 | Columbia Cougar Flats Six to Eight-Person Two-Room Cabin Tent
My wife and I use this tent for ourselves. It gives us plenty of room to step off of the air mattress to change clothes. The 2nd room allows us to store our clothes, accessories, and grand daughters.
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 | Sundome 3 Tent 7 x 7, 3 Person
Buy new: $59.99 We set up several of these dome tents over 4 side-by-side campsites for the kids and their kids. Plenty big enough for 2.5 people and their camping crud.
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 | Coleman Rechargeable Quick Pump
Buy new: $32.99 / Used from: $100.00 A rechargeable air pump is very handy to top off an air mattress before bedtime. A full charge will inflate 10 of our air mattresses or deflate the same number.
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 | Aerobed Raised Queen Bed with Pillow Support
Buy new: $109.89 This bed has a built-in pump that requires 120VAC @ 100W. The startup current killed the Xantrex 100 Powerpack so we use the 600 watt battery box to power them. This bed is VERY comfortable.
As a bonus, we've used it for guests that sleep over at the house. Easy to set up and easy tear down. It comes with a cloth storage bag.
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 | Coleman Inflatable Nightstand with Checkers
Buy new: $15.93 We use two of these in our tent to contain flashlights, water bottles, and other odds and ends that seem to roll away in the dark of the night.
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 | OD Green Medium ALICE Pack w/Straps
Buy new: $64.95 / Used from: $18.99 We use this ALICE pack to store bulky items such as air pumps, rechargers, hyperdrive motivators, walkie-talkies, and flux capacitors.
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 | Columbia Shoshoni Falls Shower Tent
Lots of room to shower after a rough day of camping. Use the ZODI double burner water heater for hot water. I recommend a drainable rubber mat to step onto when exiting the shower tent to keep water and muck off of your feet.
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 | ZODI Outback Gear Hot Tap HP Instant Shower
Buy new: $246.95 This works best if you replace the 6v pump with the 12v pump so that you can leave the water running while you shower. The downside is that you'll need a mate to control the water temperature by adjusting the flame.
Take a 10 or 20 gallon plastic tub to hold the water.
NOTE: Dry out the pump between trips. We stored it wet one year and found that it had rusted and failed.
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 | Lafuma RSX Mesh Recliner, Forest
Buy new: $139.95 Relax - take a load off in a zero gravity recliner. Lift the armrests up and lean back. Very comfortable!
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 | Expedition 3X Triple Burner Stove
Buy new: $219.99 We replaced the 2-burner flat-top with a 3-burner size. It allows us to make breakfast for 12, including bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and french toast in 20 minutes. Beware, this thing eats propane like candy. A 20 pound bottle lasts us about 5 days.
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 | Camp Chef CB90 Carry bag for three burner stove
Buy new: $30.62 / Used from: $27.99 The stove is heavy and yucky after use! This carry bag makes it easier and cleaner to haul around and store.
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 | Camp Chef SG-100 Professional 37" x 16" Fry Griddle - SG-100
This griddle fits over all 3 burners of the Camp Chef stove. It works great for making mass quantities of eggs, sausage, bacon, french toast, hamburgers, etc.
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 | Camp Chef SGB40 carry bag for griddle SG100
Buy new: $23.99 The griddle is heavy and yucky after use! This carry bag makes it easier and cleaner to haul around and store.
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 | Camp Chef Camping Outdoor Oven with 2 Burner Camping Stove
Buy new: $170.50 We used this oven on a camping trip to make muffins, bake casseroles, and more. It heats up fast but drops when the food goes in, so we preheat to 500F and let the food drag the temp down to the required temp. Works with a 1 Lb propane tank but we prefer connecting the oven to a 20 Lb tank. We use 9" x 13" aluminum pans that fit on the two racks. The stove burners put out 5,300 BTU; not so useful.
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 | Camp Chef Stove Carry Bag
Buy new: $48.99 To keep the oven tidy whilst in storage.
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 | Manchester Tank 10504.3 20# ACME/OPD Vertical LP Tank
Buy new: $35.99 We use 4 of these. Three are connected to Coleman distribution trees, which provide gas to a total of 4 refrigerators, a stove, an oven, and 3 lanterns. The 4th tank is a spare.
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 | Coleman Hot Water-On-Demand Portable Water Heater
Just like it says, hot water on demand. Turn it on, adjust the water temperature, and wash dishes. It runs on a 1 lb. propane bottle and includes a rechargebable battery to run the pump. Just have the kids hump water.
NOTE: Dry out the pump between trips. We stored it wet and found that it had rusted and failed. Coleman sells a replacement submersible pump assembly for about $15.
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 | Coleman Expandable Water Carrier (5-Gallon)
The Coleman hot-water-on-demand water pump won't connect to just any 5-gallon water carrier. This is the only one I've found that it will attach to. Use two so that you'll always have one in reserve.
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 | 9217 SurePak 12 MRE's- Meals ready to eat.
Buy new: $73.00 For the past several years while camping we set aside one 24-hour period during which campers may only eat MRE's. Not this SOPAKCO brand but actual military MRE's. We do this as a reminder of larger issues.
At home we stock 4 cases of MRE's (48 meals) and 100 gallons of fresh water for emergency purposes.
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 | Coleman NorthStar PerfectFlow InstaStart Propane Lantern with Hard Carry Case
Buy new: $59.99 Piezo snap-starter and easy to replace mantles. The hard case actually remains closed, unlike earlier versions that opened the minute you picked them up, resulting in a broken glass globe.
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 | Xantrex Technologies 802-1500 XPower Powerpack 1,500-Watt Portable Backup Power System
Buy new: $479.99 Each unit includes a 12V 63AH battery set, which can be augmented with an additional 63AH battery set for a total of 126AH or 1512 watt-hour available as 120VAC via a 1350 watt inverter. Our 80 watt solar panel can't keep up with our use of power while camping, but it does slow their discharge rate down a bit. Batteries require replacment after about 5 years.
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 | Xantrex Powerpack 600 Watt Jumpstarter, Power Inverter and Backup Power Source
This portable source of power includes a 12V 28AH SLA AGM battery for a total of 336 watt-hours availble as 120VAC via a 480 watt inverter. It will run our ice maker for about an hour. The ice maker consumes 150-220 watts over the course of each ice-making cycle.
The non-replaceable battery means that I won't be buying any more of these but rather more Xantrex 1500 battery boxes.
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 | Xantrex Technologies 852-0081 XPower Pocket Powerpack 100-Watt Inverter
Buy new: $39.99 An even more portable source of power. 3.3 amp-hour @ 12VDC (40 watt-hour). The inverter includes one 120VAC outlet and one USB outlet. It's kind of clunky compared to the newer model. The inverter has to be removed in order to recharge the battery-pack.
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 | Xantrex Technologies 852-0281 XPower PowerSource 100 Watt Inverter
This is the newer version of the Xantrex Powerpack 100. I prefer this model because the inverter and battery-pack are one unit. It includes a 4 amp-hour Li-Ion battery for a capacity of 48 watt-hours @ 12VDC. The 100 watt inverter includes one 120VAC outlet and two USB outlets. A 12VDC cigarette lighter plug and 120VAC transformer are included.
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 | Altec Lansing inMotion iM600 Firewire-Charging Portable Audio System for iPod (Black)
Buy new: $139.96 / Used from: $69.99 A portable rechargeable sound station for ipods, iphones, and any sound source using a mini-stereo plug. Considerably less expensive than Bose. The Bose system looks and sounds fantastic but let's face it, we're camping! Campers bring their camping playlist of songs.
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 | Kensington Auto Power Adapter with USB Power Port K33418US
Buy used from: $7.18 A cigarette lighter USB converter is handy to recharge winky electronic gizmos.
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 | Waring Pro WIM30 Clear-Ice Professional Portable Electronic Ice Maker, Brushed Stainless Steel
Make ice while camping. Brilliant! I learned the hard way that you'll need at least a 400 watt inverter and a full tank of gas or a generator. It makes about 30 pounds of ice per day. It consumes 150-220 watts over the course of each ice-making cycle. Each of our Xantrex 1500 battery boxes will run the ice maker for about 3-4 hours on a full charge.
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 | Viatek BZ02G Indoor/Outdoor Rechargeable Bug Zapper
I bought the Coleman OEM version. We'll try them this year (2009) and report the results.
RESULTS: They work but not as well as I had hoped.
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 | Lentek Biteshield RZ02 Electronic Racket Zapper
Buy new: $7.74 These handheld mosquito zappers work great. When the sun goes down we're overwhelmed by mosquitos for about an hour. Not any more! Their capacitors hold a charge for a short time so don't grab it by anything but the handle. Push the button and zap!
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 | Deluxe 650059 Led Headlight
Hands free flashlight. Leave it on your head so that you don't misplace your flashlight.
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 | 100 8 inch Glowstick Glow Stick Light Bracelets Assorted Colors
Buy new: $5.49 These are a big hit with young campers. Comes with connectors to make globes, long sticks, circles, etc.
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 | Draganflyer V Ti PRO RC Gyro Stabilized Electric Helicopter With High Res Color Video Camera System
Everyone (young and old) has attempted to fly the Draganflyer. All of us have crashed it. In some cases, crashed with extreme prejudice. This helicopter takes a licken' and keeps on ticken'. A lot of fun for all ages. I recommend the crash-kit and spare batteries, which last about 10 minutes.
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 | Disposable Wet Washcloths
Wet wipes are an easy and convenient way to keep clean while camping.
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 | Charmin To Go Freshmates Cloths - 10 Each
Buy new: $2.50 Because we're roughing it, and because we don't want to offend others, I recommend these butt-wipes.
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