psneeld
Guru
We carry a ditch bag. It is a standard yellow ACR bag and stuffed with the same type of items mentioned previously. There is one consideration, regardless of where you boat, that had escaped our attention and did not seem to figure on ditch bag lists.
When we got our life raft serviced 3 years ago (it failed!!) the shop doing the service (LRSE) pointed out that getting into a LR is usually a very wet experience. You quite often need to swim to the raft even if it is attached to the mother ship - the concept of "stepping down" into the LR is something of a fiction. Consequently, we were advised to pack complete changes of warm clothing in the ditch bag. Especially since one of the biggest risks in that situation is hypothermia. We now carry extra clothing in a sealed thick poly bag inside the ditch bag. It also adds to the buoyancy of the ditch bag. Hopefully we shall never need either the LR or the DB but when you are a few hundred miles off shore it is nice to know they are available. One last caution about the DB. It can get kind of heavy if you are not careful. Too heavy means the admiral may not be able to handle it when the sh1T hits the fan and the captain is trying to launch the LR.
Chris
Which was my point all along....99 percent of the time for boaters unless in upper Alaska, Canada or way offshore (>200 miles) you are more concerned with rescue and staying alive/alert/and able to signal till help arrives (usually less than a full day but reasonably up to 3). You can easily "survive" the week with nothing more than enough on your back to keep you from dying of hypothermia. A little water is great but not even necessary unless in a tropical environment.
I was involved in the rescue and debrief of an Air Guard pilot that punched out and survived a week in a 1 man raft off the coast of NC. All he had was a pint of water and a pack of those little candies I forget that they put in military rafts. He said the highlight of every day was waking up and licking the dew off the canopy of his raft. Survival is mostly about "will to live" and resourcefulness...less about "things".
A full bag is great...as long as it is reasonable to manage and it comes with you.