So I had a bright idea the other day. Figured I should use my food vacuum sealer to vacuum seal my survival kit, minimize its size and ensure that it all stays together and dry until I really need it.
Part of my kit is a climashield/momentum hat, just over half an ounce and quite warm. Vacuuming the packaging helped reduce my kit size quite nicely. Fits nicely into the side hip pocket on my pants.
What I didn't think about was the vaseline-soaked cotton balls I have wrapped in two separate foil packets… (Foil for lightweight packaging and to maximize burn time.) The part I missed was that the vacuum process would squeeze vaseline out of the cotton balls; I also thought I had the tinder sufficiently wrapped to prevent leaking. Wrong!
Short version, I noticed a day into my weekend trip that the plastic of my survival kit had taken on a strange yellowish hue. I was bright enough to realize what had happened, cut it open, and was not delighted to find a vaseline-soaked hat (and other gear).
A couple of function and cleaning questions:
I keep a bit of 250# and 500# Spectra line wrapped around my kit; it is now soaked in vaseline. Other than making that sticky line finally smooth and slick, do you think the vaseline will degrade the strength of the line? Or perhaps even add some advantage?
Other question is, what would you use to clean vaseline out of a synthetic insulated garment?
Mainly, just thought you'd get a chuckle out of the experience.
