Tacoma Mountain Rescue All Purpose Storm Kit

hi folks what i've got here is a nice vintage kit this is the tacoma mountain rescue all-purpose storm kit for emergency overnight and we're going to check it out today on kit bashed survival all right so i've been wanting to review one of these kits for a while you see them every now and then on ebay and actually i bought one a while back here's the one that i bought the first one but this one was in pretty bad shape on the outside and the inside and so i wanted to wait until i could get one in better shape and boy did i do that this one looks like it's in mint condition i don't think it's ever been opened so finding information on these tacoma mountain rescue kits is a little bit difficult there's not a whole lot of information out there on the back you can see that it says the kit is assembled and distributed by tacoma mountain rescue unit and it gives the address in washington a member of the mountain rescue association dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education now the tacoma mountain rescue unit still exists today they have a website but they don't sell these on their website i'm guessing at some point they did sell these but i also know that these were sold by rei for a number of years now dating one of these kits is very difficult because from what i've read and what i've heard they were made for a long time i've heard some people say they were made back in the 60s i've heard some people say they bought them in the 70s and 80s and 90s and even the early 2000s and there's not any date information on the kit itself or inside so getting an exact date of when the kit was packed is gonna be pretty difficult although we'll see if we can find some clues along the way once we open it up now i do know that a variation of this kit was until very recently available for sale on the rei website they have an expanded version of this kit it looks the same except the tin is a little larger and it contains some extra equipment such as a knife and compass and so forth and that kit is on the rei website right now although it is listed as out of stock so i don't know how recently they had them in stock but at some point in recent history rei was selling these anyway so the kit is your all-purpose storm kit for emergency overnight it provides information warmth shelter and energy for pilots hunters hikers and campers survival is the challenge to stay alive i like that illustration on the front that's really cool and then we've got the contents back here matches candle sugar salt tea bullion wire whistle signal mirror and plastic tube tarp the enclosed brochure gives information to support human life from the arctic to the desert remember freedom of the hills is accomplished by being self-sufficient while you are in the wilderness all right so we'll go ahead and open up the kit but i think first i'm going to open up the older kit and i want to do that so that i can see if there's any variations between the two because i think this one is older than this one and it'll be interesting to see if there are any differences now before i open up this older one i should warn you that this is not usable in any way this was not stored properly over the years and so the contents are in very poor shape but i do want to open it up and show it to you just so we can see how the two differ alright so we'll go ahead and pop the top and on the underside of the lid that is supposed to be the signal mirror now this one is compromised because it's got some candle wax on it because the candle melted but theoretically that's your signal mirror and there's what it looks like and i'll go ahead and pull this stuff out [Music] now what happened was that the candle melted for one thing and there's what's left of the candle and it kind of got wax everywhere and this whole kit kind of has an old waxy smell to it because of that and then there's the interior of the tin and i guess in theory you could boil water in this although there is some weird film in it i think from the wax and stuff but in theory you could boil water in there so here's the sugar we've got five sugar cubes from domino that's pretty cool amstar court new york new york one zero zero two zero now if i was an expert on dating stuff i could probably date these sugar cubes but who knows then we've got a whistle think improvise your brain is your best survival tool mountain rescue association it's a pretty cheap whistle but let's see how it sounds oh yeah that's got a really good sound to it it's not bad at all made in the usa that should kind of tell you how old this is all right so wrapped around the tube tarp and other things we've got the instructions and these are in pretty bad shape too and then on the inside of the instructions we've got the wire as they call it and basically it's some bread ties and then we've got the instructions and i wish there was a date on this instruction pamphlet but there's not yeah it doesn't have a web address on it so maybe that's an indicator of its age i don't know but yeah the paper is in pretty bad shape and then here's that candle and the candle is actually in a plastic bag but it's been fused with the melted wax and so it's just one big blob of wax and plastic i suppose you could probably use it if you really had to i'm sure that there's a wick still in there yeah i can see the wick so in a pinch i guess you probably could still use it but again i would never ever take this kit out with me because it's so old and in such bad shape all right then we've got some tea and again if i was an expert on dating stuff i could probably date it by the packaging of the tea and the salt so here's the salt domino salt and then here's the tea farmer brothers tea looks like it's some sort of orange [Music] tea so there's one two three bags of tea then we've got some matches ohio blue tip matches wonder if they work well that one doesn't work i can smell it though it wants to light let's try another one yeah not the most dependable but again that's probably due to age we'll try one more oh there it goes and we finally got one to light then we've got three bullion cubes and these have leaked out fortunately they're in their own little plastic bag so they didn't ruin the rest of the kit i'm not going to open these up but yeah kind of nasty [Music] and then finally we've got the tube tarp and it's a yellow tube tarp and the plastic has ripped when i unpacked it the first time the melted candle and everything had kind of clung to this and caused the plastic to rip but there it is it's in fairly good shape other than the fact that it's a little bit ripped so here's the entire contents of the older version of this kit the newer version which i hope is in better shape than the older version has the same exact contents but as i said i'm interested in seeing what variations there are in terms of brands and colors and stuff like that all right with that let's go ahead and open up the newer version of this kit or at least it looks newer so we've got some electrical tape around the lid to help keep it watertight and it also gives you some tape to use in an emergency situation [Music] all right okay well the signal mirror is in better shape there's no wax all over it [Music] and then here's what the candle should look like that's a proper candle nice and thick there's some sugar away at the bottom let me see if i can get that out kind of stuck down there all right so there's the interior of the newer tin looks much nicer still got some sealant on the seams but again you could still boil water in here if you had to all right so we've got a different whistle it's got the same stuff on it think your brain is your best survival tool but it's a more modern type of whistle these are the kind of whistles that they give you when you buy a knife from tops it's got a really good tone better quality than the other whistle and still made in the usa very cool just as a comparison here's the old whistle and here's the new one all right and here's the sugar and so instead of the domino sugar cubes this one has natural not artificial sugar packets california and hawaiian sugar company concord california go ahead and open these up okay c h pure cane sugar there we go [Music] and we got three sugar packets all right then we've got this bundle of stuff so here are those survival instructions again of course these ones are in better shape again there's no web address or anything so who knows how old this is [Music] but it looks to be exactly the same in terms of contents then we've got the bread ties which they call wire and it is wire i mean there is a wire in there so then we've got our matches and instead of the ohio blue tip we've got diamond strike on box matches [Music] see if they work oh yeah much better than the older ohio blue chip matches yeah all right then we've got our tea looks like it's the same kind again farmer brothers different kind of salt though let's go ahead and open it up all right so the salt is made by the giorgio group in chatsworth california rather than domino and yeah we've got that farmer brothers tea again orange tea so that hasn't changed and then instead of the bullion cubes we've got a packet of instant broth made by dirky french foods in wayne new jersey her box i kind of like the cubes better and then finally here is the tube tarp which looks to be exactly the same as in the other kit oh by the way on one page of the survival pamphlet that comes in the kit they do give you a list of everything in the kit and how to use it just in case you don't know so the plastic tarp can be used as a raincoat a windbreak shelter for the night or a water still in the desert the metal can can be used as a drinking cup or a cooking container they tell you how to use the signal mirror the tape can be used to repair torn clothes or patch the plastic tarp the salt is good for fatigue these sugar cubes for a little quick energy goes great in your tea waterproofed matches and candle cut or break off a piece of candle like the candle stub with a match not like the wood works wonders on wet wood the bullion cubes add to hot water in your can or your fire and they provide some salt tea bags nothing tastes better than tea when you're cold and tired the ritual of preparing the fire and having a cup of tea restores your perspective so in other words it's a morale boost the plastic bag will carry and store water dig a small hole to hold back upright the wire can be used to make a bail for the can for cooking and the whistle of course can be used to signal for help first aid in the wilderness is usually a matter of improvising bandages can be made from white undershirt handkerchiefs or other cotton clothing crutches can be made from forked sticks stopping bleeding cleansing injuries resting and awaiting searchers is advised keep dry and warm your brain is your best survival tool so there you have all the contents of what i think is the newer of the two kits that i have there's a few variations here and there but basically they're exactly the same to be honest though i have no idea how old either of these kits are i mean the one that's in worse condition may be newer and maybe this one was just better preserved like i said it's very hard to date these kits because nothing has a date on it the only thing i can go by is the fact that between the two kits there is not one item that has a web address on it and so because of that if i had to take a guess i would say this kit is probably from the 80s or 90s maybe if it was made anytime after that you'd find a web address on at least one item and by the way if anybody out there watching this knows the history of these kits please feel free to let us all know about it in the comments so what do i think of this kit well obviously it's not a high quality all-inclusive kit everybody knows that but for what it is you know i think it's okay it says right on the tin it provides information warmth shelter and energy and it does do that they're not lying so you know it's not the best kid in the world but is it better than having nothing absolutely and could it make a difference in an emergency overnight situation sure so there you have it once again this is the tacoma mountain rescue all-purpose storm kit for emergency overnight and as i said if i can find the variation of this kit that has the knife i'll review that at some point in the future and i'm also going to be reviewing another survival kit it's an rei branded survival kit that looks very similar to this kit and that's coming in the future as well so keep an eye out for both of those videos in the meantime i hope you enjoyed this video let me know what you think in the comments below for now that's it i'm eric segal this is kit bash survival thanks for watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: Kitbashed Survival

Views: 50,976

Rating: 4.8846788 out of 5

Keywords: Eric Siegel, Survival Kits, Survival, Outdoors, Bushcraft, First-Aid, Preparedness, Emergency, Prepper, Tacoma, Mountain, Rescue, All Purpose, Storm Kit, Survival Kit, Kitbashed Survival, Tacoma Mountain Rescue

Id: sbWjiuCGMkU

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 05 2020