Suggestions on wild camping sleeping

[JeffR]

Tell your partner that you will be staying in a 5 star all inclusive hotel with spa and gym, then take them to the cheapest campsite you can find in an Aldi tent.   Believe me that will be wild camping....

[jeremy996]

On 10/10/2022 at 5:29 PM, JeffR said:

Tell your partner that you will be staying in a 5 star all inclusive hotel with spa and gym, then take them to the cheapest campsite you can find in an Aldi tent.   Believe me that will be wild camping....

In my case I suspect it would be nearer to suicide - I certainly would not get out of it alive.

My wife has the firm belief that anywhere without an en-suite bathroom is roughing it. You'd be amazed at the number of her mates who agree with her.

My camp set up for me is a Cinch pop-up tent and an Aldi camp bed, which just fits diagonally.  This would not work for you as it is too low, but Cinch make a "Hub" that might be worth a look. https://cinchpopuptents.com/specifications/

 

[Mo Murphy]

I use a Cinch 4 man with my bed longways 👍 dead easy to put up and take down.

Mo

[Jocklandjohn]

My five pence worth - if you cant sleep inside it, get a self-standing tent that you put up against the rear of the Landy and which allows easy in/out to it. I found this thing for a reasonable cost, self-standing so I can drive away, but cleverly has a 'snorkel' attachment between the rear of the tent and the van with a zipped entrance so you can go in and take wet gear off without going into the main tent. Really helps. Then when you want to go somewhere unclip it all, leave it up and drive away.

 

Now, whlst it worked it had two problems, the single skin construction leaked a bit and the wind blew underneath the 110 and could be annoying. So I got local tarpaulin maker to make a cover to go over the whole thing and a valance to fasten at the rear step area to blow wind. Works perfectly.

Dont underestimate the value of being able to go in and out of the van without having to get soaked - it gets really wearing.

If you want a budget version - get a length of keder rail (alloy stuff) and pop rivet it across back above the door. Get a big piece of fabric like I've got, sew on the associated P part that goes into the keder rail and peg out at the rear to create a budget awning (can be 'unzipped' and taken off or rolled up for travel) under that put up a small cheap one person tent. Overall cost minimal, flexibility maximum as you can get out of the tent into the van staying dry, can cook under it etc. and use the tent in other places if you need to (like on the roof on a roofrack/board if you want).

I watched 4 people in a rental 110 the other week over  on the west coast in a 30mph wind and rain having an utterly miserable time trying to unfold and erect two roof tents in the dark at 10.30. By the time they got it all up, took their gear out of the 110 and got it into the repsective tents they were all soaking wet.

If you dont know keder - you get an alloy J section you fasten onto the van, a P section that sews onto the chosen fabric and then the P slides into the J to make a really tight attachment. If you want to do the drive-away function you need the )( plastic piece shown below (like two C's back to back) which allows the two sections to be separated.

[Peaklander]

Looks great. We have used a drive away like that, although ours was the budget version and attached it this way...

 

6 hours ago, Jocklandjohn said:

If you want a budget version - get a length of keder rail (alloy stuff) and pop rivet it across back above the door.

but now we have our lifting roof we are managing without the rear drive-away (but have a side awning) and it helps with 'touring' and quick getaways generally. However for a slightly longer stay, that looks the business.

[saxere74]

On 9/30/2022 at 6:20 AM, Chicken Drumstick said:

Thanks for the info. I hadn’t really considered geography. Although Australia is quite vast with diverse climates and weather. I’d hope the swag would cope with a little rain. But it does make sense about the issue of getting in and out without getting everything wet. Guess that would be true of any sort of tent though. 
 

If I go down this route. I’d probably look at an awning. But that also means a roof rack of some sort. And it all gets rather pricey. Initially I think it will only be 2-3 nights camping on a 4 night laning trip. Although it would open up the opportunity to reuse it more frequently. As camping is vastly cheaper than B&B prices. 
 

I did use to camp more in my youth. But regular tents always seem like a fair amount of work to put up and pack away for a single night stay at a time. I did have a quick put up tent, but it was still more work than what the swags look to be best 2-person waterproof tent. I also have a back injury and would prefer the idea of being elevated somewhat. Which isn’t practical to achieve in most small tents. 

We have decided to abandon our trusty pop-up and switch to tent camping this summer. What camping gear have you tent-campers out there found indispensable when you camp with your dog?

[FridgeFreezer]

All I can add on tents is that we spent a long time looking at how they went up and picked the one that looked the simplest, and it's paid off every time we use it - we can have a 4-person palace up & be sat drinking beer while others are still struggling with small dome tents. It's not even an expensive or posh brand, just a design that (IIRC) GoOutdoors had in stock at the time.

My small Khyam (gifted to me by Jez from his biking days) also demonstrates the theory, you take it out of the bag, click a few joints into position and climb in - nearly as fast as the far more flimsy pop-ups and usually much faster to put back down!

Camping gear wise I try to keep it cheap & simple - pots & pans etc. from Ikea not extreme tactical titanium sporks.

[Anderzander]

We have two - a small rod one and a large one - both Khyam. Good tents and every now and then they have a sale with good reductions.

The big thing for us was getting one tall enough to stand in.  If it’s chucking it down and you’ve to crawl in and take off your wet gear … it gets old really really quickly. Having somewhere to step in, out the weather, and dump your wet boots and jackets etc makes an enormous difference. 

[FridgeFreezer]

15 hours ago, Anderzander said:

The big thing for us was getting one tall enough to stand in.  If it’s chucking it down and you’ve to crawl in and take off your wet gear … it gets old really really quickly.

Good point, our big tent is tall enough to stand in and we bought a 4-person tent for 2 of us so we have a sleeping "room", a "room" for all our stuff and a cooking/eating/sitting area if it's chucking it down outside. The overall size & cost is not much more than a smaller tent and it makes life so much nicer.

[Anderzander]

Good tents here on sale:  

https://khyam.co.uk/collections/tent-and-awning-sale?

They are in order of largest and most expensive first - so don't be put off, just scroll down ! 

[Nonimouse]

I have a swag, an Orbis, and a stretcher camp bed. I put it under a large basher (3.5x4m) with poles, or a ridgeline. I've also got an old wind break (pretty heavy duty) that I use for added privacy, if needed. I do a lot of wild camping and it's a great short term set up. Anymore than a few days and I move up to my 3m bell tent