This week I’ve had big plans for getting outside and having fun, but unfortunately my timings haven’t worked out and I’ve not managed to get away. Therefore this is another gear post. This week, my three favourite pieces of camping gear, all of which have had a dramatic affect on how I camp.
Multimat Camper Air
For years I had been using a cheap foam and although it kept me reasonably warm, it was rather bulky to haul around and wasn’t the most comfortable to sleep on. I’d wake up multiple times throughout the night with aching muscles as my body tried to adjust to the hard surface.
It was time for a change, so I began looking at lightweight self-inflating mats. I looked at many different brands but due to budget constraints and their pack down size I wasn’t convinced. I had seen blow up products like the Thermarest NeoAir and was amazed at how tiny they packed down to. But I am skint and the idea spending £100 on something didn’t appeal to me. Then one day while browsing the Internet I found an off-season Multimat Camper Air for a friendly £9.
Because it’s so cheap I don’t mind sleeping straight on it when I don’t have a tent, and any mud wipes off it quite easily. It packs down so small that I can fit it inside any pack without risk of drawing attention. But the best thing about it is the comfort! Ohh my goodness it is comfortable! Now I can sleep on the lumpiest of surfaces and still get a good nights sleep. I’m a side sleeper and even my bony hips don’t make this mattress bottom out. I don’t think I’ll go back to the foam mat for a while!
Even though it is awesome, there are two big flaws. The first of which is the inflation and deflation time. It takes a good few minutes to fully inflate, during which you’ll feel like your lungs want to retire to a deckchair on a cruse ship. And packing it up is a total pain. The passages between the baffles at the top and bottom crumple up when inflated, making it really difficult to push the air out of them. I’ve come up with a technique to empty it but it still takes a long time.
Alpkit Hunka Bivi
I’ve always been a fan of camping in a tent. Its so exciting to construct your house for the night out of some material and then sleep so close to whatever is outside the tent. But when I started researching Bivi camping I realised this might be even better. Alistair Humphreys summed it up when he said
“You are not cocooned from the environment as you are in a tent. In a tent you are basically in a rubbish version of indoors. In a bivi bag you really are outside. You feel the breeze on your face, look up at the stars before you sleep and sit up to a brilliant view in the morning.”
This really stuck with me so I went ahead and purchased the Alpkit Hunka bivi for a nice £30. And do you know what, Alistair was right! There is nothing like falling asleep on the top of a hill, having a final look out into the darkness before closing your eyes, surrounded by the rest of the world. Solo bivi camping is such an intense rush that after a night by yourself under the stars you feel like you can do anything.
Last of all,
Tetkoba’s Capillary Hoop Alcohol Stove
I had been using a compact gas stove that I got for Christmas when I was about 10 for years until I started to think about the cost of the gas bottles and the overall weight. As a spur of the moment purchase I bought a cheapy folding solid fuel stove and even used this for all our cooking on a few bothy trips. But it wasn’t the best and the fuel cubes cost a lot.
I was reading an article one day and there was a link to a video of someone making an alcohol stove out of a beer can. I love making things so decided to give this a go, making the simplest design I could find. It worked well but I was sure there were some changes that could be made to make it more efficient. That’s when I stumbled upon Tetkoba’s channel and found the Capillary Hoop stove. It was a little more complex but a lot of fun to make and hugely satisfying to see working.
I mentioned this stove before on my Cookset post, but I don’t think I really emphasized how much of a little beast this thing is! It is tiny, holds a pot (if the ground isn’t flat I’ll make a pot stand out of stones), boils water damn fast and uses barely any fuel.
Just like the other products I’ve mentioned in this post, I don’t think I could justify going back to a normal gas stove for my usual trips. Because it is so cheap (free) to make I don’t worry about it getting damaged and so efficient that I rarely have to buy more fuel. I really love this stove, not only because I made it, but also because it works, well!
Quickly I’d like to add my little Gerber Dime. It’s not really in my camping gear as it lives on my keys but it is a great wee tool that I use almost every day. I like to keep my pockets fairly empty and I’m definitely not an EDC type person. I work in a TV studio and the pliers and packaging opener squeezed into this tiny multitool are so useful to constantly have in my pocket. I do bring it on my trips away and the knife, although small, comes in really handy. Also the hidden tweezers are a nice addition and the bottle opener key hoop has been heavily…. tested.
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