HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - Going north (?) What gear should I get?
Old 07-12-2004 | 10:07 AM
  #2  
eldeguello's Avatar
eldeguello
Giant Nontypical
 
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,270
Likes: 0
From: Texas - BUT NOW in Madison County, NY
Default RE: Going north (?) What gear should I get?

In the interior of Alaska, the climate is what's known as "cold-dry". Even in temperatures as low as -50 degrees F, I was quite comfortable in a suit of insulated underwear, 40 oz. wool pants, a wool shirt, a U.S. military M65 field jacket with liner and hood. arctic mittens on my hands and a set of U.S. military white (cold-dry) vapor-barrier boots on my feet, as long as I was doing something physical, and not just sitting still for over about one hour. The boots kept my feet warm under all conditions, however.

Any firearms you intend to use should have all traces of liquid lubricants removed, unless you have only used oils which are certified to remain liquid down to -60 degrees. Otherwise, degrease/degunk everything and relube with dry lubes like MOS2.

Gasoline will still flow and ignite down below -50 in a heated engine, but stops being volatile at around -40 or so. Diesel fuel is useless below -50 (it is frozen!!). I found that Texaco Havoline 5-20 weight motor oil was still liquid at -50 F, but all heavier oils and other brands had ALL turned to peanut butter by -50!

Use a circulating heater of about 1000W in the radiator-circuit system, and also a battery heater plate or trickle charger on the battery to keep it warm enough to put out enough juice to crank your engine. At -40F, a battery is down to less than 10% of its' normal output! Good luck! Enjoy the Arctic. I did!!
eldeguello is offline  
Reply