Wild Camping - Equipment advice needed

[watatoad]

Being an older person, I do not feel up to date enough to be qualified to suggest to a friends son what is best.

 

He is looking for

 

a rucksack with molle

 

He has been looking at a

1; Defcon 5 modular battle 1 pack

2; Karrimor SF Predator Patrol 45

3; 5.11 Rush 72 Backpack

 

a good sleeping bag or sleeping system

He has no idea

 

a good tarpaulin

He has been looking at a

1; DD extra large tarp

 

a hammock or hammock system

He has been looking at a

DD hammock plus an underblanket

[Ken L]

Where and in what season ?

 

There's not much point in a hammock if there are no trees and the backpack will be detirmined by the volume of stuff he needs to carry.

[chesters1]

just how wild ,carrying is important weight wise as well ,i did the pennine way in 74 and we (me and the mrs) carried the lot! none of these poncy wmca hostels for us .

the good thing is nowadays tents are far lighter and most rucksacks as well ,mine was a big bugger as i carried the equipment the mrs the clothes.

if he can fit in a SIM somewhere at least he will be comfy

SIM is self inflating mat a sort of thin airbed (the thing works when you let air into it the foam then expands forming a nice mat ,you then do up the valves and it stays inflated until you undo the valves and roll it bak up expelling the air) ,but a little more bulky than a foam sleeping mat or a lot more bulky if you buy a thicker one.

 

gas cookers are light or you can carry a coleman featherlite and a container of petrol but you will need to know a car owner when you run out of that theres few garages that will dispense 500ml of petrol today

 

the rest is down to need and money and on decent one man tents designed to resist all the elements the sky's the limit pocketwise

 

any carp type sleeping bags are designed to keep the owner warm and while some "camping" ones are really good nowadays (long gone are the days shivering inside a bag you can actually see through once they are washed and the filling breaks up) are not designed to be carried around damp and muddy

 

rather than molle design if your carrying it great distances i would suggest a framed rusksack ,the army type are really designed for superfit chaps who eat raw eyeballs from their enemy ,not the best for carrying normal stuff like tents on the top and sleeping bags at the bottom or vice versa and a cooker that runs on firelighters and warms up rather tasteless rations,pop off to a camping shop or milletts and have a look

 

i think the molle designed was scrapped mostly by the users of them ,stuff that is held on by straps or velcro tend to get lost ,are to small or the wrong shape

i think the frame is disapearing not because it was bad but it adds to the cost and the sellers dont care if its uncomfy using it they just sell the things and the cheaper its made the more they make

Edited November 28, 2011 by chesters1