If your tent was your only holiday source would you lend it out???

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

I feel like I'm being a bit anal tbh and would like to happily lend it out and not begrudgingly iykwim. Am I wise to be weary??

I think you're wise to be wary. I've been on camping trips where our tents have been torn by wind, ripped when tripped over drunken partner and zips have split.

I returned my sister's tent and when she used it again it was mouldy despite me doing exactly what she told me. She's still about it.

I wouldn't. Other people's standards with tents are never the same as mine! If that makes me anal then shrug

Lend nothing you treasure.

I wouldnt tbh, it is so easy for something to go wrong and then you wont be able to go away.

I am generally very anal about all my camping kit. Its what makes our holidays work

No, Never loan what you can't afford to replace.
If someone asks just be honest

Hmm if it was our second tent and not our main holiday I wouldn't be too bothered. I'm happy to lend out other equipment but as you know it's expensive to build up your camping kit. It would be typical that it will be a nice weekend too so that's a missed opportunity for us to use it such an awkward situation. I've become very fond of our tent. I'm thinking it's to go to a festival too :-/

Don't lend it! We've lent ours twice and I'm certain that this has partly contributed to its demise (said as we are currently on holiday, sat in it and having spent the last 4 days bemoaning its condition). If you do lend it make sure you get it back quickly and check its condition. The first time we lent ours it went to a festival and came back with tomato ketchup on it which had gone mouldy by the time we found it 2 weeks later

No. I wouldn't lend it out.

No way, tell them you've already booked something up/ might want to use it yourself and point them in the direction of cheap festival tents. They probably won't want to pay for a new tent if they make a little rip or break a pole and which you'll then be left to live with/sort out that's even if they admit to it/ notice it. We found new poles for our tent cost almost as much as replacing the tent.

Thank You-you have all reassured me I am not over reacting. Luckily dh has said no any how as he didn't realise what it was being used for initially.

A no from me!

I have just offered our older tent to a friend with young DC's who wants to try camping.
I doubt, once we have our lovely new bell tent, that we will use it again anyway as it is quite heavy and is not measurably quicker to put up. However I did have to wrestle with my possessive streak to even offer and certainly would not have done if it was our main tent.

No. Not ever.

No from me. I was just thinking last night (our tent is lying in the living room waiting to be folded up after drying because it got wet at the weekend) that our tent was an asset as far as I was concerned because we couldn't afford to go on holiday in school holidays if we didn't have it. I'd be very careful who I loaned our other assets, car etc., to so the same would apply to the tent.

I wouldn't, not even to DP on his own! I take such care, cleaning it out before putting it away, wiping any damp off and patiently folding it over bit by bit and drying out the base in the sun (presuming there is any sun, otherwise wiping it with towels) and I'm super careful about putting the poles in so that they don't rip a hole (he just keeps on ramming without worrying about guiding them through grr!)

Given that he paid for it and still wouldn't think to do half of this on his own, someone who wasn't a regular camper would be unlikely to see why it is important, as they are not the one who has to open it up a few months later to find it covered in mud and mould. Plus, if they're not a regular camper they probably need to borrow all the other stuff too, cooking equipment, airbeds etc so even more for them to lose or break!

It may sound churlish not to lend it out, but I'm with you I'm afraid, I'd be wary about it and would try to find a good excuse (I'm a bit too crap to say no directly). I think saying that it's your only holiday source should be enough, it's like asking someone to borrow the £3k they've saved up to pay for a foreign holiday and promising you'll definitely give it back to them when they need it - you just wouldn't do it!

No. Lent one out once to friends camping nextdoor to us. It was very disturbing and distressing to see their kids use my bedroom air vent windows as "fun play zone mini doors".

I definitely wouldn't recommend lending it, if it is for a festival. Apparently, the reason a lot of festival-goers leave their tents behind is because scuzzy men pee up them when drunk!

I wouldn't and if you want a way to say no then just say, you're going away and need it. I don't like borrowing anything out if I'm honest things get broken and they feel an apology is best suited not, oh I will replace it I'm stood there thinking, shove your apology and give me everything you own!

Festival tents only cost about £20 anyway

Agree about festivals, also if there are kids involved - as much as the adults might take good care of it, the kids won't - I have to remind mine everytime about bouncing on the airbeds and throwing themselves around in the bedroom pods, they've managed to break one of the supporting tabs off. They also come in and out with their shoes on despite me bringing a door mat and a box for shoes that lives in the porch. Grrr!

No, and definately not for a festival.
As a regular festival goer, even in the quiet campsites, people regularly trip over/fall into tents. (not to mention men peeing on them)
Also, no matter how careful they are, people will not have your experience of packing the tent back in correctly.
Do not lend out something that you are not willing to loose or get damaged.

Did once .never again . $900 tent wrecked

For festivals, I use a 2 tent method.
one cheap pop up for all stuff (in black bags as the cheap ones can be not very waterproof)
one half decent (ie waterproof) for sleeping (taking into account that tent manufacturers seem to base occupancy on small children, IME you want about double what they say, me and DP have a 4 man tent).
You put cheap tent on the side that your head is going to be when you sleep, close enough to deter people from walking through so that they don't fall on top/pee on your head.

Also bear in mind that quite a lot of tents get robbed during festivals.
The small ones get carried off and spray painted by the "new owners", the big ones get sliced through at the back and rummaged through for booze/valuables.
As an aside never get a pop up in the "cow" print, unless you want some drunken idiot playing "rodeo" at 4 in the morning.

Ugh, shudder.

This is why I have never been to a festival.

I lent my tent to very responsible good friends and all was well, but it was a relatively cheap tent, not our only possibility for a holiday, and not a festival.