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TOPIC: Camping gear

Camping gear 05 Feb 2019 10:00 #28989

  • Mat R
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Willbar wrote:
Thanks Dave and Rob now where talking, I guess brands of quality gear is what I was hoping to find out so I can go hunting good second hand, I like swags but I know a tent gives you more room to escape the environment and to store your things. I agree about a good mattress, what do you guys do for a pillow and what brand sleeping bag is good for summer and winter or do you have a winter and a summer ones?

I have a summer and winter one. The summer one is very small when packed, the winter one is the normal large size. When very cold I stuff the summer one in the winter one and that works well but is restrictive. Now Will, you may find you need to look at larger sizes of sleeping bags for enough wriggle room. In the summer one, I don't have a lot of wriggle space. The winter one is a Black Wolf and works very well. On cool to cold nights at Abbeyard I have even had to leave it open a bit to avoid getting too hot.

For a pillow - I stuff some of the polar fleece and softer clothing in the sleeping bag cover and use that. Find it better than the air pillows.

The seriously small air beds were very pricey. I borrowed one from a friend for the Kokoda trek and it worked well. But check them out when inflated as some have a foil insulation layer that is noisy when you move on it.

I would also take a tent over a swag, and where weight and space is less of an issue go with a 2 person over a 1 person. I have an el-cheapo 2 person that still works well, but struggles when the weather gets nasty. So think about how extreme the conditions are going to be that you are going to camp in. When going somewhere where the choice is camp or camp the better gear makes it much nicer.
The older I get, the slower I was.
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Camping gear 05 Feb 2019 10:29 #28990

  • Serge C
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Tents are the go, for all the reasons you've already mentioned.

Down sleeping bag cos they compress to nothing (allow time for them to 'loft' before climbing in).  There are tricks to making sleeping bags warmer without adding bulk.

The reality is, you'll probably only ever need to 'tough-out' ONE night of extremely bad weather, cos in the morning, you'll move on and find somewhere to stay.  So carry a 6 x 4 tarp and if things get really serious, throw it over your tent or wrap yourself up in it and get through the night.  then re-asses in the morning.

If you get really, really, really stuck, then you'll probably want to consider your choices of destination!
"That's what I do, I drink and I know things!" - Tyrion Lannister
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Camping gear 05 Feb 2019 16:18 #28992

  • Ken R
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I did the Alpine rally 5 times and it was always freezing over night and quiet often there was snow on the ground.

My trusty RT1 Yamaha with rack was loaded to the gunnals, but we did it easy.

It was always a tent and a blow up mattress. I did progress to a sleeping bag that was labeled minus 6 but still used 2 space blankets. One went under the mattress, shiny side up to stop me trying to warm the planet, and the other started down over my feet but usually moved up to cover all. If you leave one side open a bit it don't get too sweaty unless you took a bad lady (never happened for me) 

All the obvious stuff like a beany, thermals, explorer socks etc.

Of course back then there were no heated grips or posh riding gear, cold? nah - it was friggin cold! but great fun and a real challenge on some times frozen tracks for the last bit to the camp site.

The last 2 years I took a hot water bottle and it was amazing how good a warm start is. It was pulled out when cooled a bit and always froze solid in the tent.

For the first 4 years you had to sleep over for 2 nights to earn your badge, they then changed it to one night so I stopped going, too easy.
It's just more time to be flat out!
Last Edit: 06 Feb 2019 08:21 by Ken R.
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Camping gear 05 Feb 2019 20:33 #28998

  • Jeff Grogan
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Hey, 2 Dogs,
check this out ! in your nicl of the woods too

https://www.bikesales.com.au/bikes/details/1976-yamaha-dt250/SSE-AD-5897755/?cr=0&psq=(And.Service.Bikesales._.State.VIC._.Year.range(1970..1990).)&pso=24&pss=Premium
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