Totally Tubular – Belt’mups pt. 2

The original of this you can read about here:
http://exploriment.blogspot.ca/2009/10/totally-tubular-beltmups.html

So in some ways the basic premise of the first version was sound. It was certainly comfortable to wear, contained a decent amount of survival stuff, but what put the kibosh on it was the buckle. It was simply too big to pass through even the biggest belt loops on any pants I had. I put the idea on the backburner for a while (where far too many of my ideas languish.). I decided to turn it into a pocket of sorts that could be attached to a belt rather than serve as the belt itself. And that works much better.

The belt is a 5.11 1.75" TDU belt. Not a heck of a lot to say about it. It’s a belt, it’s stiff, the webbing doesn’t slip through the buckle, it holds my pants up, I can put pouches on it. I’ve been wearing it for....5 years now. I like it. So all in all I would give it a hearty endorsement.

Sorry, black on black isn’t so easy to see.

A better look at the pouch itself. I put Velcro at both ends to load and unload. Sewn only along the outer edges, but it’s sufficient to hold it closed. And since it will be opened and closed very rarely, that’s enough. I also sewed on three loops to hold it onto the belt.

A closer look at the loops.

On the belt. Snug fit.

Closeup of the closure. (And if you want to know what I have in there, the link at the top of the page will tell you. The one thing I have added are a bunch more Micropur tablets. After a hiking trip where my main water purification system went down, I realized that just a few of those tablets is not enough. Yes I can boil water, but that has serious limitations. You have to stop for a time, use up either fuel or collect wood, drinking boiled water in the middle of summer is not so fun, so you have to wait for it to cool down, and when it is summer, and you are moving, you will repeat that process several times a day. Tablets are a lot easier.)

And worn. Pushed down a bit on the left hand side there, but that is no biggie. Again, very comfortable. I’ve been wearing it for three days now, and I don’t even know it’s there. It makes weaving it through belt loops and through loops on the back of pouches a little trickier, but not majorly so.

Nice to take an idea I felt had some merit and turn it into a more functional reality. It may not necessarily be something I will wear every day, but I can if I want to. Unless I’m unfortunate enough to have to go into non-permissive environments. Which thankfully, I don’t do very often.

Totally Tubular – Belt’mups pt. 1

I had the idea to make a belt with survival kit inside of it. Not for any sort of James Bond-ian, bust out of prison reasons, but I liked the idea of being able to have some stuff that would be helpful in a pinch, but in an unobtrusive, forget about it until you need it package.

I figured the easiest approach would be to just use tubular webbing, put everything inside of it, and then use two tri-glides and a 2" side release buckle.

All the components laid out. There are of course lots of things I would like to have in here, but the vessel they would go in, and the location that it would be worn in, dictated what could and couldn’t go in.

Contents

1. Fresnel Lens Magnifier (fire lighting in day light hours, aid in removing splinters)
2. Thin reflective material to act as signal mirror
3. 4 pieces of Rite in the Rain Paper (for leaving notes for rescuers, as a memory aid)
4. 5µ Silicon Carbide on a mylar backing (micro-abrasive for sharpening)
5. 3 small fish hooks
6. sewing needle (repairs, splinter removal) 
7. 3 extra small fish hooks
8. hack saw blade (cutting, striker for flint)   
9. 2 Small Zip Ties (repairs)
10. Wire Saw (rings removed) inside a length of tubing (which can be used to draw water out of crevices, stoke a fire)
11. 4 m of 2.5cm military Duct Tape
12. 4 m of orange flagging tape (in between the duct tape)
13. 2 large Safety Pins (repairs, securing items to prevent loss, fashioning a sling, fish hooks)
14. 4 MicroPur MP-1 Water Purification Tablets 
15. 2 Breast Milk Storage Bags (water storage, tinder storage, collecting food stuffs, transpiration bag, etc.)
16. 1 #22 Scalpel Blade (rudimentary back up blade)
17. ? m of 96 lb. Test Nylon Cord (shelter building, repairs, traps, fishing, etc., etc.)
    
18. ? m of Dental Floss (hygiene, expedient repairs)
19. ? m of SpiderWire (fishing, snares, repairs)
20. Flint (fire starting)
21. 1 Povidone-Iodine Pad (wound cleansing, purifying water)

Larger, unlabelled version of the above picture for anyone that wants a closer look at anything.

Then I wrapped all the components in Glad Press’n Seal....

...ran a piece of string along the length of it, some masking tape to hold it in place...

...tied my riggers key to the end of the string to get it through the tubular webbing...

...and then worked the bundle through....

...out one end, removed the tape, pulled it out the other end, removed the tape, worked the bundle into the centre, and removed the cord.

The belt is very comfortable to wear. You really don’t know that it’s there. I think it isn’t too obtrusive visually. I doubt it would dawn on anyone that there was something in there. If I was to be frisked it would become obvious that something is in there, and clearly there are enough metal objects inside it that I wouldn’t get it through a metal detector. But like I said, subterfuge is not the aim here, just an out of the way means of carrying some survival gear.

There are areas that it is deficient in, items it really should have. But there are limits to what can be put inside a 2" tube that encircles the waist. As it stands, I think it’s a decent addendum to some other items that are carried on the body. 

But other than taking this picture, I’ve never really worn it. Those modified Dutch DPM pants are the only ones I have that I can fit it through the belt loops (and it’s still tough to get them through). It would be easier if I took off the SRB and tri-glide on one side, but that is such a nuisance. The issue of it being hard to lace through belt loops also makes putting any sort of pouches on the belt also an issue. They could probably sit on the belt itself okay, but getting the SRB through the belt loop on the back of the pouch would likely be a no go.

To be honest, this was more than anything just a fun exercise. Pretty much just a “let’s see if this is feasible” thing. While I haven’t really run with the idea, that’s not to say that it has no merits. Someone who has pants with really wide belt loops and no desire to carry belt mounted pouches could run this with no problem at all. It could also work as a strap on a bag. I have a length of tubular webbing with a contractor grade garbage bag inside it that I use as a bag strap. Works really well.

Since posting this, I’ve taken the original idea and reworked it a bit. Read about it here: http://exploriment.blogspot.ca/2012/11/totally-tubular-beltmups-pt-2.html