Put your Camping tips here

All About How You Home Away From Home.

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

Post Reply
User avatar
grandfatherjim
Addicted!
Location: near Ottawa Canada
Status: Offline

Post by grandfatherjim » Thu Apr 01, 2010 3:37 pm

I like this one a lot!
Reminds me of the fuel gauge on a Ferguson tractor: the tractor came with a wrench that had the two most common sizes of nuts and bolts on the ends, and was marked in one-inch increments. You could use it to measure the depth of your furrow.
The eight gallon fuel tank was eight inches deep, so you could use the same wrench to measure your fuel (provided you were OK with using Imperial gallons).
Jim

User avatar
iwantmybustorun
Addicted!
Location: Coventry, CT
Status: Offline

Post by iwantmybustorun » Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:07 am

I'll be heading out on a month long camping trip from Ct to Ca later this summer and I'm looking for something to charge my phone, gps, computer, and other electronics while camping. Has anyone used one of these?
http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... 8gIwATgA#p
73 Westy
1700
Weber single progressive
[Crane ignition system out]
SVDA and points

User avatar
grandfatherjim
Addicted!
Location: near Ottawa Canada
Status: Offline

Post by grandfatherjim » Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:08 am

We have been charging that stuff from our regular starting battery and the load is so small as to be insignificant i.e. the car will still start no problem.
Just spent a three day weekend camping and charged multiple phones and video cameras, and played music a lot of the time, and the bus fired right up. Measured voltage just before starting and we were at 12.2.
So my vote would be not to bother as it's one more thing to lug around.
Jim

User avatar
iwantmybustorun
Addicted!
Location: Coventry, CT
Status: Offline

Post by iwantmybustorun » Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:32 pm

grandfatherjim wrote:We have been charging that stuff from our regular starting battery and the load is so small as to be insignificant i.e. the car will still start no problem.
Jim
Really? What do you hook them to? Do you have an inverter instead? What year are you talking?
73 Westy
1700
Weber single progressive
[Crane ignition system out]
SVDA and points

User avatar
grandfatherjim
Addicted!
Location: near Ottawa Canada
Status: Offline

Post by grandfatherjim » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:13 pm

We have one of the small inverters that plugs into a cigarette lighter outlet; I think it's 75 watts. This is OK for us but you might want a larger capacity one for your PC. They aren't very expensive and you can find them easily.
In some cases the phones come with a 12 volt plug already, so that's easy.
We also have an adapter that plugs into a 12v outlet, and provides you with the large size USB connector. One of our phones gets charged from that with a USB cable.
It's a '72 bus but I have added 12 volt outlets all over the place for convenience.
Jim

User avatar
twinfalls
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Post by twinfalls » Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:06 am

grandfatherjim wrote: It's a '72 bus but I have added 12 volt outlets all over the place for convenience.
Jim
What sort of plug do you use ? Is there some offcial socket/plug for 12V DC ?
1974 stock US Westy 1800cc PDSIT 34 2-3.

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Post by dtrumbo » Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:00 am

twinfalls wrote:Is there some offcial socket/plug for 12V DC ?
Cigarette lighter sockets.

Image
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

User avatar
grandfatherjim
Addicted!
Location: near Ottawa Canada
Status: Offline

Post by grandfatherjim » Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:03 am

dtrumbo wrote:
twinfalls wrote:Is there some offcial socket/plug for 12V DC ?
Cigarette lighter sockets.

Image
Yes. You can also get double or even triple outlets that can be hard wired in.

User avatar
twinfalls
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Post by twinfalls » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:22 pm

These are terrible.
The cigarette lighter is source of bad contacts.
The clamps a source of shorts when slipping.
I was dreaming of a real plug/socket made for high amperes one can have using inverters; Knowing there was none, but who knows...
A 250 Watt unit will draw about 25 A on the 12 V battery. This asks for a serious conection.

I was told about a 4 terminal plug they use in audio when using 12v DC.
1974 stock US Westy 1800cc PDSIT 34 2-3.

User avatar
static
IAC Addict!
Location: Somewhere on I-5
Status: Offline

Post by static » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:09 pm

I use a BMW plug (DIN). I mounted the outlet on the seat pedestal just under my right knee and can plug in stuff whilst driving. That's how I charge my iPod, cellphone, etc.

http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suit ... ckets.html


Image

User avatar
Sylvester
Bad Old Puddy Tat.
Location: Sylvester, Georgia
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Put your Camping tips here

Post by Sylvester » Sat Jun 11, 2011 4:30 pm

I got one of these from my unit today, I intend to use it as a small kitchen add on table and keep the utensils in it. The bad thing is it is bulky and weighs 58 pounds. The top of the table is the cover, all this becomes a box with handles.

Image
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

User avatar
sped372
IAC Addict!
Location: Waunakee, WI
Status: Offline

Re: Put your Camping tips here

Post by sped372 » Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:30 am

For those of you with iceboxes, here's a technique we've developed which works well on longer outings where you don't want to have to worry about finding ice refills...

Getcher self a thermos and also one of those 5 gallon insulated water coolers (with the spigot at the bottom):
Image Image

The tray in our icebox will hold a little more than five pounds of ice. That will usually last (depending on the weather) a day or so; longer towards the beginning of trips when the box is full of cold food and shorter if the weather is hot and the box is emptier because we've been into the beer.

At the beginning of the trip, I buy one twenty pound bag of ice (cubes) and one 5-7 pound bag (depending on what's available wherever I happen to stop). The small bag is the first charge for the icebox itself and the twenty pounder fills the five gallon cooler perfectly (don't add any water).

Once or twice a day I'll restock the ice supply in the icebox, taking handfuls from the ice in the five gallon water cooler. I make sure my hands are clean and try to use a squirt of hand sanitizer before transferring the ice. I will also use the spigot at the bottom of the cooler to drain any meltwater into the smaller thermos. Keeping the water off the ice helps the ice itself last longer. When we stop for gas I can buy whatever sized bag of ice will fill the empty space in the cooler, instead of being held hostage to the small tray in the icebox.

The 5 gallon cooler is much more conveniently-sized and maneuverable than a traditional "chest" cooler. It will fit between the jumpseat and the icebox, doubles as a stool, and at night it goes in front of the passenger seat on the floor in the cab.

We can usually go three days, and sometimes longer without having to buy more ice and we always have a fresh supply of ice-cold drinking water using this technique. I don't think we could live without the built-in icebox. It seems to me the iceboxes shrunk over the years, but we love the one in our '70. It's huge, easily accessed, and the food is never swimming in cold water. Having the auxiliary ice supply system has made it even better.
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

User avatar
grandfatherjim
Addicted!
Location: near Ottawa Canada
Status: Offline

Re:

Post by grandfatherjim » Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:02 am

twinfalls wrote:These are terrible.
The cigarette lighter is source of bad contacts.
The clamps a source of shorts when slipping.
I was dreaming of a real plug/socket made for high amperes one can have using inverters; Knowing there was none, but who knows...
A 250 Watt unit will draw about 25 A on the 12 V battery. This asks for a serious conection.

I was told about a 4 terminal plug they use in audio when using 12v DC.
You're right. After three summers of screwing around with lighter sockets that came loose, arced, blew fuses, or melted, I have just converted to a four terminal plug that was originally used on a voltage regulator from a tractor. This is only because I had a couple (they are sexless so two will mate) [hmm, odd concept] leftovers from where I used to work - anyway they are essentially bullet connectors. They were designed for high current and are a very tight fit when connected so I think they'l do the job.
Jim

User avatar
deschutestrout
IAC Addict!
Location: Maupin, Oregon
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Put your Camping tips here

Post by deschutestrout » Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:07 pm

Recently invested in a vintage Coleman oven that fits on a 2 burner coleman stove. Works awesome! I'm a lover of luxury camping and cooking. And...sometimes using the dutch oven (which I love by the way) ... but sometimes it is sort of a hassle for simple baking needs. I've baked pizza, heated lasagna, bread, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, quiche .... etc. Awesome! They still make these, but I opted for a vintage one off eBay (new/unused ones show up there all the time ... and you can usually get one shipped for roughly the price of a new one ... and I figure the old ones are better made with heavier gauge steel. Westy78 picked one up too...and I think he's been happy with it too. Best $50 I've spent on cool camp gear in a long time. I chose one of the gold and black ones .... there is an older one with a diamond logo...but from the pictures it looks like a slightly different design...and I like the design of mine better. Solid 'lil beast! Get one! You'll be happy you did! And your friends will say "wow dude! that's pretty cool!"
"You're not always obligated to paint an outhouse." Ruckman 2011

User avatar
JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
Status: Offline

Re: Put your Camping tips here

Post by JLT » Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:59 pm

deschutestrout wrote:Recently invested in a vintage Coleman oven that fits on a 2 burner coleman stove. Works awesome!
We use a bunch of these little guys here at the Gold Country Campers. On a typical weekend campout, Friday night is often "Pizza Night" and folks either roll their own right at the campsite or buy those little 8" frozen pizzas, which fit into the oven just fine. We've also baked a ham, biscuits, scones, and so on.

I'll be sure to bring mine to the RendezVW, so others can play with it, too.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

Post Reply