Ditch Bag

JMD

Member
Jul 31, 2017
33
Chicago
Boat Info
2006 Sea Ray 340
Engines
8.1 V-Drives
Launch day is fast approaching, so I've spent some time putting together our ditch bag. I thought I'd share my bag for those who are interested. Additional suggestions are always welcome! We boat on Lake Michigan, both near shore as well as crossings. The bag:

Attwood 20L Dry Bag
Polyform A Series Buoy (to keep the bag afloat if needed)
Flare Gun, Flares
Adventure Medical Kits Field Trauma kit
Horn
Mirror
Whistle *2
Standard Horizon HX870
Battery Pack for Standard Horizon
5 additional batteries for Standard Horizon in plastic baggy
Knife/Multi-tool
Carabiner
50' Nylon line
2 Sea Dye markers
PLB
Duct Tape

Not in picture: Water bottles and granola bars. We will be purchasing the Revere Coastal Commander 2 when BOE has their sale (hint!).

Be safe out there!

JMD

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We boat Lake Michigan as well. I like strobes, Amazon has ust Orange strobes on special for under $5 each. At that price you can have one for each main life jacket and a couple in the bag.

I also like glow sticks, so cheap and so many uses, especially if you have kids.

We have a plb that stays with the bag, bag travels with us between boats, and we take it with if we ride along on someone else's boat if it is a major distance.

I am amazed at the boaters who will cross the lake each year and haven't given any thought to a life raft. The water is soooo cold.... Yep, we have one, it is a hand me down but it will work.
 
How bout a few copies of your license/passport, some cash and a spare credit card? Also, any medication and a bottle of 151? Sunscreen?
 
Ahh 151...a must have. Maybe some cyanide pills in case things really get bad.
 
I would take that carabiner and clip it thru both eyes. Tugging on the bag's strap with a buoy supporting the opposite end could cause that buckle to fail and dump your gear.
Hopefully you won't need to test that theory.
 
Good kit. I have a similar set of items, and as you mentioned, typically supplement it at the start of the season with some water and energy bars. As an alternative to a dry bag I have mine in one of the floating ditch bags that ACR produces: http://www.landfallnavigation.com/sa2273.html
The bag shell is constructed of two layers of heavy duty synthetic canvas sandwiching buoyant material. It will keep 15 lbs of gear afloat without any additional flotation. Downside is you need to think about putting anything that needs to stay really dry in ziplocks or something similar because this is water resistant, but it's not water tight I'm sure. This bag has an outside pocket to safely hold your Epirb with the antenna exposed without having the rest of the bag open.

Someone else mentioned a strobe, I carry a Firefly strobe
https://www.acrartex.com/products/c...ights/firefly-pro-solas/#sthash.QLTatLjj.dpbs
We have some small button strobes on all our Type I PFD's. I, like you, carry a small Orion distress kit with flares, smoke, whistle, mirror, and a couple dye markers. The strobe is valuable at night because although a flare is great when you know someone is nearby and you want their attention, they don't last long. The strobe can be running all night, and will be on when another mariner is in the area, or someone is flying over in a CG Jayhawk, Dolphin, or HC-130 looking for you when you don't happen to hear or see them.

I still have a small Garmin handheld GPS in my kit. I guess it is a duplication of functionality since I replaced a very old VHF with the handheld VHF that you carry from Standard Horizon, which has GPS built in and can do a DSC distress call with your fix.

I also have copies of my USCG Documentation for the boat, my state registration for my dinghy, a copy of my yacht insurance face page, my BoatUS card, copies of ID's for my wife and I, and a list of some key phone numbers to have handy. There's a little emergency cash in there too. (Cash is still king! It came in handy once to fuel up the boat on Martha's Vineyard. There was a problem with my credit card getting locked down because of a fraud prevention issue. Some online company didn't keep track of their data very well, my card got flagged, and to "protect" me they wouldn't accept the marina fuel charge... but that's another story...)

I don't usually leave my cell phone in the bag, but would expect to grab it if we ditched. I keep a cell phone power pack and charging cable in the bag in a ziplock that can hold that and the phone. (Quart size) I find the freezer bags to be more durable.

This is a good discussion. I seem to recall seeing a thread like this a couple years ago, so you might get some other great ideas poking around that if you can search for it. My kit is still modest, because I don't really do any significant offshore cruising, almost always summer coastal cruising. My inflatable dinghy is essentially my "life raft" if it came to that, although it would be a poor substitute for a real one. If we did any open ocean passages we'd carry a proper life raft.
 
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I have the same bag that be-prepared linked to above. All of the things that are in the bag are in plastic bottles/jars with screw on tops so they stay dry. Here's the stuff inside the bag.,,
A 10 person first aid kit
B 6 cyalume light sticks
C bug spray
D 8 assorted space blankets and 2 boxes of waterproof matches
E 3 pairs of eyeglasses (cheaters from Walmart)
F heavy duty gloves
G 3 partial rolls of toilet paper
H 4 assorted flashlights and batteries
I asst OTC medications
J folding knife and leatherman tool
K 2 coils of light rope
L microfiber towels
M 4 pair cheapo sunglasses
N sunscreen
O AA and AAA batteries
P ACC's from Canada (aspirin with codeine.)

After reading some of the posts above I can see I need to add some things. Thanks.
 
I like reading these threads. It shows you are at least thinking about a back up plan should the worst ever happen. Any preparedness is better than nothing, and your ditch bag will and should vary depending on where you boat. Coastal/inland boating don't necessarily need the same items as offshore.
I have and prefer the ACR type ditch bag-it floats, holds a lot, and has zippered compartments and external epirb storage. It is not waterproof, so plan accordingly. I use dry bags to store things inside the bag.I have a water activated strobe attached to carry handle so that when bag hits water, I can locate it. I always carry a PLB and an electronic flare in the external pocket-also tethered to the bag. Inside I carry more than I will ever need-food, water, medical, blankets, flares, etc.-but id rather be safe. It is constantly being updated. I also keep my Streamlight spotlight charged and in bag.
I tend to plan for worst case-being in the water at night in rough seas. I want everything accessible and tethered to the bag. the bag would be tied to me. The ACR bag has a tether as part of the bag. I also carry extra line to tether all people together.
All life jackets are equipped with a strobe, signal mirror and whistle. I hope the PLB does its job and there is a Jayhawk hovering over me in about 1 1/2 hours.
Make sure you could get what you need from your bag while bobbing in heavy seas in the dark without losing things. Also, if possible, always stay with the boat.
I usually have 2 96 quart cooler on board or on swim platform that are also part of the plan if time allows. Tie everything together once in water.
I can also take bag along when traveling on friends boats. It's easy to toss my wallet in the bag once I'm on board.
 
One thing I forgot to mention in my post above is that I have a 6 person, covered life raft. It's not on the boat yet but will be when we take our lengthy trip.
 
I also carry 2 solas smoke flare cans in our ditch bag.

On a side note, IMO If you ever need to replace any of your existing flares on your boat or ones in your ditch bag the solas flares are exponentially brighter. As part of my captains course the class was shown a video comparison. There is no comparison.

If you were in a situation where you needed the flares you will be glad you paid the extra $ for the solas flares.
 
Any tips for preparing a ditch bag? I'm not very experienced in cruising, and I've never been more than 1000 miles from the shore, so the only thing I know is that a First Aid Kit is a non-negotiable must-have. A friend of mine has food and whiskey stored in the ditch bag, so he's not the best advisor by far. So, guys, please tell me, what kind of bag do you use? Does it really have to be waterproof? I've seen on https://backpacks.global/compare/features/college-backpacks-with-laptop-compartment/ some pretty good offers, and I'm thinking about ordering a backpack from them. What do you think about them?
 
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I keep flares, mirror, HF handheld, personal beacon, few pouches of water, patches for the dinghy, first aid stuff, and sunscreen among other things.
 
Any tips for preparing a ditch bag?
start by purchasing the dedicated ditch bag that is linked above. It floats, has water proof compartments and is designed to be easy to deal with while in the water.

Next itemize everything above into a list and start ordering. There are some things listed above that you may not deem necessary but at least consider them.

If you have any questions about why some items are posted just ask. For example, there is 50’ of cord posted in the first list. You will want to make sure everyone and everything stays together and that cord will help with that.
 
A ditch bag is wonderful but survival items are of no use if you do not have them with you. We boat in remote areas and carry items on ourselves that will keep us alive in if we are separated from the boat and ditch bag. Items depend on where we are. In jetboat we carry multy knife, flint, satellite singling device that sends an emergency message we need help and our location and orange garbage bag. If we are thrown from boat we can make fire, single and make some sort of shelter. On cruise we carry same things plus cell phone. Ditch bag is always easy to access on each boat.
 
I think this is a summarized list from above. Feel free to copy and add to it.

water bottles or packets
protein/granola bars
Flare Gun, Flares
First aid kit
Horn
Mirror
Whistle *2
Standard Horizon HX870 or similar
additional batteries for radio
Knife/Multi-tool
Carabiner
50' Nylon line
2 Sea Dye markers
PLB
Duct Tape
thermal blankets
strobe lights
copies of documentation (boat reg, license, boatus, emergency contacts etc)
Cash
bug spray
sunscreen
cheap sunglasses
waterproof matches
gloves
Toilet paper
flashlight
Tylenol/ibuprofen
hand towels
 
We have been rescued in the north once. We did not need cash except to buy drinks when we got to a settlement. If one is going to go where they need a large amount of equipment to survive a satellite emergency transponder is a good idea. The time we got rescued we were able to contact the police they arranged a rescue. If we had not been able to contact them we would have probably been there for weeks until some one figured out where we were.
 

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