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GEAR FOR LIFE?
rev Feb 16, 2010
rev Oct 07, 2009
rev Jul 23, 2008
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This is a work in progress. We'll update it when experience so dictates. These lists (wish we did, wish we didn't) are not long. These adjustment lits are short not just because our inventory list is so long but also because we trialed carefully the stuff.
We spent 9.5 weeks Fall 2007 as a shake-down trip for this adventure and determined pretty well what we needed and didn't. We carry the gear items in the truck bed and in the trailer's two storage compartments. The truck's on-board gear takes up the truck's bed length and only up to the tonneau cover (not a camper shell). If needed, we could swap the tonneau cover but we are heartily opposed to this.
We have capacity for more gear if we needed it. The truck weight capacity is more than 1,500 pounds beyond what we are currently carrying. We don't have a lot of storage space unused. We eliminated, beginning of 2009, one each 50 gal and 38 gal storage totes from the back of the truck. We traveled 2008 without our backpacking gear. Thankfully we added back the backpacking gear. What formerly occupied 50 gallon storage container and a 38 gallon storage tote container now fits in one 38 gal tote and a few miscellaneous other spots.
We have eliminated only a couple of other things along the way. For example, we found new owners for the 10' EZ-Up gazebo we carried for two years and rarely used. It was great for rally parties, something we might do a couple of times yearly. We carried a plastic 2 gal gas can and just didn't like watching the extent to which it swelled during summertime (and so replaced it with a 2 gal steel safety can).
We recently (Sep 2009) backpacked for the first time in over three years. It would have been nice to have had the lightweight tent and we might have enjoyed the lighter sleeping bags. Is it worth toting the gear all year for an occasional backpacking trip?
We'll see. We're resolved, for now, to continue carrying enough of the gear to enable us to do some backpacking, despite the disproportionately large portion of storage space. We'd like to carry more but have some difficulty finding enough space for it. And if we don't have the gear we can't do the backpacking we bought the trailer for, right?
The biggest change we've made in our belongings is how and where we place things. We first moved a bunch of clothes from the storage locker above our bed to a tote in the truck, after the storage locker partially detached from the wall not once but twice. Although Jim did a yeoman's job reattaching it (the second time), we decided we need keep only fluffy light things (down lap blanket, fleeces) above the head of our bed.
We found space in the truck for the weighty trays of cleaners/chemicals from the under-bed storage bin at the trailer's rear. And we no longer store the 30 amp shore power cord in the trailer's bumper. All three of these changes involved moving weight from the trailer to the truck so we stay within the trailer's gross vehicle weight rating (gvwr).
What gear do we wish we didn't bring?
Just a few books, and we can trade them for different ones at many campgrounds. And the golf clubs -- it's so darned expensive and not nearly as satisfying as tennis is for us. Wow, what will we do with all the space left by the golf bag?
What gear do we wish we had with us?
Really, just about nothing. We've rearranged the bed of the truck several times this summer and, somehow, netted more space for stuff. There are a few books, a couple of replacement tools, and some amateur radio gear it would be nice to collect along the way. And we'll have to then eliminate their predeccessors, because who needs stuff they aren't using anymore. Here's a short list of missing items we can pick up when we swing by our storage unit:
| 2.5# camp axe (still thinking about this)
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| Through-hiker tent (only four pounds)
| Lightweight sleeping bags
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