Cheap one man tent/sleeping bag and whether to get ground protector?

[Profpointy]

The basic rule on drinking water in Europe is is you cant see where it come from, don't drink it.
So if you can see the spring then it should be OK, otherwise use tap or bought bottle.

The easiest method of drinking water from streams is 'water to go' purifier
Otherwise puritab, but then it tastes of swimming pool

mmm, I take it you've never done any hillwalking in Scotland then - good luck carrying a weeks worth of bottle water !

 

[Brains]

mmm, I take it you've never done any hillwalking in Scotland then - good luck carrying a weeks worth of bottle water !

Qualified Mountain leader, so lot of walking in Scotland.

See rule one above. In Europe (and Scotland still is in Europe) If you can see where it comes from, then it's usually OK to drink.
If in doubt then use a 'water to go' bottle. which will supply 200L of water

 

[andym]

1. I would recommend using a foot print – whilst it is easy enough to mend the odd hole in a groundsheet it is much better not to get one in the first place
2. Camping sites in Europe are often not the nice lush grassy sites we are used to in the UK the extra layer provides protection and a small degree of extra comfort.
3. Additionally it makes it easier to wild camp in places you may not have considered without the sheet. in good weather I have sometimes used mine to wild camp sans tent.

I think this is pretty analogous to the differing views about Marathon Supreme puncture-protection tyres. OK avoiding punctures has got to be a good thing, but is it worth the extra weight to avoid something that's no more than an occasional hassle? People have different views: I guess it depends on how important weight-saving is to you. If you've paid out a fortune on an ultra-light tent at a kilo or so then a footprint that weighs 400g isn't terribly appealing (although Tyvek seems to be quite a bit lighter).

I've travelled for 5-month tours in Italy, with all sorts of different types of pitches and never had a problem. After 5 months of continuous use my current tent (which has a fairly flimsy groundsheet) had maybe a dozen or so pin-prick size holes in it. Most of these repairable with a quick dab of seam sealer although a couple I put tape on because I had the tape and I thought I might as well use it.

The footprint does have other advantages - eg keeping the groundsheet cleaner, and something to sit on or lie on.

I think different people will have different priorities and views depending on their weight budget and what else they want to take: if I had to choose I'd take a spare pole rather than a footprint, but equally I'd take a footprint rather than a chair.

 

[psmiffy]

I totally agree with @andym - it is a straight trade off weight versus utility - ive never been in the weight weenie camp so for me it was not that difficult - for me the groundsheet thing came to mind after an early wet spanish/portugese tour where I wild camped a fair amount of the time - the groundsheet was taking quite a bit of abuse and while i was doing pretty good at keeping the tent inner dry a footprint would probably have helped both with the wet and abrasion. Autumn was Norway (very wet and some rocky wild camps) and a homebase tarp (disposable if it wasnt such a good idea) with a few bits of bungee for the pegs was added - sorted out the abrasion issue and was able to maintain comfort in some very "trying" conditions - Greece the following year it really came into its own wild camping in olive groves - less than a fiver and been used over 200 times

 

[Crankarm]

I have a Wild Country Zephyros 2. Excellent and very light

Yep this would be one of my choices if i didn't already have a Vaude Taurus Ultralight 1.9kg which has been pretty good.

But also the MSR Hubba Hubba of similar weight around the 1.7 to 1.9 kg mark is a favourite of many RTW touring cyclists.

The Nordisk Telemark 2 man weighs in at 950g and is a 3 season tent. Feels like parachute material. Has DAC poles as well. Very easy and quick to pitch.

I would avoid Easycamp tents. They are aimed at summer holiday or festival goers. They are not particularly durable or light and have fibreglass poles much like most cheap nasty tents. Fibreglass poles break so easily and are heavy.

The point of a footprint or aftermarket groundsheet is it adds a layer of protection to a thin tent groundsheet. If you don't have one you risk having the tent groundsheet puncture and if it rains heavily or you camped in a river bed then all your stuff could get wet. A wet sleeping bag and clothing is curtains. You could use a bivi bag inside your tent I s'pose. When riding I store the aftermarket groundsheet down the back of one of the rear panniers. It hardly takes up any space at all.

Re water treatment. Iodine now banned. It is Chlorine tabs to clean up water. To counteract the chlorine taste neutralising tabs are available. For more dodgy water chlorine dioxide tablets are better. You can also get various water purifiers some more expensive than others. Sawyer make an in line filter which is good for 10k litres which can be used in line of tubing of a hydration bladder such as a Camelbak or on top of a water bottle. There are various Steripens which use UV to kill nasties. There are also Katadyn range of filters which are a little more expensive around the £120 mark. You can get water bottles which have a carbon filter in the screw cap which takes a lot of nasties out. Or as already said you can boil water but which takes time and fuel plus it has to cool before you can drink it. Why not just drink Coke and Vodka instead?

Personally I would always filter water from streams as others have said above as you don't know if there is a dead animal in the water up stream or a whole herd of wildebeest has shat and pissed in the water. Which begs the question why don't animals get ill drinking from watering holes which are no doubt harbouring all sorts of nasties?

HTH.

 

[Profpointy]

Just a point of clarification - couple of people have said "iodine is now banned".

So if you get some iodine mixture (having done your homework to get the right recipe and dosage) - and put it in your water - do you get arrested or what? Or is just the water board don't use it anymore

Clearly iodine and KI are not "banned substances" per se

Good on preventing infection on the more serious cuts too - albeit stings like hell

 

[robing]

I have Vango Blade 100 one man tent. It's superb. Lightweight at only 1.5kg, quick and easy to put up and down. Has survived torrential downpours in Ireland completely dry. Recommend the alloy tent pegs from go outdoors. North ridge alpine lite mattress OK. Splashed out a bit on the Rogers Caucasus 300 down sleeping bag. Had tried a couple of cheaper ones but found them not warm enough. The Caucasus is OK down to zero C and only about 800g.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Just a point of clarification - couple of people have said "iodine is now banned".

So if you get some iodine mixture (having done your homework to get the right recipe and dosage) - and put it in your water - do you get arrested or what? Or is just the water board don't use it anymore

Clearly iodine and KI are not "banned substances" per se

Good on preventing infection on the more serious cuts too - albeit stings like hell

As far as i know Iodine is only banned in the EU countries, well only those that bother to obey the rules laid down in Brussels, like the UK. I bought my last supply of iodine tablets in Malaysia so not banned there

 

[Profpointy]

As far as i know Iodine is only banned in the EU countries, well only those that bother to obey the rules laid down in Brussels, like the UK. I bought my last supply of iodine tablets in Malaysia so not banned there

I did some googling and apparently EU rules dictate that if you sell a product you have to back up any claims - eg have some proper research to show that your iodine drops do kill germs etc. There isn't enough money in water purification for campers, so no one's bothered for iodine. This doesn't mean it's "banned", nor does it mean you can't buy iodine or KI - just that it can't currently be marketed as a water treatment.

Whilst the above is perfectly plausible, it's only stuff off the internet, so usual caveats

 

[Bodhbh]

Just on the groundsheet protector, I didn't really bother at first. When my tent was new (a Lightwave T0 Trek) you could park it in the middle squelshy highland bog and it'd be bone dry inside. As it got older, I found water would bleed thru the sheet and wet the underside of anything in contact with it. Reproofing would improve things but never really bring it back to where it was. The groundsheet has fixed that and at least allowed me to get another few years out of it, tho I'm probably risking it vs truely sustained downpours.