Help me find a tent

[The_Veg]

I don't think this will be of any real help but I have had great results from a tent my brother got for christmas in 1981. It was from Sears and is a modified pup-style, with a vertical lower side about a foot high below the slope. This makes the floor space much more useful! It's 4.5 feet tall, about 7 long and 6.5 wide. Bright orange with no fly or vestibule, and it takes about 14 stakes but has lasted all these years through lots of abuse including a terrible tropical downpour on the Gulf coast back in '89. It hasn't seen heavy use but it is machine-washable and is holding up really wonderfully so far. And it packs into an 18-by-six-inch bag. Sure it has downsides but it has performed very well and has yet to let me down. I'm considering a newer model but like in the original question price will be a definite object as I only foresee a slight improvement in service over what I have now.

[MarkF]

Originally posted by The Veg
I have had great results from a tent my brother got for christmas in 1981. It was from Sears and is a modified pup-style, with a vertical lower side about a foot high below the slope. This makes the floor space much more useful! It's 4.5 feet tall, about 7 long and 6.5 wide. Bright orange with no fly or vestibule.

I used to see a lot of these tents at Boy Scout events. Like anything, continuous use by kids will destroy tents before their time. I don't see many now. Perhaps it is no longer available or perhaps the big tents companies, like Eureka and REI, have become very competetively priced. But I'm with you on my appreciation for the A-frame or "pup" tent and those mini walled tents were the best of A-frames. I keep plugging the Timberline just because of it's great external frame. A one of a kind!

Ironically, I just inherited another dome tent which might be my next rally tent. It's smaller than my current dome and larger than my bivy. It is a "like-new" Walmart tent with a floor made out of that woven plastic tarp material. Not light or small but it sure looks dry. We'll see come spring time!

MarkF

[cmcbeth]

One more plug for the Eureka Timberline. I have a couple tents. One of them is the Timberline that my father and I used as we m/c camped across country (see Robert Pirsig's book) in 1980
(!). It is still in good shape and nearly 25 years later I still use it (with liberal waterproofing, of course). Great utilitarian tent!

[bobw]

Originally posted by The Veg
results from a tent my brother got for christmas in 1981. It was from Sears and is a modified pup-style, with a vertical lower side about a foot high below the slope. This makes the floor space much more useful! It's 4.5 feet tall, about 7 long and 6.5 wide. Bright orange with no fly or vestibule, and it takes about 14 stakes but has lasted all these years through lots of abuse including a terrible tropical downpour on the Gulf coast back in '89.

I had one just like this one too.....may still be in the attic. Mine had a rain fly....might just as well not have as it didn't really do a good job. But the tent still got a lot of use for many years. I got mine in 1975 when my wife and I took a trip from Oklahoma to Yellowstone Park. Not on a bike....Triumph TR6 convertible. We camped for 2 or 3 nights and then stayed in a motel one night. We were gone for 2 weeks and had a ball.

[rapz]

I had a Kelty Yellowstone, but the poles snapped in the Big Bend high winds so I got a Sierra Comet w/DAC Featherlite poles which are lighter and stronger than the standard poles and can handle unexpected high winds.

[gcsitts]

I bought a new Mountain Hardware three person tent in December. I set it up in the yard a couple of weeks ago and have slept in it several nights, including one night of strong winds, another of 3" of snow and another where it rained heavily and then froze in the early morning. It got down to about 28 degrees.

Other than double-stakeing it (the ground is wet and soft) and using a ground cloth under it, it was a normal set-up. I was surprised that it held up for a week through all that, staying dry and not leaking or buckling under the snow load.

It did collapse down some under the snow, but a shake from the inside pushed the snow off and it sprang back.

Watching it lean and give when the wind blew I came to appreciate the advantage of its flexible aluminum poles.

I hear concerns with the fibreglass poles breaking. I presume aluminum poles could kink, but could be straightened.

This "three man" tent is just about right for me when I am solo. But I want to find a larger tent for trips where two of us ride. (2 bikes) and stay a few days... like Spokane.

I'm looking for about 6' headroom. From the LL Bean site, it looks like a 6 person family tent fits. But they use fibreglass poles. I haven't found a site that sells a good tent of that size with aluminum poles. Is there a reason for that?

Are there any observations from those who have used larger tents, or comments on the pole materials?

[kbasa]

Did you buy a Skyview 3? Tina and I have had one for about 7 or 8 years now and absolutely love it.

Plenty of room, big ol' vestibule and wind and rainproof construction make it a worthwhile companion.

[gcsitts]

My tent is the MH Light Wedge 3 model. I haven't seen the Skyview model listed recently.

The Light Wedge design has very large screen panels in the sidewalls which I'm hoping will make hot summer nights more enjoyable than the more solid wall models. It's a nice design, but just big enough for me alone. I like to keep a lot of my s.. stuff inside with me, especially when it is wet outside.

I use a Wiggy bag on a Thermarest matress. I was having a problem with the matress slipping around on the nylon tent floor. I cured it by buying a roll of that rubberized kitchen shelf covering material... the kind that is a rubberized mesh. Placed between the matress and the floor, it stopped the slipping. The mesh rolls up right inside the matress. The mesh is only about a foot wide and five feet long but it seems to be enough to do the trick.

I also have a small piece of thin carpet material with rubberized back, about 18" by 24" that I put outside the door within the vestabule area. It made a dry place to kneel while crawling into the tent when it was raining and the ground was wet. Until I added it, my knees were getting wet and muddy every time I went in and out.

[MarkF]

Originally posted by gsitts
Watching it lean and give when the wind blew I came to appreciate the advantage of its flexible aluminum poles.

I hear concerns with the fibreglass poles breaking. I presume aluminum poles could kink, but could be straightened.

Absolutely not! I've had aluminum poles bend and kink. Those that bent could still be used but I've had no luck reshaping them. Those that kink are done for! They no longer will hold weight or shape and if you try to reshape them they break in two.

MarkF

[BMWRider]

Backcountry Equipment has great prices. I recently went through the whole camping research process and ended up buying a Sierra Designs Gamma tent from the very good folks there. Even free shipping available. I saved a ton of money and I'm really impressed with the quality of this tent.

[subvet]

Agree with lancew.....we borrowed some gear from friends last summer after many years of not camping and decided that camping USED to be great.
A fullsize Dodge Quad-cab makes a great tent if the seats recline!!

[gcsitts]

.... and there's still room in the back to carry that HD around the country.

[The_Veg]

Okay, just for the fans of cheep ol' tents, here's the one I was talking about, seen at the 2001 Jailbreak In The Clouds in Queen Wilhelmina State Park along the TSD in Arkansas. My former bike The Brick is in the foreground.

[ian408]

Hey Veg, I had one of those things. But I upgrade some
years ago to a North Face Firefly.

Regardless of what tent you decide on, make sure you pitch
it in the store and that it has a nice TIGHT pitch to it. When
you're satisfied with the tent, take it home and seal the seams.
This helps keep the water out. If the tent you decide on has a
"footprint" or something to help protect the bottom, it's worth
owning.

Chances are good you'll want something more than the cheap
stakes that come with most tents. Some extra cord is also
usefull for the odd times (ie;most) you can't seem to get the
pitch just right

Ian

[BRADFORDBENN]

Have you also taken a look at the stuff in the MOA website?

• http://www.bmwmoa.org/camping/tents.htm
• http://www.bmwmoa.org/camping/index.htm
• http://www.bmwmoa.org/camping/basics.htm
• and on and on....