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Related to camping… we’re shopping for a new family tent. Any suggestions??
Definite needs:
– Waterproof (or atleast does a good job of keeping the rain out) – we had a bad experience last summer in Wild Rose when it rained for 2 solid days…
– 5 people in our family. 2 adults, 1 10 yr old and two younger one’s.
– we have 2 queen air mattresses and a twinTo keep it related to this Event, we have never camped on a group site so what should we keep in mind when deciding on a tent that we may use at a group site and/or event such as this? Size restrictions?
Historically, our family has camped at sites where you have lots of room because they are meant for popups and campers.
Thanks!
To be honest there are a great many tents out there that are decent…I have a couple of really nice tents and last year I set up in the wrong spot and we were totally flooded out. There was literally half of an inch of water running through one side of the tent all night.
So…first get a decent tent and second be VERY aware of the placement of the tent; look for slopes and dips in the area and place it with the assumption that it will rain and rain hard.
My Troop is in the market for about 20 new tents. These are the items we look for (ranked by importance):
#1 – waterproof. The tent must have an incredible rain fly that covers all seams and reaches nearly to the ground.
#2 – Easy of set up. We almost always set up late on a Friday night – in the dark.
#3 – Replacement parts. Tents must have easy access to replacement parts.
#4 – Price. $300 per tent is not practical.On the open market, this tent no longer exists. We had over the course of the past 5 years, purchased the Coleman version of the Eureka Timberline. I wish they never would’ve stopped making it.
Like Rogheff said, It’s important to have a rain fly that reaches almost to the ground. Many cheap tents will have a rain fly that only covers the upper portion of the tent. This leaves the sides exposed to the elements, and water sature the sides, and pool at the bottom of the tent. Look for urethane coated rain fly and floor.
A good rain fly will come to within a few inches of the ground, and will be about a foot away from the tent. This helps keep rain from pooling at the bottom of the tent, and under the tent.
Simple design and setup. Many of the cheaper tents wil boast multiple rooms, and might have little decorative awnings that stick out here and there. All these “extras” make it more complicated to set up the tent.
A simple dome design (round, square, or other) with 2 or 3 arched poles, is very easy to set up.
For the price, Eureka makes some pretty nice tents.
Sounds like you are in the market for a BIG tent. It seems like the bigger the tent, the smaller the rain fly. It might be tough to find a good quality tent with good protection from the elements.
We have a tent made by Jeep. Well, it’s marketed by Jeep but I’m sure made by someone else. It’s the best made and designed tents I’ve ever had/used.
The rain fly hangs way out to the sides and blocks all the rain (we had plenty while camping last year. In fact, I thought Rogheff was following us around the state) and still lets in large quantities of air.
The tent also has cyclone venting which works great on those sticky nights. The vents zip open and closed.
All the seems of the tent were sewn, and then melted together, to make a perfect watertight and strong seal. All the zippers are durable and easy to operate.
The tent is a breeze to set up.
There are storage nets on the walls and ceiling, hooks to hang stuff from, and even cup holders.
We just wish we had bought one that was bigger.
thanks to everyone for all the great tips…
I have a 23-yr-old Eureka Timberline and it is still our primary tent. Unless you feel your family absolutely MUST all be together in one tent, you may want to consider two smaller tents instead of one huge Taj-ma-tent. Smaller tents are easier to set up and tend to be more water- and wind-resistant because you don’t have as much square footage exposed to wind and blowing rain.
As others have suggested, rain on the ground can be more of a problem for tent campers than rain on the roof. That’s why it’s usually best to set your tent up on the pad provided for the campsite because the park has usually selected a site for the pad that is not in a rain gully and has prepared the pad by mixing sand in with the soil so rain water drains away quickly. Whatever tent you buy, here’s a tip I have used for years. (Originally posted in these forums back in 2005)
Buy a 4 mil roll of plastic, cut a sheet the size of your tent floor plus an extra 6 to 9 inches on each side, and put the plastic INSIDE your tent, not underneath. Yes, it may tend to slide around a bit, but once you get the hang of it it’s totally worth it because it puts a moisture barrier between your pad and sleeping bag and whatever wetness might ooze in, whether from rain runoff or from condensation.
Also, here’s a helpful site about all things related to family camping:
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/camping.htmlI have read the tips about a number of smaller tents and that’s what we are currently investigating…
Kifaru Shelters
I spent a lot of time researching these a few years back. If I had the money, I’d would have bought one. They are designed for camping in the mountains. They are NOT CHEAP, but they are made in the USA.We have an old Eureka Timberline tent and it is by far one the best tents. Once in awhile you do see Gander Mountain have them on sale.
The wife keeps looking at pop-ups and small pull behinds.
I want to know what kind of tent was used when whoever it was went winter camping when it was -40 below?
We have a 13′ x 13′ Coleman 3-room tent (it is actually an 8’x8′ tent with two 5’x8′ pull outs, for a totqal of 144 sf). Sleeps 5-6 easy including gear, sets up reasonably easy, and has served us well for 10 years (3-4 weekends per summer plus the occasional extended trip). There have been some issues with the poles (needed to get a couple sections replaced last year over at Sherpers) and the bug netting has a tear from the kids running in and out without unzipping the doors. 😕
We picked up ours at Target, and I am guessing they have a similar model still around. Not perfect in the water-proof category, but enough room to avoid the corner that gets wet when someone doesn’t close a flap. Best of all, I don’t recall the Coleman wasn’t too expensive (I recall it being in the $150-170 range). A couple of ground cloths seems to do the trick in all but the nastiest weather. You do have to seal the seams, a nice way to pass a rainy afternoon.
I do love the Eureka products, especially the Timberline. If you have the money, I would not do the Timberline and do another Eureka product, since it doesn’t have a lot of volume. I sense that you may be looking for a tent where multiple folks can hang out, read, play games, etc while the weather is crummy. Last time I was at Sherpers, they had a huge two-room Eureka cabin dome — one room was totally closed in and the second room was a sort of attached screen house. The cost was a little out of my league, but didn’t seem too outrageous (around $300 for 200 sf).
Hey, Roger! Eureka still makes the Timberline. It is a fantastic tent — really durable, inexpensive, easy to set up and take down. What more could you ask?
My son’s scout troop (Troop 21 in Tosa) soldiers on with BSA Voyageur tents — WOW! Those were old school when I was a Tenderfoot!
I want to know what kind of tent was used when whoever it was went winter camping when it was -40 below?
We have been doing more canoe camping and backpacking and have gone to smaller, quality tents. The one we used for the winter campout was a North Face Mountain 25. It is a winter tent- more poles for snow load, ability to close off all screens, 12 attachment points for guy lines to keep it solid in almost any wind, and being small it helps trap more body heat than a big tent would. It is quite an expensive tent though I was able to purchase mine through Moosejaw for much less when they changed the design and discounted the previous year’s tents. I think my wife would agree it was worth every dollar spent that night as the temps plummeted and wind howled through the trees overhead. Of course, sane people would probably have just driven the 40 minutes home where they were paying for natural gas to heat a very nice empty home that night. 🙄
http://www.everestnews.com/gear/mountain25.htm
I have had good luck purchasing quite a lot of camping supplies the last few years from both Moosejaw and Campor and would recommend them. Check out the hot tent deals at Campmor. Also check out the North Face tent link- it looks like they have some discounts right now on some North Face family sized tents that didn’t seem to show up on the hot deals page.
I have a very small (8X8 maybe?) Coleman tent that I bought before my first geo-campout in 2004. It has been a great tent for me for these past few years. Lightweight and easy to set up alone (I can get it all up in about 15 minutes tops).
I just got a free Wenzel tent of about the same size. This one seems to be even lighter than the Coleman. I may have to take it for a test run at this campout (after I get the seams sealed, of course).
Bec
The Eureka Timberline is a great tent, but when you’re buying 20 tents, $170 is a bunch of money. These Colemans that are similar cost more like $40 each.
Eureka also makes some not-so-great tents. We bought a bunch of Eureka Isis Solo tents a couple of years ago for backpacking. You feel like you’re in a coffin. I hate them!
What I’d personally like to find is a 3 man dome tent with an incredible rainfly. Something that I can actually stand up in (6′ peak) to change out of my wet clothes.
I say small tents are better. My dw and I used our small tent for a time, then upgraded…the first big tent rain…inside and out
second time we went to Niagara Falls rain…this time the rain came misting in from the screens. Luckily we brought our small one as backup.. we have gone though what seemed like a monsoon and we were dry. but I hate sitting in the small tent with nothing to do in a small tent during a lighting storm. That’s why I brought my pop up. (the dog likes it much better to).
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