His name is Gear, Richard 'Tuesday' Gear and he's back with this week's selection of answers to your geary queries - a bear barrel in the UK? Surely you mean a beer barrel?
It's Tuesday, which means that Richard Gear has been hard at work sifting through his multiple brain cells and answering some of your kit questions.
Obviously Richard can't answer every question he receives, but he does his best and almost 500 of his previous answers are archived and searchable in the Richard Gear section of OUTDOORSmagic.
This week's questions...
'As you can imagine, there isn't a huge demand for bear barrels in the UK and you might find it easier to order one online from a handy supplier in the US and collect it on arrival.' - full answer
'If you genuinely need a super warm bag for winter use then you could always splash the cash and get PHD Designs - www.phdesigns.co.uk - to make you a custom two-person model, but for summer camping, the Vango Astral Double looks like a good choice.' - full answer
'The back system is very ingenious, but unfortunately it does look plasticky, which some retailers tell me makes it harder to sell; it's also the case that it would be very hard to repair in the field, since it doesn't use conventional construction techniques.' - full answer
'Khyam tents with their quick-erecting umbrella-type system are a mild camping classic and ideal for anyone with a pole phobia. Simply shake out and peg out.The good news is that Khyam has a UK web site...' - full answer
'You can either trek up to my humble mountain bothy, knock on the door with some biscuits and I'll put the kettle on, or you can simply follow this link and I'll do my best to help.'
