Systems in your car
I recently bought a brand new FJ Cruiser. It was completely frivolous that I purchased it. I had been wanting a project 4×4 for quite some time but I was thinking I’d get some $2,000 old Ford Bronco or something and just have fun modifying it. That was all great till I found out they were discontinuing the FJ. I had always wanted an FJ. I loved the look of the old ones and always wanted to get one:
Anyone who knows about the Toyota FJ lore knows one in this condition with 200,000 miles on it will fetch 40-70K. So when I heard they were being discontinued I realized this would be the last chance I had at getting one brand new. So I went out and got one. It was irresponsible, but I got it. Here it is, dubbed the “marshmallow” by my soon to be six year old daughter:
So now my daily commute vehicle is my bug out vehicle too. By Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) I mean the vehicle which will get me from where ever I am back to my home… or as far as it’ll go, then my 72 Hour Bag will take over.
Since purchasing the FJ I have been scouring blogs and newsgroups to see what modifications I want to make. One mod really got me thinking about the systems I spoke about a few months ago. The blog entry was about basing your 72 Hour Bag on systems and not items. Those systems were: Water Purification, Shelter, Medical, Food, Security, Tools , Communication (was signaling but I think communication is a better category).
I found a company called Springtail Solutions who create a rack system for bags to hang off of in the back of your vehicle. Based on a molle military system each bag is securely fastened to the rack using straps which are woven through the rack making them very secure.
Traditionally the secure fastening of the strap makes it very annoying to remove from any place it is affixed. What Springtail did was pretty smart. They got molle bags which are rip away velcro.
With these bags all you need to do is un clip the fastex buckle and rip the bag off the velcro who remains attached on the molle frame. This makes organizing your 72 Hour Bag into systems very easily. A label can be attached on to the front of each pouch saying which systems are found within it. If there’s ever a problem you’ll know exactly which bag to grab. If you ever need to abandon your vehicle just grab your empty backpack and put these bags into it. In a matter of seconds you’ll be ready to hit the road by foot and know exactly where each item you may need is.
Even if you don’t have a vehicle where you can mount something like this making your 72 Hour Bag work in systems with bags within a larger backpack makes sense. There are a ton of little items you have to keep track of so think of your bag like a filing cabinet.
72 Hour Bag • • • - - - • • • 