We do some primitive camping with Royal Rangers FCF. We have a Panther Marquee that is a canvas tent. The one I have is 12x16 with 6ft side walls and a 10ft center post. We have a pot belly stove we use inside for heat and also some cooking. Panther makes a special side panel you can run the flue pipe thru. We put carpet down on the floors for comfort in the mornings. Just like home. If I'm not mistaken they come in sizes up to 20x20. This may be more than you are looking for but they are a great tent. If you choose they make them with a fireproof canvas as well. It takes about 30-40 minutes to set up.
Yup. I read those, too. I especially like that they claim you can use the tent right out of the box. No sealing needed. Apparently all their customers say it's true. I bought a Taurus 2 and one of their little pillows for my Scout daughter, but I will use it, too for backpacking. It's been used one weekend so far and it went up and down very easily, was plenty big enough for one person. Two would fit but would be very tight.
What's cool is that even though I'm not very active with my daughter's Scout troop, I still get the discount as a parent. So I can buy stuff for me, too. The older I get, the bigger I get (in all the wrong places) and my old REI backpack is a wee small for me, but it's just about right for my DD. So, I'm gonna try one of their backpacks. The one I've been looking at is $150 on sale for $60. I'll post after I buy and use it.
So far I'm pretty impressed with the gear we've bought. I'd recommend Alps and I'd give Alps gear as gifts to my friends and family.
68 Me & DW
93 DD
03 DD
06 F150 Screw 6.5' Bed, 4x4, 5.4, 3.73
04 Tahoe 23RB-GL Honda EU2000 Parallel Cables "I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for...food." Col. Jack O'Neill, Stargate SG-1.
I'll throw my 2 cents worth in....I'm probably in the minority on this forum. I car camp but, I do not use a cabin style tent with cots. I just don't see the point. I camp to be outside. As long as I can sit up in the tent I'm good.
You haven't really said how many people this tent needs to hold or how you plan to use it. Many people have mentioned good brands. My suggestion would be to go to some place like REI and look at tents. See how easy they are to set up, look at the construction. I have a Marmot 2 man tent. It is very well made and pretty much bomb proof. We now use an REI Half Dome 4 and it's also well made. It's waterproof right out of the box but, we haven't yet had it in the wind the Marmot saw.
IMHO, as a minimum, a tent should have: a full coverage rainfly, 2 doors with vestibules at least large enough to stow shoes, bathtub floor, the rainfly and tent should have factory taped seams, and aluminum poles. Nice things to have include gear lofts, an included ground sheet (you need one anyway), good stakes and a compressable stuff sack.
When I started this I was lame to all the "tent" lingo, you know "must be sealed prior to use" double stitch' etc. I'm still not there, but all the kind folks here have pointed me in the right direction ( I live links they are gold nuggets ).
Size wize, jsut wife, me and 11 year old daughter, BUT I am not the kind of guy to jam in a three person tent. So even though the "family" is small, I'm looking at a family size tent,whatever that means, just not a pup tent, or backpack size tent.
I will camp right along side or behind my Sprinter Van, so size etc is not a problem, if you've seen these "fed ex" vans you know what I mean.
I've seen the huge canvas style too big, the 2, 3, 4 , man too small.
So there you have it, my update.
A nice one here
http://sierradesigns.com/tents.display.php?id=234
But at $3,500 are you kidding me???? Price for me around $200-$500, on the outside.
Still learning about mold resistant fabrics etc.
Some of the biggest problems I'm running into is that the ones I would like to see, there are no dealers near me to touch and feel these things, and spending $500.00 on a pig in a polk is a little scary.
Another nice one
http://www.gear-up.com/cart_showproduct.php?pid=40
I agree you don't want to cram 3 people into a three person tent if you're car camping. We have a 4 person for just us two and the dog. I would think a 6 person tent would be large enough. Also, unless you plan on camping in the snow you don't need a 4 season tent which is what that SD one is.
I would think something like this http://sierradesigns.com/tents.display.php?id=12 would be good. We looked at the 4 person version. It was nice but, a little to tall and heavy for my tastes.
You mean to tell me that there are no sporting goods stores in Palm Springs? If you order a tent from someplace like Campmor.com they will take it back if you don't like it. You'd just have to pay for shipping.
I don't know if I'd believe in or bother with mold resistant fabrics. Seems like all synethic fabrics would be about the same. It would be nice if some sort of coating was applied. However, it would be better if you just got in the habit of putting you tent up when you got home to completely dry it out (this is what I do along with cleaning it every time). Also, you should store you tent and your sleeping bags inside the house not in the garage.
dogcomestoo wrote: I did a lot of researching tents and reading reviews. My next family tent will be Pamo Valley made by Paha Que.
That's a nice looking tent. Our Eureka Copper Canyon 10 is very similar. Although at about three times the cost of the Copper Canyon, I suspect the quality of the Paha Que is a lot better.
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