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Thread: Equipment Suggestions for Airplane Camping

  1. #11
    Airmutt's Avatar
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    Dana with your list and a tent one can easily come in under 15 pounds. Camping in the southeast in the spring and summer.....definitely bug season. However if it doesn’t stop raining here in Atlanta were all gonna need float planes
    Dave Shaw
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  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Airmutt View Post
    Dana with your list and a tent one can easily come in under 15 pounds. Camping in the southeast in the spring and summer.....definitely bug season. However if it doesn’t stop raining here in Atlanta were all gonna need float planes

    So true. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm hoping once the weather clears up I can finish out my kit and give it a try.
    1978 Grumman AA1C w/O-320

  3. #13
    L16 Pilot's Avatar
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    There are times when I attended Oshkosh I wished I had a boat.
    If God had intended man to fly He would have given us more money!

  4. #14
    Tralika's Avatar
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    Here's a link to a Youtube video that discusses advantages/disadvantages of backpacking tents, tarps, bivy sacks and hammocks.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P5yypHZ-5A

    For the type of camping you describe in your original post, the Cabela's Alaskan Guide tent is going to be more than overkill. If you want to spend that much money have at it but a decent tent can be found for around $100. Take a look at "cheaperthandirt.com" It's true the discount tents will not hold up as well as a premium tent but it's not like your going to be camping in extreme conditions out in the wilderness.

  5. #15
    lnuss's Avatar
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    It's true the discount tents will not hold up as well as a premium tent but it's not like your going to be camping in extreme conditions out in the wilderness.
    While that statement is true, as far as it goes, there is a reason to get metal poles for the tent, rather than fiberglass or plastic of some sort. We've encountered winds there (usually during a storm) that almost laid our REI tent (with metal poles) flat, but it bounced back up as soon as the wind eased off. That same wind caused a lot of other tents around to lay flat, too, but many of those had the fiberglass poles that broke while laid down.

    Also, the better tents will have a well designed rain fly that helps keep the inside dry, while a lot of the inexpensive ones, if they have a fly at all, have one that is poorly designed, letting water in during high winds/heavy rains. So yes, you might get a decent tent in the $100 range, but all too many folks seeing this discussion will think they can get by with a $20 Walmart special. Those work fine when conditions are mild, but they don't hold up at many OSH conventions, since the thunderstorms almost always visit sometime during that week. Of course if you want a new tent every year (perhaps more than one) and don't mind things in the tent getting wet a time or three during the week...

    Larry N.

  6. #16

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    I have to say that I'm more in Tralika's camp (sorry...). I'm a bit mystified by the 'aluminum only' concept. I camped for years at OSH & SNF in dome tents for which I never paid more than around $60 (Admittedly, it has been a while), none of which had any aluminum except the fittings for the poles. On multiple occasions, the cheap tent weathered OSH storms that destroyed tents around me that cost multiple hundreds of $, and this was back in the 1990s & early 2000s. One year, we parked the RV4 at the end of a row next to the flight line, and during one of the storms that was destroying hi-$ tents, we lay in our sleeping bags as the wind gusts repeatedly pushed the tent down on top of us, but we never had a failure of tent material or fiberglass poles.

    Back when they were available, I'd buy a tent with a nylon (basically the same fabric as the tent sides/top) floor. Not the glorified blue tarps that they use in inexpensive tents these days. The nylon was much more tolerant of sticks/stones; just forming around them instead of spanning them and getting holed. But even the blue tarp floored cheapies have worked well for me. Now, my camping frequency was typically a week at OSH, a week at SNF, and maybe a couple of nights a year on a canoe trip, so not a lot of wear and tear.

    I'm also impressed by guys who can spend an airshow week in a body bag..uh, I mean, tiny tent. I always bought a dome tent that was big enough to at least crouch in, at almost standing posture. A '6 man' tent is *almost* big enough for two people (especially if one of them is a woman). I never found the bulk or weight penalty to be that bad, even in an RV4. Most of the tents I used weighed around 10-12 lbs. I think I went through maybe three tents in about 20 years of airshows, but the 1st one had about 10 years of canoe camping in it before the 1st OSH.

    Just another opinion... :-)

    Charlie

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by rv7charlie View Post
    I have to say that I'm more in Tralika's camp (sorry...). I'm a bit mystified by the 'aluminum only' concept. I camped for years at OSH & SNF in dome tents for which I never paid more than around $60 (Admittedly, it has been a while), none of which had any aluminum except the fittings for the poles.

    Charlie
    I've seen fiberglass (or maybe plastic) tent poles shatter. They can't be repaired at that point. Aluminum poles usually kink instead of break. In an emergency, you can splice one with duct tape and a couple of popsicle sticks.

    But I've seen a buncha flattened tents at Oshkosh, complete with wet, cold people who had nowhere else to spend the night. That's the worst possible outcome, so do what you can to avoid it.

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright View Post
    I've seen fiberglass (or maybe plastic) tent poles shatter. They can't be repaired at that point. Aluminum poles usually kink instead of break. In an emergency, you can splice one with duct tape and a couple of popsicle sticks.

    But I've seen a buncha flattened tents at Oshkosh, complete with wet, cold people who had nowhere else to spend the night. That's the worst possible outcome, so do what you can to avoid it.
    Mother Nature is a mean, cruel, spiteful woman who takes no prisoners. About the only weather condition I've not experienced volunteering at AirVenture has been snow...…… and even then I pack a warm coat in the car - LOL ALWAYS expect at least one day's weather will be beyond brutal and you won't go wrong.
    "Don't believe everything you see or read on the internet" - Abraham Lincoln

  9. #19
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    Being from the south, I never experienced sun poisoning until I went to A/V in 2011, yep, it got me, swollen lips and face, looked like I had been stung by a bee. In 2018 it got down right COLD for a day and night, but having been a Boy Scout for many years, I was prepared, long pants, long sleeved shirt, jacket and sleeping bag. And of course, it's gonna rain at some point so I carry a couple of disposable rain ponchos that I can fit in my pocket.
    Bob "Yippee Ki-Yay"

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by CHICAGORANDY View Post
    About the only weather condition I've not experienced volunteering at AirVenture has been snow...……
    With the current state of climate change, you might not be able to say that sometime in your future.:>)

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