Camping and a MX-5 are they compatible?

[MollieO]

Have been thinking about going camping some weekends this summer with ds (soon to be 5). One possibly insurmountable problem is my car - a Mazda MX-5 convertible. Do you think it is possible to get camping gear small enough to fit in the boot?

Hi Riven. I think the boot size is equivalent to the amount of stuff you'd be prepared to carry on a train.

The last time I went camping in this country was with the girl guides and we made everything out of wood. Out of all the camping gear you can buy what do you think is essential and what is a waste of space? Obviously tent and sleeping bags but what else?

Thanks Riven for your fab list. I will be going shopping this weekend for a tent to fit in the boot. Everything else on your list will fit in the car.

Is there any space behind the seats at all? Might be able to put things such as sleeping mats there...
mx-5 has 150l of boot space... so 2 large rucksacks-ish.
Trangias are great- and pretty safe with children... but they do take a long time to cook stuff. We have a coleman alpine stove which is gas, but folds up teeny, and fits into our pans, trangia-style... though of course the gas canister doesn't

You can get 3/4 length thermarests which are smaller packed-size- ideal for ds, and adequate for you I'm sure (unless you're 6' of course) There are also backpacking-specific ones, which aren't as heavy or bulky as the normal green ones.

Get the warmest sleeping bags you can so you don't need to take blankets... if you're too warm, you can always open the zip. You can also get silk liners- keeps your sleeping bag clean, extra warm in cold, extra cool in heat, and stuffed into a bag smaller than a malt loaf!

If there will only ever be you and DS... maybe go for a 1 and 1/2 man backpacking tent rather than 2 man...

It will be tight, but only the same as backpacking without a car.

We did 3 weeks in a TVR s1 round Europe for our honeymoon. It was very minimalist and we did have a slight hiccup when both our tent leaked and the roof leaked. We ended up sitting in the car holding an umbrella over the car but we made it to Rome and back with a bottle of booze from each country safely stowed. I remember it fondly.

....you can also get a rack to fit atop the boot. Ideal for strapping sft items like tent bags on to...

Quite stylish in a 50s scarf and goggles sort of way...

I bought one from 'Friday Ad' for £50 last year.

A motorbike sidecar?!

I will always find room for booze - will get ds to sacrifice toy space

Pre-kids DH and I managed to go camping in an original model Lotus Elise, and that had a really small boot (and an even smaller boot opening, so any item you put into the boot needed to be small indeed). We did prioritise size over other considerations when buying kit (so looked at tents and sleeping bags that compressed right down, and even managed to source a really handy folding table that packed down to a very small size, but with care it was quite practical.