Date:         Mon, 8 Aug 94 10:01:08 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ritchiej@ucs.orst.edu (John Ritchie)
Subject:      Re: Camper Equipmetn Advise Needed


Holy Cow, Steve!  Vanagons must be WAY bigger inside than Transporters!  With
that list of stuff you bring camping there'd be no room for any people, much
less surfboards, in my `74 7-passenger bus!

OK, so here's my list of camping stuff and considerations... bear in mind that
I don't have kids and only camp with, at most, one other person.

Cooking gear:  One (1) cardboard box that has a couple plates, forks and
spoons, a set of backpacking pots inside of a medium saucepan with lid, a
Coleman backpacking stove with windscreen, some dish soap and matches, some
salt and pepper and mosquito repellant, a few misc. plastic and paper bags, a
box of coffee filters and a drip cone, a couple of coffee cups, a thermos,
some barbeque utensils, a small roll of toilet paper and a small one of paper 
towels, a box of tinfoil, and misc. whatever else ends up in it.  I carry a
mini-Weber charcoal grill but Steve's talk about a gas grill has got me
thinking... not only is charcoal slower but you have to pack briquettes and
deal with the mess...  Hmm....  You may have scored another convert Steve!

On longer trips with questionable water supply I carry a 5-gallon jug
with spigot for water.  It rides next to the back hatch.  Dishes are
done in the largest cook pot that's dirty.

Cooling gear: One (1) mid-sized cooler.  I'd like to have more cooling, but
it's just a lowly Transporter (no icebox) and I like to be able to bungee my
cooler to the back seat so it doesn't wander around.  If I have two people
I'll often use a bigger cooler though.

A bag with groceries and/or garbage.

Sleeping arrangements:  This is pretty vehicle-specific if you're going to
sleep in the bus.  Bobo has a fold-down rear seat (thank you VW!) and I have a
folding plywood sheet and a mini-mattress that I can use to make a bed up on
the back.  I carry blankets because they're so much nicer than a sleeping bag.
If I have a non-intimate camping partner I'll bring an air-mattress and a
sleeping bag for them to sleep diagonally on the floor unless they're too
tall, then it's me on the floor.

1 or two duffles for clothes, depending on the length of the trip and size of
the bag, and number of people.

Going to the coast there'll be a Rubbermaid tub for the wetsuit and one or two
boards in boardbags.

Lighting: One (1) flashlight for nighttime emergency auto repair and
bush excursions.  In the above-mentioned cardboard box there's also a
candle to provide mood lighting. ;)  If I'm going to be camping in a
campground I'd like to bring a pump-up pellet rifle for shooting out the
neighbors damn star-eclipsing blinding damn Coleman lantern but I'm a
little too well socially adjusted for that... barely.  Fortunately I
don't use campgrounds that much... Sorry Steve, I just had to express an
alternate point of view!  :) :)

Standard equipment that always stays in Bobo:  the above-mentioned flashlight,
a tube of sunblock, tide tables and a Swiss Army knife with corkscrew and can
opener.  Oh yeah, I should mention that the middle seat is almost never in the
bus either, in case anybody had any doubts!  :)

As always, YMMV,

John
(just returned from a wonderful weekend camping/surfing trip on the coast)
Ritchie

ritchiej@ucs.orst.edu