Light weight camping gear

[Esser]

Inspired by Lowells post, I thought I wouldn't hijack that thread and ask my question here...

Does anyone have any good recommendations for lightweight mattress pad with thermal protection from cold ground? Even though I'm only 28, long gone are the days where I can roll out a sleeping on a tent floor ane not be in pain the next day.

This would be a great spot for anyone else to let us know their lightweight camping products they've had success with.

[mscotter]

I do a fair bit of camping and currently use a Big Agnes Air Core inflatable. This is 3.5" thick when inflated, comfortable and does a good job insulating me from sometimes very cold ground. I regularly camp in freezing temps and this works great. if I'm really worried I put a space blanket under me to reflect heat back up to me.

I've not tried it, but the new "Windcatcher" mattress looks nice too: http://www.windcatchergear.com/

[jiott]

I use a Thermarest self-inflating mattress pad. It is very lightweight and compact when rolled up. Comfort is quite minimal since it is only about 1.5" thick when inflated. Intended for backpacking. Can get it in either 3/4 or full length.

[SkySteve]

I also use the Big Agnus Insulated Air Core mattress. Blue side up, silver side down. One additional fun fact feature is the two outside tubes are larger than the rest which helps hold you on the mattress during your night of tossing and turning. The mattress folds and rolls into a very nice small/light roll which is held in the included mesh stuff sack.

[SkySteve]

Two additional items come to mind, a chair and a stove. I've tried way too many chairs and have found a Helinox (brand name) is about the best. I no longer want to sit on a log or the ground around a camp fire. The Helinox, or similar type chair is very light weight, strong enough for a man to sit on and the frame comes apart so everything fits into it's own small bag when traveling.

The other item is a light weight stove. I use an OLicamp titanium. It weights just over 1 oz. There are several other brands to choose from. It has a universal screw-on valve for most types of small butane/propane fuel canisters. The fuel canister and stove fit nicely inside of a metal cup.

[GuppyWN]

A 1 ounce cook stove?! Wow!!

[SkySteve]

GuppyNW,
I think the actual weight is 1.2 oz

[WWhunter]

Ultra-light Thermarest pad, I think it's the same one jiott mentioned. For a stove I have had many differnt types. When I was in Okinawa I sold an old Optimus (99?) multi-fuel that fit into a small square aluminum box that doubled as a pan, one of my biggest regrets. Awesome little stove. Have the MSR International and old military multi-fuel stoves but now days the item I carry most everywhere is a Jet-boil, it all stores into the cup and is fairly stable and heats water up FAST!
I recently read reviews on a cot and other items that were super light weight and I knew I wanted one but can't remember where I was reading about them.

[AirFox]

Hi Josh, Santa just upgraded my thermal rest self inflating pad to one of these cots.

http://spenceraircraft.com/sleeprite-cot-model-2389a.html

They even threw in a free Joey chair. The cot folds up in a small bag. Small enough for your Kitfox.

Scott

[Av8r3400]

Hi Josh, Santa just upgraded my thermal rest self inflating pad to one of these cots.

http://spenceraircraft.com/sleeprite-cot-model-2389a.html

They even threw in a free Joey chair. The cot folds up in a small bag. Small enough for your Kitfox.

Scott

I got that same chair and cot set at OSH last year. Very nice. Small compact and light. Not to mention comfortable to lay/sit on. I can't sleep on the ground pads no matter how thick...

[Esser]

Thanks for all the replies guys. All that stuff looks interesting.

I do like the idea of the cots. I was looking a this one a while back
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/cots/luxurylite-ultralite-cot/product

Similar to what you guys have.

[Rooster]

Has anyone tried fitting in a mountain Bike?

It would be great if anyone could give me a tip as my wife and I love to Mountain Bike.

Regards
Reid

[Esser]

I've always wondered what you could rig up under the plane for bulky stuff like that....

[HighWing]

Not a mountain bike, but one of the guys we used to fly with would sometimes strap his camp chair to the lift strut. I have also seen pictures showing lots of strange stuff strapped to airplanes flying Alaska. I wouldn't be surprised if someday, an enterprising and creative guy will install the custom hard points and a fairing of sorts, and a bicycle will be on its way to the back country.

[Esser]

Not exactly light but this is the best full size mountain bike I've found. Still pretty big...


http://www.amazon.com/Montague-Paratrooper-Mountain-Folding-Matte/dp/B000JI7ZBK

[jiott]

You could ask Paul Leadabrand of Stick & Rudder. He had two folding bikes (not sure if they were mountain bikes) stashed in his Kitfox baggage area when he flew in to the factory fly-in this last August.

[Rooster]

There is a guy in New Zealand who has had the New Zealand CAA approve hard points under the wings of his C180 for his MTB tour business.
Could this be adapted for two bikes under a Kitfox?

[Esser]

Cool! To the drawing board!

[Geowitz]

Check out this video at the 1:27 mark... Pretty sweet. I would bet this is pretty possible given that we already have hard points in this area and it's basically at the C.O.G.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHR6bpupwJk

[Esser]

Very cool. I wonder how many CC that bike is. I would make a bracket that hangs off the gear attach points I think. This would by far be the strongest. Have most of the weight balance on those brackets and then have the other hard points stabilize and balance the rest.

[Av8r3400]

Electric, folding, compact, fat tire bike.

Link (http://electricbikereview.com/ssr-motorsports/trail-viper/)

[HighWing]

When I was designing the hard points to mount my Video Camera mount on the lift struts, I wanted them inconspicuous because I didn’t want a possibly difficult conversation about them with the FSDO rep during the airworthiness inspection. This is what I did.The unit was made from a length of 4130 steel with an ID similar to the outside diameter of the lift strut.Three short lengths of 4130 tubing with ID similar to what would be needed for cutting 10-32 threads were welded at right angles to the larger tube – two at each end on one side and on at the center of the other side.Two more slightly longer tubes were welded at the two remaining free ends - these parallel to each other.
After welding, the assembly was slit with a band saw. Threads were cut in half the tubes and the others were drilled to 3/16” ID.The threads were cut so that the Cap Screws would be inserted downward on the shorter tubes and upward on the longer tubes when the lift struts were mounted to the airplane.This created a strong attachment point adequate for the video camera gimbal mount.However, if something heavy like a bicycle were to be supported, it would likely be wise to make the jury strut attachment welded tabs on this assembly rather than the aluminum ring tabs as well as possibly strengthening the jury strut attachment to the wing spars.
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When mounting the camera mount weldment to the hard point, the bolts securing it also add a clamping force to the assembly. The longer two tubes project slightly through the fairings.In my application, there are two attachments on the leading lift strut tube for lateral stability, but only one on the aft lift strut which gives the fore / aft stability.Wires and control cablesfor the camera operation and gimbal movement were fed through an internal conduit.
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[Esser]

Very nice Lowel. Great idea.