Black and Tan

I figured we could start a thread about the knowledge some of us have thanks to our jobs or some other hobbies or activities we take part in other than offroading and how it can help us in off road situations.

For example:

I'm a combat engineer in the Canadian Armed Forces.

I'm a first aid instructor.

I do quite a bit of rock climbing.



My engineer knowledge ranges from mines and booby traps, IED`s, construction, demolition, rigging, bridging...etc

This is something I learned from one of my instructors years ago and that I have had the occasion to try:

The Kochanski Flip Flop Winch
http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/html/kochanski_winch.html

I believe there are a few good videos of one in action on youtube.

All you need is an axe, some trees and a strong rope.

Black and Tan

It`s just another tool in your offroading toolbox.

From my climbing knowledge I've used a mechanical advantage system called a Z pattern pulley for off road recovery. Mind you it was with ATVs and the rope used was a synthetic winch line.



In this case, replace the carabiners in the picture with snatch blocks and you have yourself a 3:1 mechanical advantage.

The grey rope wrapping on to the red rope is called a prussic. Bottom of the picture is where the stuck vehicle would be. The white arrows give the direction of the pull and the top carabiner has a separate rope that would be attached to an anchor. Again, youtube is your friend. There are quite a few climbing instructional videos that can show you one in action. A picture is worth a thousand words but a video is worth much more.

Black and Tan

From my first aid experience I have this advice to give:

-Do a first aid course. Any course is better than nothing but if you go on long offroading trips far from civilization, invest in an advanced ''first aid in the bush'' kind of course.

-Buy a first aid kit and make sure you know how to use it.

-Never go offroading alone.




Now let`s see what you guys have to share.