Recommendation please, for swag camping

gooba53 · Guru

Recommendation please, for swag camping

Whenarewethere · Guru

I used one many years ago for a brief period, they are big & heavy.

Personally I would get a Thermarest 75mm thick luxury map standard size. Thinner mats ones are ok for younger people but this one is seriously nice & as large as you can go without getting out of hand.

This should last 20+ years as our Thermarest mats have.

hufnpuf · Senior Member

I've got one like this, battery powered. It has a hook, you could probably use it in a swag
www.oztrail.com.au/products/portable-fan-and-led-light-combo

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Looks good hufnpuf - depending on what sort of a swag he's got. These days swags seem to be more like tents rather than the types the bushies of the past used.

Mike Harding · Guru

I have spent more nights than I can remember in a swag and I would not consider trying to use a fan in one, it'd be a damn nuisance.

Buy a hoop swag with fly net and air inlet at the foot. Fold the top canvas back, use a light sleeping bag or just a sheet. If you are still too hot... go home....

gooba53 · Guru

Hufnpuf thanks for the link.

We were wondering what experienced swaggers thought about fans, looks like our first opinion was correct, too inconvenient for lots of different reasons. Thanks

hufnpuf · Senior Member

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
depending on what sort of a swag he's got. These days swags seem to be more like tents rather than the types the bushies of the past used.

Yes, I looked at some when I got my tent. The one I liked was quite large inside, you could certainly have put a fan inside that, it was more like a small tent than a traditional swag. I could have fit in there with my 2 dogs and we'd have had heaps of toom. The "normal" hiking type ones with just the width of a person with the not-very-tall cover over, you probably wouldn't comfortably fit a fan in those, as Mike Harding said.

Whenarewethere · Guru

We bought in the early 1990s a Macpac 3 man tent $850 & it was a run out model, in reality it is a 2 man tent. We use 2 standard size Thermarest mats.

We have never felt cold in the tent even with -3°C in Tasmania. For the last decade we use feather doonas, as our sleeping bags are too warm, & there is more room to manoeuvre, I won't elaborate!

For a decade the tent has leaked but other than that it is perfectly ok structurally & we simply put a light weight ground sheet over the top from a hardware store. (in background of photo)

Works a treat & has an additional benefit, another layer of warmth. If you get condensation just use a bit of that 3mm packing throwaway foam sheet around the edges of the tent, & it is handy as a simply mat during the day.

Some years ago we were in Berlin & an absolute ripper of a storm & downpour came through overnight. The next morning all the other campers has moats inside their tents. They enquired of our predicament thinking for the worst. We didn't have a drop of water in the tent.

If you have a self inflating Thermarest you do not get cold from underneath & only need a feather doona. Which is a lot cheaper & easy to air over a rope between 2 trees in the morning!

Our view is get a top quality self inflating mattress first. It will last 2 decades. Our oldest one is 27 years.

P.S. if looking for a compact chair we are now using Helinox Sunset chairs.

Cupie · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
Snip ..

P.S. if looking for a compact chair we are now using Helinox Sunset chairs.

Helinox Sunset chairs look the goods .. 1.35kg BUT @ $208.91 a bit out of my price range.

SWMBO would not be happy if I were to buy ANOTHER chair, especially at that price.

Though if I had brought quality in the first place perhaps I wouldn't be always looking for replacements.

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 16th of November 2020 09:22:53 AM

Whenarewethere · Guru

They are expensive, but as we do not have space in the car they are worth every cent.