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Discontinued, MYOG, or Repair gear you wish still existed?


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Home Forums Gear Forums Gear (General) Discontinued, MYOG, or Repair gear you wish still existed?

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 26 total)
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  • #3706415
    Marcus
    BPL Member

    @mcimes

    As I was reading the latest stove article I stumbled on the Moulder shunt to heat the isopro bottles. All the ebay links are dead and nothing came up for the previous search terms/item name (i’ll just make my own, as this one is easy) but it got me thinking –

    What are some great outdoor items that have been discontinued you wish were still available? or have you seen a MYOG piece of gear that you wish was offered commercially? or a specific part that is impossible to find if it breaks?

    #3706936
    Nick Gatel
    BPL Member

    @ngatel

    Locale: Southern California

    Yellow MSR fuel pumps with a METAL stem.

     

    Visklamps

     

    Discontinued Fuel Canisters that render stoves obsolete

     

     

    #3707174
    Edward John M
    BPL Member

    @moondog55

    The Patagonia Fitzroy PARKA, not the wimpy underfilled short fitting hoody selling under the same name, ditto the original Puffball series with the quilting on the INSIDE

    #3707183
    Bob B
    BPL Member

    @thegrizz

    I managed to snag a Duplex Tarp (no longer made) on gear swap, but I would love to have a Duplex Net Tent to go w/ it.

    #3707220
    Elliott Wolin
    BPL Member

    @ewolin

    Locale: Hampton Roads, Virginia

    Sierra Designs 60/40 parka

    #3707283
    Mark Verber
    BPL Member

    @verber

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    I will second Nick’s visklamps or the more recent version made from nylon? which also vanished. I can’t remember which UL gear company sold them. I foolishly gave mine to a friend so I can’t even take a picture.

    I miss Frostline kits which at the time were originally cheaper than finished gear.

    While there are better performing for the weight shelters today, I still miss the sierra designs 3-man tent from 1969.

    #3707286
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Vintage Patagonia pile.  Not like this 2002 one:

    But the super-basic, super-plain ones from the early 1980s.  Looked like carpet worn inside-out.  Some warmth and great ventilation by itself, really good insulation with a shell over it.  You could fall in an ice-cold stream, take it off, and shake almost all the water out of it and put it right back on.

    #3707308
    NoCO-Jim
    BPL Member

    @noco-jim

    Locale: NoCO

    #3707412
    William Chilton
    BPL Member

    @williamc3

    Locale: Antakya

    But the super-basic, super-plain ones from the early 1980s.


    @davidinkenai
    Is this anything like?

    #3707422
    Matthew / BPL
    Moderator

    @matthewkphx

    @thegrizz Good one! The ZPacks Hexanet looks like it would be a winner as well under the their Pocket Tarp. The deep bathtub would block wind blown rain and I appreciate the modularity of that approach over other options. 

    Same with MLD’s old Cricket inner which had a splash panel that faced the open beak.

    #3707425
    Diane “Piper” Soini
    BPL Member

    @sbhikes

    Locale: Santa Barbara

    This maybe doesn’t count but I miss the DIY parts you could buy from Luna sandals. They not only had their original Vibram Cherry kit but they also sold the mono footbed and a variety of laces.

    #3707433
    NoCO-Jim
    BPL Member

    @noco-jim

    Locale: NoCO

    David, Baby Retro circa 1992, 3 decades, still going strong….

     

    #3707474
    Nick Gatel
    BPL Member

    @ngatel

    Locale: Southern California

    Pre-2012 Houdini

     

    #3707510
    John K
    BPL Member

    @kaptainkriz

    I have a Kelty White Cloud fetish: 

    #3707517
    Rex Sanders
    BPL Member

    @rex

    @kaptainkriz Mike Cecot-Scherer designed the groundbreaking Kelty White Cloud way back when. We chatted about that during our long interview, which will be published in part three someday. Parts one and two covered other topics.

    It’s also listed on his resume:
    http://thetentlab.com/didthat/resumeofsorts.html

    — Rex

    #3707519
    Rex Sanders
    BPL Member

    @rex

    @ngatel & @verber Visklamps plus Visqueen (4 mil white polyethylene plastic sheeting) were highly praised by Colin Fletcher, who devoted more than four pages to them in “The New Complete Walker” published 1974. In that book, he said Visklamps were sold by REI. You can still find them “new old stock” on Ebay.

    BTW, Fletcher was not by any means a lightweight backpacker in spite of mostly tarp camping. Scanning a couple of his early books, total pack weights for different trips ranged from 44 to 66 pounds (20-30 kg)!

    — Rex

    #3707522
    Edward John M
    BPL Member

    @moondog55

    While far from Ultra Light I’d like to add the Eureka Caddis Expedition to my list, the first tent to make Australian snow season camping really fun, I could sleep not worrying about my tent being strong enough

    #3707525
    Greg Pehrson
    BPL Member

    @gregpehrson

    Locale: playa del caballo blanco

    David, when I read your post I was thinking of the earliest fleeces from Patagonia, the ones that were made from toilet-cover fabric, with the smooth outer face that pilled tremendously and the nubby inner pile. If that’s what you’re looking for, search for a USGI Bear Jacket. About $10-20 on eBay or $25-35 new old stock from surplus stores, as compared to $500-1,000 for the vintage Patagonia ones. Flap pockets and elbow reinforcements could be seam ripped to save weight. Sounds like they might run on the small side; I see suggestions to size up. There are also matching trousers!

    #3707532
    John K
    BPL Member

    @kaptainkriz

    @Rex that’s very cool! Besides the 4500, I’ve also got a 6500 and a 3400. The 3400 is my main pack. There was an accessory listed on the tags called a “Megaton Overpack” that I also see on his resume that I would love to get my hands on.

    #3707534
    Daryl and Daryl
    BPL Member

    @lyrad1

    Locale: Pacific Northwest, USA, Earth

    David,

    I checked out the used Patagonia pile jackets on EBAY.  They are still selling for as much as they probably cost new.

    I have mittens with similar pile inside.  They are the warmest per weight of my mittens and do well in wet weather.

    Given my heavy sweating I think a pile jacket might be worth considering.

    #3707536
    Daryl and Daryl
    BPL Member

    @lyrad1

    Locale: Pacific Northwest, USA, Earth

    Greg,

    Thanks for the tip.  Just ordered a Bear jacket from Ebay.

    #3707694
    Sam Farrington
    BPL Member

    @scfhome

    Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

    Phoenix produced its Phreeranger, now made by Trekkertent, and which was a forerunner of the Rainbow, made by TarpTent.  But Phoenix also made a two pole side entry dome tent with two pole crossings, one on each side of the canopy.  It had a lot of attractive design features.  But somehow I lost my photo of the tent and the old product page, and cannot recall the name.  Maybe I’ll run across it when I eventually get to cleaning out some cabinets where I put old trekking magazines and tent designs.  Did throw out all the Backpacker mags except the gear guides and some seminal test articles, like the one that drew fire from a popular waterproofing company.

    And J.S. Burly’s mini Ti carabiner McGizmo clips. So light that they might be used to clip an inner to an outer tent.  So gave up that approach, to combine inner and outer tents; with a solid inner DWR ceiling, but  with WP vestibule beaks  front and back that are sewn onto each side of the ceiling.  The ceiling is made of mini-ripstop silpoly, and while a structural part of the tent, will only keep water out for the few minutes it takes to pitch, and attach an outer WP fly.  Some might see this as bassackwards, but the design with the smaller fly makes pitching much easier.  And all because tiny Ti clips could not be found for less than the price of gold.

    EMS boot laces.  They had just the right diameter, just the right flex, and never came untied.  Then everyone went to low cut glorified sneakers.  And then EMS in our town sold its big box to REI and moved up the street to smaller quarters and marginal stocking.   So corporations do have life cycles.  But still do not believe the Supreme Court about them being people.

    #3708187
    Kyler B
    BPL Member

    @live4backcountry09

    Locale: Kootenays

    The original granite gear crown 60. With no hip belt pockets or brain. Using 550 parachord for most compression points. It is for me a almost perfect lightweight pack. The new one looks like it belongs more on the shelf at REI but I don’t like the mandatory hip belt pockets and the compression/closure system as much.

    #3709698
    Daryl and Daryl
    BPL Member

    @lyrad1

    Locale: Pacific Northwest, USA, Earth

    Rex,

    When you mentioned Colin Fletcher and the Complete Walker I was flooded with good memories from the 70s.

    It was my bible.  I studied it and examined every item over and over.

    I recall him saying that he preferred to keep his pack under 40 lbs.  That was a good number for me because I was only about 30 years old.  Now at age 76 I shoot for a skin-out weight about 25 lbs or less for multi day backpacks.  Back then I was sometimes carrying a skin out weight of 75 lbs.

    #3709713
    ”V” (CzechClown)
    BPL Member

    @czechclown

    Snow Peak folding titanium spoon

     

     

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