We were using a French press but found disposing of the grounds a pain. We switched to Starbucks instant on our last trip and are now sold. Maybe not for the purists but meets our needs. (No Folger's instant though!! We are at least that snobby:)
I thought I'd jump in on this discussion. We camp off-grid quite a bit, so an electric coffee maker isn't an option. I tried a simple, cheap percolator. It's OK, although some grounds get through the basket. My problem with it is the difficulty of cleaning the thing up with limited water, and I don't want to put the grounds down the sink.
So then I tried a drip-through cone. The first one I found is a single-cup that takes a #2 filter. It makes great coffee, and it's a breeze to clean up, but it gets kinda tedious to make multiple cups. The link that ELongest posted is along this line and may be more practical. (I note that it's "not available").
The drip-through that RocheACri woods uses is along the line of what I want, except I'd want one that uses a filter for easier cleanup. I don't know why someone doesn't make a drip coffee make that uses the stove as a heat source. Maybe someone does. I'll keep looking.
I'm with you on the clean-up issue. I do use a filter in my coffee pot for the reason you mention. I have also tried to make coffee using a make-shift paper tea bag. I didn't have a real tea bag handy, so I made one from a paper coffee filter. I steeped the coffee in hot water for a few minutes and it worked well. It would have been easier with a real tea bag.
I take a plain round coffee filter, fold it twice to easily mark the center, then push it down into the coffee basket of a percolator. Fold the top of the filter over the grounds before putting the top on the basket. It keeps the grounds out of the coffee and makes clean up easy.
I see from photos that some of us use screen tents. I don't really want to add yet another piece of equipment to my Stuff - I'm such a minimalist - but when I went camping last August the mosquitos were so vicious that my dog Pearl and I could not be outside at all unless we were on the move, as in hiking. She's a senior citizen with no ACL in one knee, so spending a lot of time walking is out of the question for her. I have to go alone on the longer hikes. And since she's a big dog - German Shepherd - having to be inside my 13' with minimal ability to get up and walk around (hanging out on the main bed, though it's relatively spacious compared to any crate or kennel, doesn't really count) is just not quite enough for a two or three hour stint.
So we need a little more space, outdoors, protected from the disease-bearing biters, with room for Pearl to stretch out full length if she wants to, or get up and take a few steps in one direction, without having to be on a leash. As for me, I'll probably bring my "zero gravity" lounge chair along, for true kicking back. We both need to fit inside.
Anybody have any comments, re using this or any other such screened room at a Scamping site?
Alternative suggestions? My priorities are mosquito-proof, less weight, interior can be protected from rain/cold breezes (when it's not mosquito weather cold is more of a problem than heat, where I go: northern Minnesota), ease of set-up/take-down, and bang-for-the-buck space, in that order.
And of course any comments or stories anyone has about how they've spent time in these kinds of units would be most welcome. Delights, disasters, unanticipated whatevers. Assist my imagination!
We purchased the same Clam screen tent late last year. We watched a video of the setup process and read lots of other reviews before making the purchase. The actual setup, the first time, is not as smooth as the video but once over that hurdle it goes much easier. We found the included storage bag works great. One extra item I did purchase were a good set of metal tent stakes and a rubber mallet. The included plastic stakes would not go into hard ground and figured I would just end up breaking them. The screen tent is lite enough that a good breeze can shift it so staking it down is important.
Side note: We pull out 16 with a Nissan Frontier full size bed truck. Before we made our purchase I did some measuring and found the screen tent would fit OK but had to go at a slight angle in the bed of the truck. We use large plastic storage containers for extraneous gear and that had to be re-worked a bit to accommodate the tent. I would imagine the tent could lay on the floor of the Scamp OK but didn't go that route. Just something to think about when packing for a trip.
Great place to lounge and there is plenty of space for seating and enjoying our dog outdoors without all the bugs. We travel the mid-west and hate fighting the mosquito season as well.
Thanks for your reply! I saw that this post went onto the wrong thread - SORRY to hijack! - and deleted it, and reposted separately. Somehow my delete didn't work, because here it still is. So I'll delete it now.
Meanwhile, it sounds like the packaging of this might be a deal-breaker. I'll check that out more thoroughly. It could be I'll be better off using our (dirty old) family tent unless I can find something that breaks down smaller.
We were using a French press but found disposing of the grounds a pain. We switched to Starbucks instant on our last trip and are now sold. Maybe not for the purists but meets our needs. (No Folger's instant though!! We are at least that snobby:)
<p>Roger and Michelle</p>
I thought I'd jump in on this discussion. We camp off-grid quite a bit, so an electric coffee maker isn't an option. I tried a simple, cheap percolator. It's OK, although some grounds get through the basket. My problem with it is the difficulty of cleaning the thing up with limited water, and I don't want to put the grounds down the sink.
So then I tried a drip-through cone. The first one I found is a single-cup that takes a #2 filter. It makes great coffee, and it's a breeze to clean up, but it gets kinda tedious to make multiple cups. The link that ELongest posted is along this line and may be more practical. (I note that it's "not available").
The drip-through that RocheACri woods uses is along the line of what I want, except I'd want one that uses a filter for easier cleanup. I don't know why someone doesn't make a drip coffee make that uses the stove as a heat source. Maybe someone does. I'll keep looking.
Randy in Paonia
I'm with you on the clean-up issue. I do use a filter in my coffee pot for the reason you mention. I have also tried to make coffee using a make-shift paper tea bag. I didn't have a real tea bag handy, so I made one from a paper coffee filter. I steeped the coffee in hot water for a few minutes and it worked well. It would have been easier with a real tea bag.
Sarah
I take a plain round coffee filter, fold it twice to easily mark the center, then push it down into the coffee basket of a percolator. Fold the top of the filter over the grounds before putting the top on the basket. It keeps the grounds out of the coffee and makes clean up easy.
Lynn
That sounds worth trying. Thanks for the tip.
Randy in Paonia
I see from photos that some of us use screen tents. I don't really want to add yet another piece of equipment to my Stuff - I'm such a minimalist - but when I went camping last August the mosquitos were so vicious that my dog Pearl and I could not be outside at all unless we were on the move, as in hiking. She's a senior citizen with no ACL in one knee, so spending a lot of time walking is out of the question for her. I have to go alone on the longer hikes. And since she's a big dog - German Shepherd - having to be inside my 13' with minimal ability to get up and walk around (hanging out on the main bed, though it's relatively spacious compared to any crate or kennel, doesn't really count) is just not quite enough for a two or three hour stint.
So we need a little more space, outdoors, protected from the disease-bearing biters, with room for Pearl to stretch out full length if she wants to, or get up and take a few steps in one direction, without having to be on a leash. As for me, I'll probably bring my "zero gravity" lounge chair along, for true kicking back. We both need to fit inside.
I'm looking at this Clam model
Anybody have any comments, re using this or any other such screened room at a Scamping site?
Alternative suggestions? My priorities are mosquito-proof, less weight, interior can be protected from rain/cold breezes (when it's not mosquito weather cold is more of a problem than heat, where I go: northern Minnesota), ease of set-up/take-down, and bang-for-the-buck space, in that order.
And of course any comments or stories anyone has about how they've spent time in these kinds of units would be most welcome. Delights, disasters, unanticipated whatevers. Assist my imagination!
Thanks,
Joan
We purchased the same Clam screen tent late last year. We watched a video of the setup process and read lots of other reviews before making the purchase. The actual setup, the first time, is not as smooth as the video but once over that hurdle it goes much easier. We found the included storage bag works great. One extra item I did purchase were a good set of metal tent stakes and a rubber mallet. The included plastic stakes would not go into hard ground and figured I would just end up breaking them. The screen tent is lite enough that a good breeze can shift it so staking it down is important.
Side note: We pull out 16 with a Nissan Frontier full size bed truck. Before we made our purchase I did some measuring and found the screen tent would fit OK but had to go at a slight angle in the bed of the truck. We use large plastic storage containers for extraneous gear and that had to be re-worked a bit to accommodate the tent. I would imagine the tent could lay on the floor of the Scamp OK but didn't go that route. Just something to think about when packing for a trip.
Great place to lounge and there is plenty of space for seating and enjoying our dog outdoors without all the bugs. We travel the mid-west and hate fighting the mosquito season as well.
Thanks for your reply! I saw that this post went onto the wrong thread - SORRY to hijack! - and deleted it, and reposted separately. Somehow my delete didn't work, because here it still is. So I'll delete it now.
Meanwhile, it sounds like the packaging of this might be a deal-breaker. I'll check that out more thoroughly. It could be I'll be better off using our (dirty old) family tent unless I can find something that breaks down smaller.
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