EDITOR'S AFTERWORD
The book you have read is, as the author indicates, a review. Its advantages include the fact that it gives a broad picture of camp life in a bivouac, allowing you to imagine at least part of the diverse “outfitting” creativity of tourists who want to “stand well” - with all the amenities and safely.
Naturally, the reader who wants to reproduce this or that design should, after studying the descriptions given, use his own head, strain himself and make not an exact copy, but something of his own, adapted specifically to his needs and concepts of camping comfort, perceiving what is offered to him here creatively.
There is no point in arguing about this or that design. There is nothing more personal than one’s own experience with which the author wants to make the world happy (in a good way). Therefore, the editor, who did not and does not intend to write such a book, decided to make a tiny addition to it, to share his experience, although not so extensive, hoping that it would be useful and would not be wasted.
1. Fastening of polyethylene awnings. This is always a problem. The fragility of the material leads to the fact that the attachment points of the guy wires are always torn. It is, of course, necessary to correlate the design of the awning and the conditions in which it will be used. So, fixing with ordinary clothespins is quite acceptable on a quiet day in the forest. But with a hurricane wind on the pass, no tent can hold up if it is not designed for it. The main condition is the inadmissibility of blowing air under the awning, that is, on the windward side there should be no noticeable gap between it and the ground. And you can increase the strength of the guy wires by using the following design: a wide (3-6 cm) strip of thick polyethylene is welded (with a soldering iron through a newspaper or with a special apparatus) on both sides to the awning, forming a loop outside the awning. A rigid tube (metal or plastic) is inserted into this loop, into which the guy wire is threaded. The design distributes the load over a large area, reducing stress concentration.
By the way, you can reduce the number of pegs you carry with you if you stretch the awning not by individual pegs, but by special loops on the tent guy lines made at their ends. You can make several loops along the length to choose the one you need.
2. Mosquito protection. I would like to clarify the recommendation given by the author of the book regarding the Pavlovsky mixture (see page 44). Old film (old magnetic tape based on cellulose acetate type 2 and 6, celluloid, any other suitable plastic - select experimentally) is dissolved in acetone (solvent for nitro enamels) until saturated. Then dimethyl phthalate is added, as stated by the author. Caution: do not pour the remaining solution into the sink: when it comes into contact with water, it forms a swollen fibrous mass that instantly clogs all water pipes!!!
You can soak clothes and mosquito nets in the resulting mixture. It should be taken into account that the liquid is oily - therefore, clothing should be “waste”, only for a hike. The mixture is valid for at least 1-2 months.
By the way, even a coarse mesh impregnated with Pavlovsky’s mixture is suitable as a mosquito net. It is only important that it is not made from synthetic materials. In uninhabited areas, you can even put “string bags” on your head - a device that was popular at one time for carrying everything you could, but has now been replaced by plastic bags (in populated areas, such equipment looks, to put it mildly, strange). Observation: a mosquito flies up to the net, circles at the entrance to a cell that is huge in comparison with it, and flies back. I don't like it. String bags don’t help against midges.
It is useful to soak socks with the Pavlovsky mixture - the most vulnerable part of clothing in the fight against mosquitoes. In general, it is advisable not to wear sweatpants or other tight clothing at mosquito stops, but to wear loose clothing, with gaps between the fabric and the skin. So, a light nylon anorak on a naked body is good in the warm time of the day. In the evening - a rain jacket, canvas trousers (jeans are too tight-fitting clothes).
3. Hooks for hanging dishes. Convenient hooks with handles that are easy to grab by the top.
4. To maintain the fire in working condition, it is advisable to have plywood (aluminum sheet, cardboard) with you. If the wood does not burn well, the person on duty (sometimes continuously) fans the fire with plywood (quick swinging movements - this skill still needs to be learned). You can also cut food on this plywood. The metal sheet also serves as a firelight reflector, if you need to see in the dark what is happening in the boiler.
5. Fuel for Primus stoves. Its selection should be approached very responsibly. If oil gets into the gasoline (which happens in our “honest” trading system), the Primus stoves will hopelessly fail within a day or two, with damage to the safety valve and fires. To fix them, you will need to clean all the capillaries and change all the rubber. Primus stoves using A-93 gasoline also burn rather poorly (the burner gets dirty). It is better to use A-72 and A-76. When lighting a primus stove, think about what you will use to extinguish it if it suddenly flares up (fiberglass, earth, etc.).
6. One of the eternal problems of a bivouac is what to sit on. Half of the tourists’ efforts are spent not on firewood or setting up a tent, but on equipping monumental seats around the fire. On short trips or when going to competitions, you can use folding metal chairs with a canvas seat. An additional plus: imagine an hour and a half to two hours of traveling home on a crowded train while standing. And you sit! On your chair!
7. Rugs for the tent (addition). Rugs should be easy to carry, smooth out (as if “flowing around”) uneven soil, and have low thermal conductivity. Material: polystyrene foam (a bit harsh), polyurethane foam (ideal). Foam rubber does not smooth out unevenness well and is too bulky to carry. Design: a printed cassette made from any fabric. The material is cut into parallelepiped bars (for example, 16 x 4 x 1 cm) with nichrome wire heated from a current source and inserted (under tension) into a panel sewn on a machine. The approximate size of the mat is 115 x 50 cm. The mat can be carried in a backpack under the back. It’s good not only to sleep on a rug, but also to lay it on damp log seats by the fire. It is also advisable to divide purchased “Izhevsk” rugs into segments so as not to suffer when carrying them. If parachute nylon is used for the cover, and the floor in the tent is also made of it, it is necessary to provide for fixing the rugs in the tent so that they do not “go” to any corner during sleep (other “slippery” combinations of fabrics are probably possible).
Air mattresses are heavy, difficult to inflate, and the air in them under the sleeping person does not warm up.
Recently, another design has become widespread: a sheet of foam plastic or other similar synthetic material is cut to the size of a person’s seat, attached with elastic bands (like a belt) and constantly worn (in accordance with the principle of “always have your own chair with you”). Without thinking about what to put under you, sit down anywhere without the risk of catching a cold.