Clever adaptations

[Bill Fornshell]

Bivy with a long balloon to hold the hood up.

Cuben / Pertex Quantum Bivy Thread

[Diplomatic Mike]

Nice one Bill.
Are the laser beams from the cats eyes helping too? :)

[stefan hoffman]

I think i would have a comapart if i tried to fill a condom with water. I like ziplocks because i can keep adding handfulls of snow to the water and never run out of ice cold water. Hold the bag, or put it close to the body or in the sun (top of pack) to melt faster. Widemouth bladders work too but are way heavier and harder to get to than just a little bag in an outside pocket.

Condoms could also be used as a tourniquet, a hairtie (sexy, kinda), a guyline tentioner, protecting the nether rod from squish mitten disease, a dry sack for tinder (paperclip closure), floating beer in a cold lake or river…. For added pleasure, im sure a ribbed condom would be stronger in most applications. Ive even seen criss cross ribs like a ripstop pattern.

[. Callahan]

I've recently seen an ultralight tent which used air chambers instead of poles as a means of support, so there's no reason why the bivvy hoops won't work.

[Franco Darioli]

There is a bit of a difference between an air balloon and the Nemo Air Beams.
http://www.nemoequipment.com/airsupported-tents/airsupported-technology
Franco

[stefan hoffman]

Balloon supports are a way cool idea, but does anybody actually reuse balloons? Cuz if you are out for a week, you carry 6 balloons for a single support or a single chamber of a sleeping pad. There has got to be a way to reuse them. Maybe twist the end, fold it over, and tie a string around it? Either way you will need some backups. So if anybody has had any luck with reusing some kind of inflatable support….do share.

[Bill Fornshell]

Franco,

A couple years ago I bought one each of several different sizes of the Nemo Air Beams to play with. They work great but in the SUL world they were just to heavy.

Stefan,

If you check out the link with my comment you will see how I learned how to reuse the balloons. If you are careful you might be able to use one balloon three times.

[wouter tas]

saw it somewhere on tv or the net, seemed to work. And besides, shouldn't every single person carry one? What wrong about making luuuuuve in the outdoors?

[James Klein]

I'm glad this got brought back up as it is pretty interesting. Question: Does it have to be a used condom before using it to carry water in order for it to be classified as multi-use?

[Vick Hines]

A favorite college joke was to fill a condom, tie it off, place it carefully on some guy's bed after removing the sheets (with which a cool-headed undergrad could lift the squirming thing)… and sometimes draw a face on it. Then watch him try to get it off the bed without busting it. I have no faith in using them for carrying water. Small plastic bags, on the other hand….

[JM Addleman]

"saw it somewhere on tv or the net, seemed to work. And besides, shouldn't every single person carry one? What wrong about making luuuuuve in the outdoors?"

Harry met Hairy Sally? ;)

jk euro style is cool with me.

[Kerri Larkin]

Um, if I'm already beside the stream, why don't I just stay there instead of carrying a monster condom back into the woods to frighten the bears? Wouldn't I be easier to find by a stream than in a forest?

If I follow the stream, sooner or later it'll come to a river, then a farn, then a city.

Sticking my face in the stream to drink seems way easier than backwashing into a baloon or condom.

I've taught this tip in survival school, but reading it here is the first time I ever really thought about the practicality of it. :)

[Roger Caffin]

> If I follow the stream, sooner or later it'll come to a river, then a farn, then a city.

That has got to be one of the most dangerous bits of total rubbish I have ever read about the back-country. Well, around where I live anyhow.

Cheers

[Travis Leanna]

To follow a stream poses the question of "which way?" If I go up stream, I run the risk of finding nothing if it's fed by runoff from the hills and mountains. If i go down stream, I run similar risks with no certainty that it just won't dead end into a lake.

[Acronym Esq]

Titanium stakes – bah.
Drill your toothbrush – ugh.
Sleep under a trash bag – sigh.

2-3 hundred helium filled balloons tied on your pack is the quickest way to get your total pack weight under 10 lbs.

How about blowing up a balloon and rubbing it to make that awful noise to scare away a bear? Maybe you could pinch the nipple as the air squeaks out…

I guess it's probably not a good idea to replace your pee bottle with a pee balloon. That's just asking for trouble.

How about a mylar balloon as a signaling device, a vapor barrier, and a heat reflector?

Oooooo, if you pull a condom over your head, it could be an oxygen re-breather. Or not.

How about using a balloon to treat a sucking chest wound?

The best suggestions so far have been the bivy support and sex.

acronym 5/21/2010 1:16 AM

[Author]

Posts