Sandy said... > Rick, buying tents is sooooooo much fun....don't rush too > much. You've got time. Time??? I'm a hop, skip and a jump away from panic! :-( I was borrowing a tent from a friend, who finally called and said he couldn't find his tent. No other friends camp - time for new friends :-) So, I find this out a couple nights ago. My drive starts at 5am on the 23rd. My wife and I agreed on a 3 year budgeted "buying list" to get fully equipped for trips, rather than continuing to paddle day outings in my local outing. The budget includes a nice fiberglass boat this summer (paddling a Carolina by Perception now)!!!! We've been saving for that for almost two years now. Anyway, I had planned on spending a couple months NEXT January/February doing a leisurely search and hopefully picking up a used one that fits into the budget. Now, I have to get a crash course on tent buying, probably mail order one, allow time for it to arrive, and hopefully have enough time before leaving that I can spend a few hours putting it up and taking it down to work out any kinks. All that has to happen in 14 days. Not much room for error. Okay, last night, I'm talking to my buddy, and I ask... "I can still borrow your stove, right?". What do you think he says...... "Oh. That's packed away where ever my tent is." Great..... here we go again. Screw it.... I'm buying a whisperlite shaker and I'm just not going to worry about it. I had hoped to find a used stove too, but I'll just have to suck it up. Thanks for all the help! Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Rick...down boy...14 days is plenty....especially since you get lots of advice 24/7 on this list. You still haven't told us what your primary tent needs are? At least for this trip. Do you need a tent to fit in the kayak or just a car camping tent? You'll need long drybags if you're squeezing it through a round hatch. did you look at the lightweight Nightscape 2? sandy kramer who loves gazing at the stars. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> > You still haven't told us what your primary tent needs are? > At least for this trip. Do you need a tent to fit in the > kayak or just a car camping tent? Guess that would help, wouldn't it :-) The upcoming trip is a week in Florida on "the Nature Coast" area just north of Tampa. I'll be at the Chasahowitzka River Campground (I believe it's about a 2-3 mile paddle out to the Gulf), and will paddle different locations each day in the Wildlife Reserves, particularly looking for Manatees. Anybody going to be in the vacinity and want to hook-up? I was planning on using borrowed equipment this year so that I could discover what I really do and don't need, and to let the budget catch up with the expenditures I've already made in the past few months, but that's no longer working out. In general, I "hope" to do a week of camping once, possibly twice each year, and several weekend trips as well. Lets call it 10-15 nights per year. The bulk of the time, I'll be in the tent solo, but hope to eventually convince my wife to join me on these trips at least occassionally, and more likely she'd agree to a weekender and not a week. If we're both in the tent, a 2 person shouldn't be too tight. I'm 5'9" and 170, she's 5'4" and somewhere between 105-110. I don't mind using it in the middle of summer, which here on the Cheseapeake Bay could mean temps in the high 90's and possibly breaking 100, and humidity in the 90's. It would also mean lots and lots of bugs (especially mosquitoes) and potentially strong winds. Not hurricane strength, though - by that time, I'd be home watching the bay creep up to my front steps :-( I could also use it in the winter, but probably not in temps much below the low twenties, but even that wouldn't be more than a few times over the next 10 years or so. It's also possible that one of my two daughters will eventually have some occassion to use it for something. They are 10 and 12 and love the outdoors and don't mind being out in it overnight. We go "period" camping about 12 weekends per year. By "period", I mean 18th and 19th century style - heavy canvas bottomless A-Frame tents with heavy oak end and ridge poles, and absolutely NO modern gear whatsoever..... (we're Revolutionary War and Civil War re-enactors). Other than that, it would be hard to describe my tent needs simply because this trip will be my first experience with modern camping so I don't yet fully understand the extent of how much I don't yet know, if that makes sense. When I went "modern" camping in my younger (college) days (I'll be 40 next month), there wasn't much "gear" except lots of friends, alcohol and junk food. It was more of a party in the woods than anything else. Hope that helps. I'd also like to say that I couldn't be more pleased with all the front and back channel help I've received. I've gotten tons of opinions and advice and everyone has been extremely helpful - as has been the case for the two years I've participated in this forum. Wish I could respond to each one, but somehow or another I've got to manage to get a days worth or work done while I'm doing all this, so time is tight. Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com writes: > Okay, last night, I'm talking to my buddy, and I ask... "I can still borrow your stove, right?". What do you think he says...... "Oh. That's packed away where ever my tent is." Great..... here we go again. Screw it.... I'm buying a whisperlite shaker and I'm just not going to worry about it. I had hoped to find a used stove too, but I'll just have to suck it up. For the cheapest, most reliable stoves around check out http://wings.interfree.it/html/main.html For the cost of some JB Weld and a thumb screw you can have an unlimited supply of camping stoves. I use the hareware wire stand and aluminum flashing for the windscreen. Get one of the cheap safty can openers that leave a lip on the lid when you open a can and use the lisd for your base. These stoves are great for boiling water. If I want some lower temp cooking I just bring along a triangia alcohol stove for simmering duty. For less than a pound I can have 5 stoves along on a trip. Of course the best thing about them is that they are just plain fun. Dave Dave *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hey Rick, It seems that the conditions you describe for this upcoming trip are not really all that demanding. I got by for a bunch of years with a little nylon pup tent. I have seen a very similar tent in a number of outdoor stores for less then fifty dollars. For what you need you might check it out as a temporary solution. I camped in wind and rain and the little pup tent did just fine. The last trip I did with it was out to our California channel islands during a pretty good rain (for California anyway). When we got to the island we were told by the resident ranger that the island was closed since the rain had basically turned the place into a big bog. But we would be allowed to spend the night on the cement landing slab. I managed to McGiver the pup tent by making a frame with several paddles, but swore to buy a free standing tent as soon as I got home. One other thought is to see if any of your local outdoor stores have rentals. Many outdoor stores will rent just about anything you need. That way you can actually try a couple of different tents and stoves and try to figure out just what works best for you. Just a thought, Scott So.Cal. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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