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Original poster

Hey!! all you TENT FANATICS, over here please.......

209 replies

LadyTophamHatt · 23/04/2006 11:07

This year we are going to start buying camping equipment for future holidays, been camping pre-kids and always went on camping holidays as a child.

Ok, Dh thinks we should get a big frame tent. I'm sure you know the thing I mean. Big window at the front, 2 layers of canvas.
I prefer the big dome tents, they look so much more 21st century for a start.

Which is better?

Also if you have any other helpful hints and tips of stuff to add to our list I'd be grateful.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 25/04/2006 17:35

also helped by the fact that I don't go camping when it is cold. But that is because I am a grade A wuss, rather than needing to avoid condensation

Blandmum · 25/04/2006 17:36

We watched a family putting up a frame tent and I don't think I would ever get it up (as it were!) so many different 'bits'. And dh has a degree in engineering, but I think it would be beyond us.

Lucycat · 25/04/2006 17:38

I have 'fond' memories of my mum and dad arguing over putting the frame tent on family holidays, usually after my dad had driven for 3 days to get to the Dordogne and the kitchen bit would never go up right - great space inside though! Grin

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:38

Its just a really long job and had been the cause a fair few arguements, give me back my Outwell you nasty thiefs !

Lucycat · 25/04/2006 17:39

mykids - your Outwell wasn't pinched from a campsite was it?

Does anyone have their tent covered specifically on their insurance, or do you take out a separate policy?

Lucycat · 25/04/2006 17:41

more to the point it wasn't a Monty 12 was it?

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:41

Nope from our garage, along with another tent and the wallets off our window sill. I feel like putting mine up in the garden asking someone to steal the bloody thing! We were covered on our house insurance for garage but not sure about on a campsite

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:41

No it was a harford XL Grin

Lucycat · 25/04/2006 17:44

would they be able to carry it away, you could always leave it in a wheelbarrow to make their job easier Grin

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:47

lol Grin we are getting a campervan soon then i'll probably set fire to it

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:48

Unless anyone wants to buy it off me Grin......

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:49

and I was joking about the fire thing, just in case anyone reports me Grin

quanglewangle · 25/04/2006 17:53

Sorry to keep banging on about the virtues of frame tents but it has to be done! I am comparing our cheap frame with our 2 cheap domes, maybe the larger more expensive domes don't have the same problems.

However well and taut the dome is erected, at night the dew and concensation make it sag. The outsides then touch the inner tent and make it wet. Cotton just tightens up and improves. Cotton is such a wonderful fabric and much easier to re-waterproof than the nylon stuff.

They are a doddle to put up once you know your tent, but not as quick as a dome job, I'll grant you that. And heavy and take up more space in the car, I can't argue with that.

If I was going touring I would take a dome but if I was staying on a site for a week I would take the frame. What is an extra half hour at each end of the hols for the extra comfort?

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 17:56

Why did my frame leak then quanglewangle, help would be appreciated, what happened was it dripped along the inner poles, the living area was like a massive puddle in the morning and the bedrooms were all wet round the edges, any idea why, it is cotton

Blandmum · 25/04/2006 17:57

haven't got a dome, I find that they are a bit of a faff too. I've helped a friends put theirs up and it seems more complicated.....envious of the space you get in the big domes though.

In the end all tents are something of a compromise! Except the mythical Monty! (Lust emoticon needed)

Actualy Outwell are doing cotton based tents that are tunnel/dome design but made of cotton. Bloody expensive though

quanglewangle · 25/04/2006 18:05

Sounds like a genuine leak mykidsmum, not condensation. I am talking about water vapour (from breathing and the air as it cools down at night) condensing on the cold inner surface of the nylon. Cotton breathes and so you don't get that.

We have had leaks in the frame tent but they have been easy to re-proof with a water based proofer - Nikwax - so you don't have to wait until the tent dries out. While waiting to get some Nikwax (we didn't travel prepared Blush) we just positioned the poles so that the water couldn't run anywhere we didn't want it.

Surfermum · 25/04/2006 18:10

Oh no! You mean we got rid of our lovely faded lime green frame tent complete with curtains and now they're considered retro? We decided last year when it leaked and the wind blew underneath where it doesn't quite stretch to places it should that enough was enough.

I like the space in the frame tents and found a friend's dome tent too claustrophobic, so we opted for one of \link{http://www.pjcamping.co.uk/sunncamp_family_vario_900.htm\these}. Didn't pay this much though! Can't wait for Whitsun and our first outing in it.

Lucycat · 25/04/2006 18:20

Wow, now that is some tent surfermum! are you going for the 5 or 9 berth option?

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 18:20

Thanks quanglewangle, it wasn't raining at the tiome, which is why I thought condensation but thinking back it may have been a heavy dew? I water proofed it yesterday, along the seals with famsil, chucked some water at it and it bounced back, so maybe its okay now? I don't enitirely hate it, just find it more of a pain than our old tent, that said it is very spacious once up!

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 18:21

Nice one surfermum

quanglewangle · 25/04/2006 18:38

mykidsmum, I seem to remember that we were told to hose it down before use. Something along the lines of needing to be wetted thoroughly before being completely waterproof, the fibres swelling or some such thing. So dew could have got in yours I suppose. Otherwise I don't know. We have had the thing for abou 14 years now and was a very cheap one so has been good value.

Must admit I would be tempted by surfermum's though. What a tent!!

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 18:41

It had never been used, we brought it second hand but the owners hadn't used it so what you are saying makes alot of sense, cheers Smile

Surfermum · 25/04/2006 19:02

We've gone for the 9 berth option and there's only 4 of us! I like the idea of having a "pod" to put all the clobber in and then the whole of the living area is clear.

I liked the fact that it had clear windows so if it's raining or really windy I can sit in there and still see the outside world.

mykidsmum · 25/04/2006 19:03

Does it have optional curtains?

Surfermum · 25/04/2006 19:12

Yes, it's got flaps that can be pulled down over the clear bit. Not as groovy as the flowery ones in the old tent though. Hurray! No longer are the Surferfamily going to look like the Beverley Hillbillies, although I think our trailer might give the game away.