$900 Marine First Aid Kit for ~$500

[Caapi]

I saw the Trans-Ocean Pak First Aid Kit posted on a few Sailing forums before, and while it looked really helpful, it also looked really expensive. I took some time and found all the items or their equivalent on Amazon for a much more reasonable price. If anyone has any suggestions or improvements I would love to hear them. There's some redundancy and I tried to pick the highest quality items while still considering price. Most of this stuff has free shipping.

Missing from the kit: Catheter, Stethescope, Hydrogen Peroxide, Povidone Iodine.

The first two are expensive if you buy quality and useless if you get cheap ones. They didn't seem necessary. The peroxide and iodine are much cheaper locally after you figure shipping.

Extras: Meclizine 12.5mg, Doxycycline 100m, Ciprofloxacin 250mg, Amoxicillin 250m, and most bandages, wipes, gloves ect.

Here's the list. I had to do it wishlist style because it was too big for listmania (40 item limit.) Make sure you're buying the items for yourself, the list is jsut a quick refrence to what all you need and where it is on amazon. Hope this helps.

[minaret]

Funny, I eyeballed that post and had the same thought. Seemed like way too much money for what was in there. My wife is a nurse and has gotten a very well equipped kit just by asking docs she knows.

[Dockhead]

I certainly did not plan to buy a ready made-up kit, the price being obviously more than the sum of the parts

One doctor-sailor posted an extremely helpful list of antibiotics to keep on board. I wonder if a qualified medical professional from among our members could cast a critical eye at this list, and make some suggestions? Maybe we can come up with a collective view on what to keep on board; also what books.

[Liltttzr]

Told my local doctor about leaving on the boat for a couple of weeks. He set me up with a list then proceeded to give me 3/4 of the stuff on the list. he stated most will do this due to freebies that they get from the suppliers.

[Hirophant]

Don't forget to budget for a first aid course if you've not already taken one! Quite a lot of that stuff would be of limited value if you don't know how or when to use it.

[hellosailor]

Lil, if you have any cookstove on the boat, also pick up some "silvadene" burn cream. Best thing to prevent infections if you do get a burn from cooking, and available without an rx from some web sources and veterinary supplies--same exact product that needs an rx at the local pharmacy. I'll bet your doctor remembers what it is, but hasn't seen a tube of it in decades. Burns aren't a typical office visit.

Also, eyewash, or bottled saline solution. For wounds to get the seawater critters out, but especially for eyewash.

[bene505]

Originally Posted by Caapi

I saw the Trans-Ocean Pak First Aid Kit posted on a few Sailing forums before, and while it looked really helpful, it also looked really expensive. I took some time and found all the items or their equivalent on Amazon for a much more reasonable price. If anyone has any suggestions or improvements I would love to hear them...

Caapi,

Excellent post! I love how we can pick and choose what is needed to complete one's kit. And you made it so eazy to get everything.

There are some items at the top of the list that won't display. perhaps they changed products? What were they?

Regards,
Brad

[hellosailor]

Sometimes the premade kits are packaged, stowed, very nicely. But no matter who makes them or where you buy them, it seems like they command a very steep premium for that convenience. A pelican case (or a piece of Samsonite from a thrift store for $10) and a batch of ziplock bags or luggage organizers can really pay for itself.

I think this is because the market is so small, really. There's no mass market for anything more than the "fifty bandaids and thirty tablets" kits, and the folks who need or appreciate real trauma kits, is often pro or semi-pro and willing to pay the price.

[Liltttzr]

I guess I am lucky. Have been a EMT-b for 10 years with the coal mines that I work at. So my kit is pretty much a full jump kit. I will try to rember and post the list from mine here for anybody interested. Also first responders courses are typicaly offered for free or at a very low cost from most local fire halls and hospitals. They include a very good CPR class with the AED!

[justwaiting]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Lil, if you have any cookstove on the boat, also pick up some "silvadene" burn cream. Best thing to prevent infections if you do get a burn from cooking, and available without an rx from some web sources and veterinary supplies--same exact product that needs an rx at the local pharmacy. I'll bet your doctor remembers what it is, but hasn't seen a tube of it in decades. Burns aren't a typical office visit.

Also, eyewash, or bottled saline solution. For wounds to get the seawater critters out, but especially for eyewash.

As far as i know the thinking on burns and some of the creams that were used in the past have changed so i would want to check that. For whats its worth what i most commonly use for burns is egg white after the cold water treatment. Let it dry on the skin to provided a short term protective layer. OK so you may not eggs so you will need plan B.

Most eye medications including synthic tears are suposed to be discarded after 28 days afetr opening, some 7 days and some to be stored in a fridge. What i like for boat use, are the boxes of individual use plastic containers. I would be very reluctant to use a bottle of saline that had been open before for infection control reasons, but thats just me.

[Hirophant]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Sometimes the premade kits are packaged, stowed, very nicely. But no matter who makes them or where you buy them, it seems like they command a very steep premium for that convenience.

I think the packaging is an important thing. It's easy to think you have saved 50% by assembling your own kit, but if when you come to use it the bandages are mouldy then you may have in fact wasted 100%, in fact worse than that since if your kit is no longer sterile the hazard may be worse than the monetary loss. A lot of medical supplies seem to have packaging that protects against handling but not hostile environments such as water ingress so a well designed container is important, and it needs to be resealable since you may need to access the kit several times. Of course a commercial kit may not have the right packaging either but if it is designed for marine use it is more likely to be done right.

You need to think about the situation where you might be using the kit, perhaps in bad conditions, imagine you have just gashed yourself in a storm and as you open the first aid kit it opens suddenly and everything flies out of the box and disappears into the night.... suddenly that expensive kit where each type of plaster was in its own pocket makes sense....

[justwaiting]

The issue that i have with the kits is not so much the price but what they contain and how they maybe used. The premise is that they are for fist aid, which is all right as far as that goes. The problem there is that depending on where you are you may need extended care before you can get external assistance. I didn't look at the list very closely so please feel free to correct me. First aid needs to be considered in the wider context of safety.
Prevention , do i need to say more.
Knowledge, weight and space is next to nothing so can be carried on all boats.
Equipment and supplies are useless if not dangerous so i want to know how to safely use every thing that i have in "my kit"
Packaging and storage, i want my first aid kit of imitate emergencies available where they are most likely to be used (in cockpit) and i want my medical kit to to secured where it is safe but still accessible (2 kits). The points made about packaging i aspect but there is noting that stops us from doing that as well as commercial vendors. I have a small fishing tackle box for my first aid and a plastic tool box for my "medical kit". Most of the content has been vacuum packed. Cost very little.
As far as my quick read of the kit goes the only analgesic was aspirin, one of the few uses i would have for that would be heart attacks and some blood pressure issues.

[minaret]

I find some of the military surplus field medic kits are so cheap you can buy several and have one that lives in a dry bag in the dinghy,etc. Good supplies for cheap, but often out of date and so not to be relied on for a primary kit, they aren't really well equipped enough for that anyway. They are much cheaper though and generally perfectly serviceable. I like them for exactly the reasons previously mentioned, a small kit bag with everything well organised and individually packaged. Beats nothing by a long shot.


IMS-PLUS Military Surplus, Army Surplus, Tactical Gear, Survival Gear, and more from International Military Sales PLUS - First Aid and Trauma Equipment :: M39 Medic Kit


IMS-PLUS Military Surplus, Army Surplus, Tactical Gear, Survival Gear, and more from International Military Sales PLUS - First Aid and Trauma Equipment :: Tactical Trauma Backpack

IMS-PLUS Military Surplus, Army Surplus, Tactical Gear, Survival Gear, and more from International Military Sales PLUS - First Aid and Trauma Equipment :: M17 Medic Bag


You can always toss any items you are worried about being out of date and replace them. Then you have a nice well organized kit for cheap.

[hellosailor]

"the first aid kit it opens suddenly and everything flies out of the box "
Some folks have trouble packing a suitcase. (shrug).

A "first aid" kit seems best defined as what you can stick in a cub scout's pocket that he won't get in trouble with. Bandaids, creams, aspirin. But a lot of trained EMS folks will tell you, you can pack aspirin, advil, ibuprofene, alleve (great stuff)...but you don't administer any of that unless you know how someone responds to it. Heck, even PeptoBismol is toxic to some folks. So a first aid kit is best kept simple, maybe add a splinter tweezer and magnifying glass and a bottle of Liquid Skin when bandaids are just always the wrong shape. "DermaBond" is the professional grade.

But the real "medical kit" is going to be a trauma kit. Gauze rolls, bandages, compresses, and even if you don't know how to use them, some things like suture kits because someone else might either be with you, or be instructing you on the radio, and you might be better off HAVING the right tools, than not having them. Obviously you don't play with them unless you have to. or you're out of crazy glue.<G>

"Quick Clot" or "Blood Stop" or other wound clotting aids are also controversial. The pros hate to see them because it means they have to be removed in order to inspect and redress the wound. Well...nice concept but when you have a bleeder and need to stop it, they're a great way to stop it, dress it, and if you know what you're doing, there's no need to have it undone and redone.

There's no reason you can't put together a kit that goes beyond your abilities or comfort zone, and then you can catch up to it by getting more training instead of remaking the kit.

Which probbaly should happen every year anyhow. A sterile packed gauze roll my have an indefinite shelf life, but the aspirins, gooey adhesive on bandaids, expiring peroxides and cleaners, some of that stuff shold simply be replaced every year and donated to whatever clinic is nearby that might need it. (Or the marina office, their kits are often scrounged ragged.)

If you don't know how to pack or pick...By all means, pay the nice man to do it for you.

[Nicholson58]

Here is a list posted by the owner's of Hawk that I found last year in another post. It is quite extensive and covers more than I would have thought of. As noted above, get some training to know what to do with this. I believe some Hawk members were medically trained. Thanks to Hawk. I've never attached a pdf so here goes -