What camping accessories do you really love?
 

It seems that the camping bug has bit me and I just can't wait for our next camping trip. It's not yet planned - but I've been acquiring camping supplies here and there when I could and each time we've gone, it's been a better experience.

Aside from the usual tent, sleeping bag and camp stove type of stuff, what are some camping "accessories" that you really love and/or can't live without?

We did great with a tarp and some bungy cords making a shaded area for us when out in the forest. Not so helpful in the desert though.

We have a fold up table with a metal roll top. Works great for camping in the middle of nowhere where they don't necessarily have a table. It all folds up and fits in a little soft sided bag with a shoulder strap like the chairs that are similar in design do. Walmart. Great deals on camping stuff. I hate to love them and love to hate them.


We got a tent heater before our last camping trip and I really appreciated that thing - even if it did make me a bit paranoid about it tipping over or something. (but I tend to overworry in the middle of the night about things sometimes and with a bigger tent I don't think it will bother me.)



I'd love to have some sort of camping cocktail kit of some sort. :cheers:

I modified a folding chair to have a circular hole in the middle and compartment to hold a shovel. Best thing I ever made.

Funny you bring this up. We just purchased a three-burner stove. Each burner has 30,000 BTU capacity. Will come in handy for our Memorial Day camping trip.

Pack llamas to carry everything.

Indoor plumbing.

A nearby four-star resort hotel.

A nice little tent is helpful as well.

Picked up a great little hand axe last time, easy to wield and made quick work of medium sized branches.

If you're going to be hiking, camelpack. Definitely camelpack.

Nice tent. It must weigh a ton though and be pretty big to take with you though isn't it?

Great chair idea. Might have to try that one out myself.

And the axe we do not have but now that you mention it, I can really see how it would have come in handy other times. I'll have to get one of those too.

The camelpack just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not sure why that is - seems like it would be all warm and not very refreshing. Guess bottled water gets warm anyway though and it's a pain in the butt to carry with so...

It requires its own trailer, a minimum of three to set up and usually takes 2-3 hours. It actually belongs to friends of ours who are kind enough to share it with us at War. Each round is large enough to hold a queen size bed which only takes up only about 1/4 of the space.

When we finally get our own tent, it shall be more like the one in the right side of the photo.

I'm not sure if I can explain it right but we have a light with a magnetic metal plate attached. You pull off the plate and put it on the outside and put the light on the inside. It was so nice to have an overhead light instead of a lantern.

the one thing I truly love while camping is the one thing I forgot to bring last time at camp swank.

a propane torch. makes short work of building any fire or starting a firepit full of coals

For Swank Cam I got the best thing! It's the best because it is incredibly useful to me and VERY useful in pissing off every other camper you are camping with. It's called a Petzel and I LOVE it.

It's camelback and it's the best adventuring invention since the shoe. You need to keep hydrated, and it's best done on the go. The water is insulted and always cold to room temperature, no matter how hot it gets outdoors. The tiny bit of water remaining in the tube since you last sip gets warm ... but one second later the H20 in the reservoir is perfect and wet.

You don't need to stop, retrieve something, open it, drink, close it, stow it ... you simply sip. The tube is always at your side, your watery friend. You haven't had it this easy since the umbilical cord of your womb-residing days.

I never considered it a camping accessory, per se, though of course I've never gone camping without it. Depending on what type you get, you can pack a nice day trip or a weekend away from civilization. So your backpack and your nicely cooled, constant water supply are one integrated, hassle-free unit of perfection.

I cannot recommend it more highly. :snap:

Can you put fizzy water in it? :D

yes, but the fizz won't last as long as the cold.








oh, and haha, um, typo ... the water isn't "insulted" ... it's insulated. If the water were insulted, it would likely get hot, not cold.

Our faves are:

Coleman Road Trip Grill
Roll-up Tables
EZ-Up
Air Mattress with elevated portable pop-open frame
Camelback*

*I highly suggest freezing it - it will melt as you go, and also keep you nice and cool. My small one takes 5-6 hours to completely melt, so it's perfect. :)

Gaffer Tape. Pink. 100 metres. ;)

But what is it? A Gynachological Utility belt with a miner's lamp (or is it a magnifying glass) and in-built vibrating mechanism? It appears to be the strap-on model. Progressive, I'd call it.

...and let me guess - the vibrating part is driven by loud rap music whilst in operation to piss off those around you. Priceless !!!

;)

We froze ours solid for the last MA. Our (Eddie Bauer brand, I think) camelbak is so insulated it wouldn't melt fast enough for us to drink, even though it was a hot day. We had to resort to drinking fountains. It sucked.

Next time, ice cubes.

For camping use, freezing is not usually an option ... and, as you see from the post above, has its drawbacks.


Filling it with about half ice, half water does quite nicely for warm weather adventures.

A nice dutch oven...or two (the camping models with the tall legs and rimmed lid). With a little know-how (and time) you can make some incredible meals (and desserts) very easily.

Stoat, you are one worldly man!

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and -stop it! - of mosquito repellent

I picked up some brandy snifters at Ikea, I think they will make for wonderful camping accessories.

My vital accessory:

Camping companions who try to recreate a weekend at an all-inclusive resort on pine needles.

Then I can:

1. Mooch whatever strikes my fancy.
2. Feel superior about the fact that I am probably going sleep on the ground under my car, eat and drink everything out of one plastic cup for four days, and experience what camping really should be.

Otherwise, the only thing I've truly found I can't get by without is a semi-decent camp chair. Sitting on the ground or a picnic table bench for hours at a time just doesn't fly. Everything else I've done without at some point.

Au contraire. Camping without the brandy snifters would be unbearably vulgar.

My CPAP machine and generator to run it all night.

I know a campground where you can do that. Certain sites are "accessible", including a power source.

True, but if you run a generator all night then you run a significant risk of camp site vandalism from your neighbors.

It ain't proper camping if you don't need a....

Yeah buddy, that's what passes for campin in my neck of the woods.
 

and a

The accessible sites don't require a generator :) They're wired. Oh, but ONLY the accessible sites have power, and it's low power, nothing you'd run a microwave off of.

Personally, I've been coveting an EZ-Up. I think I'm going to go with the "First Up" one because there are lots of accessories easily available for it at WalMart.

And I need a new camp bed at some point, because the frame on my old twin size one broke (and I wanted a queen size anyway). But that's not an emergency because my Coleman couch/bed is a decent substitute.

Our upcoming camping trip will now include an upgrade in living spaces with our new tent.



"8 person" should be a great family tent and we can actually stand up in it. A MAJOR upgrade from our 4 person tent.

I've got my eye on the dutch oven I think. Camp is great for exploring, off roading and hiking - but it's also good for sitting around camp, reading and being a woman of leisure. The dutch oven seems to play into that fantasy quite nicely.

I can't wait to go camping! I have no idea where or when - but maybe again for our anniversary in May.

Of course, this whole thread is making me sad there's no swank camp this year, though glad I'm not spending money on all the new equipment I want.

Looks like you got the same tent we did last year: the Copper Canyon 1312. We absolutely love it: we were able to set up a queen size bed (a full bed with head and foot-board: not just an air mattress) and still have plenty of room to walk all the way around it while standing completely upright.

We used it for the first time at Camp Swank last year: there may be pictures of it somewhere.

Right on Kevy! I knew I'd picked out a good one. Did you find it easy to set up?

(and now I must go try and find photos of this tent of yours.)

THat's some set up you've got there Kev. Is it an air mattress or a real one?

There was some initial confusion when inserting the diagonal poles across the top. Once we got that figured out (and we labeled them the next time we put the tent up), it was a breeze: only took about 10 minutes the second time we set it up (and that was working at a leisurely pace.

Thank you for finding that. I started to, but time was an issue for me.

Susan is a comfort fanatic, so from the bottom up, there is:

1. Two Sleeping Pads side-by-side (almost the same size as a queen mattress)
2. Feather Bed
3. Opened sleeping bag (optional - for colded climates only)
4. Fitted sheet
5. Person(s)
6. Top Sheet
7. Down comforter
8. Miscellaneous Blankets (though usually only on her side)

Also, she draped mosquito netting from the roof (not necessary: Susan did it for effect) and lots of pillows.

Yeah: were really "roughing it" :D :rolleyes:

Wait, what's the structure of the bed? Is the bottom completely slatted? (Eg: no spaces?)

The corners are 4 x 4's
Rails are 2 x 6's
2 x 4s and 1/4 ply make up the head and foot boards (between the 4 x 4 posts)
Bottom is solid (3 fit pieces of 3/4" Baltic Birch Ply.
Whole thing can be assembled (or disassembled) by one person in 5 minutes with no tools
Designed by me

Genius, pure and simple genius. If you make a decent eggs benedict, I may need to write you into a novel.

Neato! So - between the tent and the bed and bedding, how in the heck do you manage the space to bring anything else with you? :rolleyes: :p

Is the design in your head or do you have it drawn up and available for me to use?

Mostly the former (and I am not sure where the existing drawings are), but I could re-create them pretty easily. I would be more than happy to share with you. But note that I didn't design it for looks; we use this bed for camping only.

I used these as the hangers. You need two sets: one set for the rails and one set for the cross-braces between the rails.

Also, I had access to a large tenoning jig on a table saw.

Fine by me. I'll take whatever sketches you've got or can drum up. They don't have to be perfect. I'm often tweaking designs as I go anyway.

When I originally saw the pictures from last year's Camp Swank, my first thoughts were of wanting to crawl into your tent and fall asleep on that awesome looking bed. Then my mind went on to start designing an easy to transport easy to setup camping bed. Then I visited Google and started researching DIY yurts. Then things got busy at work again and I had to file it all away into the back of my mind.

One modification that you may want to make is to the height of the headboard. I made it too large to even fit into our GMC Safari (which is fairly good sized). I have to put the bed on the roof for transport.

I'd love to make one of these: http://home.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/sca/...kuijt.article/

nah... you don't want a center pole. Too hard to fit the bed in. (not to mention getting into and out of the bed.

But it would make for a great stripper tent.

of course you still have poles. just not in the center (more room for an audience);)

I *have* made one of those, Morrigoon. It's in my garage right now. Best. Tent. Ever. and I can assure you that the center pole is not a problem whatsoever. I can still fit a queen-size bed on one half of the tent (with room left over) and the second half is open space. And that is for the small version! You can store stuff on the spokes and hang curtains from them. It is very sturdy in a high wind. And there are no guy wires to trip passers-by.

I have yet to meet a tent that didn't need guy wires

I have yet to meet a guy who didn't love tent wires.

Provide me with the ground space and I'll set it up for you. It has withstood some substantial storms.

the one I used on the back of my truck didnt need them. then again, it hasnt had to withstand a storm yet.

How does the center pole stand up?

It has a mind of its own .... oh, sorry, still on about tent wires.

I think they explain it better at the link Morrigoon posted than I can. Basically, the wall tension holds it, I think. To set it up, you stake out each of the bottom wall joints approximately where they're supposed to be. Then, you fit together the center pole and hub and run that inside through the hole in the center of the roof. Then someone holds it steady (this is the ONLY reason set-up requires two people) while someone fits the spokes in the hub and roof pockets. Depending on how good a job you did with preliminary staking, you may or may not need someone to hold the pole while you re-position the ground stakes to pull the lower walls tight.

Then, you enjoy laying about in your canvas tent and enjoying the breeze while all the nylon tents have been transformed into ovens that prevent habitation.

I was wondering what the base of the center pole looks like myself. According to your description, it's just a pole.

Okay, so if the spokes go several inches into the hub, is it difficult to put together inside the staked tent? Or do you just plan on needing to restake the outside tighter after the hub and spoke system is put together?

Are you saying NO outside guy wires, or just guy wires very close the tent?

If it is the latter, I understand. If the former, I would have to see this. I've seen many a pavilion fall victim to strong winds.

The red and blue circus tent shown earlier is two rounds with a breezeway between them. The rounds use the center pole and spokes setup.

How each round is put up is the top canopy is spread out on the ground. The (18'!) center hole is poked through it's grommet at what will be the top. The outside ropes are attached very loosely to their stakes. Using three people, the pole/canopy is lifted into position, placing the bottom of the pole in position and the ropes are then tightened enough to hold the pole basically vertical with a slight spread to the canopy.

Next, the spokes are inserted into a wheel on the center pole and into pockets designed for them in the canopy. On the 18' diameter canopy, the poles are spaced about every 1.5'-2' (I don't remember the exact spacing). At this point, you have a round tent with no walls.

Next, the walls are hung to the canopy. In the case of this tent, there are two sections of wall for the entire round (with doors at each meeting point). This step is probably the hardest because the canvas is very heavy and you are attaching it (via snap rings) at about 7' off the ground. It is best to have two people doing it: one lifting the canvas wall and one attaching the rings.

I've wanted to make one for awhile. However, I will probably never find the time.

Kevy, look at the link again, where it gets down to describing the making of the tent. The one I showed uses the walls AS guy wires, if you will. It also has the walls attached to the roof with a rain flap sewed in at the joining seam. So you stake the bottom of the walls to the ground, then pop up the roof with the pole. That's why I was wondering about tension and being able to get the stakes into the hub, because you have these pesky wall things that might get in the way.

Fine, MAKE me go look at the link.

But I only skimmed the article and didn't see what you are specifically referring to. But I imagine that putting up the linked pavilion would follow a similar assembly process, with the possible exception of attaching the walls first (since they are used in lieu of guy wires). Essentially, you would have a droopy pavilion until you put in the spokes.

Better a droopy pavilion than a droopy guy wire.

Or worse: a droopy center pole!

oh yeah - the center pole is just a pole. I alwaye meant to make a platform for it to rest on, but never did.

It's not too difficult to put in the spokes at all. Generally the outside needs to be restaked a least a little. The precise configuration of the ground stakes varies depending on the terrain. If you're on a slope at all, you have to adjust the walls so that they're pulled tight.

Kevy: the tension in the walls generally helps keep the pavillion up. It's been through a very windy September event near Ellensburg, WA, which is probably the wind capital of Washington. It's also survived such events as May Drown.

A question (inspired by Morri's comments about the linked pavilion she wants to build): are the sides sloped or straight? I was thinking purely about straight walls (which is what our encampment has almost exclusively).

They're sloped, but not excessively so. I mean, the hub is far above my head, so it's a gradual slope.