The SOURCE® Hydropanel starts at $3000 USD per panel. There is not really any installation – just point it at the sun and get drinking water.
The sun powers fans that pull pure water vapor out of the air
Warm air inside the panel turns water vapor into liquid water
The pure water is mineralized for health and taste
The self-contained system circulates the water and keeps it clean
Water can be plumbed directly into your home for easy enjoyment
Depending on how much humidity and sunlight your location receives, these solar panels produce between 0.3L and 4.5L of drinking water per day, per $3000 panel. From the air.
Of course low humidity usually means lots of sunlight, so at least 1L should be attainable. Over 5 years that is $2 per litre.
Apart from some minor long-term servicing, it should last 15 years with nothing to do.
Regular smartphones are kinda tough these days, they can survive being wet for a short while and modest drops. But given the power and usefulness of a phone in a SHTF scenario, it is worth having one that is either just for that purpose or as your regular phone. Simply having it on your person is a good reminder to be alert and aware, and is a good conversation piece as well.
These are all aimed at people who want more ruggedness than what the major phone companies offer. There are trade-offs, of course. Here’s an overview of your choices.
Motorola Defy – a decade ago this was my #1 choice, and now under new ownership (was Google, and now Lenovo) it is back, although without the walkie talkie option. It is a tough phone that looks like a normal phone in a not-too-bulky case. Includes a lanyard slot and headphone jack. It is based on the Moto G9, so look at reviews for that and decide if the price premium is worth it for the ruggedness. Importantly, unlike the other phones listed here, this is from a brand that is sure to be around for a long time.
Drop-proof to 1.8M, and waterproof for 35 minutes.
Nokia also have a pricey, reliable, tough phone, the XR20. And Samsung are releasing a new Galaxy XCover with a removable battery.
Ulefone focus on features. Their variety of phones can have things like 5G, 10,000MAH battery (for multiple days of use), 1TB of storage (more survival ebooks), fast charging, dual SIM, built-in air buds, loud speakers, powerful flashlight… even an endoscope accessory or a thermal imaging FLIR camera.
MIL-STD-810G certification is proof of protection against severe temperatures and drops from up to 1.5 meters.
Blackview are similar to Ulefone, and of course are also Chinese. If you could sum up their differences, Blackview are a little bit better in features you would want in a normal phone (processor speed, screen, camera) and has fewer gee-whiz survival aspects (battery and flashlight not as good, for example). However, the cheap BV7100 has a massive 13,000MAH battery…
We know that nuts are a common food type for hikers, because of their low weight to calorie ratio (and people like to eat them). But what about as part of your survivalist pantry?
Nuts are high in calories, fibre, good fats, B vitamins and protein. Not many foods get so many basic ticks.
Be sure that the nuts you store are dried or roasted. Raw nuts won’t last very long.
As with all survival foods, keep them in a cool, dark place, and don’t let vermin and bugs get to them.
If you regularly eat nuts, rotate your supplies
Which nuts should you store? Well they all have their own mixes of calorific, vitamin and mineral values. So store a variety, and remember that cheaper means more, which means longer survival. While your favorite may be cashews, peanuts might save your life because you have more. I’d sooner eat my least favorite food than starve to death.
How long do nuts last? Typically 6-12 months beyond their Best Used By date (which itself is usually quite short)
Consider peanut butter as well! It will last several years (1 year beyond the Expiration Date)
And of course consider growing nuts – there should be a type that suits your local growing zone.
On the downside, they will never be meals. They rarely even used as a major ingredient in meals. They are snacks.
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad
Most survivalists live on continents
Some potential disasters affect climate – think super-volcano or nuclear war
Others are local and your only option is to leave
In which case you might find your survival spot is no longer fit for purpose, and you need to leave. For sudden climate change, that might mean heading to the other end of the country or continent.
It crossed my mind that something akin to the Underground Railroad used by slaves could work the same way. Like-minded survivalists letting you stay at waypoints, share supplies and information, and so on.
To reduce the risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme. “Conductors” led or transported the fugitives from station to station.
That is a tactic also used by drug-dealers, and it is worth sticking to. No published route!
But how do you meet and recruit people across a continent? How can you get it going?
This is kind of a long-winded approach, but it serves many other purposes as well.
Civilian Action Groups
Or Collectives. Think organizations that use volunteers, like the Ballarat show (regional fair in Australia), fire brigade, St John’s, Salvos, op shops, scouts.
Form an umbrella group for sharing some resources and helping each other out when needed. There are meta-volunteer organizations, but they are all about the management side. I’m thinking something for the workers.
Have government funded training festivals for sharing of ideas and celebrating and thanking volunteers. Within this, form a militia of sorts in each town, ready to respond to disasters and threats and disease.
Within that, meeting points and survival supplies, bunkers and fire shelters.
Within that, find like minded survivalists to form a secret society that networks towns up and down the coast and inland. An underground railway for survivalists to travel along. Each nodule only knows if those one and two connections away. Few have the full map. All are sworn to secrecy.
Yes, a secret society. Ready for anything that the future throws at us. A wide-spread secret militia of sorts.
This is very exciting, and if it ever makes it to production, it is a must have for many survivalists.
Water is the most important thing to have in a SHTF-scenario – because without it we die.
Watch the TV series Alone to see how much effort people put into capturing water, even though they are right next to the sea. And consider scenarios like tsunamis, or where the regular inland water supply has been contaminated. Or, of course, if you are on a boat (because zombies can’t swim).
This device, hooked up to a cheap solar panel, can turn seawater into drinking water at a rate of 0.3 litres per hour.
No filters to replace!
The design means that you can scoop seawater into a container, instead of constantly moving with the tide. By doing so, that means if you refill a 7 litre container once per day, you can get 7 litres of drinking water in an adjacent container. That is enough for two people to survive. If your power source is only direct sunlight, with this model, you’ll need more solar power and a battery, to make enough drinking water for one person to survive on.
This also opens up the possibility of small-scale agriculture in dry lands next to the ocean, like a lot of Australia. Although the cost-efficiency would likely be very poor.
For a survivalist, there is always a trade-off between bulk and convenience. Few of us are willing to cart a 20kg go bag with us every where we go (picture a Valentine’s Day date…)
So it is worth considering which items can always be on your person without having a downside. A tool/knife is one of them (be very sure about local regulations!).
I carry the Leatherman Squirt P4. It is roughly the dimensions of a mini Bic lighter, or a 9 volt battery, and fits in with your keys well – but does add weight. Maybe 56 grams doesn’t sound like much, but that’s equivalent to 7 keys.
Everything aside from the pliers and wire cutter is available from when it is closed, providing speed of access:
Nothing is better about this tool (relative to other tools) except for its size. Don’t get this unless size is all that matters. Having said that, it is fully-functional and the quality is the equal of larger tools. The knife is quality and will easily last and function until you get to your better gear. A small multitool is simply a little bit fiddlier and has less leverage / requires more effort.
The main competitor – at this size – is the Gerber Dime.
1. Spring-action Needlenose Pliers 2. Standard Pliers 3. Wire Cutters 4. Tweezers 5. Bottle Opener 6. Fine Edge Blade 7. Package Opener 8. Scissors 9. Medium Flat Driver 10. Coarse & Fine File 11. Cross Driver 12. Lanyard Ring
They are very similar in size, functionality and quality.
The Dime has a much better bottle opener, and it is more convenient. Which is great for every day scenarios but not really a survival factor. Maybe just leave a bottle opener with your beers…
The pliers are not as good, with more of a gap between them when closed.
It also has tweezers (potentially highly useful) and is a lot cheaper than the Squirt. So, the Dime is a solid choice, but if you can afford it, I recommend the Squirt.
COVID-19 has helped everyone put things into perspective.
For some survivalists it has been a vindication, and their life hasn’t changed too much.
Here are some great advantages to living in a self-sufficient community with limited necessary contact with the outside world:
No taxes – aside from those attached to land ownership (land tax, council rates). If your community operates without money, nothing can be taxed.
Limited disease – in a pandemic, self-sufficient comes into its own. Just like everyone else, connections with the world suffer, but when you can get by without the world, and when there are many of you, it isn’t so bad.
My body, my choice – depending in the size of your community, you can have freedoms that the outside society might not. For example, and drugs/alcohol produced are tax-free, ingredients are known, and with a large enough property disposing of evidence is very do-able. Also, law enforcement tend to leave alone those who keep to themselves. Likewise, with the right members, abortion/tattoos whatever…
Self-provision – the process of planting seeds through to eating the produce is good for the soul.
Not processed – the very nature of self-sufficiency means no processed foods, and they are becoming acknowledged as the worst foods, health-wise.
Security – people are less inclined to do bad/crime when everyone around them knows them.
Win-win – you can achieve the above without rejecting the rest of the world. A typical commune couple can go away to the big city for a crazy weekend.
There are downsides, of course, to be discussed separately.
Q: What’s the difference between a full and proper modern home, and a cheap as bug out spot?
A: Heating, cooling, weather and bugs
If you can handle those four issues, in most jurisdictions, you can create a very cheap, sustainable living environment for pennies in the dollar. And the very nature of its cheapness makes it private/secret as well.
LAND
The cheapest land is the least productive, and where you cannot build a house due to local planning laws. In Australia these are typically bush blocks – many acres of gum trees down a dirt road somewhere. You aren’t allowed to chop down the trees, so about all you can do is wander around in the same bushland as national park. Therefore the land is cheap. And secluded. And not someone would come to steal or scavenge. I recommend, once everything has been delivered, to disguise any road access.
You need some flat, cleared land, not observable from the road. You need enough space for solar panels, rain capture and maybe a Starlink dish. I wouldn’t buy land where Internet access isn’t possible.
Where I live, you are allowed to clear land to build a fence – clear quite a lot. So if you buy land with multiple titles, you can build a fence between them and create some space.
For me, the land will be used on weekends, at least to begin with, so it needs to be a reasonable distance from where you normally live. This is important for when you need to bug out in an emergency.
FOOD and WATER
If the land is not suitable for growing crops, you will need to create raised garden beds. Using off-the-shelf products for this could end up being very expensive, so you need to be inventive. In a bush block, most of the land is sheltered. That means growing crops that don’t need full sunlight. For a balanced diet you might need some open land for those other crops, and maybe a little greenhouse.
For water, if there is no well or possibility for one, you need to capture it from rain. Rain is more reliable than a well, and free! The capturing part is the difficulty. Seeing as we are not building a house, that common method isn’t available. Our sheds (see below) could each capture some rainwater, and there is no reason why each can’t have their own little tank. The kitchen and shower sheds can use that water directly. But they won’t provide enough water for survival if you need to water plants as well.
My aim is to avoid all building permits and approvals, however a carport can be cheap and have a large roof. It could have multiple uses, like a dining room or living room, and have screens/blinds/tarp that roll down when walls are needed. In Samoa they do this for their homes:
To avoid a building permit you will need to know what counts as a structure for local laws. But I am thinking that having a non-permeable surface lying on gently sloping ground is not a structure. It doesn’t have to be raised to capture water. It just needs enough of a slope for water to run into an in-ground tank. A solar-powered pump to get the water out of the tank might not be too expensive. Like this:
Or, cheaper, easier and certainly not a structure, just hang a tarp from some poles or trees:
Or make “rain saucers” – barrels with upside down umbrella looking funnels feeding the water in.
THE SHEDS
This is a key part of the concept, and based around local Australian planning laws exempting small sheds. Where I intend to do this, any shed less than 10 square metres and 3 metres high is fine. That’s quite big, many bedrooms in a house are only 3 metres by 3 metres.
Sheds are easy to deliver, and can be self-assembled. Ideally put down a concrete slab, something also just a DIY project.
Sheds can be very cheap. Remember, the title of this post mentions no heating or cooling. These sheds are not insulated and not especially structurally sound. Maybe have a couple of spare flatpack sheds in your shipping container in case a shed fails in some way.
You need a shed to contain a compostable toilet.
You need a shower shed.
You need a kitchen. This could be a better quality shed as it has a lot of value inside.
A second quality shed can be for TV / internet. A big TV can be operated inside but watched from outside.
An extra shed can be multi-purpose, and a place to escape to if the weather is bad.
A shipping container is a great idea for storing food/supplies securely, as long as local laws permit.
HEATING and COOLING
Your sheds will leak any heat and cold air…
This concept is totally without air con, so it won’t work anywhere that gets a lot of days that are 30+ degrees Celsius. For less hot days, portable fans might do.
Heating shouldn’t be necessary – just wear lots of clothing and use blankets. An open fire is an obvious choice for staying warm and cooking.
BUGS
In cold climates / winter bugs are not an issue, and food lasts longer. When it is warm/hot, that is a different story.
There are natural bug repellents you can use, or simply plant something that they prefer to you or your food.
Certainly don’t have any open, stagnant water. Mosquitoes can kill, maybe more so in the future.
MEAT?
No. No meat, no dairy. Even if you aim to be self-sufficient, your land is unlikely to be suitable for livestock (that’s why it is so cheap), animals take up time and effort, and require fencing. And, storing the produce means refrigeration. You can take meat with you on your bug out weekends, but if you end up there full-time, no meat, no dairy.
SLEEPING
In Australian the planning laws revolve around habitation. I need to ascertain (in writing, from the local authorities) how it is defined. I presume it means somewhere you sleep.
UPDATE – my council says:
Any room of a dwelling or residential building other than a bathroom, laundry, toilet, pantry, walk-in wardrobe, corridor, stair, lobby, photographic darkroom, clothes drying room and other space of a specialised nature occupied neither frequently nor for extended periods.
So basically bedrooms and living rooms.
Doing yoga for 24 hours in the bush is not “habitation”. We’ll be sleeping on a mattress of course, so the presence of that, or something usually used for sleeping – like a tent – would be evidence of habitation.
In my chosen spot, you can camp on your own land for up to 2 weeks at a time, and no more than 3 months total in a year. So for weekend bugging out, no laws broken. Erect a tent or a yurt, not a problem. When the SHTF, often planning laws will be the last thing anyone is caring about. For a tent, some sort of wooden base would suit for long-term comfort.
To be compliant when staying there full-time, has a station wagon or cheap vehicle big enough to fit a mattress. Unless there are local laws designed to stop backpackers sleeping in vans that apply to your property, I figure sleeping in a car on your own property will be allowed. Then, officially, you mostly sleep in your uncomfortable car (to conform to laws) but sometimes have the luxury of your tent or yurt. In reality, you are never in your car, but officials would need to prove it – very hard to do.
CAMOFLAGUE
Difficult. You can have your sheds under trees (not great, trees can fall down, and your sheds won’t be strong structurally), or if they are in the open some kind of army netting on the roof. But if you have rain capture and/or solar panels, they will be visible from the air. But here is the good news – Google Maps won’t update the images for your spot very often. I built a proper house in 2012 and they still show images from the year before…
As noted above, for my bush block, chopping down native gum trees is not an option, which is why the land is cheap. Obviously there might be a way to oops the trees died – research that for yourself. But also think about SHTF when you can chop them down because of, you know, anarchy. At that time you need to plan on how to do that (electric chainsaw?), how to remove stumps, and how to make the ground fertile. That might mean legume crops to fix nitrogen. It might mean tilling the soil (or not). It might mean fertiliser. You could forget about organic principles if survival is the purpose.
SECRECY
If you are coming and going a lot, then your vehicle will create indications of a vehicle coming a going. More so in non-dry areas.
Ideally park your vehicle a long way off-site, like a mile away. That 20 minute walk is good for you, and the distance should keep your property secret. If your vehicle looks crappy enough to be abandoned / not worth stealing, better still. Park it in an abandoned way.
Otherwise, when the SHTF plant a fast-growing ground cover where you car evidence? Or leaves? Or have a natural looking barrier at your road entrance. A landslide or fallen tree. Things you could clear away with enough time, but the bad guys will find sufficiently difficult to move on.
Unless a builder constructs your carport, nobody needs to know you are there. Choose your visitors carefully.
LOCATION
You might not have much choice if money is tight, but consider the general location and what it can provide. A neighbouring forest is somewhere to flee to and stash things, and maybe hunt. A nearby river or lake is good for water, and maybe fish. A town nearby could be useful.
HOW MUCH?
This is where I cost things for my own plans (Australian dollars), and might give you an idea of what it will costs for you.
Land – up to $150K but clearly the cheapest cost per acre is major
An example of what I can buy in Victoria. $160K for 8 hectares. Covered in gum trees with some clear bits. From the sky it looks well covered, but the trees are quite sparse. 30 minutes to a major rural city.
Because we don’t really know what the SHTF event be prepare for will actually be, the smartest preppers prepare for every possible scenario.
For example, I carry with me Celox that will seal potentially lethal wounds. I don’t expect to actually ever use it though. But it could save a life.
I can’t imagine chemical warfare to ever happen, although we know from Japan that it is a possibility from terrorists. In the unlikely event that you are a victim, there is a remedy.
I have read and watched a lot of survivalist and dystopian stories. Typically there is an an emphasis on how hard it is to survive, the struggle. That makes sense because it is drama, and drama doesn’t really happen if everything is easy and nice.
The Walking Dead had a terrible flaw, once you realised it – bicycles. In a zombie apocalypse there will be millions of bikes that anyone can just grab and travel quite quickly. Instead, and especially Mad Max, we concentrate on the need for oil, for fuel. Because whoever can travel, can rule.
It is hard to write such a drama that includes solar power, because suddenly everything gets exponentially better. I’m talking about solar panels on house roofs, with batteries.
Transport – electric cars have lower maintenance needs (less moving parts) and never run out of fuel. Even if the SHTF event means darker, cloudier skies, you will still be able to accumulate some electricity over time
Communication – at the very least shortwave can survive with solar power. Walkie Talkies can be recharged. Mesh Internet networks can operate. We can communicate with our neighbours, for added security
Food – many things improved with the Industrial Revolution, including food production. Imagine not having to grind wheat by hand. And of course we can run fridges and freezers. And cook on a stovetop or oven. And boil things, including water, much more easily.
Entertainment – basically, if you are smart enough to store them, we can watch DVDs and listen to CDs
Lighting – pre-electricity, doing anything after dark was difficult, and non-electric lighting options weren’t very bright. With solar power we can turn on spotlights when we hear a noise late at night.
Computers – I know, it is hard to imagine a use for a computer without the Internet, but consider this – books can be written and/or printed. With solar power, the real scarcity could be printing paper…
Drones – for security, and when on supply runs
Cameras – because storing memories, and printing phots of them, is good for morale
3D Printers – yep I am running out of ideas, as this is a stretch. But I am sure that post-SHTF, somewhere in the world, someone manages to print some very useful items. Like, I don’t know, a gun.
In a SHTF scenario where there are far fewer people and lots of spare cars, the fuel problem disappears. But let’s hope we find ways of unlocking and starting those cars.
