Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

Tarpons are ok but here is my take..I bought the first generation of ascend SOT 12ft from bass pro..paid 400 wit no frills and used the cash I saved for fish finder and better rods...Chesapeake bay strippers will kill cheap stuff....you will mod the hell out of it so why pay 1 grand for something that tracks and floats the same as a yak that is only 400

 

No mods, I won't fish from my kayak, at least not planning to. I like the Tarpon mainly because I've used it before, has adequate storage, good load capacity and isn't super heavy or super expensive. The seats comfy also. We have no Bass Pro or Cabela's, I think the closest is about 5 hrs away? There is a Sports Authority, Big 5, REI, and 1 or 2 kayak retailers in town. We are going to go shopping and see what we like. If a $400 boat gets it done then even better for me, but I like the Tarpon. Not decided on it yet, so who knows! Maybe will wait until even later in the year.

 

Yeah one of my friends had a Caldera Cone and I figured I could make it pretty easily. Took some 8" aluminum flashing and cut it out with tin snips and punched the holes with a hand-held paper hole-punch. Worked phenomenally well! I also drilled two sets of holes for the two different sized pots and put rivets on one end as the latching mechanism to hold it together.
I usually just base my cooking off of boiling water, so pasta, oatmeal, freeze-dried meals, etc. One pot is like 6" and the other is 7" or something like that. I've only used it for 4 people once, but I did pasta in one pot and was able to cook some veggies and sausage and heat up sauce in the other pot using the one stove. It worked great!
I do need to look for a 1-2 person-sized pot, though, the blacklight pots are just a bit too bulky.

 

How much water do you think you'll need for 2? Are you rehydrating Mountain House type meals? Maybe a 900 ml or 1100 ml pot, or 1300 but that might be too large.

 

I like Tarpon 140 FWIW

 

I'm going to look at that size also.

Pretty sure REI has none since website shows them unavailable and all the WS kayaks are on clearance. Not sure how to carry in my DCSB on that 140 though. Clampett style FTW

 

Yeah just the mountain house meals. About a liter sounds good. This is the first I've put much thought into it, really. I'll look around when I get back to the States, but I appreciate any suggestions!

 

I really love my SnowPeak 700 mil titanium pot. I bought the 900 mil backcountry.com titanium pot because the 700 is too small for 2 MH type meals. Really though I just wanted a slightly larger pot with frying pan lid in titanium and it happened to be on sale, so I bought it.

I think for 2 people the 1100 mil size would be great. SnowPeak and others make nice titanium sets in that size, you can also get hard anodized aluminum like your Blacklite (I think?), it is cheaper than titanium though heavier too. Titanium frying pan lids aren't the easiest pan to use, since they're thin and titanium gets hot quickly. They're easy to burn food with, but really I just use them as lids since the 900 frying pan is so small anyway. Mine is packed up so I can't measure, but its about the right size to fry an egg. Better used with cooler temp stoves like denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol burners, but anyway, they're functional but require attention not to scorch food. They are not nonstick.

Check out some 1100 mil pots and see what you think. Easy way to figure pot size is add how much water you'll need to hydrate your MH meals, add to that amount if you want to have coffee, tea, hot chocolate or anything that uses hot.water that you would or could be drinking at meal time. That's your pot size needs. Not a big deal to get a smaller pot that just supplies enough water for your MH meal, and add water to it after you've emptied it to make.coffee or something, just requires more fuel/time and less convenience. And definitely build another cone for whatever you end up with. One of these days I'll try and make one for myself. They're crazy efficient.

 

I have the 1100ML MSR aluminum pot. It's great for two people just a bit big when only heating up H2O for one persons coffee etc.

 

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions!

 

Which MSR do you have Ck?

 

This one

http://www.google.com/shopping/prod...297&hl=en&msid=87gPSNip_dm|pcrid|55517193400|

 

Nice. I always thought the Alpine was stainless. Are they uncoated aluminum or anodized?

 

Have you guys looked on craigslist for kayaks? I got mine from someone selling on there for a steal

 

I have. Lots of old sit ins for my local listings, so far. Only been looking maybe 2 momths though, I am told late in the year when people want Christmas money you can get good deals.

 

Hahaha you're right, misquoted...

 

I thought I was wrong. I've seen that set somewhere along my way but wasn't sure it wasn't aluminum. Do you use them on propane stoves like Coleman or for hiking with an iso stove? Might be a nice set to pick up.

 

Both, use them on my Coleman and MSR stove.

 

Thanks! I might check them out and see if local REI has them, want a better solution for my trip in 2/
weeks.

 

http://m.rei.com/product/758045/sea-to-summit-pocket-shower


I'm going to pick up one of these next, I'm working out of town for a few days next week and I'm going to camp rather than drive home 2 hours each night and back in the morning. A dhower will make sure I look and more importantly smell ok for the people I'm working with!