Daytrip, pack setup, plasch-palatka, and lunch

**Seeker** · 03-03-2013, 07:56 PM

Hey guys. I took a trip out to my hunting lease/semi-permanant campsite today. What a GLORIOUS day! You couldn't ask for better weather... 60s, dry, no clouds, light breeze out of the NW, just awesome. Out squirrel hunting earlier in the week, I had also lost a 10-rd mag from my Ruger 10/22, and wanted to see if i could find it (I didn't.)

Awhile back, someone requested that we post up pics of our pack loadouts, so I did a little "TA-50 Layout" for some show and tell.

I also recently acquired an East German shelter half, which is a copy of the Russian Plasch-Palatka (except it has 2 armholes, not one), so I took that with me instead of my usual USGI poncho, to set up a poncho hootch and see how that worked.

Finally, I recently re-purposed an old hammock I'd made for my daughter about 8-9 years ago, and turned it into a bushcraft chair. I took that out with me today to see how it would work.

So, here's the pack pics:

This is a 70s-era German Bundeswehr canvas pack. It's got two side compartments, a front compartment, an inner flap up against your back, and a button-flap inside the lid, plus the large inside compartment.
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Here's all my stuff laid out. Let's start up top. You can see the blue foam pad and casualty blanket. They ride inside the flap/compartment up against my back. To left and right, you see two water bottles. On the left are my knife, sheath, and firesteel. On the right are a lexan mug and Bahco Laplander saw. These go in the side compartments. In the upper left corner is my USGI Wool Shirt, and in the upper right corner are my pistol, chest holster, and machete. I can either carry the machete or tuck it down the inside of the pack (previous photo).
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This is a closeup of the stuff that goes in the front compartment. It all fits in that orange bag, except the paracord donut. I also realized later that I forgot to show my Nimblewill Nomad twig stove, but that goes in that compartment as well. So, left to right, is a Rites-in-Rain notepad w/pencil sheath on side, hunting license, TP/wipes, paracord donut. Bottom row, l to r, is a headlamp, repair kit in an Altoids tin, my pin-on compass, and my first aid kit in a tobacco can.
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This is a closeup of lunch. It's a German mess kit, with some Starbursts, landjaeger, bagel, cheese, tea, spoon, and a pot chain. All that stuff fits inside the mess kit, which then goes in the green bag underneath. The white bag was an experiment to hold the pot chain. too big, won't go next time.

In the very bottom corner is fire stuff... an Altoids tin of lighter pine, some PJ cotton balls, and a spare lighter.

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This is just a closeup of the bush chair and the blue stuff sack i keep it in.

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**Seeker** · 03-03-2013, 07:57 PM

This is the too-wide bush chair. I have about 6" too much fabric on either side, it could stand to be about 6" longer, and the sleeve for the pole to go through is too narrow. Still beats sitting on the ground!
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This is the Nimblewill Nomad twig stove, ready to fire up. I have played with it a lot, and prefer to keep the PJ cotton ball up like that until i get it to catch fire... then i use the stick to put it down inside and move that little pile of tiny sticks over it. I add 2-3 of the short lighter pine sticks to keep it going, then add increasingly bigger twigs. It takes 3 piles of twigs the size of that left-hand pile to boil my tea water.
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So there's the fire going, with the first, smallest twigs.
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I took three cypress branches with forks, (1 longer than the others) leaned them together, and then bent the end of the longest one around the others to keep it together. After setting it in place, I wrapped the pot chain around and secured it as well, keeping the tripod together.
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And there's lunch, done.
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**Seeker** · 03-03-2013, 08:18 PM

And here's the plasch-palatka. I just tied it off to a sapling nearby, pinning the other 3 corners down with a stick. It's facing West (not SE, like i'd do if i had to use it) because I'm taking pics, and they come out better if the sun's at your back, and in the face of your subject. As you can see, there's not much room inside. You can stretch out full length, but it's only an 8.5 foot diagonal. Again, if the opening was facing SE, the rain wouldn't be able to get in. I'd feel better about staying dry if i were curled up a bit more.
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Struck by sudden inspiration, I took a thin stick, sharpened the ends, and bent it into a bow under the back part of the tarp to see if it helped create any more room. It did!
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And here's what it looked like from the back. You can see the stick holding it up.
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Ok. That's all folks! That's what I got to do today. If you have any questions, just ask.

**Zoev** · 03-05-2013, 12:37 AM

Great photos! Gotta love the Zeltbahn, I have the same mess kit too!
I recommend when making a shelter out of the Zeltbahn, had a bit of cord running taunt from the furtherest stake to the pole, this will keep the Zeltbahn rigid and give you a bit more room. In the partisan's manual it is recommend to tie it to a tree to give you more shelter from the elements. Also I find it helps to make the opening side much closer to the ground. In the summer you can put a bit of netting over the front and keep the bugs away.

Wonderful stuff! Thanks for sharing I really like your pack.