Thread: Show us your camping set up

Our first attempt.....last night

Originally Posted by cucinadio

really nice mate ....but i don't see any landies there ?.............

cheers

True, but this is the "Camping, Tucker and Bush Basics" forum asking to show your camping set up, which I did. However, there was a really nice old Series IIa parked a few hundred yards away if that helps!

I saw the hammock beforethevision posted and had to pipe in. I am Land Roverless, though have my heart set on a IIa one of these days. Probably when I convince my wife we need another 4WD!

Let me show what I did with my new tarp yesterday. The "snake skin" concept might well be applicable to much of what many of you are doing.


My order of Silnylon (1.1oz silicone-impregnated ripstop nylon fabric) finally arrived and, with help from my mother and my wife, I joined two panels together with a flat-felled seam, hemmed all the edges and sewed on a bunch of 1" Grosgrain nylon loops for tie-outs. It is now a 10' x 10'+ tarp for my hammock. (They only helped with the seam. They made me fight through the rest of it, only helping untangle the stupid sewing machine when the thread got all bunched up!) I absolutely HATE sewing, I can now tell you that. Especially that super-thin, slippery Silnylon! Yuk!

Anyway, I then cut some of my no-see-um mosquito netting material and made a pair of "snake-skins." Rather than try to explain what they do, let me show you a series of three pictures I just took of the tarp with the skins.

Here's the tarp set up between two trees in my front yard. I use a really light-weight, 1/16" orange cord called Spectra "Pulse Line" (275-lb breaking strength!) to tie it to the trees and for tie-outs on all four corners. The black mozzie-netting skins are bunched up on the support lines on either side and the tarp is hanging free (not staked out):




Here I've pulled the skin from the left over half the tarp, enveloping it in the tube:




Finally, with both sides pulled in, the tarp is completely enveloped:




I can now untie it from the trees and wad it up into a ball. If I really work at it, I could get it down to the size of a large grapefruit. With little effort, it's about cantaloupe size. The whole thing (tarp, skins, and all six 10-foot guy lines) weigh in at 1 lb 3oz.

The beauty of this is in setup. I just unwad it and it's like a big, thick rope with the guy lines tied up on each end. Unhitch the guy lines and attach them to the trees, then pull the skins back and I'm ready to stake it out!

The skins are made of mosquito netting so it can be packed up wet if need be and it would be able to dry. Just lay it over the backpack and let it air out.

The skins would work on any light tarp material. I don't think the results would be good with canvas, even a light one. But it really makes set up and stowage of your lighter tarps an absolute snap!

I've got my own company renting certified cargo baskets and containers to the offshore oil business. We came here 14 years ago with a service company and started this one 6. 1/2 years ago.
It's a great place, if i said we were leaving i'd have to drag my wife and kids kicking & screaming to the airport

hey im wondering how tent pegs work in soft sand such as fraser or morteon island. Any tips would be appreciated as i havent done much beach camping and im keen to do a trip to ones the islands.
thanks.

I haven't tried them but pegs like this are supposed to work ok with sand



https://store.bcf.com.au/ProductDetails.aspx?PLU=114406

Originally Posted by hoadie72

I haven't tried them but pegs like this are supposed to work ok with sand



https://store.bcf.com.au/ProductDetails.aspx?PLU=114406

I was looking at them the other day - I think the 490 refers to the length, they are a bloody big peg.


Martyn

It depends on the sand, but generally longer pegs with a flattened or star-shaped shaft are best.

Where a lot of people go wrong is that they don't place the peg so that the guy rope is pulling at a 90deg angle to the shaft of the peg.

Originally Posted by 1104bd1michio

hey im wondering how tent pegs work in soft sand such as fraser or morteon island. Any tips would be appreciated as i havent done much beach camping and im keen to do a trip to ones the islands.
thanks.

Hey mate...as per the pic Hoadie has put up....most camping stores will have them. I have used them on Fraser and Bribie Island without a problem. I used them for the tent and also ensuite as opposed to the normal pegs. Make sure you used a rubber mallet though ,

Regards

Stevo