Sort of on topic.
Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On 03/07/2023 09:29, Pete Fisher wrote:
> Sort of on topic.
> Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
> lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
> for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
> kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
> getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.

If money is no object, then a Helinox bed would be a great choice, but
they're a lot of US dollars and probably even more UK pounds
https://helinox.com/collections/cots

Not being able to justify that kind of money, I've got something like
this, which I find very comfortable, although there's a bit of a knack
to putting it together easily:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005632015398.html
(I got mine off eBay, but I can't find similar on there at the moment.)

Another option, depending on how much space you've got, is some kind of
fishing bed. It's what ogden used to use in the back of a hired Transit.
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/fishing/fishing-chairs-and-beds/

--
Eddie eddie@deguello.org

On Monday, 3 July 2023 at 10:00:06 UTC+1, Eddie wrote:
> On 03/07/2023 09:29, Pete Fisher wrote:
> > Sort of on topic.
> > Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
> > lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
> > for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
> > kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
> > getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.
> If money is no object, then a Helinox bed would be a great choice, but
> they're a lot of US dollars and probably even more UK pounds
> https://helinox.com/collections/cots
>
> Not being able to justify that kind of money, I've got something like
> this, which I find very comfortable, although there's a bit of a knack
> to putting it together easily:
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005632015398.html
> (I got mine off eBay, but I can't find similar on there at the moment.)

<snip>
I use a Thermarest Luxury Lite camp bed which is roughly the same
ballpark price as the Helinox Cot Lite. I've used it for maybe 8 years and
have replaced a few parts (bent poles) but fundamentally it's robust and
a very comfortable bed.

It's the design ripped off by the Chinese company in Eddie's link. As
Eddie says there is a knack to putting it up (and also taking it down).

It packs down as small (if not smaller) than a traditional thermarest.

The only downside to it is that it can make holes in the groundsheet
of the tent if you're on stony ground. I must make some sort of felt
or similar padding to attach to the feet (I won't get around to it).

On 03/07/2023 11:21, Stephen Packer wrote:
> On Monday, 3 July 2023 at 10:00:06 UTC+1, Eddie wrote:
>> On 03/07/2023 09:29, Pete Fisher wrote:
>>> Sort of on topic.
>>> Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
>>> lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
>>> for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
>>> kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
>>> getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.
>> If money is no object, then a Helinox bed would be a great choice, but
>> they're a lot of US dollars and probably even more UK pounds
>> https://helinox.com/collections/cots
>>
>> Not being able to justify that kind of money, I've got something like
>> this, which I find very comfortable, although there's a bit of a knack
>> to putting it together easily:
>> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005632015398.html
>> (I got mine off eBay, but I can't find similar on there at the moment.)
>
> <snip>
> I use a Thermarest Luxury Lite camp bed which is roughly the same
> ballpark price as the Helinox Cot Lite. I've used it for maybe 8 years and
> have replaced a few parts (bent poles) but fundamentally it's robust and
> a very comfortable bed.
>
> It's the design ripped off by the Chinese company in Eddie's link. As
> Eddie says there is a knack to putting it up (and also taking it down).
>
> It packs down as small (if not smaller) than a traditional thermarest.
>
> The only downside to it is that it can make holes in the groundsheet
> of the tent if you're on stony ground. I must make some sort of felt
> or similar padding to attach to the feet (I won't get around to it).

Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group. The
Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

Eddie wrote:
> Another option, depending on how much space you've got, is some kind of
> fishing bed. It's what ogden used to use in the back of a hired Transit.
> https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/fishing/fishing-chairs-and-beds/

I still use it in the back of my own van. This sort of thing:

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15908292/westlake-westlake-high-bedchair-15908292

I sleep better in that than I do at home.

On Mon, 3 Jul 2023 09:29:43 +0100, Pete Fisher
<peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Sort of on topic.
>Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
>lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
>for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
>kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
>getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.

For car camping I bought this:
https://www.exped.com/en/products/sleeping-mats/megamat-10?sku=7640147769762

It is *very* comfy.
--
Mark Roberts

On 03/07/2023 17:08, Pete Fisher wrote:

>
> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group.

I found the one I bought - it was a Chinese clone of this one:
https://basecampfood.com/products/therm-a-rest-luxurylite-mesh-cot-extra-large

It was "ok", but the material wasn't as good as the original - the main
issue was it is super slippery and so you slide about all over once on it.

> The
> Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
> support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).

Hmmm - that means fully assembling it. You can't just join the legs
together in advance - the tension in the legs spreads the poles apart
and this gives the spring in the material.

--
/Simon

On 04/07/2023 17:19, siwilson wrote:
> On 03/07/2023 17:08, Pete Fisher wrote:
>
>>
>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group.
>
> I found the one I bought - it was a Chinese clone of this one:
> https://basecampfood.com/products/therm-a-rest-luxurylite-mesh-cot-extra-large
>
> It was "ok", but the material wasn't as good as the original - the main
> issue was it is super slippery and so you slide about all over once on it.
>
>> The Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the
>> main support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>
> Hmmm - that means fully assembling it. You can't just join the legs
> together in advance - the tension in the legs spreads the poles apart
> and this gives the spring in the material.
>

Ah. Apparently, she has bought some kind of folding thing (Outwell
Posadas Foldaway). It will be tested this weekend at Ely Folk Festival.
Plus her main issue isn't so much her back as cold - despite an airbed
on top of a closed cell mat. Her tent is an Outwell air one which she
says OK - except for the fiddling with the inflation valves to retain
pressure.
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

Pete Fisher <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote in news:kgff7nF2nrsU1
@mid.individual.net:

> Sort of on topic.
> Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
> lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
> for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
> kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
> getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.

starting to wonder, why does she not use the gin palace? Does she not
drive it?

Pete Fisher <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> on top of a closed cell mat. Her tent is an Outwell air one which she
> says OK - except for the fiddling with the inflation valves to retain
> pressure.

Every inflatable piece of camping gear I've ever owned has leaked,
sooner or later. Usually the first occurrence happens in the wee
hours of the AM, naturally.

--
FJR1300A, GL1000, KLR650A6F, EX250J9A, DR200SE, Vespa Ciao

On 04/07/2023 20:18, wessie wrote:
> Pete Fisher <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote in news:kgff7nF2nrsU1
> @mid.individual.net:
>
>> Sort of on topic.
>> Do I recall that one of the long distance bike touring crew has a very
>> lightweight but comfortable camp bed? SWMBO is on the look out for one
>> for camping at folk festivals where she stewards. Her back isn't taking
>> kindly to the air bed she has used before. Needs to be capable of
>> getting ready easily without massive strength and an engineering degree.
>
> starting to wonder, why does she not use the gin palace? Does she not
> drive it?

If I was to accompany her, we would indeed use our vehicle of a type
which dare not speak its name here.

She doesn't drive it. Switched to an automatic when we got the Mazda 2
(mainly because her bi-lateral bunions op was slow to heal). I doubt she
would cope with the Ducato Professional 5.5m length and the handbrake on
the right that is a stretch even for me.

Perhaps unwisely, I am just about to add the lad on the Vantage Med as
an additional driver. The quote to do so was not as astronomical as I
expected. He wants to borrow it to do Glastonbury next year as his SO
doesn't do sleeping under canvas (nylon I suppose these days). What
could possibly go wrong?

--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On 04/07/2023 20:29, Mark Olson wrote:
> Pete Fisher <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> on top of a closed cell mat. Her tent is an Outwell air one which she
>> says OK - except for the fiddling with the inflation valves to retain
>> pressure.
>
> Every inflatable piece of camping gear I've ever owned has leaked,
> sooner or later. Usually the first occurrence happens in the wee
> hours of the AM, naturally.
>

The main problem with the Outwell tent is that SWMBO is possibly the
least 'mechanically savvy' person on the entire planet. Immensely
practical in other respects including painting, wall papering, curtain
making and dressmaking but any kind of mechanism[1] or gadget defeats her.

Pretty much every time she uses it she has to phone me to talk her
through the inflation procedure to close the valves so that it actually
stays inflated. This is despite having the tent instructions and her own
step by step idiot sheet.

[1] she uses an ancient Singer sewing machine.
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

Pete Fisher wrote:

> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group. The
> Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
> support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).

The tricky bit that requires knack/strength is attaching the support
parts to the mesh cot part.

Also, Simon Wilson had a Chineses knock-off on the IoM a couple of
years ago and the mesh material was very difficult to thread the side
poles through - to the point he became quite cross.

--
Simon

On 05/07/2023 09:28, sweller wrote:
> Pete Fisher wrote:
>
>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group. The
>> Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
>> support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>
> The tricky bit that requires knack/strength is attaching the support
> parts to the mesh cot part.
>
> Also, Simon Wilson had a Chineses knock-off on the IoM a couple of
> years ago and the mesh material was very difficult to thread the side
> poles through - to the point he became quite cross.
>

That sounds definitely a camp bed too far for SWMBO. I will report back
on how she gets on with the Outwell one, though it would be no good for
motorcycle touring as far too bulky.
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On 05/07/2023 10:22, Pete Fisher wrote:
> On 05/07/2023 09:28, sweller wrote:
>> Pete Fisher wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group. The
>>> Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
>>> support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>>
>> The tricky bit that requires knack/strength is attaching the support
>> parts to the mesh cot part.
>>
>> Also, Simon Wilson had a Chineses knock-off on the IoM a couple of
>> years ago and the mesh material was very difficult to thread the side
>> poles through - to the point he became quite cross.
>>
>
> That sounds definitely a camp bed too far for SWMBO. I will report back
> on how she gets on with the Outwell one, though it would be no good for
> motorcycle touring as far too bulky.

When I was a yoof I had a lightweight camping kit which weighed in at
7lbs 7ozs. Tent (I made from Egyptian cotton) which was a big square of
material with loops sewn into the top-side (not topside...), canvas roll
covered in pockets, which doubled as a groundsheet, some aluminium foil,
one dish, a fishing line, needle and thred, soap in a polythene bag,
several days' dried rations, a squeezy bottle of water. I always had a
sharp knife (illegal one, now :-( in my sock ), to eat with I cut twigs
as chopstichs if I needed - no camp bed. But then, I'm not of the unfair
sex. There may have been a few other things, but you don't have too much
scope in 7lbs 7ozs

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 05/07/2023 09:28, sweller wrote:
> Pete Fisher wrote:
>
>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group. The
>> Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the main
>> support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>
> The tricky bit that requires knack/strength is attaching the support
> parts to the mesh cot part.
>
> Also, Simon Wilson had a Chineses knock-off on the IoM a couple of
> years ago and the mesh material was very difficult to thread the side
> poles through - to the point he became quite cross.
>

Haha, I'd forgotten about that bit.

--
/Simon

On 05/07/2023 06:46, Pete Fisher wrote:

>
> Perhaps unwisely, I am just about to add the lad on the Vantage Med as
> an additional driver. The quote to do so was not as astronomical as I
> expected. He wants to borrow it to do Glastonbury next year as his SO
> doesn't do sleeping under canvas (nylon I suppose these days). What
> could possibly go wrong?
>

Next TikTok craze: motorhome handbrake turns

--
/Simon

On 05/07/2023 15:26, siwilson wrote:
> On 05/07/2023 06:46, Pete Fisher wrote:
>
>>
>> Perhaps unwisely, I am just about to add the lad on the Vantage Med as
>> an additional driver. The quote to do so was not as astronomical as I
>> expected. He wants to borrow it to do Glastonbury next year as his SO
>> doesn't do sleeping under canvas (nylon I suppose these days). What
>> could possibly go wrong?
>>
>
> Next TikTok craze: motorhome handbrake turns
>

<VBG>
--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On Tue, 4 Jul 2023 19:15:10 +0100, Pete Fisher
<peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>On 04/07/2023 17:19, siwilson wrote:
>> On 03/07/2023 17:08, Pete Fisher wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group.
>>
>> I found the one I bought - it was a Chinese clone of this one:
>> https://basecampfood.com/products/therm-a-rest-luxurylite-mesh-cot-extra-large
>>
>> It was "ok", but the material wasn't as good as the original - the main
>> issue was it is super slippery and so you slide about all over once on it.
>>
>>> The Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the
>>> main support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>>
>> Hmmm - that means fully assembling it. You can't just join the legs
>> together in advance - the tension in the legs spreads the poles apart
>> and this gives the spring in the material.
>>
>
>Ah. Apparently, she has bought some kind of folding thing (Outwell
>Posadas Foldaway). It will be tested this weekend at Ely Folk Festival.

Ah, was that the thing going on by the river?

Ely's bad for parking (I'm told, rarely go there myself) but it was
horrendous on Sunday. Meeting up with family.

--

-Pip

On 06/07/2023 23:01, Pipl wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Jul 2023 19:15:10 +0100, Pete Fisher
> <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 04/07/2023 17:19, siwilson wrote:
>>> On 03/07/2023 17:08, Pete Fisher wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks all. She has also had suggestions from a FB camping group.
>>>
>>> I found the one I bought - it was a Chinese clone of this one:
>>> https://basecampfood.com/products/therm-a-rest-luxurylite-mesh-cot-extra-large
>>>
>>> It was "ok", but the material wasn't as good as the original - the main
>>> issue was it is super slippery and so you slide about all over once on it.
>>>
>>>> The Mesh cot or clones look good and might be OK if I assembled the
>>>> main support parts in advance (she will be travelling in a car).
>>>
>>> Hmmm - that means fully assembling it. You can't just join the legs
>>> together in advance - the tension in the legs spreads the poles apart
>>> and this gives the spring in the material.
>>>
>>
>> Ah. Apparently, she has bought some kind of folding thing (Outwell
>> Posadas Foldaway). It will be tested this weekend at Ely Folk Festival.
>
> Ah, was that the thing going on by the river?
>
> Ely's bad for parking (I'm told, rarely go there myself) but it was
> horrendous on Sunday. Meeting up with family.
>

It only started (for stewards) yesterday. Actually at Stuntney Estate,
Soham Road.

--
Moto Morini 2C/375
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"