Too much stuff.

[Mihun09]

This Winter we need to sort through our gear and slim down what we have. Much of the stuff on the gear wall doesn't see action anymore, like the 10 pound stainless steel coffee percolator. Considering the crowd here who are into Obsessively Light, I'm sure this looks horrendous, but we have stuff for Truck camping as well in this debacle. We have on occasion even taken my 30 year old Eureka Outback 6 person dome tent tripping and it has to be 20 pounds or more, and I ain't parting with it.

At some point we will start posting this stuff on Kijiji up here to thin it out a bit.

This space is about 5 feet wide and 9 feet deep. Other bits are other places. This room though makes it easy when packing for a trip. We make a list, then just pull stuff from the shelves and tick it off the list. Much more difficult to forget things.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I see lots of coffeepots and I think tents. I have stuff in the loft of a barn and a paddle shed(8x10) and no I am not horrified! It does look like you have a number of Coleman stoves for car camping I'd be careful about disposing of them. They don't make them like they used to. Check your tents to see if the fly inner surface is sticky. If they are older they are probably fine. Newer tents tend to get gooey when packed in their bag.

 

[Mihun09]

We have E-Bayed and Kijiji'd a few older Coleman stoves we won't part with. The one Sportster is from and mid 40's and still works dandy. It is a bit of a pig to portage and might just get replaced by the single burner propane in the future. The Colemans and our Chestnut Snowshoes will take a place on the mantle above the fibreglas fireplace at some point this Winter.

 

[memaquay]

Never sell anything! You will regret it! Build more shelves!

 

[sweeper]

+1 on the never sell

Is theta all ya got? Looks like you can still walk in there.

You just need a bit more organization.

 

[red langford]

I'll throw my vote in for not selling anything.

 

[Odyssey]

Yes Mihun, I agree. It is horrendous. Horrendously neat and tidy and organized. I have a fraction of that stuff, and I can't see the back basement wall for the clutter. I could give you a virtual tour of my gear pile on shelves, but you'd probably want to get all your inoculations first. I have a question (that I may regret asking, but here goes it anyway)...what's a Canoodler, and what the heck do you do with it? There it is. See it? It's on the back wall. Right above that fine collection of Colemans. (I wouldn't part with those.)

 

[Canotrouge]

Look like a Canooler to me... Like a canoe cooler... Insulated wannigan??
our basement look a lot like that but less organized with less coleman stove... But I do travel heavy, Starting in august, I never go anywhere w/o my wall tent till end of may anyway.

 

[Odyssey]

Look like a Canooler to me... Like a canoe cooler... Insulated wannigan??

Ah! Yes, I see it now. I misspelled it. Canooler, not Canoodler. (I must have a dirty mind, thinking of canoodling.) Merci bien Canotrouge. I'm enjoying poking around all that neat stuff. It all looks perfectly useful. In fact, I can still see a lot more space on some of those shelves. Always room for one more Coleman.

 

[sweeper]

The reason you don't want to get rid of good equipment is, someday may want somebody to go with you who is missing a piece of two, and might make the difference whether they can afford to go. I like to introduce people to the woods.

I'd rather have a newb friend paddling with me then just another paddler.

 

[Mihun09]

Yes, it is the Canooler. I built that my last winter in Guelph, before moving out here. The shape fits perfectly in the canoe just behind the yoke. It has padded feet to keep it off the bottom, 1/4" ply mostly with an internal structure for rigidity. 1" foam lined. The concept was to have something we could either use frozen milk bottles or even dry ice in to keep fresh food cold longer. Testing worked pretty good. A couple bottle of ice would keep it cool 3-4 days in a warm basement. Never tried it with dry ice.

After I moved to Manitoba we took it on one trip and decided it was unweildy to portage and haven't done anything with it since, but I'm quite proud of it so there it sits collecting dust. I figure I could do some more work, add a tump perhaps and put it into use again.

Funny thing is, I had never heard of a Wannigan in my life, the Canooler just came out of my brain.

~

There is one two room tent we adopted with the house that will go and the BioLite will be sold too since it just doesn't suit our needs and despite waiting 2 years for it's release and getting one of the first ones off the line, for MORE than they sell for now, it just sucks. I've told the company of the shortcomings of it but they don't return my e-mails. They did however offer an accessory for more pot space after I pointed them to a thread on myCCR where I trialled it in the bush and showed how we made it work better. Funny, I haven't received any royalties on that.

The Coleman collection will find it's way to the mantle, after I finish building the mantle. We also have a half dozen polished vintage coleman lantern tanks that could use new homes if anyone is interested.

What isn't in that space is the two large tubs of tackle and you cannot see the dozen or so expensive fishing rods I have in the corner I cannot use anymore since there is no bass fishing out here. No real value in those anymore, I will hang onto them until I eventually move back to Ontario.

 

[yellowcanoe]

repurpose the Canooler. I have a friend who made some ribbed wannigans that fit his canoes. Now he uses them to contain stuff in the house like magazines or recycling/

 

[Odyssey]

I see now the canoe hull profile of the canooler. Genius. I genuinely like it. Perhaps there's a way of fixing into the canoe, so it may never need to be removed for portages. I was thinking live well for fishing. Anyway, very good idea Mihun. I apologize for the teasing.
I've had big heavy tents over the years, which worked well for car camping. I wound up donating them to Girl Guides. They needed a good home, and I'd forgotten what the back wall of my basement looked like. I regret giving up my 6 person dome tent though. Big and just a bit heavy, but it was a fun circus tent for camping. I miss it.
Something else I don't manage to hold onto is sleeping bags. They end up getting loaned to needful campers. I don't always get them back. No worries. I started my camping life by borrowing stuff, and buying cheap. I regard some of this stuff passed along as paying it forward. You're so right Sweeper, re-gifting camping stuff makes a difference. For my 50th birthday some good friends gave me a campfire toaster iron. Long handle with two bread slice profiles on 2 metal plates. Kinda like a sandwich press. I thanked them warmly but never used it. Big, awkward and not useful to us. The Girl Guides loved it. They said something about giant sized S'mores.

 

[LF_tripper]

~

"There is one two room tent we adopted with the house that will go and the BioLite will be sold too since it just doesn't suit our needs and despite waiting 2 years for it's release and getting one of the first ones off the line, for MORE than they sell for now, it just sucks. I've told the company of the shortcomings of it but they don't return my e-mails. They did however offer an accessory for more pot space after I pointed them to a thread on myCCR where I trialled it in the bush and showed how we made it work better. Funny, I haven't received any royalties on that."

I had an opportunity to try the BioLite this June, and found it to work quite well for cooking under the tarp when it was raining. I would be happy to take it off your hands. I am in Selkirk most of this week so I could make a trip west to Warren after work. Please PM me as I would be more than happy to relieve you of it. Actually, I might go to Oak Hammock this afternoon to photograph the last of the geese, so I could stop by today if that works.

 

[Mihun09]

LF, come on by and get it. It won't clear up much space though, even our coffee pots are all bigger. PM sent.

 

[ppine]

Outdoor people seem to collect a lot of outdoor gear. Especially those that pursue lots of different activities. I have been very happy every time I have given away some equipment to someone that needs it more than I do. I like to keep stuff in circulation. Some of it wears out and needs to be discarded. I really value the old stuff like axes, Duluth packs and stoves that work fine after 20 or 40 years. My Dad is 90 and still a garage full of outdoor equipment. The stuff is comforting for him because it reminds him of all of those trips.

 

[Mihun09]

The BioLite has gone to someone who will use it and that is a good thing, I also got to spend an hour or so chatting with LF_Tripper and that was cool too.

 

[Canotrouge]

My next gear buy will be a few portage packs, like a frost river old #7, and I'm working out the details to go help built a w/c canoe in the next year. There is a few other smaller stuff I would like to have but that i can do with out. We have a yard full of canoes, and all the gear that goes with them, for tripping, whitewater paddling and playing... We have a good set of tents and sleeping bags, stoves etc. I make paddles and poles, so that is not a issue, we have a few of them... I think that good gear goes a long way, and I'm with PPINE, I value old stuff to, stuff that is not the lightest, but that usually out last everything, I believe in made in North America, especially if it is from a small manufacturer that believe in well made stuff, not quantity, but quality, and great customer service, like Filson.
But with our dollar going down like now, I don't think I will be able to afford a Frost river pack for a wile yet. Unless there is some one in Canada that make some thing of the same quality but in Canadian $$.

 

[Mihun09]

That would be Douglas Ingram you will be building with Canotrouge? That would be yes, found that in my other thread.