When I raced Flying Scots
there was a guy who’d stand on the foredeck before races, in a kilt, and play war pipes. It was cool. And he was good. Between Races he’d usually pipe the Grace.
strumstick
They’re really neat. You hold down one string and strum all three. You can get good sounds by simply sliding one finger up and and down the frets and strumming. That’s what I mean by ‘good for people who don’t know how to play’ 
no banjo please!
nature is, as nature is. Keep the music at home.
heard the pipes
on the back side(east side) of Isle au Haut one late afternoon last year after I dropped off a couple of clients at a B and B.
agree w/that
Strumstick vs dulcimer
can be tuned to DAD, which is how I tune my mountain dulcimer. You can get a decent mountain dulcimer fairly inexpensively- I’ve even heard cardboard ones that weren’t bad considering their origin. It probably wouldn’t be too farfetched to make one out of some type of synthetic. I had a great Delrin flute at one time & have seen a Native American style flute made out of PVC pipe. None of these sounds like their wooden cousins but if it’s appropriate to play (and it isn’t always)why not use what you can? Haven’t seen a good outdoor harp, though.
Backpacker.
I too have a Backpacker but I can’t play a lick. However, I remember reading somewhere about a guy that either dipped or some how covered the entire Backpacker guitar in marine grade varnish for outdoor traveling. Remembered him saying it changed the sound some but he claimed it being worth his time. I figured with the already-altered sound you get from a backpacker, what would you have to loose (besides $120 Bacpacker Guitar).