demise of the shelter sheet

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Twodogs

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 16, 2008
5,302
67
West Midland
www.facebook.com
Look like I have gone from being a wooly back when I lived on the Wirral to a sheep now Im in the Midlands ba ba ,,,,ba .

17.jpg


Twodogs
 
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Karl82

Full Member
Oct 15, 2010
1,707
12
Leicester
Guess I must be a sheep as I bought mine on the way back from our trip to Norway Ba Ba Ba. What makes me laugh is their Is a number of people that have posted on this thread and I would bet that a few have never even left their PC screen. It's a said day when you get slated for your choice of shelter. Seriously who spends all day in a tent so yes we do enjoy the out doors and experience it just as lovely as the hard core tarp campers witch I myself used till I got my lavvu. Their is at least two people who are pro tarp that got soaked the last time they where out at a meet I was at.


Sent from my Baobab Tree.
 
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GordonM

Settler
Nov 11, 2008
866
51
Virginia, USA
Look like I have gone from being a wooly back when I lived on the Wirral to a sheep now Im in the Midalnds ba ba ,,,,ba .

17.jpg


Twodogs

Dogs, I know for a fact you were a first class "mud roller" in your former life; enjoy the good life, now! Ba, Ba Baaaaaa!:camping:
 
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sasquatch

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 15, 2008
2,812
0
47
Northampton
There seems to be a lot of knickers getting twisted over what other folks do for some reason. Calm down people, it's a laugh and a hobby at the end of the day! That picture never gets old Cliff, that's what it's all about...

;)
 

TurboGirl

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2011
2,326
1
Leicestershire
www.king4wd.co.uk
There seems to be a lot of knickers getting twisted...
;)
I've been offered plenty of things in the woods but never met anyone brave enough to suggest that one ;)

I'd like to try bivvying but the laavus for cold months and I'm tried and tested in the hammocks so sticking with what I know atm... teach me how to be a succesful floor dweller, Woodspirits, and I'll challenge you to a couple of nights in the laavu, see if I can convert you :)
 
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Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
Hi Woodspirits,

Shelter is a bit like a tool, if possible you take/use the best one for the job, but in a pinch you make do with what you have/have with you. Ideas will always flow from one area to another, thats why metal working skills came over with folk like the archer at Avebury, and we dont live in huts anymore.
I would agree that folk are spending more on their outdoor kit. Take canadian canoes for instance, when I started in outdoor retail many moons ago we were lucky to sell maybe one a year. Towards the end in the summer months I could be poppping two or three a week. I partly put this down to A) Folks having bigger cars/SUV that they wanted to top off with a canoe, B)folks spending more free time in the countryside and C)there's the whole eco/green thing with Hugh eating happy chickens at River Cottage and Ray eating everything in Wild Britain. Folks are waking up to a more outdoor lifestyle like they have in Nordic countries. I'm lucky enough to have quite a few different shelters, my two faves being my Hilleberg Tarra and my Tipi Safir. For basecamp (yes slightly glampy) work the Tipi is fantastic, stands up to the weather, room to all pile in and socialise and with the frontier stove toasty and great for cooking. My Hilleberg, unsurpassed for strength in adverse winter and windy conditions and portable too. I take what I need for where/what I'm doing and more folk seem to be doing the same all over the UK. So saying sometimes I feel like selling tickets when the Tipis up and smoke is coming out the chimney as everyone passing wants to see inside - so there can't be too many up here in Scotland yet.
Folk mentioned being divorced from nature in a tent with a stove, well guess where it gets pitched, out in the woods or on a beautiful coastline somewhere. Usually with the door open and a lot of time sent outside. Do you think folk said to Dick Pronneke, "Great spot, but what'd ya mean you've built a cabin, how you gonna enjoy the -40 degree winters?"
GB.
 
Is this not just similar to the rise of the hammocks? They created a stir on here and lots of people started using them - and some claimed that they were unsuitable for UK winter weather, etc.

It all boils down to personal preference and a small amount of herd mentality. People will want to copy what others have and if they like it, all is good for them.
 
Is this not just similar to the rise of the hammocks? They created a stir on here and lots of people started using them - and some claimed that they were unsuitable for UK winter weather, etc.

It all boils down to personal preference and a small amount of herd mentality. People will want to copy what others have and if they like it, all is good for them.
 

TurboGirl

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2011
2,326
1
Leicestershire
www.king4wd.co.uk
....and a small amount of herd mentality. People will want to copy what others have ...
You're not the first person to say that, but I honestly don't think it is as simple in Northwoods instance. The first people to turn up with the laavus are very experienced, extremely helpful group members who saw first hand how well they performed, researched, bought and brought them to the meets. I think anyone who went into one, spoke with them and saw how practical the design is, recognised the advantages to their situations and thats not simply blind brown nosing- its the kind of serendipity that has advanced human adaptability in difficult environments :) -or, of course, decided it wasn't for them as so many on this thread. Horses for courses... :)

Actually, I wonder if I'm getting the wrong end of the stick? Who are the 'sheep' with the herd mentality, the folk using the more traditional set ups or those trying new things? I'm getting confused!
 
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andyc54

Settler
Dec 28, 2010
601
0
44
durham
i love my hammock and tarp,my tarp and bivvi and my many tents icluding my pop up tent (no laughing at the back)

hammock is for comfort,a tarp for light weight and waking up to fresh air and a tent takes me back to my grandparents when we used to build tents in the house with a clothes prop and blankets great times :D

as for laavus i would love one after a very wet and cold weekend in the lakes when the swedish couple in the tent next to us had one with a wood burning stove complaining it was to warm in there over night followed by a rather attractive naked blonde lady popping out to say hello :lmao:

i'm a bit of a sheep and usually want/buy what people get on here but i would n't mind what people sleep in, thats up to them and it would be boring if everyone liked the same things

now after all that rambling on what was the question ?
 

PREPER

Settler
Dec 31, 2009
645
44
Notts
Next meet everyone could bring a tarp and build a giant laavu.
OR everyone bring a laavu and cut them up into individual tarps.

Perhaps I'll just bring my caravan,

PREPER................. :)
 
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Andy BB

Full Member
Apr 19, 2010
3,290
1
Hampshire
:) I threatened to start a thread whilst at the supersausage meet last weekend calling all those with Laavus "glampers" and not-proper-bushcrafters (obviously, being a lightweight tipi man mesel' one can look down on those whose laavus and stoves weigh more than 10lb combined!)

I was however, joking! Apparently some take it a bit more seriously.

All I can say is - get over it! Unless you're completely wearing either cloth or leather you prepared yourself from scratch, and walked in from your home you built yourself out of local natural materials, you're making do with modern conveniences. THe fact that a 4-man tipi can now weigh less than your tarp and hammock means that there is much more choice now, without the previous issues of excessive weight to carry. Do what you enjoy most, but don't try to tell me there's a right and a wrong way to sleep in the woods, and I won't tell you to go forth and multiply:).

Live and let live I say.

(PS - I would just like to add that personally, I have never been one of the ultra-light tendency, as those who have seen the amount of junk I tend to tote along can testify!)
 

woodspirits

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 24, 2009
4,223
918
West Midlands UK
www.facebook.com
not quite sure how this has degenerated to this level? it has no bearing whatsoever on my original question. perhaps you should take a look at post 1 before you continue ripping into me and each other.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
the demise of the shelter sheet... is this the future of 'bushcraft' meets? hordes of pointed tents? :D


tent-city-turkey-earthquake-1999.jpg


in the relatively short time i have been a member here, i have seen a swing towards this type of camping even in the warmer months. all my life i have done conventional camping and this hobby was a way to shed all that extra baggage and get back to basics and learn a few new skills on the way.

as organiser of a midland meet i am seeing a steady increase of this type of accommodation, be it in the form of a lavvu, tipi or whatever. is anyone else noticing this trend, or is it just me?

Hi Woodspirits,
sorry if you thought any of my earlier posts on the matter were getting at you or other, certainly wasn't the intention. Yes more folk are using tipis and lavvus. Partly for the reasons I gave, but also it's become more popular with less hardcore folk doing it. This isn't always a good or a bad thing it just happens. I'm sure Mr. Fenna could attest to the slightly higher proportion of insular paranoid types back in the old "S.W.A.T. - Survival Weaponry And Technique" days. But the change in name fom "Survivalism" to nice and fluffy "Bushcraft" made it more palitable to the general public and no doubt the Government who was worried about those cammo'd up guys hiding in a bush somewhere. People did look at you in a very worried fashion when you said what you did in those days. I think we're seeing a swing the other way again with the "Prepper" movement, folks get slightly edgy when talking about some of those folks as they see it as "Survivalism" without too much of the "cold dead hand" philosophy.

Anyway that's why I think there are more tipis/lavvus about. Just some rambling thoughts from a man who spent too much time alone today. :)
GB.
 

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