home,water in a 275 gallon plastic container.If we had to leave in the Casita,that would be a big problem.Trying to figure out what all to take,I've been following the Survival mom on Facebook,she has many articles about supplies needed in different situations,then amazon has a survival listing of supplies,etc.I use white vinegar to clean my cpap,then save the container that white vinegar comes in for water it seems to be a better made plastic.
Have a Honda generator 1800 watt to run the household items,we have gas heat.My little onan generator is only 1000 watts,plus it has a 12 volt output also.Im in the process of converting the onan to propane and mounting it on the Casita.in a survival situation,I will use items that draw less current,a handheld tv,led lights,lanterns,handheld hamradios instead of the larger ones.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Eddie B.

,we have gas heat.

We have a home gas furnace, which does not work in a power outage. Needs electricity for the fan. We spent four days in the dead of winter without power several years ago. Next time, we move into the Escape with its propane furnace. Have solar and a Honda 1000.