Kayak Camping Anyone?

[Siler]

How many guys here like to camp out of their kayak?

An overnighter on my local flow is one of my favorite things to do. Where I am, in Texas, our trespassing laws are such that the riverbed is considered public land as long as the river has been declared a "navigable waterway" by the state. So doing some camping while on a river float is pretty popular thing to do here. But I understand that this may not be possible in some other states.

I'm a MAJOR gear head. So if anyone would like to get into what camping equipment they use, feel free.

I'm not an ounce-counter but I tend to use quite a bit of gear designed for ultralight backpacking. With some exceptions. Those exceptions are laid down when my comfort comes into account. Since I paddle an Ultimate 14.5 mostly, I have enough room for the gear that would classify as bulky.

Camping Gear:

• Tent: REI Quarter Dome T3 w/Ground Tarp – Used for winter camping and when I take the girlfriend along.

• Hammock: Claytor Jungle Hammock – Used for solo summer trips.

• Winter Sleeping Bag: REI Mojave +15 Down Bag – Double bagged in an Event fabric waterproof compression sack and a 20L dry bag.

• Summer Sleeping Bag: REI Travel Sack +55 Synthetic Bag – Kept it in an Event fabric compression sack also and thrown in the same dry bag as my hammock/tent.

• Sleeping Bag Liner: Sea to Summit Cotton Liner – Always used when sleeping. In a bag or out. Helps keep some of the stink off of my bag, hammock, and pad.

• Pillow: Therm-a-rest Stuff Sack Pillow – Stuff sack with a fabric lining that you turn inside out and stuff with clothes to make a pillow. Works great.

• Tent Sleeping Pad: 3.5” Thick REI Self Inflatable Pad – Bulky, but I don’t care. Great pad.

• Hammock Sleeping Pad: 2” Thick Cabelas Self Inflatable Pad – Used in the hammock to insulate my underside and prevent mosquito bites on my underside. Also carried in the event that I can’t find a suitable place to hang and have to sleep on the ground.

• Overnight Cooler: Coleman Marine 28 qt. – Perfect for this length trip.

• 2+ Night Cooler: Coleman Extreme Marine 36 qt. – Good compromise between size and function. Too big for most kayaks though.

• Furniture: REI Camp Chair or Stool – I take whichever one I have room for.

• Trash Bag: REI Large Mesh Bag – Catch all in camp and the boat.

• Stove: Jetboil – Works great for boiling water but hard to cook on. Might look into getting another stove that is better for that.

• Water Filter: Katadyn Vario Water Microfilter - Haven’t had to use yet. Carried for emergencies mainly.

• Lantern: Brunton Polaris Lantern – Carry two. Small LED units.

• Headlamp: Cabelas Alaskan Guide Series and Cyclops Orion Clip Light – No problems with headlamp, but find myself using the clip on light mostly.

• Flashlight: Coleman Cree XLamp LED – 2 AA Model. Very bright and rugged.

• Saw: Cabelas Outfitter Series – Small double edged pack saw.

• Hatchet: Buck Camp Hatchet – Used for several jobs.

• Firestarter: Diamond Strike-A-Fire Starter Sticks, Coleman Butane Lighter, Waterproof Matches – There are much cheaper alternatives though.

• Plate: Sea to Summit X-Plate – Collapsible dinner plate/cutting board.

• Utensils: REI Lexan Set – Cheap and durable.

• First Aid Kit: 3 Man – Need to make up my own though.

• Shower: Stearns Sun Shower – Found this on sale. Packs small. If you ever try one of these, you won't go camping without one.

• Toilet Paper: Small Camping Rolls – I bring plenty.

• Gun: Ruger Single Six or Kimber 1911 – Insurance I hope I never need.


Extra Clothing Packed:

• Jacket: XPS Soft Shell – Around the fire. (Winter)

• Fleece: REI Woodland Vest – Used for layering. (Winter)

• Beanie: Under Armour – Pack an extra one to sleep in. (Winter)

• Gloves: NRS Hydroskin – If needed. (Winter)

• Neck Gaiter: Under Armour – If needed to pull up over my grill on cold days. (Winter)

• Shoes: North Face Hedgehog GTX Trail Runners – I like to get out of my waders ASAP after returning to camp for the night. (Winter)

• Flip Flops: Columbia Marlins – Gotta have them. (Summer)

• Pants: Under Armour Fishing Pants – Nylon with the zip off leg. (All Seasons)

• Shirt: XPS Supplex Fishing Shirt – Nylon. (All Seasons)

• Underwear: Under Armour – Undershirt, boxer briefs, and socks. (All Seasons)

• Towels: Cheap Thin Ones – Normally bring two bath size and one hand towel. (All seasons)

• Misc.: Toiletry Kit – Gotta have it.


Food/Drinks:

• Dehydrated Meals: Mountain House Brand – Lasagna, Beef Stroganoff, and Spaghetti are my favorites.

• Meat: Hot Links or precooked – Links over the fire is quick and easy. I also like to bring along various meats that I cooked ahead of time at the house. Heat and eat.

• Lunch: Hormel Snack Tray – Crackers, pepperoni, and cheese.

• Snacks: Gum, Chocolate, and Hard Candy – I have a sweet tooth, bro!

• Sports Drinks: Gatorade G2 – In summer I bring as many as possible.

• Water: Bottled – As much as possible anytime.

• Colas: Dr.Peppers – Gotta have a few or I get cranky. Especially with dinner.


Bags/Boxes:

• Dry Bags: Bass Pro XPS 20 and 30 Liter – Durable bag with a lifetime guarantee against punctures and leaks. Can usually fit all of my gear into three or four of these.

• Dry Box: Plano Molding (Orange) – Keep wallet, phone, keys, etc.

• Thwart Bag: Cabelas – Recently bought one of these for the Ultimate. Works great in its canoe-like design. Use it to keep my dry box, camera, bungees, handy toilet paper, gun, poncho, etc. in.

I obviously don't bring all of this on every trip. The season and expected weather determines my load.

[sumtershoaliefan]

That\'s some good stuff Siler. I like to do overnighters as well. For food, I like to pack some bratwurst to cook on the fire and don\'t forget some coffee and a few adult beverages as well (I\'m just saying).

SSF

[blake]

Great list.

The only thing I see is your plano drybox, they are not always dry if you immerse it.  Go with a pelican for camera/phones and other expensive stuff that you must keep dry.

[Siler]

SSF,

Thanks for the kudos......but coffee? Yuck! Never have been much of a coffee dude. Well, I will make an exception if it has Irish Cream in it. As for the adult beverages, I had them on there but dropped them from the list (since I'm still new here). When I am solo, I normally don't have any. But when I'm with a buddy or two, I like to get my swerve on. A good buzz seems to make the sleeping pad just a little more comfortable during the night.

Blake,

That's good to know about my dry box. I have never tested it, but I certainly will now. Thanks for the heads up.

[Stick Slinger]

Siler, 

According to your gear list it's obvious that we live in Texas! I have basically have the same list minus the hammock and Ruger or Kimber, I do a bivy tent with a S&W. All my buddies that I camp/fish with make fun of me about my gear list, they say it's to long I say buy a kayak that you can fill up to a safe weight and then your trip is gonna be alot more comfortable. I can't go without coffee though it's a loooonng morning with me if I don't get coffee.

[wilp]

From one gear head to anotrher, nice gear list! There are some proven items in there.

I will second the mtn house / jet boil, lived off 'em for ten days in the backcountry of wyoming last fall chsaing elk. We used Wilderness Athlete hydration and energy products as well and would highly recomend.

I carried all my gear on my back so I had no choice but to run lean. Here are some other top performers:

Marmot Helium bag-good down to 15 deg (will vouch for that), packs down to roughly football size, light. Being made of down if it gets wet it's done though.

Mountain Hardware bivy -Great, waterproof and light.

Thermarest Z-Lite pad -ok, it's thin and it aint the most comfortable, heck it aint comfortable peroid, but it is light and will insulate you from the ground.

Granite Gear White Lightning Tarp -Now it's called a tarp but it's really a shelter. Light, water proof, packs down to slightly larger than softball size. The beauty of this rig is that there are no poles to carry. You just cut a couple of sticks and string it up. Solid piece of gear. Used it when the weather got too ugly for the bivy alone.

Cannot live without a headlight, l.e.d. of course.

Another nod to the UA, especially the heatgear and the beanie(slept in mine as well). Not a fan of the coldgear comp. fit but I do like the 2.0.

REI makes a titanium spoon with an extra long handdle that's designed to reach down in the mtn house meal pouches.

Here's a real gem -Hart EZ-Towels (found at gander Mtn). Comes in package of 50. They're tiny white discs about the size of a piece of bubble gum. Get them wet and they swell up and unravel into a towel, kind of like a tampon (hope that's the first and last time that word will ever be used on this site). Anyway, they're extremely durable and bio-degradable. Best camping tp I've found to date. Cheap.

Cabela's Space Rain jacket and pants. -Light, dry, packs to size of water bottle.

All waterproof gear was treated with Tectron water repellent from Cabela's and performed flawlessly.

Spot Sattelite Tracking and Personal Locater Beacon -You've probably seen Les on survivorman advertise this one. What a lot of people don't realize is that you can send three types of canned messages to a multitude of electonic comunication devices such as e-mail or cell phone. The message types are OK, Non life-threatening help, and 911. You set up your profiles for each on line. I plan on using mine for setting up my shuttle on river trips. In remote areas with no cell service I can now at the touch of a button send a message to my wife or a buddy for pickup and a pre-dertimed destination. The 911 will beam your position to local EMS and is not a bad feature either.

Mistakes:

I drastically under-estimated the value of a hot meal first thing in the morning. Fortunately I was able to bribe some oatmeal and coffee off my huting partner.

Neglected to pack some sort of camp shoe and ruined a pair of socks in pine sap.

I plan on using the same gear to do some river camping myself. You'd be surprised at how small a space you can squash that stuff into. Would be perfect for a canoe or kayak.

My "mobile" home for 10 days.

Entire camp can be setup in the time it takes to cook a mtn house meal.

[BasserDrew]

Siler or Wilp - or both - you guys are tops when it comes to gear obviously and it would be cool if you guys wanted to do an article on kayak camping or gear that way good info like you both just shared can be stored properly on the site for future generations to read and learn from even long after were gone.  Let me know if either of you want to write one.  Doesn't have to be long either.  Anyway, maybe a checklist article of things to remember to bring when kayak camping and then mention which brand you guys like as well.  Or, maybe a gear review on a certain tent, sleeping bag or whatever?  I dont know, anyway, that is some good stuff and thanks for sharing fellas!  

[Siler]

I'll try to write up something when I get time.

[BasserDrew]

sounds good Siler. All of those out there will certainly appreciate being able to learn a lot from an expert in this area like yourself.

[wilp]

yes, same here.