Do you have an Outwell Hartford XXL?

[fatsatsuma]

And if so, how do you fit two adults in a pod??

Please don't tell me we've got a ridiculously huge tent. I know that, but it suits our family of mixed ages and we need the extra living space.

However, on a trial camp last weekend, DH and I found that with our two airbeds in the pod, it was incredibly cramped. I had to sleep by the opening as I felt claustrophobic under the 'eaves' of the tent. This meant that DH had to climb over me to get in and out and that I had to do ALL the getting up in the night for DCs potty visits etc

I'm looking at self-inflating mats and wondering if they would take up less space than two airbeds. I'm not that keen on the idea of a double airbed as I fear we would be constantly rolling into each other.

If you have one of these monsters and are proud of it, please tell me how you and your OH fit into the tiny pod, and also how you store your clothes etc which presumably have to go in the main living area. Thanks.

[lucykate]

we have the outwell hartford xl, have to admit, i usually share with dd and dh sleeps with ds. we have double airbeds and i find it uncomfortable to sleep with dh as he's big, so has to under inflate it. me & dd are a more even match. the xl has 3 bedrooms, we use 2 and the other one for storing all the crap. i know what you mean about sleeping under the eaves. dh chose the tent, it wouldn't have been my choice because of the sloping roof in the sleeping area. but we're fair weather/long weekend campers, so i just put up and shut up! sleep with the dc's and stick them under the eaves

[Wolfgirl]

Just as a guide, the Aldi single air matress is: Size: 190 x 75 x 20cm (inflated)


The Aldi self infating mat is: Size: 188 x 66 x 5cm (5cm is depth)

We just bought a luxury self inflatable mat from costco and dimensions are slightly bigger and depth is 7cm.

Two of those side by side should do you.

We have the Outwell Vermont XL and we had a queen size intex air matress (absolutely huge) and still room at one end for a big suitcase. DH did have to crawl over me to get in\out though. But you get the picture. The Vermont is mahooooosive! Like a walk in marquee!

[SybilBeddows]

we have the Hartford XL and the pods feel pretty generous for 2 to me; they're meant to sleep 3 and while I can see that would be a bit of a squeeze, 2 is fine.
Clothes just go at the foot of the bed, no problem. We have self-inflating mattresses which take up less space than airbeds so I guess that is it. Also we are average height - are you and your dp quite tall?

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

We have the XL, only two DCS, so the third pod is used for clothes storage. DH and I were having this conversation at the weekend, we are both under 5'5" so we fit in lengthways on two single airbeds but it is tight. I go at the back as DH is more likely to need a wee in the night, luckily our DCs are older and we don't have to get up in the night with them very often. I do feel a bit claustrophobic under the eaves. I would not like to have to keep the clothes out in the main area even though it is large, there is not much "wall" to push bags etc up against, the bits by the windows are taken up by crates containing food, utensils, games and books etc, they would have to go in the coreners between the bedrooms. Sorry, not much help!

[fatsatsuma]

Thanks for all your replies, and Wolfgirl, thanks for the measurements - that will be useful.

The pods in the XXL (2010 version anyway) must be smaller, or maybe our airbeds are enormous - there is literally no space for anything apart from the airbeds, so unless we find that self-inflating mattresses take up a LOT less space, our bags will have to go in the main area. DH is 6ft and I'm 5'6, so unusually tall, but we certainly wouldn't fit in with our feet in the eaves and our heads by the entrance.

WhoKnowsWhere, I know what you mean about 'wall' space. Our old tent was much smaller but had more space to tuck boxes etc out of the way. So yes, our bags will have to go in the corner between our pod and the next one. Any good tips on organizing things in a tent like this? I'm looking forward to putting food and cooking stuff in the porch, but games and other general clutter - where will it go?? I have this dream of a perfectly ordered, tidy tent, but in reality I fear clutter will be everywhere...

[Wolfgirl]

by the way... I'm 6' and DH is 6' 1". Outwell must have tweaked the pod sizes to each new model. Yours sounds as if it would be massive. Very strange. All the best though, eh!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I struggle to keep ours tidy TBH, but DH and the DCs are pretty untidy people anyway. We have collapsible crates with all the non-clothes stuff in, games etc, under the windows, tend to keep food and clean utensils in there too, the porch is fairly small so I keep bags for rubbish and recycling out there, outdoor toys like footballs and other stuff like chairs, stove, coolbox etc come and go as needed. One good thing is that there are lots of little pockets inside the sleeping pods and on the outsides of them for small things like books, games, keys, toothbrushes etc. We use pop up clothes baskets for spare shoes and dirty clothes, again just in corners really, but they are tall rather than wide, so handy.

[SybilBeddows]

It's partly because you're about 6" higher up on an airbed than a thermarest, so you will get a few inches less flat space due to the slopey eaves.
Also self-inflating mattresses really can be much smaller than airbeds - ours aren't even full person-length, they stop halfway down your legs on the grounds that you don't really need mattress below knee level (which dh is a bit about).

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Hadn't thought about the depth of the mattresses affecting it like that. DH and I were scratching our head over the fact that you are supposed to be able to fit THREE people in the side pods......

[fatsatsuma]

Hmmm, not sure at all about mattresses that stop half way down your legs! Agree with Sybil's DH. But yes, the airbeds do raise you up quite high so maybe the pod would feel more spacious with a thermarest or simliar.

Have been looking at other threads and am getting interesting the the vango equivalent double mattress - adventure DXL I think it's called. Cheaper than two dozers but sounds the same spec.

WhoGoesWhere, thanks for the storage tips. All sound very practical.

[lucykate]

i always though 3 in the sleeping pods was a long shot, 3 kids maybe but not 3 adults.

[needanewname]

We had an XXL and I too felt cramped in the pods. We also used to out the 2 DDs in one pod and poor DD1 was always on the outside (once they'd got too big to sleep the other way).

We changed tents - sorry I know that really doesn;t help, just wanted to let you know you weren't going mad they are cramped!

We have friends with the XL, they all used to sleep in the middle! They too have just ordered a new tent!

[fatsatsuma]

Thanks needandewname. Sadly I don't think DH would take kindly to changing the tent for at least 5 years.

Just out of interest, did you sell your XXL, and if so, what did you get for it?

[needanewname]

Ours was an older model (2007) I think, there were a couple of small tears in the stitching on one of the pockets in the bedroom, a large tear on one if the pod doors (child jumping against it) and a couple of black spots. Told a friend I was going to stick it on eBay hoping for £50 she offered me that so I took it! Could probably gave got more but I couldn't be arsed to tell you the truth!

I have since looked in there (as I have the porch extension I want to sell) and I've seen them going for around the £200 mark