DIY Lightweight First Aid Kit – How to make one

I typically find pre-made first aid kits lacking in some way. To get around that, I usually make my own lightweight first aid kit based on the sport, my training as a Wilderness First Responder and in Wilderness First Aid, and over 16 years of experience guiding trips. If you don’t have that training or experience, it might be a bit harder (and you should take a Wilderness First Aid course). But, you can still figure one out. As an example, I recently put a new one together to stash in my bike pack. I’ve have a day kit that I usually switch from pack to pack, but I have been forgetting to do that. So, I decided to make a new specific kit for my bike.

Example First Aid Kit

This kit was mainly designed to treat road rash and minor cuts that you might get on a day-long biking trip, especially with a kid, but with a few changes it would work well for a paddling first aid kit. If the ride includes more backcountry areas without cell service, I’d beef up the vet wrap by tossing in another roll.

This 3.5-ounce kit includes:

• knee-sized Band-Aids
• small cuts Band-Aids
• gloves
• vet wrap
• irrigation syringe (I’ll replace with a smaller one when I put a medical resupply order in)
• gauze pads for blood
• vitamin I for pain
• antihistamines
• aspirin
• tweezers
• two safety pins
• sugar for a diabetic in need
• towelettes
• soap note
• duct tape wrapped around the tweezer and pin container
• a pencil
• LiteAF First Aid Pouch
• round plastic container with a cotton ball for the meds.

How to Modify for Paddling

To make it into a paddling specific lightweight first aid kit, all I’d do is change up the Band-Aids. It’s rare to get road rash paddling, so you’d likely wouldn’t need the knee-sized Band-Aids. I’d leave those out and add a few other small Band-Aids while changing them all to waterproof Band-Aids. I may add a few more towelettes to help dry and clean a wet wound site.

I’ve seen people develop blisters on their hands during day-long paddling trips. I’m a big fan of duct tape for blisters, but not everyone is. A good substitute is Leukotape, which I’d wrap around the pencil. Paddling clothing isn’t conducive to making slings out of, so I’d probably throw in at least one triangular bandage. I’ve seen wetsuits cause irritation under armpits. Usually it is ignorable, but the Leukotape would work. Keeping Band-Aids stuck is harder on the water, so I’d consider including a few Skin-Tac™ Adhesive Barrier Wipes if I wasn’t bringing waterproof Band-Aids.

The Key to Making a Kit

The key to making your own kit is to run through the injuries that you think you might encounter on a typical trip and then plan for them. Sometimes you might be able to figure out a way to improvise with other gear or items you find in the environment, so you can plan for that in your kit. If you can’t improvise in a satisfactory way, then you put it in the first aid kit. I know it is popular for people in the lightweight world to skimp on first aid equipment, but I like to be prepared. I also think you can be prepared and keep the kit light.

Good Commercially Available Lightweight First Aid Kits

If you aren’t into making your own kit, Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight and Watertight 0.3 is a good base kit that you can add vet wrap and a few other items to and have a pretty solid day tripping kit. The Ultralight / Watertight .9 Medical Kit is solid for longer trips.

A simple plastic bag can hold a homemade kit, but I like to use ultralight zippered pouches. I used a LiteAF First Aid pouch for this kit. For my next one, I’m going to try the large Ultralight Pouch by Napacks. It stands up on its own when fully loaded and weighs only 0.48 ounces. The small version would work nicely for a smaller kit as well.