Review: Platatac - FAD Carrier

FAD carrier pic from Platatac's website, FAD in place

A little while back I went in to Platatac asking about how I could mount my Fiskars log-splitter to my kit when I was camping and tramping. I tried out their exceptional (but not quite fit for my purpose) FFE Holster. One of the other suggestions was to use one of their other pieces of kit, the FAD Carrier. Designed to carry a First Aid Dressing kit, this lightweight platform was easily re-purposed to suit my need.

I love it when a plan comes together.


The key to this piece are the webbing eyelets that are found at each corner, two to each corner in fact, one "inwards" and one "outwards", mounted to a light nylon panel with two sets of PALS/MOLLE straps on the rear.

In the unadulterated original format, a length of shock cord is cris-crossed through those eyelets, with a cord-lock to cinch it tight. This enables the user to stow a FAD securely and yet readily accessible at a moments notice by simply grabbing and yanking it free. Crucial for when saving seconds mean saving lives.

You can see here the twin webbing eyelets which I have rethreaded with a length of paracord as I found for my purpose, the shock-cord was too springy, under the weight of my axe. Looped paracord, held in place by those eyelets did the job perfectly.

The whole thing doesn't measure more than 8 cm (3") to a side, and given the placement of the eyelets, can be rigged horizontally or vertically, to suit your need.




A quick look at the rear shows the PALS/MOLLE panels that are ubiquitous to all of Platatac's gear, with its 2 channel, 2 row configuration.

Whilst a little tricky to get affixed, at this short a length, once attached this is a rock-solid platform.

In fact, the carrier was so solid, that I wanted to give it a try in a slightly different configuration, as a mounting system for my much loved Zombie Tools Deuce sword.

You may recall I showed off one carry option for the Deuce in my Apocalypse Equipped; No, Really Mayan 2012 non-event post, where I had it lashed through an eyelet to my 215 Gear sling but I found that the Platatac FAD worked a treat.




 The eyelets of the carrier matched almost exactly with the eyelets in the scabbard of the Deuce, and when lashed in with the same paracord I had used to secure my axe, I found that I could create a PALS/MOLLE fixture to my scabbard in up to six points along the scabbard.

This meant that I could wear it on a belt, lash it to my rig, or a pack, or pretty much anything with 2x2 PALS/MOLLE. The same would go for any other kit y0u needed lashed.

So, from a tiny piece of kit, so many opportunities arise. I really like this, and it was such pure chance that just by talking out what I wanted to do, the idea came to use the FAD carrier.

Brilliant!

Event: ConFest

Over Easter, I took the family to ConFest, a big "hippie" lifestyle and camping festival. We've been a couple of times before, but this was the first time we had gone with the two littlest ... Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby. This made it quite the adventure, with the two of us adults, a teenaged lady, a 4yo and an almost 2 yo. Camping for four days, a long way from home.

Its not as if ConFest is really roughing it, by any stretch of the imagination. Ive seen any number of campsites there which were not much more than a sleeping bag on a drop sheet, under a tarp, and yet the inhabitants had hot cooked food, from the large market area.

We took our new (but second hand) 9 person Great Outdoors - Silver Grande 9L  tent, as well as a pair of the Spinifex - Deluxe Padded Camp Stretcher beds (XL)   a folding port-a-cot for Tactical Baby and the very ingenuous Spinifex -  Double Bunk bed cots. We didn't want to spend our holiday with cranky, sleep deprived children.

Where am I going with all this? well, we packed all of our gear into my Toyota RAV4 5-door, including the two kid seats, and drove the 7 hours to ConFest, and I used the exercise as a "get the hell out of Dodge" system check. We could load up x-amount of stuff, and only that. We were cheating because we were planning to buy some food at the market, and stopped for lunch on the way. However, it was a good test of what we would need, and what we could do without.

Here's a shot of us crammed in, the backseat full of kids, the front seat full of road snacks and gear.

We took solar chargers for our electronics, lights and the like, the Australian Easter has no shortage of sunlight. The roof-rack was filled with bedding, the beds, a spare tent, camp-tables and chairs, all covered with a tarp. A cheep tarp. Lesson learned, get a better tarp.

We also packed more food than we ate, never a bad thing, and we chose our food carefully so it would not require excessive care or refrigeration. It would have lasted us a week, if we'd been careful. We had packed baby things, including formula, nappies and changes of clothes.

My big box of camping kit, which included cast iron pots and pan, tripods, spits, fire starters, hatchet, lengths of chain, wire and rope, candles as well as cutlery, plates, bowls and the like. A 30L water jug, ensured we had water at the site, without needing to continually trek to the fresh water hoses. Then there was the luggage, we each packed differently, I wore the same Urban Dax pants each day, changed shirts each day and wore my Paleo Barefoots everywhere. The rest of my kit went into my Platatac Light Field pack which also doubled as a Yoda-carry-rig for Tactical Baby as we wandered the festival.

You can see the Fiskars log splitter I chopped three days worth of redgum firewood and the Zombie Tools Deuce I took with me because ... hippies ... zombie hippies ...

What did I take from all of this?

We took too much stuff. The new camp beds, in combination with the huge tent were worth it for the comfort we gained. Even though we could have done without in an emergency, they were a great investment in comfort. We tool a lot of "snivel gear" and probably not enough food and water for a "get out of Dodge" situation.

A giant festival like this is a good indication of what a well meaning "lets bug out of the city" refugee camp might start out like, and harkens to the chapter in Max Brook's "World War Z" dealing with that.  I looked around at the haphazard sites, and the supplies we had all brought, and reaslised that we in the middle of a couple of thousand people who were a weeks hunger away from barbarism.

Sleep tight campers!

Review: Fiskars Log Splitter

When disaster strikes, sometimes it's the basic things that are the most important. Freedom to move is one of those. I frequently travel up into the Dandenong Ranges so visit, collect and return my 3yo daughter, Triceratops Girl. The way is heavily forested, mountainous and prone to storms and heavy rainfall, as well as bushfires. I've had to clear fallen trees from my path on more than one occasion, which is one of the reasons I keep my favorite camping axe in the back of the car. I picked this piece up at a hardware store a number of years ago, after seeing the advertisements where a tractor is pictured sitting on the handle, lent over a log.

Between seeing that, and hefting it in the shop, I was all but sold. If it's something I can trust the Finns with, it's chopping wood. And Vodka. Which may have led to the parking of the tractor on the axe in the first place. The proof, they say, is in the pudding and here is what I can tell you. The hollow haft is made of a lightweight and extremely hard wearing fiberglass material called "FiberComp". This puts almost all the weight in the head, where you want it. It's flexible enough to take the shock of some serious and extensive chopping and splitting, and still sturdy enough to DO all that work. The hook in the handle ensures a positive grip and the haft is well textured for both a good swinging action and also keeping a solid positive grip. as well as having a lanyard hole for added safety.

The head is where the action is. Firstly, the head is molded into the haft, and in all the years I have had it it's never given the slightest hint of budging. The entire head is coated with a non-stick substance called PTFE (Teflon is DuPont's name for it...)which according to Fiskars reduces the friction of blade strike and withdrawal by 25%. Most important to my way of thought however is the blade geometry, which is really special. The convex cross-section acts not only to enure a deep bite, but also provides a wide bevel to force logs open, Star Destroyer style! The convex shape helps keep it from being wedged into its cut. The steel has been drop forged, doubled hardened. What this means for you and I is that it holds a very keen edge and is easy to maintain. There are a couple of dings, from loaning it to lesser humans, who chopped wood onto gravel. I've worked most of the damage out with my diamond files.  So dumb I couldn't even get angry. Just took it away from them, and let them forage for firewood from then on.


I've taken this with me on every camping trip since having it, and over Easter last year, chopped enough red-gum to cook for 10 people for 6 days with it. I bent the ring I was wearing, gave myself a little blister and needed -one- resharpening. A very fine effort. The locking case not only holds the very sharp edge safely, but I have also used it to affix the axe to my hip, either lashing it to my belt, or by feeding my gorgeous little camping-knife in its sheath through the handle like a big button. As you can see, from the wear on the handle and head, I've gotten a lot of use from this axe, and plan to get a lot more.

It's one of the first items that comes to mind when someone mentions disaster preparedness, because its reliable, light, effective and extremely hardy. Fallen trees, barricades, firewood, encroaching Triffid hoards, this axe and I will go a long way to making ready!