Low Buck, Campsite Solutions

Or cut the bottom out of a 5 gallon bucket and mount a seat on top. They have one for a bucket that has bags so you can pack out your waste but I mostly see people throwing their bags in the campground trash cans...pretty grosse. But I do like the chair idea and a deep hole.

 

If you have the space in your rig and want/need to confine your fire (camp/cooking), an old tub out of a washing machine works great. It also has a uniform top edge for any kind of grill you might have or make. Symmetrical rocks aren't always easy to find and you can always make a screen top for it in case of sudden winds that can blow cinders into the brush.

 

That's what we use in the yard for a fire pit, works great! Cook steaks over it sometimes too.

 

Cooking Dogs

Save those old telescoping antennas. They make great "sticks" for cooking hot dogs or sausage or marinated Dove Brest. In most cases the ball on the end will unscrew. Not for marshmallows.






If you want a more versatile rig go with wood. Metal gets hot an marshmallows melt off.
When you saddle up to the campfire with this baby on your hip, men avoid eye contact, women hold their children close.
"Excuse me while i whip this out"

 

I just tested out this cheap stove and cookware kit from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K9F9Z06/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_0



I have an MSR Dragonfly but wanted something cheap to keep in the truck all the time. It works great.

 

Camp stoves are so cool! They're the type of thing I could end up collecting if I'm not careful! I especially like the antique ones, old brass stoves from Optimus or Primus.

 

Back to fire starter, for those that carry hand sanitizer, I've heard it works excellent for starting fires because of its high alcohol content.

 

Sanitizer works in a pinch, but I like using dryer lint.

 

I put dryer lint in cardboard egg containers, (the cavity for the egg) and fill with wax. Cut apart, and you have a dozen starters per egg container.

 

That is great!
Researching your idea I found this too.


Wood pellets instead of lint. Would be a great way to use up all of the pellet dust in the bottom of the bag too.

 

When I was in scouts as a kid, we used to make these newspaper rolls and coat them with wax with a wick tied around them. Worked well.

 

I'm hesitant to use wax these days because I live in AZ and it melts in my truck, but def works great for waterproofing. Just carry the lint in a gallon sized ziplock bag.

 

I must find those wood sticks...

 

Any wood dowel should do

 

One more.

Save that old, nearly obsolete cordless drill for the trail, powered from the truck battery.
Gut the cells out of a bad/dead battery pack and solder in a set of 12g clip leads, length to suit. Most of these tools will tolerate a wide range of voltages with proportionate performance. A nominal 9.6v tool (below) on a 12v automotive battery really zings.
This is non invasive to the tool itself so it still functions with the regular battery packs. I had "re-celled" several other packs with higher capacity cells a few years ago. They are still good and I wanted to still be able to use them.

These "older" tools can be had for low cost at flea markets and such. This particular brand/series had a drill, sawzall, angle grinder, flashlight and circular trim saw.

 

Cool iidea!

I have one of those laying around. I might just try that out.

 

This is certain to set the photography world on end, just kidding.

Cheapo 3" wood worker clamp with 1/4-20 stud and a cheapo 7$ Amazon camera "ball mount".
Saves an old man from getting in and out of the truck so much and works on tables, branches, road signs etc.

 

Ha, just noticed the "crevasse tool" in the last pic above. Upper right, next to the come along. Used for sucking GOLD from stream bed crevasses.



Made from a gimmicky car wash wand/soapy water dispenser.

 

Long Range Shit Launcher

 

That's much more sophisticated than what I've seen before. In the rock climbing world, it's known as a "big wall burrito".

You have some ~6" PVC not unlike what you have pictured, but just with threaded cap on one side, sealed other side - none of this fancy RV black water valve stuff.

You take a paper plate, dooky on that, then fold it in half and deposit it in the tube and close it up.

Not the most glamorous thing in the world, but when you're 1300 feet and 3 days into an ascent of El Cap, when you gotta got, you gotta go...