Camping Tips & Tricks

[brad03ca]

OK Members...We're looking for your tips, tricks and short cuts. Does it make things easier, cheaper, smarter....I will feature this so the thread stays on top...
Here's one of mine...I take a Fire Log when I camp. One piece guarantees, easy starting of campfires. A whole log takes the place of a bundle of fire wood. They're easy to carry, and like two buck's each, smokeless, and still fun to sit around and watch.

[brad03ca]

OK Members...We're looking for your tips, tricks and short cuts. Does it make things easier, cheaper, smarter....I will feature this so the thread stays on top...
Here's one of mine...I take a Fire Log when I camp. One piece guarantees, easy starting of campfires. A whole log takes the place of a bundle of fire wood. They're easy to carry, and like two buck's each, smokeless, and still fun to sit around and watch.

[Stan Birch]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by brad03ca: Here's one of mine...I take a Fire Log when I camp. I piece guarantees, easy starting of campfires. A whole log takes the place of a bundle of fire wood. They're easy to carry, and like two buck's each, smokeless, and still fun to sit around and watch. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I think I have you beat on this one!

I remember *way* back, when I struggled to earn my coveted Boy Scout "Fire Starters" merit badge! The objective was to start a fire with a single match, without using newspaper! And as kid, I fell for the entire scam, as being something worthy of merit. But where is the merit in the entire scenario? Are matches expensive? Is newspaper expensive?

Sometimes as we get older, we get smarter. And as Henry Ford astutely observed: "Hire the laziest man you can find to do the job; and he'll always discover the easiest way to do it!!"

And for me, that means starting campfires with a propane torch. As a standard tool we carry with us, it saves a whole lot of work. You don't need kindling; four to six inch pieces of wood are quite adequate. Just stack them up, and then place the propane torch flame under the stack and let it do it's job. Within two or three minutes max, you have a roaring fire with no muss 'nd no fuss!

[Novi]

We dry camp a lot so one of the tips we use is only do dishes once per day, conserves fresh water and prolongs the fill up of the grey water tank.

[Lynnvt]

Another trick for conserving holding tank capacity is to put the dishpan water into the black tank since it tends to fill up slower.

[brad03ca]

Cloths pegs clamped to eavestrough down spout will direct water out away from sides, helping to eliminate black streaks.

[troth]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Cloths pegs clamped to eavestrough down spout will direct water out away from sides </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Is that anything like clothes pins on the end of the rain gutter, eh? LOL

[brad03ca]

Sure is troth. Sounds like we're both bi-lingual eh! living so close to the border..You know Canadian and I know American.

[2Roadrunners]

When dry camping, we use Dollar Store Styrofoam China and those heavy duty plastic tools, which have become known as Jim's Silverware.

Also I bring along some good dried paper birch bark ( not peeled, but rather found on the ground). That is so flammable that you could probably light Tupelo wood with it. Put it flat in a plastic bag to save space.


Also have bio-degradable soap as I am often times in the woods. Leave all perfume at home as you risk becoming a meeting place for skeeters.

Sometimes when you are having trouble hammering in pins for awnings etc. try using 3" or 4" woodscrews. (Work very well on asphalt).

You know how briquets can mess up your digs with the dust they spread. We buy those prepared aluminum boxes at CTR. Not bad.