CAMPING TIPS (that you might not have thought of, post here)

[cheekygirl668]

Check you have your mobile and wallet in The car before packing the tent, I got 15 minutes down the road and pulled in for my normal trailer check to hear my phone ringing from within the packed up tent. Luckily I could get to it from the rear part if the cover. People driving past must have laughed there butts off watching me climb into the tent whilst it was packed up to retrieve them.

damn where is the like button lol

[craigcurtin]

Make sure you have a list of jobs for the kids when they arrive and in a set order

1) Clear out where the tent is going to lay out - all sticks to be picked up and stones moved
2) Layout all the tent poles for the annexes

For all those with too many annex poles etc -- we have colour coded all of ours using electrical tape and also ordered them by the number of coloured rings.

When we get to site the kids know their job is to get the poles and lay them out as follows

Red
Yellow
White

The poles have from 1 to four circles of tape on them so the kids lay them out in order where the annexes will be
 
Their next job is to then get out the tent pegs, mallet and ropes from the toolbox and lay them out with the poles

Then setup the camp chairs, and their stretcher beds

Then finally the annex floors and the doormat and then all done !!

We have found if you leave kids without a defined list of tasks then chaos ensues - instead they have a list each and they have a race to see who does theirs first.

Craig

[LJs GU]

Make sure you have a list of jobs for the kids when they arrive and in a set order

1) Clear out where the tent is going to lay out - all sticks to be picked up and stones moved
2) Layout all the tent poles for the annexes

For all those with too many annex poles etc -- we have colour coded all of ours using electrical tape and also ordered them by the number of coloured rings.

When we get to site the kids know their job is to get the poles and lay them out as follows

Red
Yellow
White

The poles have from 1 to four circles of tape on them so the kids lay them out in order where the annexes will be
 
Their next job is to then get out the tent pegs, mallet and ropes from the toolbox and lay them out with the poles

Then setup the camp chairs, and their stretcher beds

Then finally the annex floors and the doormat and then all done !!

We have found if you leave kids without a defined list of tasks then chaos ensues - instead they have a list each and they have a race to see who does theirs first.

Craig

Tried that with ours, but they're a bit young/lazy.  So our set order is:

1) Sit in the car, watch your dvd, suck on your chuppa chup, and DON'T GET UNDER MY FEET
2) See 1)

Set's the tone for the rest of the holiday.  'Happy Campers R Us'

LJ

[LJs GU]

O rings !!!

Been meaning to go get some spares for a while now.  I've noticed the one on the baby Q hose is starting to perish...

Learnt this the expensive way when we were in Kakadu many moons ago.  Had a leak on the 3 burner so had to McGiver a fix with a bit of chewy until we could replace the small o ring.  Finally found one at some outback shop... except it was still on the hose which had a price tag of $18. 

Basically $18 for an o ring!  I still have the hose, but have never/will never use it as the fitting on one end doesn't suit any of my gas bottles.

I'm sure I could of imported one for cheaper, but then that opens up a whole new arguement. 


Oh and elastic bands... the thick strong ones.  Come in plenty handy after duct tape.  (Tape on the mouth, a few lacky bands around the wrists = no kids getting under our feet.)

LJ

[Kit_e_kat9]

Oh and elastic bands... the thick strong ones. 

Yep.  I keep an assortment (large / small / should of been replaced but hell throw them in the bag anyways) of these in a coin bag with the ropes (lackie banded of course) and pegs.  Just never know when you need to lackie band something 'outside of the box'.

Kit_e

[jswaggerking]

Wouldn't have a clue if this has been said or not.
But bring two of them cheap blue tarps, one for putting on the floor before you bull your soft floor out to prevent dirt, due ect from wrecking your floor! And the other to put over your bed when you leave to prevent extra moisture from getting to your mattress.
Another tip is to put all your canvas walls and poles that go on the inside of your tent on your bed when you pack up that way you can pull up and pull out straight away with no mucking around.
Another tip for the kids, grab some off cuts of carpet and out on the floor of your camper once set up, this prevents your kids from putting holes ect through the floor and brings the 'homely' feeling to camping it's fantastic In winter keeps the warmth in.
Another is welding gloves for picking up your billy or camp oven, the kids will be awed in you putting your hands into the fire! Magic!
Another tarp tip, grab yourself a huge silver heavy duty tarp for longer stays, throw it over the top of your camper with some big poles leaving a gap between the tarp and the camper, this makes to camper sooooo much cooler and you get less glare ect in the morning when your windows are open, also ideal for rain.
Sorry to keep going I'm sure all these have been said, but LED strips! You can get 5m lengths on ebay for $8 I can't get enough of them, connect it to an Anderson plug or ciggy plug and enjoy a large area of light with minimal consumption.
One more thing!
I take my gazebo everywhere, set it up with the camper, use it for a cloths line, hang your lights and mozzy could ect from it, take it to the beach! Endless possibilities with a gazebo and tarp!

Hope these make your trip easier!


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[jswaggerking]

Milk crate with the top cut out and a toilet seat zipties on top
Ideal for the ladies who don't like to squat!


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[Fizzie]

Just found this thread when doing a search.

Bumped because of so many great idea's that people may like to see - actually deserves to be a sticky!

 

[edz]

DIY tarp joiners, could use grey or orange electrical conduit aswell .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq9svSKaB9c

[Fizzie]

I'll throw one of my own in, that people may find handy.

With our CT. you have to lift the base of the Oztrail tent to put it up, but when you do, the mattress together with the sleeping bags, boy's stretchers etc that are all carried on top of the bed, all slide off the base onto the floor.

To fix that, we stretch a cargo net across the top of everything which hold's everything in place, as well as compressing it a bit so that the cover zips down OK.

[Bird]

no new tips?

[D4D]

no new tips?

Have to go camping to get new tips...

[Bird]

Have to go camping to get new tips...

yea, I need instructions on how to do that

[Paddler Ed]

Soccer ball under the cover of the camper helps to keep water from settling when it rains... not a frequent event, but useful to know...

[Craig Tomkinson]

Hi All, Heres a couple things I take when I go camping that come in handy, that I use all the time
     


20lt buckets with lids human consumption grade cost $8,50 each for water, make shore they pull a part. I have 5 white for water and 5 yellow for fishing and the boat
folding BBQ plate so sand does not get on it and birds do not poo on it after cooking it just folds up or over out the way , with bars under the plate for heating up your shower water, Craig
 
 

[Rumpig]

A very simple but effective shade structure a mate had here at camp the other day, here's how it went.
What you need....
One length of 25mm x 25mm tube bar, abit longer then the length of his swag
2 lengths of sail track the same length as tube bar
2 tent poles
2 cheap awning extensions (mate had Kings brand ones)
8 sand pegs and a few ropes to go with them

How it works....
At home, take the piece of 25mm x 25mm tube bar and on 2 opposing sides of it you attach some sail track down the length of each side, then drill a hole right through at each end of the tube bar for it to sit on a tent pole at each end.
At camp, take the awning extensions and slide these onto the sail tracks,  stand the tube bar ridge up on the 2 tent poles making the ridge to a desired height, 2 ropes on each pole holds them in location, the corners of the awning extensions then get tied out / down to a peg in each corner (the length of rope you use helps keep it raised above the ground to make for a bigger area, or you could simply peg the awnings directly to the ground for a smaller area)....job done. My mate had 2 single swags and a double swag set up under this shade structure, reckons it's great to sleep under as when it rains he can still have the swags open for keeping cool.

[DrewXT]

That's smart thinking, I like that idea

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[Rumpig]

That's smart thinking, I like that idea

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yeah so simple and effective...I meant to get a pic of it, but never got around to doing so. We had a night with a pretty big down pour whilst they were here, they loved having their swags open and were more concerned about how deep the water may get around them, over what was falling from the sky.

[gronk]

Tip no 1......make sure you have enough beer for the duration.

Tip no 2......make sure you can keep the beer cold for the duration.

Everything else just falls into place !!   

[speewa158]

Gronk    l can see merit in your planning                 

[avotrol]

That's the problem with alcohol restricted areas, you end up having to resupply locally with whatever crap they are selling at usually inflated prices. So here's my tip, take plenty of money for said resupply 

[Pecky]

Remove or secure (tape/cable ties) the plastic ends from roof cross bars as they may fall out on corrugated roads.

cheers
Pecky

[Hoyks]

If you are like me and light up the mozzie coils but keep losing the little holders they come with, raid the stationary cupboard for some bull dog clips or paper clips.

The paper clips can be daisy chained and are handy to stick through the hole in the middle and then hang off something convenient. I hang them off the under side of the table or the car.

The bull dog clips can either be used to clamp the middle of the coil or if you are real rebel, clamp the end and light the middle. A clip on each end makes it easy to attach to things like tent poles.

[edz]

Small tub of Borax powder to mix with honey / sugar or meat scraps and a few milk bottle lids to make ant bait stations to place around the camper tent /  trailer to CULL ants if camped in one spot for a while..
Im a  lazy so and so and usualy just stir the mixes together with out using boiling water,  they still eat the stuff .. Ants are all over it one day and usualy all gone the next .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKYbabTzGvo ..Not a fan of spraying sticky liquid over the gear ..
$2 Solar garden lights X 6  or a couple of strings of white or blue LED fairy lights to zip tie to or place around the awning poles tops or  base and Toilet ensuite, Gives a nice low light ambience around the camper at night / Instead of glaring LED strips .

[Hookie]

If you are like me and light up the mozzie coils but keep losing the little holders they come with, raid the stationary cupboard for some bull dog clips or paper clips.

You can buy a can of 30 for $5. The can functions as a holder and has a handle on top for easy hanging, and it's all enclosed so no worries about burning anything. The only down side is you have to put the other 29 coils somewhere else while you're using it.

I burned coils 24 hrs in our soft floor to keep them from wandering in and it was well worth it.