I didn't realise how mental camping had got.

[mikeiow]

Depends on the trip!
Just finished a PandemicPedal LEJoG bike ride....for the middle portion I took a lightweight tent, mat, sleeping bag and camped a couple of nights - great fun! Pub for dinner and a cafe for breakfast.

For longer jaunts, we have a 4-person tent we can stand up in: MrsMikeIOW likes camping but less keen on tiny tents (we aren’t as young as we once were!). A means of boiling water and that is about it....

[aka_kerrly]

Dan_The_Man said:

Did a week round Normandy with my brother in a WW2 jeep, 2x tents, sleeping bags, roll mats & a gas stove.
Found 2x discarded camping chairs next to a wheely bin on day one so they came in handy.


]

Sounds like a great trip!

Regarding the seating situation when I used to go to military shows in a Willys we would sometimes takes the seats out to sit it on the grass, iirc it's 2 bolts.

[Earthdweller]

This is my camping set up, four bed tent that has an extension which was not fitted

Portable burner, couple of camping chairs, sleeping bags and battery lights

All fits nicely in the boot of the car





Camping the way it should be done ... making toast in the wild

[PurpleTurtle]

Tent camping: 4 berth tent with porch extension for me, wife and 6yo. SIMs and sleeping bags, a fold up chair each, a fold up table, Trangia to cook on, electric hook up for charging phones and a portable trucker style beer fridge. Windbreak, Kyham toilet tent, 1980s Porta Potti I 'inherited' from my folks from when we went camping as kids - still going strong!

Caravan camping: pretty much all off the above minus the tents and SIMs, but add awning, kitchenette unit, BBQ, proper duvets.

We upgraded to a small Eriba caravan from a tent as we go to a lot of festivals, where you invariably cannot park next to where you camp. I'm nearly 50 and am done with lugging several trolley loads of camping gear, food and booze from car to tent in the festival site, it is much more relaxing to just pull up, put the legs down and crack open a cold beer from the fridge.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 15th June 17:09

[Petrolism]

djsmith74 said:

Petrolism said:

Camper vans are the way to go for us. 4WD, fridge, stove, sink, seats 8, sleeps 4 comfortably, dining room by daytime and room to stand.
Carries a bike on the back, so my wife can drive and I can explore country roads. My days of camping with an enduro bike & drinking warm water, are long past. LOL.

That’s awesome. Didn’t realise TRD did their version of the Hiace. And it looks like it’s running on Watanabe’s. I’d love to know more about it if you have any more details / pictures.

Originally built by Toyota Technocraft as a camper and bought from a dealer, fully equipped - Even comes with a large awning.
Similar chassis & same running gear as a Hilux 2.8 Diesel. It's not fast, but as someone mentioned, it's reliable (although the transmission. gets hot if it has to lug for very long steep gradients, so I plan to fit a massive gearbox oil cooler, at some point).

I added the arches and the Watanabes, and a few other things like the bike carrier. Inside, I fitted a Recaro driver's seat, Nardi wheel and a 14-speaker 3-amp sound system. Also had it resprayed in original colours a few years ago, as on the picture. As some of you like it, here's a few more pics of it.

The kids sleep upstairs, whilst we get the bigger bed downstairs. It's not ideal for snowsports or very hot summers though. A solid high roof, with proper insulation, would probably be better for that.

We generally don't plan where we'll camp. Can always find a quiet spot to park a smallish van off the road, somewhere natural and quiet - Japan being 70% mountain terrain. The 4WD helps, so we can get very near rivers with small rocks, etc. We also use it to carry a go-cart in. It's a proper multi-purpose vehicle.

Edited by Petrolism on Tuesday 15th June 15:23

[aka_kerrly]

Petrolism said:

Originally built by Toyota Technocraft as a camper and bought from a dealer, fully equipped - Even comes with a large awning.
Similar chassis & same running gear as a Hilux 2.8 Diesel. It's not fast, but as someone mentioned, it's reliable (although the transmission. gets hot if it has to lug for very long steep gradients, so I plan to fit a massive gearbox oil cooler, at some point).

I added the arches and the Watanabes, and a few other things like the bike carrier. Inside, I fitted a Recaro driver's seat, Nardi wheel and a 14-speaker 3-amp sound system. Also had it resprayed in original colours a few years ago, as on the picture. As some of you like it, here's a few more pics of it.

Edited by Petrolism on Tuesday 15th June 15:23

Living the life right there, the van+ the modifications combined with the lifestyle and location. Utterly wonderful!!

[Fishlegs]

Decisions for me: Passenger or tent, not both:



Need to be careful picking a pitch:

[Teddy Lop]

PurpleTurtle said:

Tent camping: 4 berth tent with porch extension for me, wife and 6yo. SIMs and sleeping bags, a fold up chair each, a fold up table, Trangia to cook on, electric hook up for charging phones and a portable trucker style beer fridge. Windbreak, Kyham toiler tent, 1980s Porta Potti I 'inherited' from my folks from when we went camping as kids - still going strong!

Caravan camping: pretty much all off the above minus the tents and SIMs, but add awning, kitchenette unit, BBQ, proper duvets.

We upgraded to a small Eriba caravan from a tent as we go to a lot of festivals, where you invariably cannot park next to where you camp. I'm nearly 50 and am done with lugging several trolley loads of camping gear, food and booze from car to tent in the festival site, it is much more relaxing to just pull up, put the legs down and crack open a cold beer from the fridge.

Big Festivals are such sh its, donnington they made it like a 2 mile trek carpark to campsite one year, gave up on them.

[geeks]

Petrolism said:

djsmith74 said:

Petrolism said:

Camper vans are the way to go for us. 4WD, fridge, stove, sink, seats 8, sleeps 4 comfortably, dining room by daytime and room to stand.
Carries a bike on the back, so my wife can drive and I can explore country roads. My days of camping with an enduro bike & drinking warm water, are long past. LOL.

That’s awesome. Didn’t realise TRD did their version of the Hiace. And it looks like it’s running on Watanabe’s. I’d love to know more about it if you have any more details / pictures.

Originally built by Toyota Technocraft as a camper and bought from a dealer, fully equipped - Even comes with a large awning.
Similar chassis & same running gear as a Hilux 2.8 Diesel. It's not fast, but as someone mentioned, it's reliable (although the transmission. gets hot if it has to lug for very long steep gradients, so I plan to fit a massive gearbox oil cooler, at some point).

I added the arches and the Watanabes, and a few other things like the bike carrier. Inside, I fitted a Recaro driver's seat, Nardi wheel and a 14-speaker 3-amp sound system. Also had it resprayed in original colours a few years ago, as on the picture. As some of you like it, here's a few more pics of it.

The kids sleep upstairs, whilst we get the bigger bed downstairs. It's not ideal for snowsports or very hot summers though. A solid high roof, with proper insulation, would probably be better for that.

We generally don't plan where we'll camp. Can always find a quiet spot to park a smallish van off the road, somewhere natural and quiet - Japan being 70% mountain terrain. The 4WD helps, so we can get very near rivers with small rocks, etc. We also use it to carry a go-cart in. It's a proper multi-purpose vehicle.

Edited by Petrolism on Tuesday 15th June 15:23

Fantastic! I think there is someone on here with a Delica in a similar setup too, always quite jealous of them even though I already have a decent camper setup!

[Cotty]

Three man popup tent. Inflatable sleep pad, sleeping bag, cold box with beer and food in it. Camp chair, windbreak and BBQ

[DannyScene]

Everything I take camping fits into my 65 litre rucksack with room to spare for food etc

[sherman]

Just bought an inflateable sofa for my next camping trip.

[Simes205]

Erm….6 man airbeam tent, fridge, two burner stove, camp kitchen, shade , air beds, table and chairs and two kids! you get the picture….however we spend 4 weeks in the summer down in the South of France. All squeezed to the roof of an F31 with the biggest Thule roof box!

With 10a of electricity main people bring induction hob, microwave etc
Last year down there I saw a portable air conditioner in a tent.

We went to Devon a few weeks ago….no need for fridge!

Edited by Simes205 on Tuesday 15th June 17:28

Edited by Simes205 on Tuesday 15th June 17:30

[djsmith74]

Petrolism said:

Originally built by Toyota Technocraft as a camper and bought from a dealer, fully equipped - Even comes with a large awning.
Similar chassis & same running gear as a Hilux 2.8 Diesel. It's not fast, but as someone mentioned, it's reliable (although the transmission. gets hot if it has to lug for very long steep gradients, so I plan to fit a massive gearbox oil cooler, at some point).

I added the arches and the Watanabes, and a few other things like the bike carrier. Inside, I fitted a Recaro driver's seat, Nardi wheel and a 14-speaker 3-amp sound system. Also had it resprayed in original colours a few years ago, as on the picture. As some of you like it, here's a few more pics of it.

The kids sleep upstairs, whilst we get the bigger bed downstairs. It's not ideal for snowsports or very hot summers though. A solid high roof, with proper insulation, would probably be better for that.

We generally don't plan where we'll camp. Can always find a quiet spot to park a smallish van off the road, somewhere natural and quiet - Japan being 70% mountain terrain. The 4WD helps, so we can get very near rivers with small rocks, etc. We also use it to carry a go-cart in. It's a proper multi-purpose vehicle.

Edited by Petrolism on Tuesday 15th June 15:23

Absolutely superb, and very cool. I notice that you’re parked next to a current generation Hiace in that last picture - I know which one I’d have though! Thanks for the info.

[Petrolism]

aka_kerrly said:

Living the life right there, the van+ the modifications combined with the lifestyle and location. Utterly wonderful!!

geeks said:

Fantastic! I think there is someone on here with a Delica in a similar setup too, always quite jealous of them even though I already have a decent camper setup!

djsmith74 said:

Absolutely superb, and very cool. I notice that you’re parked next to a current generation Hiace in that last picture - I know which one I’d have though! Thanks for the info.

Thanks guys. The U.K., especially northern corners of Scotland, plus Wales and the lake district are beautiful places to explore. We used to have one of these (2WD) Hiace campers in the U.K., and would take holidays in it, to explore and visit friends in the summer. Sold it a few years back, now.

We are about to get a camper rental business off the ground in Japan. This and another similar white one, plus a fleet of more modern (semi-high roof) 200-series Hiace 6 speed 2.0L petrol campers will be available for rent.
We're in the midst of creating the first conversion, taking a lot of the design ideas from TRD. In truth, the more modern ones will actually be better vehicles, and better equipped / finished too.

The original intention had been to cater for foreign tourists that wanted to explore Japana, but with uncertainties of international tourism, as the Japanese camping scene is growing fast, and camp sites are always busy here now, we'll probably deal mainly with domestic bookings. If someday, free-travelling foreign tourism returned to Japan, we would intend to offer bookings thereof.

We've been living in Japan 23 years now and used to live around the lakes surrounding Fuji. We've toured all over the country for 2 decades, half of which with our kids, so we know some of the best places to share insider knowledge of. It's truly a fantastic country to explore, which we hope to introduce to others. We know of places with crystal clear rivers and piping hot natural hot springs right beside (Just need a family sized hole in the gravel - but usually someone else has already gone to the trouble!), great views, and plenty of waterfalls. Incredibly beautiful seasons of spring & autumn, and lovely people. There are amazing roads to be enjoyed too.
Unfortunately, we had to shelve the initial idea of also offering modern classic sportscars and tents for rent. Older '90's JDM cars are becoming too valuable, are more accident risk and depreciation prone when they get worn out. A few pics below, of places we've stopped at for the night, and of views we've enjoyed, whilst touring with our Hiace campers.

[geeks]

Superb stuff there Petrolism, a bit jealous of that scenery!

[AW111]

AlfaPapa said:

You forgot the:
- bunting
- flag pole and flag
- Baby George Grill
- Previously pilfered martini glasses
- folding bicycle
- Pimms and
- everyone's favourite extra large cow bells



We have two standards of camping (plus the aforementioned 'Goodwood camping'):
1. Wild camping.
Salewa Litetrek pro ii, Alpkit pipedream 200, thermarest neoair, MSR e-bivy, Alpkit Kraku + Mitimug and a petzl bindi head torch

2. Car camping.
Large 4 man tent, 2x Alpkit dozers, Rab 4 season sleeping bag, pillows, cadac safari chef, alpkit brewkit (for fast cups of tea), plates and cutlery, insulated mugs and an inflatable cool bag full of food.

You forgot to name the brand of the pillows.

[LochTay]

Well my tent weighs 1kg and everything for a week fits in a 60lt rucksack.
If I can see a house, it isn't remote enough.

[PurpleTurtle]

I do wonder when it became necessary to take a dedicated camping projector screen ....

https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/outwell-movie-sc...

[sherman]

PurpleTurtle said:

I do wonder when it became necessary to take a dedicated camping projector screen ....

https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/outwell-movie-sc...

I thought you just projected onto the side of the nearest caravan/tent.