Research For Camping Gear

[Awe Inspired Engineering]

Hello All,
My name is Matt and I am a Purdue Undergrad that is a part of a team we titled Awe Inspired Engineering. Our purpose is to research and develop a new piece of camping equipment and we are reaching out for help in our research division. My goal is to ask what true campers need, don't need, and of coarse want.

All help is appreciated so if you can find the time to reply to this thread it would be very useful to my team and I. Some question I have for you are as follows

1. Do you generally hike to a camp site?
2. If you do hike to a camp site how much does your gear generally weigh? And could you afford another 4-6 lbs?
3. On a scale of 1-10, how important is food storage to you?
4. Do you often prepare meals and need a solid level surface?
5. What is a piece of equipment that you would like to see modified and retailed for camping?
6. Is cold storage an issue?
7. Is it difficult to cook meat or veggies over a fire? If you do cook them at all.
8. Would a hot plate be an easier way to cook? (This would not involve electricity or gas)

Please fell free to answer any or all of these questions in any format you wish. Also if you feel that there is something else you would like to contribute to our research please fell free through this thread or by message.

Thanks all that contribute,
Matt and Team Awe Inspired Engineering

[Bigdog57]

Hi Matt! Welcome to the site.
I camp by motorcycle generally, and will answer based on that experience.

1. Do you generally hike to a camp site?
No, I can ride well into the forest on my Dual Sport bike.

2. If you do hike to a camp site how much does your gear generally weigh? And could you afford another 4-6 lbs?
The additional weight would not be an issue.

3. On a scale of 1-10, how important is food storage to you?
7. I generally use Mountain House dehydrated food or GI-style MREs.

4. Do you often prepare meals and need a solid level surface?
Prep is minimal, though I do like a level surface. I use a small folding camp table.

5. What is a piece of equipment that you would like to see modified and retailed for camping?
So far, I am fairly well satisfied with what I use.

6. Is cold storage an issue?
NO. I don't carry fresh food.

7. Is it difficult to cook meat or veggies over a fire? If you do cook them at all. Nope - put in pot, heat it up!

8. Would a hot plate be an easier way to cook? (This would not involve electricity or gas)
Not easier, but maybe better for those times when fires or open flames are not allowed.

[renodesertfox]

Research

Howdy,
We camp by auto and take lots(whatever will fit inside, on top, or behind). My wife loves to cook, we take nothing but scratch items with us, no pre-packaged food are allowed. Our needs are more for organized drawer space that doesn't weigh a lot. We use plastic drawers from Wal-Mart that aren't that secure but do not weigh a lot. We need it to fit into the back of of our Jeep Grand Cherokee(see photos of "Camping Gear") in albums. Bear proof would be good too! Even if I back-packed as in days of old...I would carry scratch items with me, because that is the best method of getting healthy from eating the right food. If I really wanted to save space(not weight) I would carry MREs from the US military. I have never had a problem preparing food in the field, if I need a cutting board a rock would do. If you can do better than I flat clean rock, I'm interested.

[RobertC]

I much prefer hiking. Would say only 1 or 2 trips out of 10 do NOT involve hiking.

I don't bother to weigh it and depends on if we're planning on climbing but 4-6lbs would definitely be felt and might mean leaving a couple beers behind (though not a factor if you're considering a product that might replace another product I currently carry).

I'd say a 1 if hiking as I'll go with MREs. If getting to destination by vehicle then I'd say 8 or 9 as that means we can bring along some high quality grub to cook up.

No, if hiking. MREs don't require much in the way of level, but if not hiking in, yes.

Anything and everything lighter, more compact and more durable.

No for hiking, yes for vehicle camping where fresh, higher quality food is an option (comfort over convenience).

Not particularly though there's some room for more convenient over-a-fire (rather than a burner) cooking tools.

Yes. Starting a fire alone can be time-consuming and difficult depending on availability of dry combustables and, as stated by Bigdog, regulations can prohibit open fires depending on drought conditions.

[Goingforthegold]

Matt
Here is my two cents worth


1. Do you generally hike to a camp site?
Sometimes but I use an SUV tent quite a bit.

2. If you do hike to a camp site how much does your gear generally weigh? And could you afford another 4-6 lbs?
If backpacking these days try to keep the load under 25 lbs. I'm getting older.

3. On a scale of 1-10, how important is food storage to you?
If backpacking I use dehydrated food. If not I have a cooler that operates on 12 volt

4. Do you often prepare meals and need a solid level surface?
Level yes. I will either use or build a cooking tripod to keep things level if baking.

5. What is a piece of equipment that you would like to see modified and retailed for camping?
Nothing off the top of my head

6. Is cold storage an issue?
Not usually.

7. Is it difficult to cook meat or veggies over a fire? If you do cook them at all.
Not if you have the right cooking utensils with you.

8. Would a hot plate be an easier way to cook? (This would not involve electricity or gas)
Possible.

Hope this helped.