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Well I wouldn’t call myself a seasoned camper but we have a few tours of duty now under our belt so I thought I would try to give some back to this board for all the excellent info I have taken from it in the form of a "this is what works for me". I am not saying any of the info below is the best or right but that it simply works for me.
Tents - had a couple the latest is a Wynmaster condor plus 6. I prefer this to the previous Vango due to the fact that it has a seperate ground sheet and detachable bedroom pods which makes life easier in the rain for putting up and taking down in that your internals don’t get wet or dirty- which they did with the Vango. Don’t forget a bin bag to put the groundsheet in for bringing home for cleaning.
Bed - loads of threads about beds I have come to the conclusion that everyone is an individual and out there is a bed to suit you; it is just a matter of finding it. I started off with the ubiquitous red and blue canvas - not warm enough or comfortable enough, but I always still pack it as a spare as it takes up no space and has come in real handy on a couple of occasions in emergencies. Then got a deeper self-inflating one that was very comfortable but the Mrs. decided it wasn’t big enough after being woed over to the dark side in Macro by a bargain so we got an Intex double bed 2 ft deep! - Only problem was it didn’t fit in the bedroom pod of the tent, so ended up with a Coleman double luxury dual compartment bed (needs a seperate pump) - but I hate it, haven’t had a good nights sleep on it yet, so this proves the horses for courses rule (as this is a highly recommended bed on this board).
Tables - I now go for the white melamine top ones with solid legs they fold flat so easy and are so much more sturdy than the aluminum roll up tables.
Tent pegs - go for a mix of soft and hard ground pegs. Get a peg puller but also take a small claw hammer as well as a mallet for the windbreaks, the claw hammer can be used to extract those really tough pegs easily.
A really good find (and I cant remember where from) is a barrel like water carrier / insulator with a tap at the bottom, we use it as an ice bucket and it keeps 2 large bags of ice solid for 2 days - now that's luxury when your camping!
Coleman dual fuel cooker - This is the bee’s knee’s - the best without a doubt, once you have worked out how to use it, it is by far the most efficient and without a gas bottle to lug around is very space efficient as well. We don’t bother with a grill – the toaster gadgets that fit on the gas are useless and all the grills on gas cookers we have had have never done an excellent job so we plumped for a toaster to go with the EHU.
The EHU is a recent addition and I have to say a most welcome one. Take a small 240v plug extension - mine is 1ft long, just so that I can plug in my battery chargers (I have loads of portable bits that need rechargeable batteries) as they don’t fit in the 3 plugs of the EHU as they each have a cover that gets in the way. Attach the EHU to a table leg so that it remains upright and off the floor.
We have a small halogen heater, which is great for taking the edge of a cold night but the light from it is very bright and can keep you up at night if you are sensitive to light. I am thinking of switching to another type of heater but don’t want a fan heater that makes a noise. I also take an electric plug timer so that we can have central heating on a morning and I don’t have to get out of bed to switch the heater off at night.
Little plastic tool clamps / clips that can be used to clip carrier bags to tables to act as bins or for clipping towels to wind breaks to let them air they have loads of uses.
Take flasks to fill up first thing on a morning so that if like us there are lots of you, you are not constantly boiling the kettle every time anyone gets up.
Electolux fridge, a solid workhorse - with a bit of juggling can supply a constant stream of cold Budweiser.
We take a frozen meal or two with us that we prepare a few days before - either a curry or a chili so that for the first few days we have substantial meals.
Then we get stuck into the Cobb - what can I say!! Awesome! Get one.
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Topic: "what works for me "
