Long range campouts in a trailer boat by Mark Bargenquast

For over 30 years now I have had a real passion for travelling to exotic locations for a week or two to fish and hunt, however, despite the obvious rewards the sheer logistics is a real pain. Unless of course you decide to campout in your trailer boat.

During the past few years I have been fortunate to do some pretty remote campouts from trailer boats; the fishing has been fantastic from centre console sportfishing rigs that double as guide boats in season. When faced with long range runs, some in excess of 250km over 2 weeks, things need to be right. Help is not just around the corner, neither is a service station, the extra fuel/food and water. These essential items take up valuable weight and the other camp items need to be downsized to some extent.

Since the recent boom in the camping/outdoor arena, the quality and development in camping gear has come forward in leaps and bounds. Gear has been steadily decreasing in size and weight but still holding quality and reliability needed for these trips, which is essential as breakdowns are certainly not welcome.

Cooking gear needs to be just-right; melamine utensils/plates and mugs are definitely the way to go as they are lightweight, strong and cheap. They can be stored in a small plastic tub that doubles as a washing sink. The creation of the butane gas stove is one of the greatest inventions yet for this type of campout, a small compact stove and a handful of cartridges will keep you going for a week. They only take a few minutes to boil a billy in the morning or cook a few snags or fish fillets at night. They do however rust if not looked after properly but for $15 you can replace them every year or so. Stainless versions are available now but for double the price.

Another area of high importance is bedding, we no longer use the old style swags that end up huge when a pillow and sleeping bag is rolled up inside, or even the popular pop up tents that are so hard to store. We now use 'biker swags' which are a smaller more compact version with a built-in mozzie mesh. They take up half the room and seem just as comfortable. They can be stored under the front hatch or strapped to the front of the console, T-top or out of the way while fishing. During most of our trips, we are pretty mobile - fishing from one river to the next - so deck space is of importance even when fully loaded.

The good old campfire is one of nature's delights at night, giving light, warmth and comfort. Kids big and small love them (myself included) but additional lighting is often required at times to cook, wash etc. Small generators like the Honda eu10 are great, provide plenty of power and are super quiet; all the reputable manufactures make similar models. Small LED strip lights provide super white light and use virtually no power and can run easily for a week on a single car battery.

No one wants to go for a week or two without a hot shower. Camp showers are the go, they are just a dark heavy-duty plastic bag with a filler cap one end and a shower nozzle on the other. Left laying on a deck or the beach for the day they use solar heat and around dark hang them up and shower. They do get hot and it's amazing how little water you can shower with, 2-3L easy. Just wet yourself, soap up then turn the nozzle back on to quickly rinse - we get 5-6 showers from a single 15L bag. Just remember you're not in a hotel room with unlimited water and forget morning showers. When you're camped 100km from the nearest tap then freshwater is gold!

When planning a long range trip take time to study tides and anchorages carefully. Google Earth is a big help, our boats are all around 6m and weigh around 2 tonnes loaded so if they become grounded on a falling tide that's where they stay. We use a heavy front anchor with plenty of chain and a smaller 'bruce' style to anchor the rear of the boat to the bank. Most of the country we work is not the place to have to swim from your boat, crocodiles and big bull sharks are about often invisible on the surface. I recently shot a couple of feral pigs on the bank only 300m from camp as they dug into a turtle nest and the next morning a bloody big croc-slide lead up to one that was missing. It was a good 50kg pig and was carried (not dragged) at least 15m back to the water. Our swags were only 10m up! I guess we just didn't smell like pork.