What I like best about the tarp is that it’s infinitely adjustable. You can pitch it high off the ground to get lots of ventilation or low to trap warmth inside.
Played with it in the yard today to try out some different pitches. I threw a single sleeping pad inside to give a sense of scale. The 12×12 is giant for a single camper.
Not a review, as I haven’t actually slept in it yet. These are my initial thoughts after unpacking and setting it up in the backyard.
First off, I got this tent on clearance at $75. List price is $250. I’m going to give a seventy-five dollar tent a lot more slack than one costing more than two hundred dollars. I bought this tent for the kids. They are both getting into scouting and I wanted a tent that they could carry and set up.
First off, it’s heavy. It weighs eight pounds. This is not suitable for a through hike of the AT. That being said, it’s perfect for car camping especially if you have a small car, or trips where you have to walk in from a distant parking lot (music festivals).
Continue reading “Poler two man tent – First impressions”This is my first tarp, but I’m confident it won’t be my last. I purchased the REI Trailbreak Tarp. After playing with it in the yard for a few days and sleeping under it one night, here are my first impressions.
For some reason I started shopping for backpacking tents. But I couldn’t find one I liked. They all had one or more fatal flaws –
But I think I may have found the perfect solution.
Continue reading “Still another tent (but not really)”In the yurt, my wife and I sleep on a folding air bed, but I don’t have room for it in the modern tents so I went looking for something smaller.
The Alps Mountaineering Nimble Insulated Sleeping Pad- Double makes for a great night’s sleep. It’s also available single wide in insulated and non-insulated versions.
Continue reading “Nimble Double Air Mattress review.”Yesterday I went to the flea market and was able to complete two sets of tools.
From left to right – a center finder, a protractor, and a combination square attached to a 16” metal ruler.
Continue reading “Gotta catch ‘em all!”Alternately, a day of project creep.
I’ve been trying to figure out a tongue box (my wife loves that term, BTW) for the utility trailer. A place to store the lines, straps, wheel chocks, locks, tarps, tools, and other sundries that the trailer requires. But they’re fairly expensive and I’m having problems finding one that seems to be the right size size.
But then I saw it, on a neglected shelf in the garage. A Rubbermaid Action Packer box. Before we met, my wife used it to store her camping kitchen equipment. It sat empty at the old house for years. When we moved here I filled it with the candle lanterns that we use for party lights. Of course we moved just before the pandemic started and haven’t had any parties.
I know that the KLR crowd uses small action packers as tail boxes, so I think it is reasonably water tight. It’s lockable, certainly large enough for my needs, and the price is definitely within my budget. It might not be perfect (foreshadowing), but it will do.
Continue reading “A day with the drill press”First off, this is as basic a plumbing system as I can imagine.
Second, the sink, which would normally be the most expensive bit, was free. I recovered it from a foreclosed house I was cleaning out. I found one here for $60, but you still need a drain basket.
So while this seems so extra (and it is pretty unnecessary) it’s not an expensive addition.
While building kitchen Mk.2 I made a cutting error that cost me time and money to fix.
I made a quick jig so I could accurately place my saw guide. And, as usual, I made it incorrectly and then figured out an easier way. I’m going to write up the way I did it, and then explain how to avoid my mistake.
Modern Anachronist 