PrincePeahead wants a tent....

[PrincessPeaHead]

and I don't know where to start evaluating the 10,000 tents on the market! Please advise, oh tent-obsessed mumsnetters...

We have a couple of small cheapy tents - one "2" man that he and DD1 barely squeeze into and one 3 man that isn't much better. This summer he and 3 of the 4 peaheads are planning on camping in the adjacent field and have invited friends over for camping nights etc. Me and the 4th peahead MAY be persuadable at some point too. So it needs to be big enough to sleep us all in comfort and harmony, and to have a nice covered bit to sit in when it is drizzling and play about in, but it doesn't need to be able to store masses of stuff and fridges etc.

Also once it is up it is likely to stay up for a few weeks at a time and only get moved about to enable grass cutting etc, unless you tell me this is a really bad idea for some reason.

So what shall I get? Budget - god I don't know. Under £300. Nearer £200 would be nice. Is that possible? I have no idea. Any thoughts? Thank you!

my god peachy that is a HUGE tent. you could live in that! Your boys look thrilled to bits with it .
Hmmm. Khyam seems to be the way to go, everyone is recommending them. Can I buy off the net or do I have to go to a real live camping shop and admire them in the flesh?
Wobbly difficult to know if it is right without knowing what it is. Does it have one of those built in groundsheets that everyone gets so keen on? And has it got lots of headroom? Will google nature bound and see... thanks for the offer....

We have a Gelert Alaska 8 which is very similar to Peachy's Khyam and was very cheap at £129. Have only put it up once to see if it was OK, but I was very impressed how huge it is and easy to put up for complete beginners ie us.

Got a bit seduced by folding campers when out buying a camping table however, so now have a Dandy with a Khyam awning. The Khyam is one of those ones where it sort of pops up. I thought the Gelert was pretty easy but no comparison to the Khyam which is up in minutes (though haven't pegged it out properly yet) and a doddle to get down again and back in the bag.

No worries pph, just remembered on seeing the thread and thought I'd offer - I know it's the thing you usually have to see so no harm done if you're not interested. It has a sewn on groundsheet but no clue about the height, sorry.

lol Chocolateteapot at you going to get a camping table and coming back with a folding camper! You are as bad as me!

We have one of these and there's lots of headroom and the option of having 2 bedrooms or 4 bedrooms.

Sunncamp Vario 9.

khyam indiana is same as ontario but canvas, so depends purely on preference- a nit heavy for us.

the carpet is made of the same sort of fabric as picnic rugs, plastic backed. was great last year, but important this as they offer insulayion and ds4 is 6 weeks and we're off friday! nrxt year will be fab for a crawler too.

gelert also good btw, we had a tahoma previously, another good tent (9 man)

buy off the web, we usually do- camping world, outdoor world, outdpr megastore are particularly well known stores

I was going to ask if you were all ready peachy, Sebastian getting excited for his first camping trip?

dh has packed some of our roofbox and we still have an awful lot left to fit in the car. I keep checking the weather forecast too and they are constantly changing their mind!

seems ok in cheddar, warm, few showers

no where near ready, finals were monday and am still in shock lol! but we will be, dh needs a break and will be nice having family around, even if i am catering first night and decided only homemade posh burgers would do

where you off luce?

I'll just add a small (canvas lovers point). A nylon tent left up for several weeks at a time will start to deteriorate (the UV rays break down the material) and it will become less waterproof.

I only know this as I gave up mn for lent and spent FAR FAR too much time on ukcampsite reading endless threads about tents. I recall one thread where one chap was able to push his fingers through the tents that had been up on display for weeks and weeks.

SO, my suggestion would be to buy a 2nd hand Cabanon on ebay. But then I am a canvas bore .

The big Cabanon frame tents (aruba etc) will sleep 6 no problem, but with no kit then other people could sleep in the main body of the tent (won't be in an inner though....depends if the peaheads are fearless when it comes to bugs)

The other wonderful thing about frame tents is that you can just depeg the fly sheet and then (with a person on each leg) walk the whole thing wherever you want.

Just another idea.

does depend though- canvas tents certainly have advantages but if car space is a premium and they ae to be used for touring then they well not suit.

it really is down to taste really, i think. esecially these days when there are so very many decent tents around.

and of curse it often bases on whether you want a sig, many canvas tents dont have one and we cant camp without one (sn kids who would biolt under the gap)

sure Peachy. I'm with you on the SIG (but for foot warmth reasons). Going on PPH's specs I think this tent is for the 'garden' .

Also those Cabanon nuts on ukcs all swear by the 'tuck the mud flaps under and lay your ground sheet over the top' method to create your own SIG.

Not sure if I believe them so I'm going to be super nosey this weekend and ask to look into all the frame tents that are up at our site.

We are off to Dornafield in S Devon again

can't wait for the cream teas!

Ohhh, Tatter, we used to have a Cabanon 6-berth and yes, they are fantastic (and even better if they live at home and don't have to be loaded in and out of the car )

Def give one of those some thought, PPH - ours was like this, with a massive living area. They are expensive new but there seem to be lots for sale second-hand - we paid about £300 for ours when it was a couple of years old - and you get windows with curtains!

wendy it is £957 and weighs more than me!
and looks sort of 1970s butlins. Is this really the apogee of tent ownership?

Oh it is all so CONFUSING

seriously you ned one of these here

£250 on a buy it now - collect from Somerset.

This one is a 5-berth but people can sleep in the living area too.

ok- pph-

buy something by vango, khyam, coleman, sprayway, outwell, gelert cabanon for security (there are others but whats the point of an endless list?)

you need 8 berth, probably a sewn in groundsheet

decide if you want tunnel, frame, vis a vis or geodesic style (search each),

decide what matters eg, weight / canopy

do you want bed pods separated byareas of tent or close by?

then go from there- much easier. narrows it down because there are no right answers, only preferences.

this onelooks good

pph the canvas ones from Outwell are the utter bolleaux

They are , but you would need muscles like Arnie to put the buggers up.

But agree with you, they are fantastic

we were a tent peg away from buying a Bear Lake

purely for the ponce value tbh, I agree they are more difficult to put up

but the darkness
and the lack of rustle

and the nice old fashioned smell

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Oh god yes, the smell. I almost orgasmed when I walked in the one I saw

and the matching curtains.

Sigh.

But too darned heavy for me.

I'm still pining for a campex