cnn
Senior Member
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 974 |
EMERGENCY TRUNK KIT......My "Bag of tricks"
Many of us take long trips every year (vacation, camping etc.) and for the most part is usually uneventful, and when things go wrong (flat tire, car breakdown, accident etc.), if you have your cellphone, AAA membership, and a VISA card….. , it should be fine.
But there are times when we are in the “middle of nowhere” (I was 40 miles north of Omaha NE and a 911 call went nowhere, believe it or not) and help can take hours to come…...or never (such as no cellphone service), then we need to prepare for the worst case scenarios.
So I put by “boys scouts” skills to use and prepare the following list of items to be used for EMERGENCY. Hope this helps people prepare for the worst case scenarios:
* car fire
* 2 flat tires in a row (yes happened to me). First flat tire…sure use the spare, what if the spare is also flat 20 miles down the road?
* flat tire on grass and the jack sinks into grass? Just pull your car off the highway on the shoulder and you will see where your right tires land on…NOTE: safety first, pull your van as far off highway as possible! Or find a “safe spot” even if you have to damage the flat tire…Your life and your family life depends on your common sense.
* flagged down by a cop for a burned headlight and cannot find a HL bulb anywhere; or turn signal light, or tail light etc.
These are Murphy’s laws and can happen to anyone…..So here is my “Bags of Tricks”, some are familiar to you and some are my tricks:
* I bought a Magellan 2200T GPS for $250.
I use Vent Mount ($9 on ebay). For $250, this GPS is a geat product, great review by the GPS gurus:
* Get 2 Medium Sized Rubbermaid Boxes:
- First Box is for daily use (shopping…put milk and any liquid in there, any leak is contained!!!)....not related to this topic.
- Second Box is for tools and EMERGENCY KIT.
NOW THE TOOLBOX:
1. The “usual items”: battery cables, basic metric wrenches (8,9,10,11,12,13,14 mm etc.), multi-head screwdriver, pair of pliers etc.
2. Now this is my “Bag of Tricks”….see picture:
a. Fire Extinguisher for obvious reasons.
b. The FOOT Air Pump: IMHO the 12V electric pump can potentially drain the battery, and very often when you need it, it may not work. The FOOT pump is “bullet-proof” and when you need it, it is there, you just need to “exercise”. Add a couple drops of engine oil (borrowed from the dipstick) into the holes in the back of the foot pump and voila, it is nice and tight.
For every one psi = 15 pedal movements…so good exercise to get it to 35 psi!!!
*** Flat Tire: Easier to repair with tire out of the car, however you can repair a flat with tire installed, just roll it to location where you can reach the area affected by nails and repair it.(FRONT tire, turn the wheel so the nail area is exposed; REAR tire: roll until the nail faces backward).
Then during inflation, slightly jack up the car so the effort with FOOT pump is reduced.
c. The No-Battery Flashlight…$10.00 online…this Flashlight uses Faraday’s Physics principles, just shake it 30 sec and use it up to 5 min. Brightness is approx. 60% of battery-powered flashlight. Good enough for emergency use. Again, when you need it, it is there… no need to worry about flashlight dead batteries.
d. 2 pieces of wood (3/4” oak flooring material). Oak is hardwood so very useful to place under the jack if car is on dry grass (no mud please), it helps prevent the jack sinking into the grass. Trust me, this already happened to me, the car jack sank into dry grass!
e. Spare Fuses: The Honda Odyssey 2005-2007 use "mini fuses”,i.e., the blade type but small size; the kit I bought has a removal toll. Approx. $5.00 at Autozone. See picture.
f. Now Spare Light Bulbs....2005-07 Odyssey Bulbs List. You can look them up here (the owners manual is not too helpful):
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerPro...placementGuide/
The following are the bulbs that are absolutely essential to have on long trip......these are in bold letters below (the other bulbs are not essential can be obtained when you get to big cities and are listed below for completeness)
Low beam headlamp
9006 …$8.00 or 9006LL Long Life Halogen Upgrade
High beam headlamp
9005
Parking light
194NA
Front turn signal
992 (7440A)
Rear turn signal
992 (7440A)
Tail light
168
7443
Stop light
7443
Fog/Driving light
H8-35W
License plate
2825
Back up light
7440
Step/Courtesy light
194
Trunk/Cargo area
DE3175
Oh...BTW, all these bulbs, store them in a ziplock bag and keep them in the Rubbermaid Box in the trunk, not the glovebox, where there are many "tiny little curious hands" exploring things in the glovebox and when you need them they are not there! Been there done that.... (I love my kids....)
Hope this helps people, enjoy your summer (and winter) trips!
 Attachment: odysseyemergencykit.jpg
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cnn: 2007 Odyssey LX 30K miles
Last edited by cnn on 07-12-2007 at 06:54 AM
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OdyClub Forums > General Forums > 05+ Odyssey > EMERGENCY TRUNK KIT......My "Bag of tricks"
07-12-2007 05:53 AM
