Tents - camping etc...

Handruin

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Anyone go camping in tents here? I've gone for many years and now I need to buy my own tent. I've had great experiences with Eureka over the past 7 years and was considering one of my own. The tent will not be for back packing, I will most like travel by car to a camping location. I was looking at the Eureka Sunrise 11. Any thoughts or suggestions? Do all new tents need to be sealed before use?

Any suggestions on what to use to seal them? For what it's worth, I do plan to go a few times a year and wouldn't mind getting a decent tent even if it cost a little more and I want it to fit two comfortably and possibly a third if needed.
 

Buck

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Handruin said:
Anyone go camping in tents here? I've gone for many years and now I need to buy my own tent. I've had great experiences with Eureka over the past 7 years and was considering one of my own. The tent will not be for back packing, I will most like travel by car to a camping location. I was looking at the Eureka Sunrise 11. Any thoughts or suggestions? Do all new tents need to be sealed before use?

Any suggestions on what to use to seal them? For what it's worth, I do plan to go a few times a year and wouldn't mind getting a decent tent even if it cost a little more and I want it to fit two comfortably and possibly a third if needed.

LL Bean - great camping gear. I have yet to do drive up camping, but for all of my backpacking needs they've been beautiful. Great return policy too. I had an expensive mountaineering pack that was too long, and even after a couple trips they took it back without any complaints. They've been equally as good with other items. Also, they have some good professionals that you can call and chat with on their toll free line for assistance.
 

Handruin

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I spaced on LL Bean, I never even thought to look at their website. I browsed through some of their back-packing tents and I noticed that some of them are quite heavier than I would have expected for back-packing. The Vector Dome Tent, #4 is 14 Lb's! The Eureka tent is 16Lbs...which isn't far off. What's an ideal weight for back packing (aside from the lighter the better)?
 

Tannin

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Unless it's p*ing down, I don't use one anymore. I just throw a tarp down, a bit of rolled-up, canvas-wrapped foam on top of that, then an old sheet and some blankets. If it looks like dew or frost, throw a tarp over the top. Much more pleasant once you get used to it. And you see a lot more wildlife.
 

Buck

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Handruin said:
I spaced on LL Bean, I never even thought to look at their website. I browsed through some of their back-packing tents and I noticed that some of them are quite heavier than I would have expected for back-packing. The Vector Dome Tent, #4 is 14 Lb's! The Eureka tent is 16Lbs...which isn't far off. What's an ideal weight for back packing (aside from the lighter the better)?

LLBean tents seem to be on the heavy side for backpackers. However, the Vector series is for above tree-line camping. This requires a much more robust shelter (nothing to protect you from the weather (wind/rain/snow) except your tent). For light-weight below tree-line camping, the Light Stuff Tent #2 is ideal at just over 5 lbs (2-5lbs is ideal for backpacking). For you, weight won't be an issue. Find yourself a nice large comfortable tent. Albeit, a tad pricey, the Woodlands Cabin Tent #6 would give you a lot of space - 100sq ft with a 7' height! If you want a modestly sized and priced tent, the Ultra Dome Tent #4 is very nice.
 

Pradeep

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For bushwalking I have a Macpac Minaret:

http://www.macpac.co.nz/products/display/catalogue/do,displayitem-view/mid,/miid,2996/diid,880/

Fits 2 snugly, great for single.

Very light, especially with aluminium snowpegs.

If you are going to be carting the tent in your car, I would get the biggest tent available from somewhere like Target, you can get freaking huge ones for less than $100 bucks, worst case if the thing collapses you can always take refuge in your car. I wouldn't use one of those if they were my only shelter tho, or for anything where conditions will be really bad.

For sealing I've usually used "Aqua Seal".
 

Tannin

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A few tips about tents:

Ease of erection is vital! Count how many pegs you need, figure out what procedure you have to follow to get the damn thing up. Imagine doing it in the dark, after a very long day, with the wind making the pouring rain blow sideways. My tent is pretty good: I have to feed one pole through, then bang in 6 pegs. I keep the tent itself and the fly one inside the other, so there is only one job to do, not tent then fly as well, and this helps quite a bit, as does having the tie-down points on tent and fly being the same so that you wind up with 6 pegs in the tent, 6 pegs in the fly, but only 6 pegs total. I'd like it to be easier still, but I haven't found anyuthing suitable yet.

It needs to be fast, and easy enough to do in the dark and rain. (For my tent, if it's not raining or threatening to rain it doesn't get used at all.) If the tent is a P in the A to set up, making camp becomes a chore.

This, by the way, is the best thing about my method: from a standing start, I can be in bed with the kettle on in 5 minutes, with all the essentials handy enough to reach without getting cold (lantern, pipe and tobacco, book to read, laptop, gloves, woollen cap, alarm clock to wake me up before dawn, milk for tea and some nibbly things in the esky. Now, if I could just figure out a way to take a piss without having to get out of bed and put my shoes back on ....)

It needs to be waterproof, and to stand up OK to bad weather. (I imagine that this is a major, major factor in the US - remember that here in Oz, you basically only see snow if you are one of those fruitcakes who pretend to like sliding down hills with glorified floorboards strapped to your feet while they order another triple Bundy and Coke in the disco.)

It needs to be easy enough to get into and out of. With small tents (ones you can't stand up in) it can be a pain getting in and out.

It needs a vestibule to put your boots and stuff in. If it hasn't got one, and a generous-sized one at that, don't bother, it will be a pain. Remember that if you hit bad weather, you might have to spend practically the whole day in it, so you need the ability to run your camping stove - which you cant do inside the tent proper.

Small size when packed is good. I don't care how big your car is, you will soon find that you have a great pile of gear, and a vast great palace of a tent doesn't help. Don't pay too much attention to the ridiculous little bags they pack them into in the shop. They always make them much too small so that they look tiny and efficient in the showroom. In reality, you need a half hour, a good command of the seedier parts of the English language, and a black belt in ju-jutisu to get the bastard back in the bag after you've used it. So get yourself a slightly larger bag of some kind. (I use an ordinary shopping bag.)

Make sure the bloody thing is long enough! Most 1 and 2 man tents are designed for the comfort of a Japanese midget. If you can't stretch out to your full height, and have a litlte room to spare, buy something else.

Sealing? Never needed to use anything. It keeps the rain out, what more do I need?
 

ddrueding

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I don't use tents. I have a liner for my sleeping bag that is waterproof; and with that the bag is comfortably warm when covered in snow. When I go backpacking I usually get away with just a daypack. If my car is nearby; I sleep there. Very few tents are as easy to set up (or as comfortable, or as warm, or with as good a radio) as a car.
 

Corvair

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