Ultimate Camping Thread

I go camping hunting a lot and have a ARE but not the hi rise model
I use it to ski and kayak
I put solar for night lights
I need better bumber for jacking with hi-lift got suggestions???

 

hahaha um im guessin a ARB winch bumper would do you right. but then again almost any offroading bumper had hilift lift points

 

say what?

at least you have a better idea than me. lol

 

It was about 56 with light wind. It was crazy windy yesterday though.

 

I think hes talking about an ARE topper

 

I dont know i read it about 6 times and took a guess haha

 

i read it a few times as well but still could not figure it out

 

Got my tent today, setting up without looking at the instructions wasnt too bad. I think it might be a litte hard to setup at night alone though. But 10 mins after test fitting in my driveway, 4 people already commented on how cool it looks.

In fact, a neighbor down the street may get one for his Tacoma as well.

Space inside is nice, the cot fits in perfect. Might test it out in the rain this weekend.

 

cigar

sweet man what that set u back?

 

I really like these things, ive considered getting one also. Does it seem durable or flemsy?

 

This post makes me get out there and camp. Its only 20 degrees out there tonight which is considers warm for how its been out there lately. I cant wait for spring, I am probably going to buy a nice truck bed tent and camp with my 3 year old daughter who seems to be into camping now... we will see in the spring. 8 years in the army kind of got me out of the camping experience but between my daughter and her cousins maybe I can get back into it again........sorry for the rambling just had a bunch of beers.......lol

 

I got it when they had a 10% off plus free shipping special. Total came to around 197 shipped I believe.

I haven't actually used mines yet, only set it up in the driveway. But my initial impressions are that it's just okay. Not really well made, but not poor either. A lot of spots have threads hanging. And the material looks like it will hold up if you take care of it, but I think they could have used heavier material.

What's great about it though, is that it's easy to pack back into the stuff sack. They give one that've oversized, so you don't have to be super strategic about folding/rolling it up. The hold down straps will scratch the hell out of your paint in high winds though from the way it seems. There are a few plastic parts that just sit on the paint.

Overall fit seems just okay as well, it's a little longer than the bed- so it doesnt sit perfect. I will try to stretch it a little more to see if it will fit better though.

Again, the above mentioned are only initial thoughts from driveway setup. I will come back and comment on it again after some real use. I still much prefer this model, as opposed to the ones with a built in floor. Mainly because i wouldn't have to empty out the bed to setup the tent.

 

i agree with you about the open floor, but that thing looks like a pain in the ass to set up

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpDlFbtY_E8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QW-rF_0R5E

 

haha it's not too bad. With two people it can be easily setup in 10 mins or less. I think it will be possible for me to do it in 15 or less, once I get some practice.

 

haha i can set mine up in 5

 

just put that knife sharpener on my next to buy list.

 

Sorry I'm late to this party.

When you look at sleeping pads, look at the R-Value. The higher the number, the better is insulates your body heat from escaping through the ground (thus, keeping you warmer on cold nights.)

Your sleeping pad is as important if not more so than your sleeping bag as far as warmth goes. If you lay on the ground with nothing between but your tent floor, you will get colder much quicker.

The higher the R-Value, the better insulating the pad is. I have a Pacific Outdoor Ether Thermo 9. It has an R-Value of 7.8, which is pretty good. The main drawback is that I have to inflate it when I get to camp -- which can suck after a long day. But it is soooooo worth it. I gave my girlfriend my old Therm-a-rest self-inflating and she is always jealous of my pad. I'll never camp without it again.

And since I once spent a night with nothing between me and the snow but a tent floor and a backpacking chair -- I will not forget!

 

That must have sucked big time!

 

Holy crap it was terrible.

And to top it off, it was the beginning of July! My buddy, his wife and I hiked up to Snoqualmie Lake at 6000 ft in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in WA, and when we got there, there was snowpack leading the last 500 ft of elevation to the lake.

We had to cross the snowfields to the lake rim. There was only one campsite thawed and it was taken, so we had to scout the lake shore for relatively flat ground to pitch camp. To make matters worse, I had slipped in the creekbed we had to scramble up and my left boot was completely soaked.

We violated a few rules by making a fire over 3500ft, but I needed to dry out my boot and a stove wasn't going to do the trick. Me (being an idiot), had decided to pack light and bring nothing but a 30 degree bag and a camp pillow to sleep on. Fortunately, they had brought their two-man tent and I crawled in there with them. The only thing I had as a pad was her camp chair that I unsnapped and used as a pad (to my thighs). It was so damn cold.

The next day we hiked back out 6 miles. We drove back to Seattle and I pitched 5 innings in my men's league baseball game. I was sore for a week.