Help me find a tent

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?

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.

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.

gsitts said:

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.

Click to expand...

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

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.

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!!

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

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.

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

Website Resource

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....

Word of advice re: ground cloths and footprints under the tent.

They should never extend beyond the edge of the bottom of the tent. Not one little bit. They'll catch rainwater and funnel it right under the tent.

Yeah Dave, my brother and I learned that the hard way with the orange tent in the picture back in '89. We were camping on an RV site in an Alabama state park on the Gulf Coast and woke very early one morning to the sensation of soaked sleeping bags. We'd allowed some of our tarp to protrude past the door-end as a sort of 'front porch' on which to remove our shoes. This didn't merely *funnel* the water, it ran it like an Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi River project under the poor little tent! We got up and made a quick run for my car, which at the time was a beat-up '77 Monte Carlo. I mention this because we were still wanting sleep and there ain't room to do anything but sit upright in that car, despite its huge exteriour.
My brother hasn't slept in a tent since.

Apache Instant Tents

Here's a great tent that you can set up in less than a minute: http://www.apachetents.com/index.cfm

Their website has a video of it being set up. They have a sale going on right now. I'm happy with mine.

Jerry