American Mountain Men

[Crane Senior]

My wife uses a CPAP and we bought a small travel CPAP and a battery for backup in case of emergency. Frankly I’m not sure what the battery life is. You can go www.resmed.com to see the travel CPAP and battery options.

 

[Crane Senior]

You could also buy a power inverter which is what my buddy did for Elk Camp last year. He used it all night and then we recharged using solar during the day. He just used his regular CPAP.

 

[Two Elks]

Gomez Munoz19, can I ask where did you get your battery and how does it convert from direct current to 120 volt alternating current ? I too use a CPAP. Thanks

 

[Crane Senior]

I believe you can get them from Harbor Freight as well as on line. If you go to Amazon and put in power inverter and you’ll see lots of options. As to how they work, I’m still of the belief that electricity is magic and I don’t believe the electricians that tell me it’s just like water. All I do know is that you do not hold the hot lead in one hand and the ground in the other.

My guess is that Zonie who sounds like an engineer to me, or someone else is much better suited to answer the why on this question. I hope this helps at least a little

 

[Boom Stick]

Away for a few days, sorry.

Guys, I gotta ask how you are getting / planning to pack your machines around, to, and from a primitive camp environment? There are several issues with doing that other than the obvious power requirements.

1) they are, at least mine anyway, big and bulky, and quite delicate and easily broken - especially the motor and connections.
2) sanitary and cleaning is a 1000-fold concern in a primitive camp environment setting. They have to be cleaned, wiped down / sanitized DAILY on an almost anal level in such an environmental setting or you WILL develop a bacterial lung and or sinus infection.

As I was going through the ACAP process as I was retiring from the military in late 2014 for a 2015 retirement and the government / military was putting guys out right and left - most time for the slightest of past infractions. They were also kicking guys out the door for any medical reason and one of those categories was anyone diagnosed with sleep apnea and using a CPAP machine. The reasoning for kicking them out was two-fold and relating to deployments to 'austere' environments (you can apply primitive camps for our discussion).

First, was concerns regarding power generation. Power generation is / was (at least during the time I was in) a real issue as the military was running low on available generators in the inventory and it was getting to be a critical issue. The generators in theater were being run 24 / 7 and combine that with the sandy environment and temperatures of 100 to 130 or even 140 on a daily basis and you can see that they had a very finite life cycle. Depending on the size of the FOB / base you were at, at least one generator a day or week was being pulled off line and being serviced / rebuilt to keep the fleet running. Yes, we were issued batteries for our CPAPs but they were only designed to hold a charge for one or two nights at most. I cannot tell you how many times I was at a location and multiple generators went out and all we had was just one genny running, barely enough to keep the TOC and radios running - so no power for our CPAPs / batteries. I was actually deployed at a location, which was not austere but experienced regular brown outs and surges that caused our personal electronics to burn out - I lost two batteries for my CPAP on that deployment. During that same deployment, a Warrant Officer in another unit was found dead in his room. Scuttle butt was that he died because his machine burned out during a brownout in the night and he was found with his mask on his face - not sure if he died because the CPAP was not working, he suffocated, or a combination. What I do know that after that happened the on base hospital / clinic received an entire pallet of new CPAP batteries for issue and replacement of burnt out batteries.

Second, and just as bad, was number of soldiers that were developing lung and sinus infections from their CPAP machines because they could not be kept clean enough. Even if a Soldier was anal enough, me, to clean their water reservoir, hose, and mask every day, they could still get infections due to the 'quality' of the water on hand. Yes, we were using bottled water, but it was either locally sourced from the country or another country in the region and we had all kinds of bacteria issues with Soldiers getting sick from the water. Ever seen an ENTIRE FOB sick from dysentery / with explosive diarrhea with about 25% of the Soldiers so weak that they could not get up from their cot to 'go' or clean themselves? Been there / done that and have the memories.

So, for me, distance from a group is an issue. Not only the extra cost for travel, but not having a mentor(s) around to keep me from wasting money and time purchasing both finished products and raw materials to make the clothing and kit necessary to fulfill the requirements and standards. More importantly though, in my mind at least, is that it is not much of a 'brotherhood' if I'm a couple hundred miles or more from a group / brigade.

But the major concern(s) for me is the health issues. Luckily, my eye should be fixed, hopefully, by the end of the year, so only a 'short term' problem really. Its being chained to this damned CPAP that is the 'cock-block' in my life. Before the Army doctors figured out what was wrong with me and got me on a CPAP I damned near died and unfortunately I've had to drastically change my life because of it - no more multiple-day / long distance backpacking trips, river rafting trips, or hunting camps.

God, as I re-read this I know that sounds like making excuses, but hopefully those of you that are in the same boat understand how frustrating this is and how much it negatively impacts and alters your life.

For anyone that has sleep apnea as bad as me and MUST use their CPAP EVERY night, and is a AMM member, how did you do the requirements? How do you stay active with the week long camps?

Health issues are just …. frustrating.

 

[Zonie]

While I recognize and sympathize with the need to address these issues with CPAP machines while out in the wilderness, I must remind people, this is a Traditional Muzzleloading Forum.

I'm sure there are web sites which deal with the issues of power generation and cleanliness and they are more suited to discussing these problems than the MLF is.

The subject of this topic is American Mountain Men. Can we please get back on topic?

PS: Those of you who are premium members (MLF Supporter Members) can open a topic about the subject of CPAP in the Non-Muzzleloading section of the forum. Discussions such as this is what it is set up for.

 

[Griz44Mag]

.

 

[GomezMunoz1951]

Gomez Munoz19, can I ask where did you get your battery and how does it convert from direct current to 120 volt alternating current ? I too use a CPAP. Thanks

When I plug mine into a power outlet it has a little "box" that changes the voltage. So if your CPAP is like mine it converts the power. When I ordered it, I also got an assortment of ends so I can plug it into a car cigarette lighter so I can recharge the battery or even use the CPAP and sleep in the car. I am trying to remember what company I ordered mine through, the little case has PBS on it.. OK Back to muzzle loading...

 

[32 ballard xl]

Gomez Munoz19, can I ask where did you get your battery and how does it convert from direct current to 120 volt alternating current ? I too use a CPAP. Thanks

I thought all C-PAP machines had a 12 volt DC recepticle as well as 110 AC. I have two Resmed's by the way. Converting via an inverter is far less efficient then the machine being wired for both AC and DC.

 

[tiklikker]

I have used my CPAP for years at our hunting camp with no AC power. I use a small power inverter connected to an RV/Marine deep cycle battery. Just make sure the inverter fan runs quiet, and don't reverse the polarity when you connect the inverter to the battery. That will cost you another inverter, and maybe your CPAP. My ResMed is AC only. I get 4-5 nights out of my battery.

 

[Zonie]

I asked nicely before but now I'm telling people, this is a muzzle loading forum.
Stop posting about CPAP's or I'll assume we have said everything that needs saying about American Mountain men and close the topic.

 

[Barry Stewart]

Boom Stick. Apologies in advance if this has already been suggested. One suggestion regarding cost savings is to look for heavy wool "old lady" type coats at Goodwill or other thirft stores. These coats are usually fairly common at thrift stores and are mostly made of 100% wool, just check the label to make sure. They are found in very traditional colors such as red, navy blue and dark green. Cut them up and use the material to make leggings, breech clothes, bags and pouches etc. If you are really ambitious find a very big one and remake it into a capote. They can usually be found for about $10 and will provide a bunch of material. There can be a learning curve with patterns and sewing but with a little patience well worth the effort. Hope this helps.

On a side note I believe the AMM requires hand stitched clothing because it was the common method/technology of the day. The shirts and other clothing items available at rendezvous and trading posts would mostly likely have been sewn by hand by someone, somewhere. Not sure historically when sewing machines became widely used. I do not think they are suggesting that mountain men made all of there own clothing or that they sat around the fire at night sewing cloth clothing, though I guess anything is possible. I have read accounts of trading post employees sewing up capotes and other clothing items during long storm bound winters that would later be available for trade/sale. Just my two cents.

 

[Huntschool]

Boom Stick:

I have sent you a PM and not heard from you. If you will go to the upper right hand corner of this page you will see am envelope icon in the top header. Put your cursor on it an left click. The drop down should be PM's. Click on the message.

If you are not interested in what I have put there just reply thank you....

Thank you.

 

[burlesontom]

I hope we are still talking about guns used by the Mountain Men. Here is a thread I started on another forum asking about this same thing. Maybe some of the post will help the OP if he is still around.

REMOVED

 

[Zonie]

Rule # 28: Do not post links to sites that contain Muzzleloading Forums.

If someone wants to give links to other web sites that have Muzzle loading forums they can PM the person with that information.

 

[KHickam]

The most important skill on being or becoming an AMM brother is a willingness to learn, to help brothers after you, and a attitude of confident humility, at least that is my personal standard when inviting a prospective brother.

 

[burlesontom]

Rule # 28: Do not post links to sites that contain Muzzleloading Forums.

If someone wants to give links to other web sites that have Muzzle loading forums they can PM the person with that information.

Oops. Sorry about that. I thought it would have been of interest to everyone.

 

[Huntschool]

Well, I guess any further attempts to help the OP would be futile. I have not received any communication from him so I, regrettably, am out of here.….. I think it should be known by anyone who reads this thread the AMM is a great organization. If there is interest you can PM me here.

 

[Kansas Jake]

My hat is off to you Huntschool for the great offer to the OP. Lots of folks offered positive advice and solutions. Sometimes folk's answer to everything is yes, but. I'm not a member of AMM and am too old at this point to take up another pursuit. I have too many now but I admire the members of the organization for doing what they do even if it isn't for all of us.

 

[Huntschool]

Thank you so much...... However, my reply above was not about the OP but rather Boom Stick. Just want to make that plain