id be interested how stace has put it on his bike, ive got a quechuo 2sec tent and its not that bad a tent but packs up into too awkward a shape to carry easily

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dave

Go on Matt, give us the 2" Tent video, but you have to pack it without practising beforehand, just following the instructions given. Maybe it's my warped sense of humour, but I found watching fuzzy-headed people try and fold these up immensely funny last year at the local rock festival.

And back to swags: I'm wondering how they are to pack when wet? I would have thought rolling everything inside a heavy wet canvas bag would have been a)very heavy and b) a recipe for a wet sleeping bag.

Does anyone know if they're made in anything other than canvas? I can see why canvas is great in the Australian climate, but for the northern-European, I would have thought goretex or similar would have been better? I like the design I'm just not certain of the materials for us "oop north".

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just making it out of ordinary tent ripstop would do. that would also make it loads lighter and smaller packing, making it a more viable proposition.

what i need, Matt, is a sleeping bag video. im about the same size as you, hate sleeping on my back and wriggle like a maggot when im asleep. i love my vango nitestar XL, its a great big warm bag with loads of room for manoeuvre, but unfortunately packs up the size of a small duvet.

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dave

ah okay some requests :-)

Sleeping bags is on the list to do in the next month or so - Patrick may well be presenting that one - but he's quite large too - not 'big' like me - just quite large in a well proportioned way! I think I'm trying to say he's not fat.

Alex - yes I know what you mean - I'm going to put the swag under a hose for a few hours next weekend with some paper towels inside (good way to test for moisture) then roll it up for a few hours and see what happens.

The important thing though is considering how to pack it / pitch it - I wouldn't put this up in a middle of a field in pouring rain - if it really was chucking it down and we'd decided that we didn't want / couldn't afford / couldn't find a hostel for that night then I'd look for some cover - combine that with the Basha and I'm expecting to keep all but the worst of the weather off the swag.

Yes you do lose the speed of putting it up if it's raining as you consider where to pitch and adding the basha - but my theory is that we're traveling across Europe at it's driest time of year, and that most of our journey is in southern Europe - so I'm not expecting massive amounts of rain. (Famous last words).

I'm definitely taking it and will report back on how it does.

Dave - forgot to mention - I've asked Stace to give me a photo of how he's got the 2 second job on his bike. Alex - putting it away without practicing - you have got to be kidding - I don't do comedy ;-)

m

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Oh, looks like it'll be me doing that video then?

I like the basha idea though, they're such versatile things, and combine them with trees, handlebars etc to tie them on to and you've got a quick and easy shelter, get some bungee cord (can you buy it by the metre over there like you can here?) and with the combination you're set for all sorts of situations.

We're looking at them as a way to keep ourselves and/or the RZRs out of the worst the weather can chuck at us (although of course I'm planning on using mine to keep the sun off while I siesta.

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Seeing is believing I assure you....I'm trying to remember if we have a pic of how he does it but Matt will remember if we do better than me.

For now just think AWACS meets HONDA VFR....and you're not a million miles away

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http://journeytorussia.co.uk

I don't have one of the current version (which is half the size) but I just found this one of the old one... the bike isn't fully loaded, just enough for the weekend - but as you can see - doesn't exactly fit on the bike.



Stace is going to write a paragraph or two for the blog with some photos of how he's managed to get the current one on the back - works well actually. I'll post a link here when he's written it.

m

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Forgive my stupidity,but what's a basha?.I may have mentioned this before but I don't take my swag if it looks like there will be a lot of rain forcast (not much chance of that in Oz) and I always take a light tarp with me anyhow just in case there is rain.

Andrew

In that case you're already taking a basha. Well something very similar anyway. Basha I think is a British Army term (Indian perhaps) for a lightweight waterproof square/rectangle of waterproof material with pre-punched and eyed holes in the corners and along the edges. Some of them are more poncho like and have a hole in the middle with hood as well. I have fond memories of basha building from Army Cadet days when our bashas were circa 1950's things made of heavy rubberized material which was full of tiny holes.

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Yes, sorry Basha = Tarp specifically designed to be used by the Army...

Lightweight Ripstop Basha in bag from Surplus and Outdoors / Waterproof Clothing

They've moved on slightly and are now made with ripstop, rather than rubber - although the rubber does sound fun ;-)

Here's the wikipedia entry but no more information on where the word comes from though...

Basha (tarpaulin) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, a little more research shows me that...

"Basha: a Bengali word meaning house or home, derived from a Sanskrit root"

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Kinky, does your wife know? OH and have you hosed yourself down yet? In the swag I mean?

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Dirty sod - no that's next weekend. Honestly.

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well I'm in South Wales and it's throwing it down like him upstairs is trying to drown us - so - I'm off out in said rain with Poncho and Basha + swag and we'll see how it holds up... No video but I'll take loads of pictures - wish me luck!

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Best of luck! You should have headed north, beautiful day up here today
I hope you don't get too wet, yer mad as a bicycle


Trophymick

Ahh,a hoochie.Sorry this was the only photo I could find.Same thing,different name.
Auscam Australian Army dpcu hoochie hoochy hutchie - eBay Other Modern, Current, Modern, Current, Militaria, Collectables. (end time 29-May-08 12:33:43 AEST)

A2