I mentioned in another thread we really enjoyed the camping part of our trip. And as others do a fair bit of this I thought it might be useful to have a thread that shares somes tips on equipment and techniques that work.

Gayle and I really enjoy being able to set up camp right beside the plane. Camping does however require a fair bit of gear so it is essential to give careful thought to the amount, the weight and type of gear you take on your camping trips. But there is no denying the feeling of being out there and sleeping beside your plane - even though on the night the following picture was taken we were entertained by the sounds of wild camels and dingos all night!

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To get the ball rolling, I took a photo of the basic set of gear we took on our recent trip that served us well. I will describe it here.

Top row from L - R: 2 thermarest mattresses, 2 sleeping bags, Water in lt bottles(easier to stash into small spaces), tent - standing room is our preference - could be smaller, below tent is windscreen shield for short stops, far right is our plane cover (locally made).

Second row from L - R: Tool box, below tool box is hand pump (dont like idea of using battery to run a compressor), Yellow bag 1 is tie downs and ropes, yellow bag 2 is puncture repair kit and tyre gauge, next are home made oversize wheel chocks, below that is portable fuel bladder that lies flat on baggage area (missing is bag with fuel syphon and filter), next is butane cooker and gas ( we use the Fire Maple stove and special billy that boils water in about 1 minute. Finally is an LED lantern and two folding camp stools.
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All the gear is weighed and the weight is written on the bag to help do a weight and balance . Our experience is that that baggage area bulks out before being over weight.

Hope this is of interest and I look forward to learning form those of you with a lot more experience that us in camping with your plane.

cheers

ross