Camping gear

[kevinbrooker]

My wife and I are taking the BC12D for an overnight camp trip. Tent/sleeping bags/pad and a few small creature comforts. Seems volume is more of an issue than weight as most gear these days is pretty lightweight. There are restaurants near by so packing food and cooking gear is not an issue. I've seen some impressive setups out at Oshkosh. How much stuff do people typically bring? If this goes well my hope is having a few more of these type of outings.

[Mark Bowden]

Hi, where are you going/camping?

One thing that is important is to still weigh your stuff and keep the baggage to <50 lbs so you dont violate W&B. Mind your total gross weight and the density altitude, it will not climb the same at max gross.
You can put stuff behind your feet too.

I use Big Agnes tents and bags as they are small, light and pack tightly.
Take a first aid kit; you can get nice "adventure" ones online.
Also take tie down gear and lines, i.e. The Claw Kit.
Take rain gear.
Use non vented gas caps for your overnight stay to keep the rain out. Still sump your tanks prior to flight and put the vented ones back on!!!!
Make a small took kit that also includes zipties, tape, safety wire, spare plug, windshield cleaner, etc... Micro chamios.

It is a challenge to camp and have enough kit to go more than one day when you have a passenger.
Have fun.

[Scott]

Wieght is most definitely an issue especially considering the CofG moves aft as you burn off fuel.

Two of today's size people (340) plus 12Gallons of fuel (72) in an optimistically wieghed BC12D and your already over gross and we haven't even included headsets, ipad, toothbrush etc..

S

[kevinbrooker]

Thanks for the replies. My wife and I had a BLAST. We took our bicycle touring gear which is light and packs small. The idea for this trip was to get our feet wet and not dive in too deep or fast. For a first go we flew to Goodspeed Airport (42b) in East Haddam, CT. Great spot with easy food but no fuel. Super supportive aviation community and beautiful location right along the CT River. amenities within sight of the tent. Can't recommend the place enough. Fuel in Meriden 17 mi east or Chester 5 miles east is easy to find and inexpensive. Took a local pilot with me to Meriden. She had never flown in an airplane with less than 100 HP or a panel filled with gauges/avionic, or required use of the rudder on a regular basis. She was stunned at how much fun a pilot can have with 65 hp and looking out the window.

Camping gear weighed in at 24 lbs w/o food and cooking gear. The list was a tent, two sleeping pads, 2 sleeping bags, 2 folding chairs, inflatable pillows, daypack, each towels, and clothing/toiletries. Add in the headsets/pilot stuff, some water, aircraft care (tie downs, qt oil, etc), and bringing the carried discretionary weight (camping and pilot stuff) to 41. lbs, The camping gear fit behind the seat. I have been stripping weight from the airplane as I can. Some stupidly small amounts (the CF brake dust and other covers/fairings) and really scrutinizing other items. I made 4" wide chocks from a scrap of cedar 4x4. These weigh in at 9 oz. Tiedown ropes is 5 MM braided spectra cord. 2, 15' pieces fit into a sandwich zipper bag and weights under 2 oz. Breaking strength is over 4000 lbs. which should suffice. My tiedowns are made from 3 chain links and 6 pole barn spikes. This weighs under a pound and packs into the space of a paper towel tube. They hold really well and deploy similar to the Claw. If I can find it at the right cost I'll replace the spikes with titanium. Stronger and lighter.

We used the Tcraft bench seat and backrest as additional sleep pads. In the morning everything was wet from condensation. Dry as we might, the repack probably ended up packing an extra pound or two of water. We also had less fuel so paid little to no penalty there. An early departure for Block Island about 40 minutes away delivered a really wonderful day of cycling, walking, beachcombing, and a legit sunburn.

What did we learn: This type of adventure with some reliance of the location providing food is definitely doable in a Tcraft. We didn't suffer or make huge sacrifices. We didn't expect everything to become so wet and will pack a second wipedown towel for the next trip. Sleeping in a tent at 58 years old is still fun and mostly comfortable. The Tcraft is a lot more capable than just being "a great time builder..."

Thanks for the replies and advice. Made for a really fun adventure.

[kevinbrooker]

Here is another account of our camping adventures:

https://generalaviationnews.com/2024/09/16/airplane-camping-on-a-weight-and-space-budget/?utm_source=TPOA&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=202 40917

[mikeg]

BTW - DON'T set the tent up under the wing trailing edge - learned that the hard way - but then I'm slow LOL
Mike

[kevinbrooker]

Mike, There must be a good story with that learning experience.

We don't set up under the wing for fear of walking into the TE. In the pic the tent is set up between the stab and TE with the door facing out. If it happens to rain the distance is enough water shedding off the wing will miss the tent.