Tent poles can’t get any lighter than if you don’t carry any – which is what I do/don’t. This is particularly weight-saving if you are young and don’t need to carry hiking poles, something which I simply did not need until I was nearly 65! Perhaps when I finally get my new knees I will […]
This is a guide to making your own ultralight tent stove out of cheaply available materials using simple hand tools. The stove is intended to take up practically zero space in your pack and weigh as little as possible (250-300 grams total – about half a pound) cost less than $50 and take maybe an
I am slowly working my way through the many issues involved in constructing ultralight wood burning stoves for tent heating, cooking and electricity generation. This will take some time. The most important first step however involved whether I could construct an ultralight roll-up chimney without having to be able to weld such lightweight metal foil
I tend to buy a lot of tent pegs because I am always making new tents/tarps and I like to have them all complete against need. I have found Aliexpress to be a good source (if you can wait for delivery). The ‘Tito’ brand there is quite satisfactory, for example. I favour a Shepherd’s hook
Omar Khayyam of Naishapur (I prefer the old spelling) was a tent -maker, as I have observed before. In the past the truly great seminal thinkers were all tradesmen of one sort or another, that is they did not expect their thinking to pay their wages, but earned their living with their hands – as
I have just finished making and erecting my new (476 gram) tent (‘the Grey Flyer – it is a very windy day, hence the name!) in the garden, as you can see ahead of a trip I am planning soon. I just couldn’t resist finishing it so that I could take advantage of the 150
I just made this simple groundsheet for my Aricxi tent (and for a new tent I am working on ahead of a trip I am planning next week). It is made from some 1.1oz fabric I sourced from China which I am trialing, so I will let you know how it goes. The fabric has
It took quite a while to get here what with Covid 19, but it came a couple of days ago. I am as pleased with it as I thought I would be when I mentioned it in this post back in April. The tent is very well made and well thought out. For most people
We always camp in an open shelter (something like this) with an open fire out the front. So warm and cozy even on cold, wet days. This shelter is very easy to make. It consists of a square of Tyvek ‘Homewrap’ (available Bunnings in 30 metre rolls) 8’ x 8’ square. The ‘wings’ consist of
You can repurpose many humble plumbing fittings into wonderful ultralight hiking tools. Take this cheap 19mm (3/4″) irrigation tee from Bunnings for A$1.54 (June 2020) . I have carried one to sit the sharp end of my hiking pole in so it doesn’t pierce the floor of my tent. An end joiner works well for
