Family Camping. It is all the fault of the AR

[timwilky]

Right then I keep saying I don't do camping But the lack of an affordable hotel type locally to the site has forced me under canvas. So to get my reasonable comfort level I needed a tent and extras that required wife/daughter to deliver comfort by car.

As they have never roughed it before, and before I let them in a foul and angry mood anywhere near the delicate members of the org I thought I had better break them into the experience gently before hand.

So I have booked at that site we used for Ed's run into Welsh Wales in Wem for the beginning of July.

So what do I need for a family camping trip, them in car me on bike.

Tent (feck off huge thing)
Sleeping bags
Double air beds, electric pump
2 ring stove, toaster, gas/regulator, matches, cook set.
Cool box (to buy). Do those 12v ones drain a car battery whilst traveling?
Cork screw/bottle opener
full English ingredients
Drinking vessels
Beer, Wine, Cider, Vodka
Paracetamol
Shower Kit/towels
Clothing.

So What else do I need?

Edit add to list
Chairs,
Pillows,
Tarp,
Mallet,
Lanterns/torch
Washing up bowl
Cooking utensils/eating irons/plates

[Specialone]

Light

[dizzyblonde]

Inflatable pillows.

[Bibio]

pillows
plastic sink basin
folding chairs. what ever you do don't get those stupid tripod things. get proper folding ones.

don't get a car air pump get one specifically for air beds or you will be there all day trying to pump it up.

12v cool boxes are the doggys and no they don't drain the battery unless you leave them plugged in all night.

and the biggest most important thing of all PATIENCE i have seen more tents ripped due to folk throwing a wobbly.

[Bibio]

aaahhh yes

lights
ground sheet. unless its got one built in for the seating area. trust me wet soggy ground inside a tent is the worst thing ever.

[timwilky]

Ahh Yes already have chairs, battery lanterns, the elecy pump I have has worked well for the airbeds so far, Richie and Ollie crashed on them last month.

One air bed has pillow effect built into it and I have one inflatable pillow, guess I should grab a couple more.

Need to add mallet for tent pegs

I have had a practice with the tent. Definitely a two man job to put it up

Will take a small tarp to add to the underfloor waterproofing

[Bibio]

this thread reminds me i need to get rid of all my old camping gear. the attic is full of the bloody stuff :-)

[BigBaddad]

Lights, I run a pair off an old car battery. Also use a couple of those solar powered lights for outside. Handy when you need a we at 3 am.

We also use one of those tubular clothes rails, they pack down quite well.

We're thinking of selling our Wild Country Homestead 10 tent. 4 bedrooms. 2x2 birth and 2x3 birth. They will take 2 or 3 full size single airbeds.

We have a kingsize airbed in one triple, our 2 boys and all their crap in the 2 doubles, then the other triple is for the aforementioned hanging rail, clothes and food storage. Great tent, you could park your car in it.

[Viney]

Buy a trailer tent or a caravan. Much more comfort to be had. Or even a motorhome.

[BigBaddad]

Buy a caravan.


that's it you're barred....get out now:smt075 go find Mike.

[Sir Trev]

Rent a motorhome for the duration?

If you do camp and they're coming in the car why not bring normal bedding? Inflatable pillows are horribe compared to normal ones.

[embee]

I've just updated a couple of camping items before my hols next week, might be of interest to someone. Mainly aimed at saving space.

1 - microfibre towels - brilliant devices, saves so much space and they work well, got 2 Lifeventure (http://www.aktive8.com/Camping-and-Outdoor/Travel-Gear/Travel-Towels-Micro-Fibre-and-Soft-Fibre/Lifeventure-Soft-Fibre-AXP-Towel-Extra-Large-Blue/00010915p.aspx)towels, XL (shower size) and medium (hand/face), XL packs into 6"x4"x2". As with everything they come in various quality and price ranges.

2 - Coleman 4AA LED lantern - read up some reviews, found a geeky forum just for camping lanterns (!) which recommended this, however the light spread as supplied is very patchy so someone found if you gently rub the clear plastic with a scourer it makes it matt white and the light is vastly improved, and it works! Brilliant light output from a small lantern 80x65x45mm, recommend rechargeable batteries.

I've found as years go by that a decent chair (as someone else described) is worth its weight in gold, I use a simple folding one, cost around a fiver usually, fits across the bike in front of the topbox.

If anyone uses Brittany Ferries the "glasses" they use for drinks are (or were anyway) a good quality clear plastic thing, I've used them for several years now, wine tastes OK from them \\:D/ . Collect a couple for future use.

[davepreston]

Tent (feck off huge thing)
Sleeping bags
Double air beds, electric pump
2 ring stove, toaster, gas/regulator, matches, cook set.
Cool box (to buy). Do those 12v ones drain a car battery whilst traveling?
Cork screw/bottle opener
full English ingredients
Drinking vessels
Beer, Wine, Cider, Vodka
Paracetamol
Shower Kit/towels
Clothing.

So What else do I need?

Edit add to list
Chairs,
Pillows,
Tarp,
Mallet,
Lanterns/torch
Washing up bowl
Cooking utensils/eating irons/plates
extra booze for DP
extra full english for DP
padlock for tent to stop DP from abusing you
laptop for DP to frape/orgrape you
protection money for badger to stop DP and electro really going to town on you
hth

[timwilky]

Dave you do not scare me.


Karen does;)

[Icanopit]

Do you have a tent yet??? might have something of use nearly new, pm me if of interest. IF your not too distant ?? we could have an erection demo?????????? in the garden!!!!!!!!!

JOHN

[timwilky]

Yes I have a mother of a big un, 5.5m*2.5m 2.1m high. Nice to be able to stand up in a tent. claims to be able to withstand 5m of hydrostatic head
http://www.outdoorgear.co.uk/PIX/BIG/511092_XL1.jpg

[Bibio]

claims to be able to withstand 5m of hydrostatic head

that bit just sounds kinky :safe:

[timwilky]

with the daughter across the corridor. I think it will be alcohol induced kip

[yorkie_chris]

I love watching "family camping" types trying to put tents up on campsites, great fun.

[dyzio]

I love watching "family camping" types trying to put tents up on campsites, great fun.

I loved watching 5 folk trying to take a pop up tent down.

2 seconds to erect, 30 min to take down. Best laugh in ages :lol:

[Teejayexc]

with the daughter across the corridor. I think it will be alcohol induced kip


Coridoor in a tent??

Ffs that thing looks like it could be used for a drive thru burger bar!!

[davepreston]

have you seen tim, all the burgers would be well eaten

[dizzyblonde]

I've put up one of those style tents, they're a pain in the butt. I have one that is slightly smaller, but not much, and I stopped using it on the bike because of it being a PITA, and weighing 10kgs!

[timwilky]

have you seen tim, all the burgers would be well eaten

We don't all live on the Carling diet.

[Bluefish]

Tim them coolboxes won't drain your batt too much, but they take ages to cool down, obviously you will put ice packs in it, if you were on a long drive it would sustain the temp, but unless you are going the electric pitch route then just a normal coolbox will suffice.

[Bluepete]

Bedding. Put a sheet over the airbed and a large throw or fleece blanket under it. Stops the cold feeling. Get a dry-bag for cloths to keep the damp out, or keep cloths in the car.

Head torch for reading by.

Table to cook on and eat on.

Cool box. The 12 volt ones are ok, but if you get a dual voltage one, 12 & 240 volt, you can plug into the site power. Much better cooling and you can get better lights too. I have a power lead you can borrow to hook up with.

If the tent only came with wire or skinny pegs, get to go outdoors and buy a decent pack of heavy pegs, either plastic or metal, no matter. Use the heavy pegs on guy ropes and the corners.

Pete ;)

[dizzyblonde]

^^^ good advice about the fleece on airbed. Nowt worse than waking up at 4am on a very cold airbed in the dark.

Wind up torches. No batteries needed, pees off the neighbours too ;)

[Electro]

It was a nice site, wouldnt mind going again myself. Hope you have fun Tim.

[Sir Trev]

I love watching "family camping" types trying to put tents up on campsites, great fun.

I love sitting in the bar of a hotel thinking "thank God I'm not camping".

[-Ralph-]

Think this pretty much has it covered.

Do you have a dog? If so get one of these posts that screws into the ground and a rope to you don't have to watch them all the time. It's a pain in the rrrsss if your in the middle of burning sausages on a BBQ, the you realise the dog has wondered off to the other side of the campsite and is p!ssing on somebody's tent.

For BBQ, this kind of thing is pretty handy http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=portable+bbq&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1639&bih=771&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9336321487313877799&sa=X&ei=CK35TbfvCoWwhAfbp6WBAw&ved=0CHEQ8wIwBg you can shut the lid and keep all the mess inside when putting it back in the car, and it's gas so no wasting valuable space in the car with bulky bags of charcoal (the only time I would contemplate a gas BBQ!)

As Bluepete mentioned, if you are not travelling light anyway, it's worth getting a pitch with a 240v hook up. Don't go spending 50 quid on a camping extension lead with built in trip switches. I have a £5 extension reel from Asda, with the plug cut off and caravan style plug fitted, the whole family uses it and it's never tripped the hook up yet. We have a £5 plastic kettle from Asda that we keep just for getting knocked around on camping trips. We also have a 12v.

The thermo-electric coolboxes are good, but they do take a long time to cool down, you really need to keep them switched on and permanently cold, so I have a 12v or 240v one and plug it in to the electric hook up at the campsite. If I'm going out just for the day, I plug it in in the house the night before and everything is really cold by morning and I stick a couple of normal ice packs in there too. If away for a week, forget the ice-packs and just keep it plugged in as much as possible. They do create water inside the coolbox, so you need to empty it once a day and dry things off, so I don't put anything in there that isn't in sealed packaging, or could get ruined by water. You can get a in-line 12v sensor which reads your car battery voltage and cuts power to the coolbox when it is draining down. Most modern cars need the key in the ignition for the 12v sockets to work anyway, so I don't have any need for one.

[AndyBrad]

tbh i would ditch the airbed alltogether. its good fun for a bounce on but for actually sleeping, if at any point one of you is a restless sleeper your screwed and get rolleed/bounced off. get a couple of stand up beds (there cheap and sound like they will break when you use them) and your rolling nowhere Unless you pic a site on a 1:3 hill like our lass did :(

[-Ralph-]

get a couple of stand up beds (there cheap and sound like they will break when you use them

Linky please to the kind of thing your talking about? If I can find one that works I'll go shopping. Ta! :D

[AndyBrad]

its like this but i got 2 near waky for about 15 quid each

http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/vango-folding-campbed

they creak like chuff when you get on them and feel a bit unstable. cant shag on one thats for sure. test it in shop beforehand

[-Ralph-]

its like this but i got 2 near waky for about 15 quid each

http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/vango-folding-campbed

they creak like chuff when you get on them and feel a bit unstable. cant shag on one thats for sure. test it in shop beforehand

Don't think we'd be allowed back in if we tested shagging on it in the shop ;)

Do you not find it's a bit narrow and you get woken up by the metal bars?

I think I would prefer my Coleman airbed to that TBH (can still have bouncy shags on that!).

My brother is law has some pretty nice camp beds for his overnight carp fishing, well padded built in mattress and about as wide as a hospital trolley bed, but they are about 100 quid each! And they take up a lot of space in the car.

[Specialone]

its like this but i got 2 near waky for about 15 quid each

http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/vango-folding-campbed

they creak like chuff when you get on them and feel a bit unstable. cant shag on one thats for sure. test it in shop beforehand

Dunno about shops by you, but shops round here won't let you shag on their camp beds to try them out !!

Damn you Colin for working from home all the time ;) beat me to it.

[timwilky]

I already own a couple of airbeds so don't intend to buy yet more camp beds.

As for sh@gging, I have the daughter in the tent and don't relish the sound of her shouting "Is that all she's getting?" after I give her mum a full 5 minutes (Including foreplay, generous or what).

So today bought a 24 litre dual voltage coolbox £29.99 and a ground screw spike for the dog lead £0.99 (Both plus vat at JTF)

[Specialone]

5 mins at your age Tim, now you're just showing off ;)

[Bluefish]

5 mins at your age Tim, now you're just showing off ;)
Still she's got it out the way, not christmas for ages yet :D

[Kenzie]

Get a wasp trap! You can get them cheap or make your own. Also and electric tennis racket type fly swat is always good. We used a two litre bottle with the top cut off and inverted into the open end so the neck is inside. Secure with a stick. Fill with fruit juice or something sweet about halfway. They will fly in and get stuck then drown.