Camp Goods

[jbullard1]

Is it normal to need a large trailer to haul your stuff in to a rondy.
I don't have near what I want and already have a pickup truck load.

I will be meeting a couple of people from HT forum at the Hatchie Run event next weekend.

[Mitch]

when you first get started, yep, it's easy to load up a trailer....as you do "it" more, you'll find you need less....my suggestion, use the "3 pile" method of what you need after an event...got to have pile, might need(emergency) pile and the I've never used it pile(often good for trading)...Mitch

[Bigsmoke]

I have found that if I am going to an event by myself, my requirements are modest;  gun and shooting gear, small shelter, fry pan and a pot, and whatever food I need, plus a few incidentals.
However, if my wife comes along, the amount of stufff needed increases - quite drastically.  Break out the trailer, boys, and load er up.
Gosh, I hope she doesn't see this.

[mario]

With the fact that the men I portray were on foot raids...


In 90% of events, I can don my tumpline, sling my market wallet, pick up my firelock and walk into camp without having to make a second trip.


Mario

[Three Hawks]

Unfortunately as age and decrepitude take their toll, I find things that were the merest luxuries ten years ago are now full-on necessities.  Things like a chair, a tent with four walls, a 3" thick sleeping pad, a cot, a candle lantern that gives decent light to do my insulin, and a good sleeping bag.  I also bring an antique alcohol stove so that I can make a pot of coffee or heat up a can of beans in my tent if  I deem it needful due to weather or arthritis.  

I like the alcohol stove because it is for all intents and purposes silent.  My candle lantern is a three sided one from James Townsend's with one pane replaced with  a piece of custom cut mirror ($1.25 tax incl. at a glass shop.)  The sleeping pad and bag are augmented by a couple of Hudson Bay blankets which also serve as camouflage when I have the tent flaps tied back.

I have a Hudson Bay cassette that contains nearly everything else and a plunder box made of rough sawn pine which serves as my "camp kitchen" and food box.  A couple of  three gallon plastic jerry cans hold enough water for several days if I don't waste much.

Even as stove up as I am I can still make or strike camp in less than half an hour.

I also need a 12v deep cycle battery to power my CPAP.   On the plus side, I can still get everything into my  ol' faithful '83 civic without bottoming out the springs.

So far.

Three Hawks

[Minnesota Mike]

We pretty well fill up the van with full set up for camp - but despite squawks about all of the gear - not too much does not get used over course of the vous.

Tables, chairs, lanterns - etc., all take up room - but everything gets put to use when friends come to sit and chat, side walls for fly area when that sand storm comes whipping thru, stool to get cooler up out of the mud when the rainstorm flood things out or an extra place to set food while putting meal together, etc.

Will admit though that a trailer where you can load stuff back in, take home and let set - then hook up and take back off again sure sounds better than unloading and reloading a van every time.

r/
MM

[jbullard1]

What is a Hudson Bay cassette?

I'm also working on a deal to buy a trailer from U-Haul when the next one in my area comes available
They take them out of service after so long and sell a 4x8 enclosed for around $400 and a 5 x 10 for $550

[Minnesota Mike]

What is a Hudson Bay cassette?

A cassette was the wooden box that voyaguers used to carry their personnel gear in when underway with canoes.

They are neat storage boxes for modern day rendezvousing as well.

r/
MM

[Bigsmoke]

I'm also working on a deal to buy a trailer from U-Haul when the next one in my area comes available
They take them out of service after so long and sell a 4x8 enclosed for around $400 and a 5 x 10 for $550

Jerry,
That's a pretty good price for an enclosed trailer, even if you have to replace the bearings and tires, you would still be in it less than half of a new one.  As long as you have a vehicle that will pull the 5 x 10, I'd sure go for the larger one.

[jbullard1]

I'll get the largest I can
I have a Chevy 3500 I think will pull it

Mario: Check your pm's

[Loyalist Dave]

Well for me it depends on the number of people in the camp, BUT ..., I still get it all in a 2001 Subaru Station Wagon with a cargo platform on the trailer hitch.   You have to get creative with stuff that folds, nests, and has multiple uses.  

I found if I go copper it costs a bit more, but is much lighter.  My full load is a camp kitchen box the size of a large cooler, half of the inside is a cooler, the other half is the pantry.  (It's also used for a camp seat)  Next to that is the camp kitchen in a box which is about the same size as the kitchen box, which is two large copper pots, a copper dishpan, and a steel frypan, as well as a small fire extinguisher.  I use a steel grill with legs instead of fire irons to save space, and a small spider in case I need more space at the fire.  The copper reduces weight and the pots, dishpan, and frypan "nest'.  (I can feed 12-15 people simple meals with this set).    These go on the cargo platform, and I still have a view out the back window.  

On the roof go two sets of tent poles, two military bell-back tents, and a diamond shelter (used for the fly) as well as a wood wheelbarrow (disassembled).

In the interior cargo area go my pack, my shooting bag, my folding stool, my daughter's pack, and her sleeping bag and camp pad.  I also put the rifle or musket there.  I normally store my splitting axe and a small shovel back there too.  I use a tick with straw for my bed, which rolls up real small when I remove the straw (I get the straw at the site, and leave it when I'm done).  A tick is a great pad, natural, authentic, AND..., insulates very well.  

I have used the back seat for a 3rd person and all of her gear so I carry three, plus enough for a full camp as long as other guests bring their own tents, stools, packs and coolers.  

I still get 24 MPG on the Highway with the AC going.  One of the reasons I don't have a huge truck or a trailer, is to prevent me from getting too much stuff, as I LIKE camp stuff.

LD

[Sir Michael]

I have two camps at the present and third one in the works.  

The first is my full kit.  Officer's Marquee Tent, Folding Bed, Writing Table, Chair, Dressing Table, Dressing Box, Writing Box, Spanish Chest, HBC Cassette, Dinning Table, Chairs, Kitchen Box, Cooler, Boxes for cooking and fire kit, Kitchen Table, Duro River Chair (lounge chair), small tables, Shade Awning, Mess Awning, Campaign Chest, Knapsack, Portmanteau, Shooting Box (Armory Box), Rifle, Pistols, Squirrel Gun, Trade Gun, Shot Gun, Dueling Pistols.  All of this fits in a Ford Explorer with poles on top.  All this takes enough time and effort to set up that it is not worth the effort to set up if I'm not going to camp for at least four nights.

The second is a home made Wedge Tent, Folding Bed, Box, Writing Box, HBC Cassette, Chairs, Cooler, fire kit, Duro River Chair (lounge chair), Shade Awning, Knapsack, Portmanteau, Shooting Box (Armory Box), Rifle, Pistols, Squirrel Gun, Trade Gun, Shot Gun, Dueling Pistols.  This is for events of three days or less.

The third I'm still working on is a Bed Roll and Pad,Cooler, fire kit, Knapsack, Portmanteau, Rifle, Pistols, Squirrel Gun, Trade Gun.  For a single night or two.

Each camp is designed to reproduce the period conditions of Winter Quarters, Active Campaigning Bivouac, and On the March.

The trick in my mind is taking only as much as you really need and separating the "I've got so I'll take it from I will most likely need it while I'm there." You will be surprised with what you don't really need.

   

[mario]

Here is my basic packing list:

Bedroll: trade kettle and tin cup tied to outside
-tumpline/blanket sling
-blankets (1-2)
-tarp shelter
-groundsheet
-extra shirt
-extra stockings (2pr)
-mocassins
-wool cap
-small wallet containing: pipe and tobacco, spoon, wooden bowl, sewing kit, bible.

Hatchet on shoulder sling

Market Wallet:
-provisions: slab bacon, sausage, dried peas, salt/pepper, brown sugar, chocolate (I'm not a coffee guy)
-rope/twine

Shot pouch:
-extra flints and pads
-compass
-cleaning gear: worm, turnscrew, spring vise, oil/grease, lock cover, muzzle cover, rag, patches/tow

Misc.:
firelock
bowderhorn
belly box
cartridges

When driving to an event, I wear my period clothes. Whenever possible, I cut stakes and poles on-site and use green limbs for fire "irons".

For shooting events/scouts/hunts, I leave the belly box and cartridges at home and add shot/ball and wadding.


Mario