A few months back I did a presentation for the Mid-Coast Flyfishers on building a Ditch Kit or Ditch Bag for kayaking and small boats. The kit can easily be scaled up or down to suit a variety of situations and conditions, but I had a couple goals in mind when I put it together. Goal 1: Follow Dave Canterbury's 10 C's of Survival as a guide. Goal 2: Try to utilize as much gear already in my collection as I can. Goal 3: Keep it small and light enough to fit in the MTM box that's been looking for a new purpose. Most of these products were things I already had on hand that just needed to be pulled together into kit form, but should be able to be obtained readily and fairly inexpensively. The use case I envisioned for this kit would be along the lines of becoming stranded on one of the many spoil islands we have in our area after kayaking, or perhaps having to seek shelter to wait out a storm. Better to have and not need than to need and not have.
Here's the list of Dave Canterbury's 10 C's of Survival and what I used to fill in each category:
C1: Cutting Tool: Fixed Blade Knife Maratac Compact R4A (Ready 4 Action) Fixed Blade
C2: Combustion: Fire Kit of Striker, Ferro Rod, Lifeboat Matches, Bic Lighter (I keep mine wrapped with Gorilla Tape and Waxed Hemp cordage)
C3: Cover: Space Blanket
C4: Cordage: Paracord (A hank of about 10' minimum is what I prefer to keep on hand)
C5: Container: Whirl-Pak Bag (Holds a liter of water, but can be packed down to about the size of a lip balm tube)
C6: Compass: County Comm
C7: Cloth: Cotton Hankerchief
C8: Candling: Small flashlight (In this kit, I went with a peanut-style flashlight for it's small size. It's a backup to the slightly larger light I keep in my EDC. I also included two Snap Light chem light sticks.)
C9: Cargo Tape: Gorilla tape on lighter
C10: Combination Tool: Leatherman
A few other things I added to round out the kit and make it more "mission specific" are:
A physical map of the local area (state map as placeholder, but better than nothing)
A personal (and personalized) first aid kit
A small snack and hydration bag
A small personal hygiene kit
A spare signal whistle
A small ham radio or backup communications device
A pack of water purification tablets
