| PACK 460 CAMPING INFO |
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District Committee Camping Chair Presentation – For Cub Scouts & Parents
Tips & Information on What Camping Gear to Bring on a Camping Trip
Ideal things you would need on a camping trip:
Camping Equipment Tent, tarp, stakes Clothes Cub Scout Uniform & pack t-shirt Toilet Kit · Toothbrush, toothpaste, comb/brush · Washcloth, towel · Soap in container · A roll of toilet paper
First Aid · Personal first aid kit (Pack 460 has first aid kit with everything) · Prescribed medicine · Water bottle · Flashlight for each person · Lantern · Extra batteries for flashlight & air pump · Sunscreen · Insect repellent – Family care sensitive · Whistle
Extras · Camera · Sunglasses · Notebook and pencil · Extra bag for dirty clothes · Ice cooler · Folding table · Tent fans · Broom – to clean the inside of the tent.
Program Options · Swimsuit, towel · Bikes · Fishing gear · Work glove
Type of Tent to Purchase that will Fit Your Needs
1. SIZE & TYPE
Tent capacity is based on the square footage and how many standard sleeping bags will fit in it. For example, a 2-person tent will accommodate just two people. There will be very little elbow room or extra storage space. You'll find a 4-person tent will be more comfortable for two people, and you will have space to spread out and store your gear too. For a family of four I recommend a 6-person tent. As a rule-of-thumb buy a tent that has a capacity rated two people higher than the number that will actually be using it. You may want to check out the multi-room tents. If you're camping with the kids, a 2-room tent provides a little privacy. Multi-room tents come in 2-room styles, where the rooms are separated by an inside tent wall with a zippered door. There are 3-room styles that are like the 2-room ones but with an added screen room, which is nice for changing wet or dirty clothes before entering the other rooms, and which are great for setting up chairs or a table to use in case it rains. There are also 2-room tents, which have just one large sleeping area and an attached screen room. Tents with screen rooms attached are great for storing gear outside the sleeping area.
2. FEATURES
•A tent with aluminum poles’ may come with fiberglass poles, but they are fragile and more likely to break. If you bend or break a pole, most camping stores sell replacements or repair kits.? •A tent with an adequate rainfly.?The rainfly is your tent's umbrella. The bigger the better. Look for a fly that comes well down the sides of the tent rather than just across the top. Rainflies are waterproof. Tent walls are water-repellant.? •A tent with folded seams and double stitching you can pull the material on either side of a seam and see through the stitches, this tent will leak. Be sure to use seam sealer on all seams.? OR YOU CAN PURCHASE SEPARATE WATERPROOF SPRAY FOR TENTS BUT ONLY SPRAY THE SEAMS. •A tent with a one piece tub floor.?The floor should be made of waterproof material, and it should come a few inches up the sides before it is sown to the tent walls. No seam in the floor means there is no place for water to seep in.? •A tent with adequate guy lines.?Tent walls, and sometimes rainflies, has loops sown near the middle. These loops are used to attach guy lines that pull out the walls so that they are taught. It's impossible to sleep in a tent that's flapping in the wind.? •A tent with good-sized stake loops.?There should be loops at the base of your tent in every corner and at the center of each side. These loops need to be big enough to accommodate the large plastic stakes sold in camping stores. Material stake loops are preferred. Plastic ones might break when you hammer in the stakes.? •A tent that uses noseeum meshing.?This is the best material for keeping those nasty little bugs out.? •A tent with a roof vent.?Opening this at night will help create some air circulation and eliminate condensation inside your tent.? •A tent with heavy-duty zippers.?You'll be in and out of your tent a lot so you want zippers that will hold up to frequent use. . 3. BUDGET
Good places for tents, as a matter of fact for camping equipment.
Bass Pro Shops – Has variety of tents. Some are expensive than other places but carries a great warranty. Any issues with the tents you can return the tent itself or part.
Kmart – I brought my cabin tent there (16ft x 14ft) for $150.00 dollars. Keep an eye on the sales. Also brought a shower tent for $20 dollars and screen tent for $30 dollars.
Walmart – Good variety of tents they have as cheap as $29 dollars for a small two person tent
Target – Has nice tents but a little expensive.
Harbor Freight – has a handful of camping things. Online – Ebay
Good source for different types of camping equipment would be Bass Pro or Walmart.
Tips to prolong the life of the tent 1. Never store food in or around your tent, and never eat in your tent. The smell of food alone will tempt critters to tear into your tent to get at it. If your campsite has a picnic table, eat there and store food in your car. If you have a tent with an attached screen room, its okay to eat there, but be sure to thoroughly clean up afterwards or you will be bothered by ants, bugs, and other critters. If you camp in an area that is prone to pests, consider buying a separate screen room to set up as an eating area. 2. If your tent comes with a ground cloth, use it. These footprint tarps are made slightly smaller than the base of your tent. Their purpose is to help protect the tent floor from sticks, stones, and rough spots. They also help to keep ground water from seeping into the tent. You can use a regular tarp, but be sure to tuck the edges under the tent so that rain doesn't run down the tent walls onto the tarp and consequently collects under the tent. 3. When you return from a camping trip or at the camping site, allow your tent to dry and air it out. This will help prevent mold and mildew. 4. Do not store your tent in a stuff sack. Store it loosely in a dry ventilated area. Use the stuff sack to pack your tent when going to and from the campground. 5. To help protect the tent’s bottom and give additional protection with the rain weather and ant hills, use a blue tarp under the tent. Some tents have a built-in tarp protection, but add’l protection never hurts anyone.
Information on Stakes
The majority of tents will come with normal stakes which is for soft grounds. You should purchase a stake anvil to drive stake into the ground.
There are heavy duty stakes that you can purchase at Bass Pro or Harbor Freight. They would be used for hard/rough grounds. In my experience the ground at the Everglades campground was hard and the heavy stakes were needed. The Pack will let you know.
Information on Sleeping Bags
You will want to shop carefully for one in the right size, shape, warmth, fabric, weight, and price needs. • SIZE Who will be using it? An average sized person can fit comfortably inside most sleeping bags, but a small or a very large person needs to actually crawl inside one to be sure that it's long enough and wide enough for comfort and small enough to retain warmth. A well-fitting bag will allow room to turn over and move around a little bit, but will not have so much air space that body heat won't warm it sufficiently. A short person or a child might be able to get by with a normal sized sleeping bag by tying off the lower portion with twine or camping straps. • SHAPE Sleeping bags come in either a rectangle, mummy or tapered shape, narrower at the bottom. The rectangular ones have more room to move around in. Generally, they are the least expensive and easiest to zip together to make a double bag for two people, but they are also the bulkiest and heaviest. Mummy bags tend to be warmer because there is less space to heat. They also take up less room in a stuff bag and are the most heat-efficient. Tapered bags fall between the two. They can be zipped to others with matching zippers, take less body heat to warm them than rectangular ones, and allow some room for foot movement. • WARMTH (TEMPERATURE RATING) Most bags are rated according to the lowest temperatures in which they provide comfort, but there is no set standard in the industry. The rating is determined by the manufacturer. A bag rated as "three season" means that it will be comfortable for sleeping for an average person in temperatures ranging from about 15º through the summer. The type of fill (insulation) determines the amount of warmth that stays inside the bag; the warmth itself comes from the body heat of the person sleeping it in. Goose down is a natural fiber that has long been held as the standard as lightweight, comfortable, and warm. They compact easily into small stuff bags, mold easily around a camper's body to retain heat, and are extremely durable. The down side is that they can be miserably uncomfortable if they get wet, take longer to dry, are more expensive than most synthetics, and are most safely cleaned professionally. Synthetic fills provide enough warmth for most casual campers. Follow the manufacturer's guidelines for temperature rating, but adjust it according to your personal sleeping habits. If you know you are a cold sleeper, get one rated at a lower degree than you will be camping in. Any sleeping bag can be made warmer by using a purchased or home-sewn flannel liner, and some bags come with their own. • CARRYING WEIGHT Backpackers need to be concerned about this more than campground or car campers, when every ounce inside a back can feel like a pound after a day on the trail. Sleeping bags made for backpackers tend to weigh 6 pounds or less, so if you think you might want to pack into a camp site, look for a lightweight sleeping back. • FABRIC & COLOR Some outer shells are moisture resistant; this is terrific at keeping out dampness, but they also can keep moisture in, resulting in a cold and clammy sleeping experience. If you perspire heavily, you may prefer a cotton exterior, or at least an absorbent interior fabric. Some of the new materials will wick moisture to the outside without allowing it to penetrate in; they can add $100 to the price of a sleeping bag, but if you frequently camp in wet weather, it might be worth it. Dark colors, both inside and outside, draw more heat from the sun. This is good on two counts: they dry out more quickly, and they stay warmer on cold, bright days. • PRICE A good sleeping bag, intended for regular use during two or three seasons over a period of five or six years, will probably cost at least $80. If you plan to camp for an entire summer, want you bag to last a lifetime, have allergies to some of the components, or need a very lightweight, very warm, water-wicking fabric, you can spend many hundreds of dollars. Large, heavy, flannel-lined and canvas covered ones can be found for less than $50. These are fine for car camping during temperate seasons. • CARE & STORAGE Always open the bag after a night of sleeping in it to air it out. If it's not raining or damp out, spread it across the top of your tent or car for freshening. Most sleeping bags are too large for most home washers. Take them to a Laundromat with jumbo sized equipment for laundering, or to a professional cleaning service. Synthetic fill usually air dries quickly on a clothesline or spread out on a flat surface. If it's safe for machine drying (check the tags!) toss a tennis shoe in with it to fluff it up. |