Author Topic: Have you adapted much of your gear to suit your needs and wants?  (Read 5188 times)

Theo Frum

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I made a map pocket using a zip and nylon cut from a cheap rucsac I bought off the market. It later got recycled first as a cycle tool pouch, then a bumbag. A couple of the pockets from that rucsac are still in use as a washkit pouch and a compass case.


I have a homemade sun hat that's better than anything money can buy. My hat of preference was a knotted hanky, but one day I decided it would be more convenient to sew the hanky into shape permanently, and dispense with the knots. It's cooler, lighter, more comfortable, more wind resistant and smaller to pack than anything you can buy.


I once modified a pair of polycotton walking trousers into zip-offs, and altered another pair for use as cycling trousers. I also made a small lightweight rucsac. I have two or three that pack down into their own pockets, but this one is much smaller and lighter because it's made from fabric cut from an old cagoul. It just needs to hold a waterproof, sandwiches and water whilst sight seeing.

Bigfoot_Mike

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Deleted - wrong thread
« Last Edit: 17:53:02, 05/07/20 by Bigfoot_Mike »

Bigfoot_Mike

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Deleted - wrong thread
« Last Edit: 17:54:53, 05/07/20 by Bigfoot_Mike »

happyhiker

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Added a "cris/cross" of shock cord across the top of my rucksack using the existing loops. My OS map in the map case sits under this.

gunwharfman

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You have reminded me of the simplest rucksack modification that I've made, two short pieces of elastic cord with a 'J' shaped bit of plastic at one end of each cord. The other end of each cord is attached to the top of my shoulder straps. I always carry my tent and poles in one bag and it sits horizontally on the top of my rucksack, secured in an instant. When I arrive at a shop, site, or wild camp, etc, the tent comes off the pack easily, so no messing about with straps.

Little Foot

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I've not modified anything, but I need to. I have a Zephyrous 2 tent which I was doing a test run with yesterday. After just putting up the tent, the heavens opened heavily. When it had calmed I had to move in and out the tent and the openings of the outer dripped all over my sleeping bag. What it needs is something so I can attach the bottom of the opening to the outside of the tent. There is actually an a loop on the inside to fix the opening, which, to me, is a silly place to put it. Anyone know an easy way of doing that modification please. Preferably a way that doesn't require a needle and thread lol.

richardh1905

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I've not modified anything, but I need to. I have a Zephyrous 2 tent which I was doing a test run with yesterday. After just putting up the tent, the heavens opened heavily. When it had calmed I had to move in and out the tent and the openings of the outer dripped all over my sleeping bag. What it needs is something so I can attach the bottom of the opening to the outside of the tent. There is actually an a loop on the inside to fix the opening, which, to me, is a silly place to put it. Anyone know an easy way of doing that modification please. Preferably a way that doesn't require a needle and thread lol.


A clothes peg?
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Little Foot

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A clothes peg?


I've just lol'd at that answer as I was expecting the solution to be a bit technical. Can't believe a peg didn't even cross my mind. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me!

GoneWest

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I've just lol'd at that answer as I was expecting the solution to be a bit technical. Can't believe a peg didn't even cross my mind. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me!


Clothes pegs can be extremely useful. If they are wooden ones, you can even use them for kindling if you need to!

Safety pins and paperclips can also be handy, and weigh hardly anything. Another potentially useful item is a tiny reel of Kevlar thread, which is very strong. You'll need to have a sharp knife with you, though, to cut it!

GoneWest

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From long ago, I have a magnesium bar with a flint striker like this one (though I didn't buy it from this vendor):- 

https://www.bergzeit.co.uk/coghlans-magnesium-lighter/?gclid=CjwKCAjwxqX4BRBhEiwAYtJX7XVdWZLDQl9DpOUKHmH6A62FgoeAB_BNZolgOPR0-xoph44YXgc2oRoCdNMQAvD_BwE

The idea is to scrape off magnesium filings to use as tinder for the sparks. It works, but the Mg-scraping is tedious work and bad for your knife. The supplied scraper won't hack it and who carries an actual coarse file?

I haven't actually adapted it but I have found a secondary use for it. It can give a superb final edge to a knife -  perhaps even that one you just blunted by scraping magnesium!



fernman

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I've not modified anything, but I need to. I have a Zephyrous 2 tent which I was doing a test run with yesterday. After just putting up the tent, the heavens opened heavily. When it had calmed I had to move in and out the tent and the openings of the outer dripped all over my sleeping bag. What it needs is something so I can attach the bottom of the opening to the outside of the tent. There is actually an a loop on the inside to fix the opening, which, to me, is a silly place to put it. Anyone know an easy way of doing that modification please. Preferably a way that doesn't require a needle and thread lol.

I think the best answer there is to shove your sleeping bag out of the way to the far side of the inner. It doesn't do that in my Zeph 1, I guess it's because you have less porch in the Zeph 2. Wet drips from the flysheet door are inevitable during or after rain, while after you've spent a night in the tent you you have to push past a door wet with condensation, which isn't very nice when you're trying to get out first thing.

My mods, involving a needle and thread, sorry, were to attach a length of guy (I used Dyneema) to the bottom corner of the flysheet opening so that I can hold it open over the tent with a spare peg on the other side, or, using the same line and peg, I can hold the door up with a walking pole. Light rain doesn't get in with the latter method, providing the tent is correctly pitched with it's back to the wind.

As for the silly way of holding the inner tent door open with a plastic peg, I chopped that off and I simply let the door lay on the groundsheet.
« Last Edit: 20:42:37, 11/07/20 by fernman »

Little Foot

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  Clothes pegs can be extremely useful. If they are wooden ones, you can even use them for kindling if you need to!  Safety pins and paperclips can also be handy, and weigh hardly anything. Another potentially useful item is a tiny reel of Kevlar thread, which is  very strong. You'll need to have a sharp knife with you, though, to cut it!



Good idea. I'll make sure to take the paperclips and pins when I go camping this week. I've been meaning to get myself a decent camping knife, and one of those little multi-tool things too.



I think the best answer there is to shove your sleeping bag out of the way to the far side of the inner. It doesn't do that in my Zeph 1, I guess it's because you have less porch in the Zeph 2. Wet drips from the flysheet door are inevitable during or after rain, while after you've spent a night in the tent you you have to push past a door wet with condensation, which isn't very nice when you're trying to get out first thing.

My mods, involving a needle and thread, sorry, were to attach a length of guy (I used Dyneema) to the bottom corner of the flysheet opening so that I can hold it open over the tent with a spare peg on the other side, or, using the same line and peg, I can hold the door up with a walking pole. Light rain doesn't get in with the latter method, providing the tent is correctly pitched with it's back to the wind.

As for the silly way of holding the inner tent door open with a plastic peg, I chopped that off and I simply let the door lay on the groundsheet.


I'll see how I get on using it this week and look at maybe modding it for future. That inner door, when testing it out the other day I kept securing it back, then the next min it was loose again. I wasn't sure if my son was knocking it or if I wasn't securing it tight enough. I will do what you suggest and not bother at all with it!

fernman

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Some corrections are needed to my earlier post, in which there was some muddled thinking on my part, well it was in Feb 2016 that I did the mods!

What I did was to remove the plastic toggle and the bit of elastic for holding the flysheet door open, which I found rather ineffective. This was superceded by my aforementioned mod for either holding the door back over the flysheet or held up on a walking pole.

On the inner door I removed the pair of male and female clips that were on the lower front edge of the inner tent, which were intended to keep its door rolled up when fully unzipped. They seemed a bit superfluous to me and, as I wrote earlier, I now just let the inner door lay on the groundsheet. A bonus was that I would no longer kneel on the hard lump of plastic - ouch!   

fernman

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I've been meaning to get myself a decent camping knife, and one of those little multi-tool things too.

Watch the weight, it all adds up (as well as the cost)!
A little knife cuts just as well as a big one, and you need to look closely at a multi-tool and think carefully about how much of it - if any - you are likely to need on a camping trip.

richardh1905

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I only carry a tiny knife on short camping trips, Littlefoot, with a blade about 3cm long, weights next to nothing. Adding a thin lanyard to a small knife is a good idea, and helps prevent me losing it.


For a longer trip, a swiss army knife is a good long term buy, not too heavy and very useful. I would recommend a knife with a good blade, tin opener, scissors and a cork screw - covers most eventualities on a longer trip :)  Anything else is pretty superfluous. Scissors can be useful, but are not essential. No point in carrying a multi tool for backpacking, in my opinion.


As fernman says - watch the weight! I don't even carry cooking gear on short trips.
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