Folding camper or bell tent?

[VivaLeBeaver]

looks like I'm finally selling the vw camper van. Just not using it enough to justify it though feel a bit sick at the thought of letting it go.

But we like camping and still want to be able to get away. As it's just me and dd I need something that's easy to put up. So I was thinking a bell tent at first. Could get an icy tech box to use as a fridge and we'd need one of those clever hook on to the bumper trailer things as I've only got a yaris.

But then I was remembering all the hassle of packing the car for trips away and realistically I thought wed be ulikely to go away for a weekend as it would be hassle getting g everything ready.

Plus the coldness of camping doesn't appeal, though I guess we could go ehu and get some sort of heater?

So now I'm thinking of a folding camper. We could tow a small one with a yaris. Storage space to keep some basic stuff in all the time. Would have a fridge and a cooker and maybe blown air heating.
Fairly easy and quick to put up so maybe more likely to use it for a weekend away.

Any advice on different models or things to look out for. How prone are they to rips, leaks, etc!.?

Can anyone think of a major benefit from one to the other?

We adored our folding camper. Proper mattresses and raised off the floor made a big difference for sleeping comfort. The newer ones now have different material that means you can put away when wet more easily without having to worry about drying it out thoroughly on your return. We had two, and never had problems with leaks/tears despite both of them being very aged and second hand.

We've never been lightweight campers and given we were going to need a trailer anyway to take all our gear, it seemed logical (for us) to go the next step up and get a folding camper. Do get one with an awning if you go that route - the extra living space makes all the difference.

Warning though, they are a gateway drug to owning a caravan

Love our folding camper and planning to upgrade to a newer one.
It's great, easy to put up and warm.

Am now worried that my 1ltr car won't tow a folding camper. A friend or promised me it would but handbook says the car can tow 550kg unbraked and 750kg braked. Not sure what the difference is.

But a pennine Pullman is 675 ex weight and 900kg max. Don't know what any of this means.......

But have read about someone with a 1.4 ltr car and a Pullman and they were having major snaking problems so am not confident now.

Yes I'd say a Pullman is too heavy - what about a Conway Countryman/Pennine Fiesta sized unit?

Fiestas or a Conway countryman are 750kg weight. But is that braked or unbraked?

I still don't think it would work. If 750kg is the max weight I can tow and that's the weight of the camper unloaded then I'd have to keep all my stuff in the car and I don't have space.

Actually the campers are 750kg max weight and 580 ex works weight. Still don't know what ex works means.

I think ex works is the weight they come out of the factory. Max weight is the maximum you can load it to, i.e. it weighs 580kg, but once you've added your gas bottle and all your gear you cannot exceed 750kg.

Re: braked/unbraked - as far as I know the larger folding campers are all braked, not sure about the smaller ones though, you might have to check. It just means that the trailer has its own system of braking separate to the towing vehicle.

Mmmm, everyone on the uk campsite folding camper forum is telling me not to get a folding camper. They say there's a big difference between could tow it and should tow it and they say it's unrealistic with a 1ltr car.

So guess the choice is now a bell tent or keep the camper van.

What about a trailer tent - you still get the beds off the floor and it's much lighter?

Yes why not a trailer tent? You still get a nice cooker and sink etc and some of the newer models go up pretty damn quick! HAve a look at the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyeH9SzBpUo Trigano Olympe]

sorry

There's only me and 10yo dd so I don't think we could manage a trailer tent. Plus I can't afford a newer one so it would be one of the older models which take about an hour to put up.

Am really thinking now that a bell tent is the way to go. If we camp with EHU then I can get a 2 ring electric hot plate for boiling water so I can have a coffee or do eggs in the morning.

You just want a Bell tent, don't you?

I want a bell tent that puts itself up at the flick of a switch, has electric lighting, a fridge and a cooker and a heater.

I guess they're not too hard to put up and with EHU I can work everything out apart from possibly the cooking. I don't want to use a gas stove in the tent. It rains too much to guarantee cooking outside. So I either need a tarp, which could still be wet and cold or I'm thimnking an elecric double burner might work and be safer.

Viva, I think I've found the tent you want.

That's perfect chipmonkey, now where can I buy one from?

nice little camping shop in Diagon Alley.

Get a bell tent, Viva, they're brilliant. Quick to pitch, sounds lovely (no flapping, rain on roof nice at night), and, most importantly, you can use a wood burning stove inside even though you might die.

Seriously though, even if tent stove not your thing, it's brilliant.

If, however, you're ok with a stove, it's this Frontier one. Sorry for the pic heavy site, but see here for details. It would cover the heating and cooking angle.

That frontier stove looks nice and more importantly it looks portable and the fact it folds up for packing is good.

How easy is it to cut a hole in your tent for the flue?

What do you do with the flashing kit when you pack the tent up? Unscrew it or leave it on the tent all the time?

What do campsites think about people having stoves in the tent? Are they banned unless you're at a rare campfires welcome site or are they classed the same as a gas stove?

Sal was going to cut a hole for the stove in her bell tent, wasn't she? Did she ever get up the courage to do it?

Bell tent. We love ours very much. It's beautiful.

Yep chipmonkey, got there eventually, but took our time!

Well, the actual cutting part was easy - marking place place out with pencil, stab knife through, cut circle, bolt flashing (we did all this whilst it was already pitched). 15 mins maybe. Getting enough courage to do the actual deed... well, we used the stove outside for 2 weekend camps over a couple of months "to test" first. We haven't done summer camping since we've done the deed, so at the moment we just left it in place. In mid summer, we'd unscrew it though - I'm thinking of making a cover with canvas for ease of use, but otherwise this is what we'll use.

I don't know about non-campfire sites as we've only ever gone to ones that allow, sorry. I would think they might have a problem with it if you're pitching close to others, as might the other tents, I guess. I know I take incredibly good care to be safe and would prefer not to die either but others might just see smoke coming from the flue and see a potential whoooooshhh waiting to happen. So, honestly, I would check first if your favourite sites allow if that's a deal breaker. I guess if they allow fire pits, they would allow these.

See, all the different bits on the soul pad website to do with flues and flashing confuse me. I like the other website, it's quite clear - stove, flashing, flue.