Gear that I was glad to have taken

[ray b]

Of course, even in the more remote areas, we can usually pick up a cell signal every day or two to check weather forecasts.

Before loading anything extra to take up space on the bike and in the brain, I always remind myself, it is supposed to be adventure cycling, and the adventure is provided by the unknown. Just a thought.

[froze]

Of course, even in the more remote areas, we can usually pick up a cell signal every day or two to check weather forecasts.

Before loading anything extra to take up space on the bike and in the brain, I always remind myself, it is supposed to be adventure cycling, and the adventure is provided by the unknown. Just a thought.

Unknown can be fun, as long as it's not a tornado, or extremely high winds that could shred a tent either from the wind itself or tree branches flying into it, or extremely heavy rain for a long period of time.  Even a good tent, short of it being made of Dyneema, will leak rain in if the fabric gets saturated, and you didn't spray it with waterproofing and reseal the seams just before you left on tour.

Leakage can result from a combination of factors like capillary action, surface tension, and to a lesser degree hydrostatic head.  Hydrostatic head has to do with the numbers that a tent manufacturer will put on their rain fly to withstand water, the lower the number the less pressure the fabric can take before allowing water in.  Dyneema has a very high number, but it also doesn't breathe which allows for condensation to form.  Capillary action has a lot to do with Hydrostatic head, the smaller the fabric "pores" are the less water can penetrate.   Surface tension is about gravity, as the water pools in a certain area on the tent.   The driving reason for leakage is the surface tension, but it can also be the result of a tent with an insufficient hydrostatic head.

This is why it's important to not have anything touching the wall of the tent, which can be difficult to do in small bikepacking tents.  It's also important to spray waterproofing stuff on the tent and reseal the seams every season, though some experts suggest doing it after every heavy rain, they seem to think that heavy rain can wash some of the waterproofing off the fabric, but it would be sort of a pain to take waterproofing spray and sealant with you on a long tour, and then once you spray the tent you have to wait 12 hours before you can put it away!  Also, I found out from my tent manufacturer that you need to contact the maker of your tent and ask them which waterproofing spray they recommend to use on your tent, for some reason some brands of waterproofing may do little to waterproof your particular fabric, and could even ruin the fabric, same with the seam sealant.

I'm not an expert on this stuff so feel free to correct anything I've said, I'm learning along with most of you.

[froze]

.

[KF8MO]

While I've never taken an HT on tour, I've set up a bike many times to run portable for community service events. What HTs do you take with you? Do you use them during the day or just to pick up weather or emergencies?

73,
K6JRS

We just use our little Yaesu VX-3Rs, but replace the rubber ducks (aka dummy loads) with longer antennas. We swap out the rechargeable batteries for the AA battery backs too. We do use them around camp or otherwise when we're split up. I also check our route against the repeater directory and have a list in case we need it. 73 DE KF8MO

[froze]

how does the BaoFeng BF-F8HP compare to the Yaesu VX-3R?

On the Yaesu website, they did not mention it could receive NOAA broadcasts.

[KF8MO]

how does the BaoFeng BF-F8HP compare to the Yaesu VX-3R?

On the Yaesu website, they did not mention it could receive NOAA broadcasts.

I don't know how they compare, except that Yaesu's build quality is significantly better. The Yaesu's receive capability is quite wide, actually. NOAA, marine band, VHF public service, aviation, AM and FM broadcast stations, 6m ham, even shortwave broadcast (1.8-30 MHz).

[Todd Collart]

Chair - Elite "Monarch Chair" that is about the size of a large breakfast burrito when rolled up in its bag.  Balance on two chair legs with your own legs providing the other two.  REI has them

Bud Vase - Plastic cigar tubes will hold all the flowers you want to carry on your handle bars and not obscure your forward vision.  The added aero drag is price you will pay for thumbs up from people and for being a conversation starter.

110 battery charger - most of the electronic items cyclists use (lights, radio, odometers, etc.) use AA or AAA batteries.  Buy packs of 4 rechargeable batteries of the two sizes you need (AA and AAA) and charge using the device that will charge either size battery from readily available 110 outlets.   I have had good success with EBL batteries and wall charger.

If one must have wine for dinner - box wine avoids the weight of glass, holds several bottles worth of the wine in the same space, and is alleged to keep better and be of equal quality to bottled every-day wines.

[froze]

I saw that burrito chair, and I didn't like the idea, When I sit I want to be comfortable and not be balancing a chair constantly on two rear legs, I know that can get quite uncomfortable as time goes just from trying to do that in standard chairs, it's not fun for more than 15 minutes.

But if you like doing that, which it sounds like you do, then by all means do it of course, it's your thing, not mine.