Bushwalk Australia

As a new packraft owner I've planned a bunch of trips this summer which will involve riverside camping and often on soft sand. Interested to hear on techniques for effective sand pitching. If I can help it I'd prefer not to carry those behemoth stakes, I've been using MSR Groundhogs and they have kind of worked with rocks placed on top. For a lighter solution I've looked at these from Exped: Sand and Snow Anchor Has anyone tried them ?

I had a similar issue with my kayak trying to find decent camping spots. After looking around I ended up getting a hammock. When cruising down a river it is far easier to find 2 trees 10 feet apart than a decent flat bit of terrain to pitch a tent....worth considering...

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/show ... php?t=6675

Thanks LandSailor. I've been trying to dial back my gear addiction and have deliberately ignored the Hammock option... I'm sure I'll give in at some stage. As a new packrafter I'm trying to allocate my gear budget to PFDs, helmet etc... and also thinking of a 2nd packraft. Who can stop at one ?

I have used those Exped Snow and Sand anchors on snow but not on sand.
On snow they work if you can dig them out the next morning..
On sand you may need to dig down to wet sand or fill them with stones and than bury them.
You could try first with a cheap or damaged stuff sack to see if it works for you.
I will try them in my sand filled (not on purpose) garden later on...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e389/ ... anchor.jpg

well, it works.
I dug one foot down , filled the bag with sand , attached a guyline filled the hole, stomped on it .
I could not pull it out using the same force I pull a snow peg out with.
The 30cm depth was carefully chosen because it looked about right to me.


Franco

Excellent Franco ! Thanks for posting and testing that out. They look like an elegant solution - functional and not bulky or heavy

You do need to budget for a second raft, so you gave a choice of companions for your trips. Best additional expenditure I ever made.

I'm afraid I've also decided to go the hammock option, although one tends not to camp on sandy bits along NZ rivers. They get washed away when it rains a lot. What about buried plastic bags/stuff sacks?

Andrew A

these have been mentioned somewhere in these forums, but i couldnt find the link.
Here it is again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXb2qLvtVx8


I dont have them but have seen someone use them and they worked great.

Dale, glad to hear the raft will be getting a work out.

I use a Tarptent Moment with the free standing pole fitted and bung a medium sized river rock under each end to keep it from 'blowing away'. I guess you could sleep on the raft also, I have snoozed on mine (yours...) and found it very comfortable, I have actually toyed with the idea adapting a free standing mozie dome to fit over my upturned raft for summer beach camps.

Steve

ninjapuppet wrote:these have been mentioned somewhere in these forums, but i couldnt find the link.
Here it is again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXb2qLvtVx8


I dont have them but have seen someone use them and they worked great.

Thanks for the link NP, I'll be checking those out. They look like a good compromise between function and size.

Steve I've taken the unrigged explorer along the Colo to test it out and very happy with it. Very glad I bought it and Packrafting is shaping up as my next addiction I'm planning trips along the Colo and Shoalhaven over Xmas. I've been so impressed with the raft I've ordered an Alpaca with sprayskirt to take advantage of the current Alpacka sale. I'm keen to try whitewater and as Andrewa said above I can then take someone else along. So the next year for me will be working on getting some trips under my belt and hopping in to a new learning curve.