A tent for three or four that ONE adult can put up please?

[NickiFury]

Am on my own with dc but would love to take them camping. Need a minimal fuss tent that I can put up and take down alone. Any ideas? Thanks

You need a bell tent. Brilliant tent. Comfortably sleeps 4. Only one pole so easy to put up on your own.

www.belltent.co.uk

Vango Icarus 500 or Icarus 600.
Simple tunnel tents, pitch as one, lightweight poles, bag not too heavy or bulky. They also have dark fabric in the sleeping compartments to assist later waking.
Roomy porch area, option of side door, depending on which way the wind is blowing.
Easy to dry out.
Vango are a good brand, strong, stable well made tents.

How old is the oldest?

Mine helped with pitching since aged 5 - but I managed a more complicated predecessor of the Icarus on my own many times.

IMO folding the tent on your own is the hardest part - but quite young kids can help with that, and it is possible on your own. Though someone always came and helped.

I go on my own with 3 dc in a Vango Samara 600. It is big and heavy though when in the bag. I don't put the poles in the bag now otherwise I can't lift it. I can however put it up on my own with a little assistance from DC! who holds some poles up at a couple of crucial points.

I would recommend watching some videos on youtube of how to put up different models of tents. I agree that tunnel tents seemed the easiest to me.

You can put up any tunnel tent on your own, I do and I am only 5 foot tall. Look on youtube but basically put all poles but only put the front and back into the peg things. Peg out front and back and then lift the back section and peg the guy ropes, then pull up the front and peg using guy ropes. Then go round putting the rest of the poles in properly and peg out. Simple.

I second the ease of the Bell tent. I've always struggled with others but this a breeze.

Bell tent. I have a soul pad. You might need a dc or two to help to steady the pole in the middle whilst you peg a bit - but the dcs like that - my littlest was always 'tent peg boy'. If you do go for a bell the bigger ones can be heavy, but can be split into separate components for lift ability.

Getting bell down (5m) was a 20 min job start to end last camp.

There are also the Quechua pop ups, we had a 4 man with porch which was very easy, quick and light.

I would not choose to do a tunnel tent again on my own - memories of an hour and a half pitching with a seven year old helping me to wrestle with the poles is not fun!

Campingfilth I challenge you to put up my vango maritsa 700 tunnel tent on your own! I'm 5ft too and the is not a prayer I could do it and I'm pretty savvy at putting up tents. In fact I struggled to do it with 6ft 4 dh in the wind last summer...

A small 4 man tunnel tent in no wind maybe but I wouldn't chance it on my own.

Op how about a quechua pop up fromy decathlon of you don't fancy a bell. Or I've got an outwell fusion 400 which is a fab pop up and really easy to put up on your own - like in the link below:

www.tauntonleisure.com/outwell-smart-tunnal-fusion-400-pop-up-tent-2014-mocca/p9716

There isn't much living space which is the only negative but I've got a coleman universal porch for if its wet. For me that wasn't an issue since I only camp in my own with the kids when the weather is ok but some of the quechua ones have more living space if you wanted that.

I can do both my Quechua pop ups on my own one is the base seconds 4.1 which sadly they dont sell anymore but there are a few on ebay. The other is the Family 4.2 xl. Which I can manage except for the rear porch pole which I am going to get shortened so I can.

Brilliant tents and very reliable in dodgy weather so long as you peg them out well.

Good luck

I also recommend a bell tent. I have a 5m with zig and it is an absolute doddle to put up. I used to have a huge wynster 7 something and even with a willing dh it took at least 40 minutes. And that was before sorting the inside. Uurrgghhhh.

A Maritsa 700 is a massive heavy duty tent though, and way bigger than the OP seems to need for an adult and 2 or 3 kids. There are tunnel tents and tunnel tents - Icarus seem to be the simplest. The bendy poles slip through the loops, and there are only 3 of them. And it can be pitched and folded as one.

I used to have a Vango Venture 600 dlx like this, it was probably the precursor to the Icarus, and it was a complete pain to put up because the long poles in the dome had to be threaded across each other, and the pole 'tunnels' were the full length of the pole. I still pitched it in my own many times. Simple tunnel tents are so much easier, and now they make the poles easier to thread.

I absolutely wasn't reconnecting a vango Maritsa 700 for the op! I was challenging the poster who reckoned they could put up any tunnel tent alone...

We used to have a Quechua XXL which was dead easy to put up as essentially it's a large pop up. Not sure if they still sell them though.

I would recommend a Quechua. We have the Base Seconds 4.2 and I can do it by myself. Taking down needs practise but it's fine when you get the hang of it. It's perfect for weekends. Sadly they don't make it now but you can pick up a secondhand one. Have a look on You Tube for Quechua vids. Go and have a look at Decathlon website or in store if there is one near you.

I have a Vango Icarus 500 which I use for me and my two DCs, I put this up alone without any problems - I only started camping last year so am not experienced with tents, but after a test pitch in the garden, went for our first trip and managed just fine. It only has three fibre glass poles so lovely and quick! After a couple of camping trips, I can now get the tent up withing 20 mins and the guys ropes etc done in another 20 mins, The DCs who are 9 & 10 help out in their own way, but I am by no means reliant on their help.

Taking the tent down in simple and it always fits in the bag - but I do take care to do the folding slowly and carefully to make sure it does go in OK. Emptying the tent takes forever but the actual taking down and packing away takes me about 30 minutes.

Good luck with your search!

Another vote for the pop up quechua tents. We have a family one 4.2xl which we bought from Decathlon lakeside. Takes less than 5 min to put up and it has 2 bedrooms and a goos sized living space.

Good not goos! Takes about 5 min to out down too but we had to follow the video the first few times!

It is possible to put up a maritsa on your own - do the back pole. guy it upright, do the front pole, do the same, then do the poles in between. There are videos of this on you tube and I believe its the same method as for the outwell montana. It saves doing that awful stage where you think you're going to get buried alive under a million tent poles that you can't lift upright!

However: there are much better options on this thread!

Quechua Fan Club X

Another vote for icarus 500. I put this up by myself at half term.

Another one recommending the Vango Icarus. I have the 400 for weekend camping. Easy to put up on my own although I usually get one of the DC to hold the guys at the back whilst I peg the ones at the front. Very quick to take down on your own in torrential rain whilst the children huddle in the car too!!

I have a 5m bell tent, a 5 person Outwell tunnel tent and a Quercha pop up tent. All of which I can put up on my own no problem. I'm 5ft 2".

I do love my bell tent the best. However one thing I would caution is to remember that if you end up leaving a campsite in a monsoon when the tent is soaking I would say it doubles in weight. Trying to manhandle a tent weighing about 60kg back into the car on my own was not funny. I had no hope of getting it back in the bag and it filled the back of the car.

I've got a zig one. Can't remember if I unzipped the groundsheet or not that horrible wet day. But I would recommend a zig if you get a bell tent as its easier been able to have it in two bags. The zip has a bit of a knack to it and I sometimes forget the knack and get a bit stressed but usually manage it fine.

Bell tent is quicker than my big tunnel tent. I'd say 10 mins for the bell and 20 mins for the tunnel.

I've got a vintage khyam rigi-dome -the poles are built into the flysheet and you just work your way round clicking them into place. I got it as it's only dd and I going away.

So glad there are some shorties like me on this thread. Am going camping with the DC on my own for the first time this summer. After camping this weekend with DH and the DC I've realised there is no way I can manage our old Vango on my own

I have just put up our new hi gear zenobia up myself. was surprisingly easy, and given how massive it looks in our garden i am pretty impressed with myself! the 2 year old was wandering about and the baby asleep. Makes me think i could manage it, if maybe one was strapped into buggy/ car seat.

its not an expensive tent and has a bedroom at each end of the tunnel so quite roomy.

I am interested in this because I am also looking for a new tent that I can erect myself. I had a 4m bell-tent and it was quite easy to put up. However, it took up a lot of room in my car and I bought a Fiat 500 and sold the tent. I now have a bigger car again but I don't want another bell tent due to its size and weight. They really do take up a huge amount of space!