Doomsday boat.

Ironically, in a doomsday scenario it's the third-world "poor" who are most likely to survive. The wealth in the West comes from a highly specialized division of labor facilitated by low transaction costs. Only in the West can a person whose only skill is running a cash register make $15 an hour, while many third world farmers live on $15 a month. The big difference is that the third-world farmer also knows how to plant a crop, harvest it, raise livestock, butcher it, fix a generator, and thatch a roof. Highly specialized talents don't go very far when the **** hits the fan and transaction costs go up.

Most of the people on this forum seem to be exceptions -- as a group, most appear to have highly diversified skills and interests. Heaven help most of those in the service economy.

 

Absolutely agree. My Kentucky farm girl Grandmother made sure I learned to cook on a wood stove, ride a horse, head-shoot a squirrel, tend an oil lamp, poop in an outhouse, darn my socks and generally take care of myself, because she said there would be sure to be another depression and I would have to. Maybe she was right.

 

Scarey I know,
but I think we just agreed on something

 

Thats nothing--I would be quite happy with a fig leaf, a blow pie to catch rats and cockroaches and drink from abandoned sewer pipes I can also make a nice meal from frozen grass and moor heather.

Cooking on a wood stove would be shear luxury.

 

Actually there'd be little running among the prepared. Much of the time would be spent seeing rather than being seen. As long as I've got the drop on someone or group, I own them. I'm a really good shot. My take is to lay low and try to find an outfit that can serve as a base. Friends I can count on. I'm diversified but my three best skills will be making fuel, assuming they/I need fuel, fixing whatever, and bringing in game. That last means I'm outside the enclave, doing my best to remain unseen while at the same time seeing as much as possible.

The danger is anarchy, I'm tempted to believe that most, even those that think there self sufficient, will gravitate towards a group setting in which some form of rule of law exists.

My bet is the problem people would be obvious, overconfident, poor woodsmen, poor shots at longer ranges, I don't think they'd be a problem for long, particularly when the tactics are to stick and move, and to be moving away from home, rather than towards it. ;-) The problem element isn't at home in my element. I'd have the advantage. Its not about survival really, I'm sure I'd survive most big disasters, but rebuilding while defending, if you ask me. Something tells me in a former life I was a dog solder, either that or I'm just living in the wrong century.

Someone was right about it may not be climate change thats the issue, in which case, I'll walk slowly and carefully into the night, very well armed, night vision, passive infra red, and well rested, I'd go nocturnal if I found the right group to partner up with. The doomsday scenario needs a night shift.

 

Emphasis should be on trade and negotiation not self reliance --you need to sleep.

Make your fuel yes--trade it --you will be very popular and valuable.

With exceptionable knowledge you wont need a gun you will be protected and live like a king.

Some thought other than Rambo type existence needs to be put towards kick starting the human race. Avoiding violence is of Paramount importance or we shall go backwards and all die.

 

Nah, the nutty professor type always ends up a slave to the tyrant. More skills that that are necessary to survive well in a post apocalyptic world. I don't want to be stuck in camp tending the laundry or the fire. I can teach a few of the others to make the fuel and then just trouble shoot from there.

Rambo, no, but I think I'd do well out on the edges of my chosen group, I prefer the night anyway, Let the younger guys stay home with there wives, I'd rather be out playing woodsman. For me survival in any type of doomsday scenario would kinda be a game, similar to camping but you don't have the option of packing up and going home.

cheers
B

 

Might be interesting and entertaining for a few months. Then thoughts of staying at the camp with the women folk and security and clear of mosqiitos and bears.

 

no way, I'd spend three or four days out, then a day or two in camp. I'm sure my luck will hold steady then as it does now, if not better, with the "woman folk" as yo call em. You can call em whatever you like but I'll call em pit woofies in the apocalypse, and be looking forward to training them to sit up and stay when they're told Something tells me some of us would shine in the aftermath and some of us would fade away into Gwods fantasy land. Ahahhahaahhaahhaaha

 

Mighty big words there Running cloud, you had better return with food as hungry mouths are not fed for free. Id start making that deisel and a stil too if I were you.

Something to light the lamps and a drink of alcohol will make a rich man. I will trade better than hunting. I will live many moons and have many children.

Better to be needed than be needy.

 

Savages are savages because like animals they have no concept of tomorrow..

Roaming mobs would soon be out of ammo, and after eating the weak , will soon be out of food.

A boat that has just 3 months endurance would be most likely to survive.

Esp as much of the third world would hardly notice , a simple agrarian life would hardly be changed.

No Benetaon T shirts to trade for , only re runs on TV, otherwise all the same.

And with "Globalbaloney Warming", whom will care if the water is 1/8 inch higher in FL in 200 years?

FF

 

Sounds like Waterworld again, and we all thought it was a bad movie.

 

Waterworld sucked because of female lead. Bad Guy was perfect, Kid was good, Costner was OK, girl was mis-cast. 3 secrets to directing a film, casting casting casting.
But the concept of floating communities, desperately trying to maintain a sustainable ecosystem, was quite interesting.
BERTIE is easily capable of carrying 90 days of food and water for 6 people with rationing, so I guess that's my 'social armageddon' hole card until things stabilize. But for a bad nuke contamination scenario, where do you go? Fallout maps would be nice, but if the nuke problem comes from weapons use and not another stupid reactor accident, the communications infrastructure might not be there to tell us the contaminated areas to avoid.
One thing I don't see mentioned here and that is respiratory protection. Chernobyl downwinders showed that just keeping the dust out of your lungs made a great difference in exposure and respirators and gas masks were quickly sold out and unobtainable. Same would seem to apply to bacterial weapon use, keep it out of your lungs.
So maybe one of the most important survival 'gadgets' on your boat is that old paint respirator.
Human survival needs in the order of priority; air to breathe, body heat (shelter, clothing), water, food. The last two have always been what we squabble over and seem to want to monopolize and hoard as a species, so that would not change if times were very difficult.

 

Actually not that hard. Create a water scrubber in your dorado boxes. Use sea water to clean air coming into boat radioactive particles will flush down. But you have to stay inside because of radiation anyway until a couple rains flush the air. Shield cabin with metal lining to cut out alpha and beta particles. Keep doors and windows closed. Problem becomes radioactive food and water afterward. Wish I could get geiger counter that works at a good price.

 

I don't have Dorade boxes because they are piss-poor at passing air, which is what a ventilator is all about, so have 6" cowls that can be closed or covered. But only in the world of a drawing board is a boat air tight and able to keep radioactive airborne particles out and would a water scrubber clean the air in a Dorade box. And a metal lining will help with weak radiation but it does not keep particles out. Just add a metal lining sounds so easy. Make a floating air tight shelter out of lead and we'll be fine. Radioactive contamination is a problem because you can't get away from it. Much is heavy particles which drop out of the air in a couple of weeks, but some is lighter and stays breathable for months. Humans are so incredibly arrogant and stupid to think we can economically make nuke plants actually work without thinking through long term problems, like spent fuel storage, or how to deal with another Fukushima or Chernobyl. And our A-weapons are coming back to bite our butts if any of our sworn stateless enemies get hold of one. Governments seem pretty good at keeping theirs from detonating so far, but with so many crazies drooling over the power of leveling an 'enemy' city, and so many weapons in other countries, it seems hard to avoid forever.