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Favorite gear?

I'd have to say my favorite piece of gear is my ARB fridge. There is nothing...and I mean NOTHING better than grabbing an ice cold frosty beer out of a fridge after three or four days on the trail with no ice melt, no mess, just ice cold beer (and food of course)
 
n1ywb said:
I found that a fabric patch impregnated with Automotive Goop clamped over the hole overnight with some bits of wood and wax paper did a great job of patching a hole in my air mattress when a "normal" patch kit failed miserably.

I bought the $25 Ozark Trail air mattress + 12VDC/rechargable air pump combo at walmart, had it for years. Aerobeds are way overpriced.
Click to expand...

My goop patch didnt work, so i just tried your idea of adding the fabric.
 
Hmm, what is my favorite piece of gear, this will require some thought.

They're not big sexy items but what I find most useful, other than items previously mentioned such as headlamps, would probably come down to...

Tree hangers. I picked two of these up surplus years ago. They're simple nylon straps with a hook on one end and a load binder style latch. You sling them around the tree, snug the strap, then push the handle down and it's secure. It'll work with up to about an 18" tree, in a pinch I've combined the two to handle more girth.

I've never had a load slip on them, I typically use them to hold five gallons of water up in the air. I sure wish I'd bought more than two of them, they're that useful.

IMG_0087.JPG


Now about that water...

Another favorite are my Swiss surplus five gallon / twenty liter water bladders. They're made out of thick rubber and have a push-button valve on one end. I have four of them although one of them is losing the coating inside so is not for potable use anymore, I'd love to find something this heavy duty and convenient. Typically I toss a tarp over it when camped so the sun doesn't warm it too much, even if I don't the water generally doesn't get terribly hot as it's thick rubber.

IMG_0088_001.JPG


Sea2Summit collapsable kitchen sink. I have two of these, yeah they work for kitchen duty but I also like to keep them full and handy at night in case the campfire goes stupid, good for making sure that fire is dead out before departing in the morning.

IMG_0004.jpg


And last for today is my Amazon Kindle with lighted book cover. Good for a read by day or in the middle of a moonless night in the woods.

IMG_0146.jpg


I'll probably have more items for this list after I go backpacking this spring, it will be the first time in more years than I care to announce.
 
I've tried a bunch of different air mattresses, but all of them leak down at night or make me cold without a super thick blanket on top of them. I almost sprung for a truck bed version after I got the top for the truck, but then I remembered a friend I went on my first wheeling trip with years ago that always slept on a cot.

So I'm after one of these when I get home. Four legs and nothing underneath to clear the wheel wells in the truck bed. If it works well, I'm getting another for the boys.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Disc-O-Bed-Cam-O-Cot-Single-Cot/746515.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dcot%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts%26x%3D5%26y%3D8&Ntt=cot&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Productshttp://www.cabelas.com/product/Disc...&y=8&Ntt=cot&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products
 
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Damn...

Well, then I've got to say my favorite is an ancient roofing hammer I picked up years ago. Hacks up fire wood, drives tent stakes, it's friggen awesome.
 
jakeWI said:
Whats that? That the tent is going to me as a gift? Sounds pretty good to me :yelclap:
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OverlandXJv2.0


Red, i'v tried the cheaper airmattress' available and the AeroBed is by far more comfortable on my bad back. I just found out it's made by Coleman.. although that may be recent.

I toss and turn too much for a cot. Slept on one in the Military a few times.. although i bet there are better ones available now.

I may look at a Thermorest again, i believe their now thicker and wider than the two i have in the closet from 20 years ago. I'd like something inflatable in the RTT so closing it isnt a chore with bags/pillows and blankets inside.
 
OverlandXJ said:
I may look at a Thermorest again, i believe their now thicker and wider than the two i have in the closet from 20 years ago. I'd like something inflatable in the RTT so closing it isnt a chore with bags/pillows and blankets inside.
Click to expand...

I've heard good things about this, I plan to pick one up one day for backpacking as my old Thermorest just isn't thick enough for me now that I'm getting old and cranky.
 
I've heard really good things about the truck bed air mattress, the name escapes me, but what I found was that with the air mattress filling the entire truck bed, I had no room for anything else. I'm hoping with the cot set up, I'll have space to put stuff underneath and around.

Of course, I'm not doing any camping like you guys are yet, where you're out just in your XJ. The boys are 4 and 6, so we're still sticking to campgrounds. I can definately see the advantage of a good air mattress when you have to pack your campsite in the back of the XJ.

We have an aerobed and throw it in the toy room when there's a ton of family over. I have a guest room, but when you live far away from everyone, everyone usually comes all at once. I agree that it is certainly far and away better than the cheap ones.

I haven't had a lot of trouble tossing and turning in my sleep since I've gotten about 18 months of practice sleeping on the boat in the past 3 years :)

I know there are more useful items out there, but my "favorite" piece of gear is my k-bar. There's nothing quite like carving your steak up around the campfire with a very large fixed handle fighting knife :D
 
OverlandXJ said:
I toss and turn too much for a cot. Slept on one in the Military a few times.. although i bet there are better ones available now.
Click to expand...
Nope, they are the same. And if you never got to sleep on the aluminum ones, they are worse! LOL
 
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