Vehicle Mods for SHTF

I received this from Anonymous: ”Hey don’t see much on vehicle modifications for survival in case you have to move and live with your vehicle. I added a cargo rack and trunk vault to my SUV. The rack gives me more room to store stuff and use bungees to hold down. The vault lets me store weapons and rounds safely.”

UrbanMan replies: I have used truck vaults for a few years now. They are great. You can get them with a key lock or a push button cipher lock. You can have them built with a hinged map board or dry erase-map board combination. This is a good idea to store and secure survival weapons, ammunition and other gear you don’t want visible exposed to people looking into the passenger compartment of your vehicle. However, won’t help much if your vehicle is stolen.



Here are some sources for Vehicle Vaults or Safes:

Truck Vault

Gun Safes


Pickup Specialties


The roof mounted cargo rack is a great idea for SUV’s and cars. I like them box shaped for additional security and makes it easier to tie things (or bungee) down.


www.thule.com


www.yakima.com


www.etrailer.com

You may want to rehearse loading your roof cargo rack so you have an idea on what you can carry if you have the time for a planned Bug Out as opposed to a hasty Bug Out. I would put boxes of containers that I would need to get into first on the outside of the rack so they were accessible. Once you do a rehearsal I think you would get more ideas on the best types of containers and securing systems, meaning ropes, bungees or a cargo net.

One of my friends has a roof mounted rack. He cut three quarter inch plywood (2 sheets) to fit inside the rack so in case he had to make a field expedient shelter he had two plywood sheets for a lean to. I guess you could use them for ground mats or even firewood for that matter.