What's On Your Wishlist For This Season?

[CampingClaire]

Obviously apart from endless sunshine!
Just wondered what everyone was hankering after as a new piece of kit?
We got this
tinyurl.com/om9kf8k
at the end of last summer so it's still our new 'toy' and I LOVE it but that doesn't stop me trawling websites looking for more gizmos and gadgets!
I did see a portable hot tub on an American site the other day but it was $1000 so I'm thinking it's not ever making it's way into our stack of kit!

There's a nordic store nearish me (50mins) - come and see us and camp at the farm and we can go for a tent porn day trip

Oh lavendersun poor you at dodgy campsite!
Right…regarding the Aeropress...I'm also expecting the unctiousness of an espresso from it not just a fancy plunger! I have my eye of a little single espresso maker from GSI which I love the look of too! Like a proper stove top espresso but it shoots out from a little tap into your mug rather than into the jug on top.
I love a gadget!

lavendersun Oops I didn't realise the thread had two pages!
I'm actually envying you the Tentipi purchase now after years of not allowing hubby to get one! Honestly, the couple in theirs on Skye looked so cosy. I think the 5 is good too as you can get a stove in it. The little one isn't set up for that so defeats my purpose for it. It'll be next summers purchase for us (or end of season) I think.

Daisybell - we have the Vango 7.5 cm double SIM and it's great. We bought it a few years ago so I'm sure there are better on the market now though!

I wasn't quite sure what I needed,but now I feel certain its a light up Buddha.

I am home . We camped at a marina, lovely marina with a little campsite, has a pub adjacent and a pool. Just the gang of lads that spoilt it. If I hadn't have moved from our original pitch (wimped out because it was too isolated for me and DD alone) we would have had a lovely time, never mind. Good thing about beer drinking yobs is that they are not up to use the pool at 9am so we swam for an hour with the lovely pool to ourselves.

Claire - we have one of those too (have a million coffee gadgets), a little yellow thing with a tap, bought it in Italy years ago and it has been great, it is at work these days. DH bought another thing last week to reduce his coffee intake apparently - a Musa, single stove top thing (only makes 60ml).

Things have progressed nicely - I ordered the Esvo without telling DH I was buying a new tent ... confessed I was thinking of it and he said 'happy shopping', such a nice man! So then I confessed I had got it wrong and he said Tentipi, as I have been saying, for weekends - I said oooh, Camping Claire wants one of those, she has an Albatros and likes expresso therefore must have outstanding taste. Perhaps we can look at them together .

Win, win, still get a new tent, no grief and nothing to confess. Esvo have confirmed cancellation.

Would you get the inner tent Claire or the groundsheet, I hate bugs. Must look into it more and at other pyramids. Tentipi is a really good weight though, my self imposed limit for a weekend tent is 15kg.

Claire - we are going to a tentipi showroom today. Dh reckons that we need the Safir 7 - he produced proper drawings of both floorplans, horizontally and vertically (engineer type) with us in it at our correct heights! With the stove and us being fairly tall we could do with the extra diameter and height of the 7 to give enough room away from the stove for sleeping.

It has mushroomed .... we are now thinking of buying their stove too, but not until the end of the summer as the tent is more than twice the amount I had planned to spend. I thought we spent enough last year on the DeW, new Brenderup trailer, etc., etc..

We hadn't spent large on camping since 2008 until then - I think it goes in waves don't you, you are happy with your kit for 5-8 years and then go mad!

Well… lavendersun what did you get?!
I'm really regretting talking DH out of this very dilemma a few years ago and letting him get the roof tent which is fine for his wee trips away but not for me!
Think the Safir 7 would be too big for me and DD but believe the little diddy one isn't stove friendly which is what I'd want it for.
Think having the groundsheet is fine with stove but obviously not with open fire!! I hate bugs too (in Scotland) so desperate to hear your feedback on what you went for…this will be next year's wish purchase for me definitely!!
I'd just put our Frontier in it (know a couple who have done this) rather than go to expense of Tentipi stove (all relative really when you add up the total spend!!)

Safir 7 CampingClaire - arrives tomorrow from Nordic Outdoor in Edinburgh. I ordered it online and a lovely man phoned this morning to make sure that we knew what we were getting and that we knew how to deal with canvas. Not the sort of customer service you expect these days.

Didn't buy the groundsheet though - seemed like a rip off - quite flimsy. I can sew and have bought everything I need to make one from Esvo for €100. Plan on making the openings like the pro one. We are going to cut up a huge tarp for this weekend and buy another weavetex 4m square to put on top.

We went to look at them at the Land Rover place near us - they didn't seem into selling them tbh. We didn't see it pitched because the winds were 60mph but had a good feel of the canvas and saw the quality of the finish which is lovely. The stoves are really nice in the flesh too.

We were thinking of the middle one to begin with but all three dealers I spoke to rated the Safir canvas way above the others so we went for the Safir.

We haven't got a stove, only a firebox (like the tentipi one) but I wouldn't want that inside - I can imagine us emerging looking like Victorian children.

We have got a heat pal though (planning on buying the stove at the end of August when we are driving to the Highlands, of course DH wants the pro!).

Very exciting - we are going canoeing with it on Saturday night, pitch booked and everything, DH and I are very bad at encouraging each other at times!

I think you and your hubby pitched up next to us would be a very bad combination! Love the way you "talked' him into the tent and now he's the one wanting the full on stove set up!!
Where are you heading in the Highlands?

All clearly DH's fault - I was buying the Esvo as a weekend tent and he managed to make me agree to a tentipi at 3 x the cost because I could pitch it in 5 mins (and he wanted one)

Not sure where we are going yet - hopefully we will have almost a month.

Probably through the Lakes and up the West Coast with an island or two and down the East side with a couple of visits to family/friends along the way too.

I will book the island sites but other than than am not sure if I will book more than a few days ahead.

Forgot to add that he is now saying - it is so light Lavender that we can take it with us in the trailer and do overnight stops here and there en route to where we are pitching the albatros - great!

Sounds amazing Lavender! Can I gate crash your lakes stopover? ??

Of course you can Daisy, we will probably stay at the site next to the pub that I can't remember the name of near the NT Windermere site, I expect that you have no idea of where I mean - seriously, I will let you know the dates when we know them.

Wray?

Yes, Wray , one of my favourite places even though we are always fairly damp!

It is here!!! Up in the garden, we are hoping to get it wet today and then that it dries tomorrow so that we can take it down to put it up again on Saturday.

It is really nice CampingClaire, not as luxurious as the Albatros but has a different purpose doesn't it - it seems so light by comparison.

The 7 is the right size for us (phew), I am fairly tall and can take one step out from the central pole before I reach the side canvas, just because of the angle of the sides. Lots of room for sitting down around the stove (or heat pal for us at the minute).

We have cut a tarp and I have taken the rag rugs I use in the other tent out of the trailer so we are all set for Saturday.

Hope I don't mind the slugs too much .

Very of Lavender

Haha Daisybell1 I'm so with you on the envious front!
lavendersun Did you get the inner? Intrigued about keeping out the pesky midge. Post pics when it's up please! (I feel the need to drool over kit!).

Can we see a picture please?

Is it Low Wray you are talking about? Are you allowed fires there?

But Daisy ..... I have plans to steal your tent when we finally meet.

CampingClaire - no, we haven't bought the inner (yet). Two of the dealers we spoke to didn't use them. Not sure how it works with midges. We could buy the inner when we buy the stove if we have to if we are not bankrupt by then!

I will take a photo tomorrow , I will time myself putting it up on my own as I am arriving first.

There is a panel of velcro hidden behind a flap above the door which is where you attach the porch. DH, in his wisdom, said "oh look you could make a vario". Lovely. I made a tarp last night out of heavy polycotton canvas that I had for another project. It looks OK, for now, fastens onto the tent with a 16" piece of velcro on a flap of canvas. We have stolen a pole from the door of the albatros for tomorrow but DH is going to draw up a pattern for me to make a shaped canopy rather than just this rectangular tarp thing.

When he gets involved these things take on a life of their own!! Although he has refered to it as my tent several times!

Yes it is Low Wray - no fires at the NT site, not sure about anywhere else round there.

Please steal away Lavender - you can show me how to pitch it properly!

I may have a teeny crush on your OH - could he design me a vario?????

Well, my husband is in love. CampingClaire the whole tent is like a gadget! Took me 10 mins to put up and take down, so light.

I did see one or two beetles scuttling across the floor so not for the faint hearted!

I think I might have made a mistake on the groundsheet front. Whilst it is possible to make one for £80 I think that the appeal of the TT one might be the lightness of it. I think I missed my ESVO order this weekend but have decided not to cut it right now and to view the inner tents and groundsheets in a couple of weeks when we camp at half term before I/we decide which is best.

CampingClaire - on the bushcraft forums (hark at me, I have been a comfort camper for 20 odd years!) they reckon that the inner doesn't stop midges because they don't come in at the bottom and the net at the top is mosquito sized, not midge sized. No experience, only what I have read.

The tarp thing worked fine, I don't think we need one tbh, I could see a small one that shielded the door area from the rain being useful. DH liked it though and would like a refined version.

Size wise it isn't that big really, the 7 refers to 7 bodies sleeping on the floor so three sims and our (minimal gear) meant that it was fairly full.

We used our heat pal to keep it warm (dropped to 5 degrees), a stove would be much better though. I did take a couple of photos, will post them tomorrow.

Not the best photo - I tried to take some of the inside to show the amount of room but they are not very clear.

We now seem to be buying some new chairs, for this tent (it is like a runaway train), just buying one to begin with to see how we like it.

www.amazon.co.uk/Ergolife-Packing-Organiser-Stol-Portable/dp/B001HMLUAE/ref=pd_sim_sg_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BDCW6JB8CBTTVDP7DYK

The idea is that the tent and all the gear will fit in the roof box with only a (shared) clothes bag in the car when the dog comes with us or everything in the boot when she doesn't.