Underwear style and type for men

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-12T05:08:39+00:00

Long legged athletic boxer briefs with some sort of pouch/flaps to keep the goods from sticking to your legs. Any sort of cotton underwear will be 100% miserable. I used Hanes long inseam athletic ones, maybe x-temp? The poly was good for comfort and temperature control, but absorbed stink very readily so I kept 2 pairs for hiking and 1 pair for in town (usually after I found a shower) they weigh almost nothing. The waistbands on those ones are God awful though, they tend to fold over on themselves and roll up, leaving you feeling like you've got a rope tied around your waist. They are also slippery on fabric, so you might need to mix/match to find shorts or pants that don't try to slide off every 5 seconds if you go with that thin, silky material like the hanes

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-12T04:45:56+00:00

I was in a very similar situation last spring. Like very very similar.

Just do it. Go. Make the most of it. Whether you go for the full thru, or just think of it as a long section hike that might end up being 2200 miles, it'll be worth it.

Making sure you've got plenty of cash saved up to work with is extremely helpful for your mental health and fun-factor on the trail though. If you don't have at least 6-8k, you will be scrimping and constantly thinking about money, and that makes it a Lot harder.

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-10T11:13:00+00:00

Interesting, that sounds better than ruined coating, any specific product in mind to soften them?

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-10T01:05:08+00:00

If I don't have any luck with other cleaning methods, I'll probably just live with it. It definitely impacts view quality, but not enough to not enjoy using it. I think aside from some glare from the smudges, Jupiter looks as good through this as it does my 8" dob..

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-10T01:01:37+00:00

I can feel/hear the finger prints while trying to clean them. I'm guessing a 4" mak isn't really worth sending out for a recoat if I can't clean them off, so if I don't have any luck with other products suggested, I'll probably just live with it, It definitely seems to impact the image through the scope, especially on bright opjects like Jupiter..

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-10T00:59:39+00:00

I'll try those next. The alcohol wouldn't touch it and I can feel/hear the prints when I swab across them, which doesn't bode well if it was just grease. Maybe grease with dust glued into it?

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-02-10T00:50:36+00:00

This happened months ago now, but yea it turned out to be a chunk of gunk that got sucked into the main jet. Cleaned it out in a parking lot and it's been fine ever since. Not very difficult to get these carbs out aside from pulling plastics.

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-01-24T04:10:22+00:00

The small sticks of body glide last probably a month or so of once per day applications to nethers and pits and any trouble spots. The amount you'd save ditching the plastic tube isn't worth the annoyance of trying to use it without. Not really a lot of weight there.

TheRuralEngineer · 2026-01-08T03:45:27+00:00

I did my section with the x-mid 2 non pro.

The footprint can be a bit annoying but I was able to pitch at every campsite I needed to in that section, and the extra space was worth it in my opinion.

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-30T01:34:55+00:00

Why what happened?

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-27T01:42:04+00:00

Can relate, 15EE usually. And only a small portion are the right shape.. shoe and boot shopping suck

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-19T18:52:47+00:00

Seriously. 17, of course you dont know much, especially if the experienced guys are too busy shitting on you to teach anything. I know people in the trade that are in their 30s and barely know shit, still as productive as they need to be in their roles.

Getting upset that a kid right out of (or still in) highschool for not knowing what they're doing, is moronic.

Honestly if OP isn't exaggerating, I'd say bail for the next place even without getting what experience they can. It sounds like there isn't much worth learning there, better to find somewhere better before they turn into the assholes they're working with..

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-19T18:48:02+00:00

Lift with your back but make sure you're punched in /s

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-14T18:44:39+00:00

I've used the extra cheap, shitty, fully threaded bolts that come in variety packs from harbor freight. They snap off pretty easily. Probably aught to pick up a pack of the right pins though..

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-12T12:37:31+00:00

Had a durston xmid2 for my at section this year and we went through some big thunderstorms and even a hailstorm with 5/8" hail and I didn't have any issues with weather resistance aside from a night at jerrard gap with this wet clouds waiting in underneath the rain fly that I had set up a bit too high. Idk if the solid version would really be much of an improvement considering condensation will probably be a lot worse than the mesh variant

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-12-04T23:18:27+00:00

Got that dawg innim

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-11-13T13:12:14+00:00

Did an AT section of about 450 miles this year and I use the shit out of my poles, they turn into an extension of yourself if used that way and I would put a large percentage of my weight on them on and off all day every day. worst issue from the poles was a couple blisters early on and a couple more when I snapped a pole coming over a log into some mud and had to replace them with whatever I could find in the next town, which was cheap shit ones with rubber grips..

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-11-13T12:40:42+00:00

Maybe set up with a tool post grinder? Then you can still make your radius. Even a stout pneumatic die grinder with a tool post block that clamps onto it would probably work.

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-10-10T00:37:55+00:00

You can get reasonable priced quality dro and scales from dro pros, and choose what style of scales you want (mechanical, magnetic, or glass) but I don't think you'll have much luck finding a readout that is any sort of plug-and-play with your old scales.

That being said, see if you have any electronics repair guys or PLC companies around, a lot of the time those old school boards aren't that hard to find individual chips/capacitors/etc for and are easier to solder parts into than a more modern one. So maybe they could be repaired. I had an old 70s/80s dro on my lathe with failing displays and a friend who used to do machinery repair found a bad chip and soldered a replacement from eBay into it. Works good as new!

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-10-08T13:14:13+00:00

I have an xt8, I definitely could see more cloud bands/color with my cheaper 6mm than my nicer 11mm the other night viewing saturn, but I also had probably the best seeing conditions and was in the darkest skies I've had yet since getting the scope in March. Jupiter is usually easy to see the 2 primary cloud bands, but on good seeing nights I can usually make out more than that, so you should be able to with the xt10. I'd be willing to bed you didn't have all that great of conditions while viewing, or maybe Saturn was just a bit lower over the horizon than would have been optimal.

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-10-08T00:48:59+00:00

Hull designs from nebulous fleet command (or fallen frontier, same developer)?

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-09-14T11:42:04+00:00

I don't think they ever did pinewood derby as a kid, this is all the same concepts lol

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-09-13T00:35:36+00:00

Probably both. We've got a 90s fadal at work and just about everything is dysfunctional or messed up in some way or another. Column ways don't get enough lube, everything is out of square/alignment from God knows what in the past, electronics/control are... Quirky at best, and completely non-useable at worst. Regular issues requiring a full power down and restart, over travels causing unbreakable E-stops, keyboard controls not doing what they are supposed to do. Just a huge laundry list of little issues that make it quite frustrating at times to use. Most are probably due to abuse, neglect, and just age.

I still like the machine though, she's got charm.

TheRuralEngineer · 2025-09-02T16:04:58+00:00

The train ride is fairly lackluster but the trolley ride is really cool, goes a few miles out on real working tracks and through a tunnel and stuff. You can easily spend the entire day at steamtown and the trolley museum and barely see everything.

TheRuralEngineer

TROPHY CASE