View Full Version : Do you have a fav Basha set up?
The General
22-04-2005, 09:31
I have always used my Army poncho with paracord and a couple of long sticks foraged to raise the front a little.
If possible I would make an A frame between two trees.
Well it did the job till I figured why not get a DMP Basha and use the Poncho as a ground sheet and as a Poncho? How much larger if at all will the DMP Basha be and do you guys think I will notice a big difference? I am sure the lack of a hood will prevent those annoying drips with heavy rain I got with the poncho and it will be a big help not having to sit on my Bergen or Thermarest to keep dry!
I also use a Goretex bivi for sleeping in so I guess its all a bit overkill, but there is somthing nice about being under a tarp when its raining and being able to see all around yourself. I guess thats why I just don't use tents anymore. Pity a tarp won't keep the bugs away though! :rolleyes:
bombadil
22-04-2005, 11:46
I favoured the ponch for years, and still think it's one of the best bits of kit you can get. I now use a DPM basha, (but only because I havn't got round to buying an auscam hootchie), and I find it brilliant; it's MUCH larger, lightweight and more practical, although I found that water dripped from the loop in the centre of sheet. I have since set it up slightly differently, and stuck a bit of seam sealer on the central seam, and this has solved the problem. I keep mine with all the cordage attached and a prussik on either end to keep the sheet tight. Great thing is that now me and dearly beloved can sleep under the same sheet, (that is, when I can convince here to come) :D
My only gripe with it now is that the material it's made from slides against itself too easily, so is more of a pain in the @#se to keep rolled up unless it's in a stuff sack.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/bearclaw/course01003.jpg
for normal conditions
or if its windy or snow threatens
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/bearclaw/hootchie_015.jpg
Hey Gary, how close to your hootch are you comfy with a fire? Any problems with floaters making holes in your hootch?
Martyn I usually teach one pace away (about 30") this gives any chinders a cooling down period before they land - but again it also boils down to practical knowledge of woods to burn - for example you dont wanna burn sweet chestnut or similar spitters of fire!
If you're ever wondering about the combinations of ways that bashas tarps etc can be pitched, then have a look at this site:
http://www.equipped.org/tarp-shelters.htm
It contains hundreds of methods of pitching different types and shapes of shelters, and is mind-boggling in its thoroughness!
NickBristol
22-04-2005, 14:37
It contains hundreds of methods of pitching different types and shapes of shelters, and is mind-boggling in its thoroughness!
Thorough is a huge understatement... will be practising some of these this evening :)
Makes you realise how narrowly I look at some equipment, I can only have done about 4 different variations setting a basha. I thought I'd been clever and invented my own setup (flat roof with a little slant to windward to collect rainwater in a bucket) but lo-and-behold it's already in here...
Sweet set up Gary! If I'm not mistaken, that looks like a Tilley hat? I have one too and they are built like a tank. Good stuff.
Staying a pace away from the fire is sound advice. Kochanski states in part, "The most effective and efficient open fire to sleep in front of should be as long as you are tall and big enough to force you to stay a good step away from it. The heat of a large fire forces you to stay beyond the range of the normal spark through."
Sincerely,
Mark
bombadil
22-04-2005, 15:09
Totally off topic.....I have to say that I wait with a certain amount of trepidation for the time when I get to a BCUK meet; with our matching Tilley hats, Swannie ranger shirts, BA lightweight trousers, DPM bashas and and just about anything else we use, (not to mention the beards!) we must appear to anyone unwittingly stumbling into camp like a party of clones from another world :p
rapidboy
25-04-2005, 19:52
When it's really cold and windy i set mine up like this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/rapidboy1/mournes055_1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/rapidboy1/mournes052_1.jpg
Keeping it as low as possible and pegging it down on 3 sides.
rb
arctic hobo
25-04-2005, 20:17
I always pitch mine A frame and high, unless it's going to pour it down - I like the wind and the air when I'm sleeping, and the gentle swing of my hammock. Although usually it's the frenzied smash of my hammock with the weather we have here
:D
Justin Time
25-04-2005, 22:27
Totally off topic.....I have to say that I wait with a certain amount of trepidation for the time when I get to a BCUK meet; with our matching Tilley hats, Swannie ranger shirts, BA lightweight trousers, DPM bashas and and just about anything else we use, (not to mention the beards!) we must appear to anyone unwittingly stumbling into camp like a party of clones from another world :p
LOL, Last year we had a Mod's get-together and tracking course at Merthyr Mawr. I half expected the local paper to have a front page headline about the South Wales Police busting a terrorist training camp....
Andrew
Beardless and with flectarn trews...