Camping- Tips and Tricks

[ken0042]

The one thing I find as I go camping with different people is all sorts of ideas that make camping easier or more fun. So why not have a thread with some of our ideas?

My first tip- buy yourself an adapter so you can refill your 1lb green propane tanks. Yes, you can hook some things like a stove up to a regular tank, but other things like a lantern are a little tougher. I bought mine on eBay for about $10 and I've found that I can refill the 1lb tanks up to about 75% of their original capacity.

Second tip, use a solar light for light around your camp site. Those lights that us city folks complain about for not providing much light work great when you are away from the city lights. Well, at least good enough so when you get up at 3:30 to take a leak you don't run into the picnic table.

[Bobblehead]

The foam kneeling pads (often sold in garden centres) make an excellent seat for picnic tables.

[Mccree]

Ask your co workers to bring firewood to work for you

[ken0042]

As much as that thread inspired me to make this one, that was still pretty dang funny.

[RedMan12]

you can never bring too much beer camping.

[return to the red]

don't put your tent on a slope

Don't pee above tent on said slope

DO Pee on said slope above friends tent

Proclaim you didn't even think about it

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by RedMan12

you can never bring too much beer camping.

If you're packing it in with you, you can.

If you are car camping, then there is no excuse to ever run out of beer.

[newts]

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots, and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by ken0042

My first tip- buy yourself an adapter so you can refill your 1lb green propane tanks. Yes, you can hook some things like a stove up to a regular tank, but other things like a lantern are a little tougher. I bought mine on eBay for about $10 and I've found that I can refill the 1lb tanks up to about 75% of their original capacity.

Agreed. My dad used to be a Canadian distributor for a company that manufactured a refill system for the smaller "disposable" tanks. The only reason why they are considered disposable is that not many people have the equipment to refill them. At the beginning of an RV trip my dad would fill his auxillary 60lb propane tank and then refill the 1lb tanks as they emptied out. One 1lb tank would do about 3 seperate barbeques for my parents so they managed to get approximately 175 refills out of their auxillary tank.

[shoestring]

Does he still sell those Reaper?
A person could make a fortune filling those up for people in campgrounds or selling the units.

I remember once at Cypress Hills seeing literally thousands of those 1 lb bottles falling out of a huge garbage dumpbin. It struck me as a huge waste so I always try to fit a regular sized barbque and tank in my or somebodies truck.

Solar flashlights are great,buy an extra bulb.

Pack three coolers,one for beer ,one for hotdogs,bacon,eggs and salads and in the other put your frozen meat. Don't open,at all, till you need to. The chicken or ribs should still need thawing on your final day.

Don't forget a can opener and a corkscrew even if YOU don't need them,you never know who might come looking for one.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by newts

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots, and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

ding ding obscure Simpson's reference finds it's way into the thread

gotta love it!!

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Bring some toilet paper.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Air mattresses are nice and you can get them cheap. Don't settle for the ground. Those cast iron grill cheese makers are great too.

[Shawnski]

Not environmentally friendly, but very cool....

Get a one foot long piece of 1 inch copper tubing. Drill holes in it randomly all around (about 8 or so is fine). Cut a 1 foot piece of rubber garden hose and put it into the tubing.

Throw into your camp fire and watch what happens. (Safe, but try not to breathe the smoke!)

[ken0042]

Another cool thing to do with the fire (also potentially not environmentally friendly)..........

Take a plastic pop bottle (not a water bottle; it has to be one that was designed to withstand a little pressure.) Fill it full of water, but leave the cap off. When you get a nice bed of coals burning put the bottle onto the coals. The water inside the bottle will boil, but the plastic will not melt.

[pope04]

Originally Posted by ken0042

My first tip- buy yourself an adapter so you can refill your 1lb green propane tanks. Yes, you can hook some things like a stove up to a regular tank, but other things like a lantern are a little tougher. I bought mine on eBay for about $10 and I've found that I can refill the 1lb tanks up to about 75% of their original capacity.

Here's a current ebay link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MAC-COUPLER-REFI...QQcmdZViewItem

Those little green bottles drive me crazy........expensive, and not very environmentally friendly. For my Coleman stove and bbq, I bring along a 10 pound propane tank and adapter hose. I typically tent it and drive in via car, so those 20 pounder propane tanks take up too much room. Co-op will refill propane by the pound, so the 10 pound tanks can be filled economically.