Camping Needs

[Leeland]

I'm going to need to get some new camping things before this summer including a new tent. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of tent to get?

I own a small grill and a single propane burner. I need some new cooking items. Any suggestions?

[Pauly's Cheese]

I have a Mountain Hardware tent that is VERY durable. It was pricey, but I think dropping some cash on a quality tent is money well spent.

You're gonna find most of your good camping gear advice in the \"Tent City\" forum.

[kgbnfx]

[quote:ea5a7f0290=\"Pauly's Cheese\"]I have a Mountain Hardware tent that is VERY durable. It was pricey, but I think dropping some cash on a quality tent is money well spent.
[/quote:ea5a7f0290]

Take his word for it or you'll end up like me and the wife going through 4 tents in two festies!

[VERNIXX]

I have the SAME Mountain Hardware tent that I did Phish's LEMONWHEEL and Phish's BIG CYPRESS with back in the 90's. It's been to 2 Wakas, too. And been all over the country camping. They are durable!!!!!!!!
Hell, Mountain Hardware make the tents that go up Everest! Sherpas use them...

[bogmonkey]

And hey, I agree with the Mountain Hard Wear tent thing, but sometimes you just can't afford that level of quality. I normally buy Greatland (Target Branded) tens with good results.

The key to \"making do\" with a less-than-NorthFace tent is to bring a very good repair kit, and when setting up the tent SECURE all of the guy lines (even though it may seem redundant)...Hell, if you are near trees or other structures, add a couple guy lines of your own. They add huge stability to the structure. All it takes is ONE big gust of wind to maul a cheap tent, but if you have the thing tied down and anchored, it will withstand the blasts...even with a cheap tent.

Most of my target tents last at least 4-5 seasons of \"hard use\".

Man, I'd love to score me one of those Mountain Hard Ware tents though...

[VERNIXX]

Once, I was up on the north ridge of Emory Peak in the Chisos mountains (Texas/Mexico border) in my Mountain hardware....there were 70mph gusts all night long. My tent held fine.

[KB]

I planned on posting this very topic this week. My tent has been through no less than a dozen festys, and the zippers finally took a dive on us at Mulberry Mountain. Time to replace it.

I'm EXTREMELY picky about the tent I will buy. As a home away from home, it must meet many needs (and be cool taboot). I'm ready to spend SOME money on it, but don't really need an Everest tent, as we don't often do survivalist camping.

I looked at Bass Pro this past weekend, and they had some decent ones. I'm looking for one that has a footprint of 13x13 or less, yet have room for an air mattress and some extra space. It must have a decent interior height, as I want to be able to stand up (or nearly) inside my tent. It's much easier to keep your mattress dry when you don't have to lay on it to take off wet clothes coming in out of the rain.

I will look at the Mountain Hardware stuff, and at the Target branded stuff as well. One of my main concerns is the floor. I've seen the cheap \"blue tarp\" style floors, and I DON'T want one of those. I need to develop a thin kevlar that would work as a floor and double as protection in case degenerate tree-thugger gangs pull a a drive-by on the tent. Can't be too careful....

Thanks for the tips - keep 'em coming. I fully intend on buying the \"perfect\" tent and debuting it at Wakarusa.......

[arwriterrider]

You might want to check out Eureka! brand tents as a alternative to Mountain Hardware. Very rugged and stable in the wind and rain. Mine stood up well in the storm at Mulberry Mountain year before last and has a great vent system for summer camping.

[bogmonkey]

[quote:1db9924e10=\"KB\"]I planned on posting this very topic this week. My tent has been through no less than a dozen festys, and the zippers finally took a dive on us at Mulberry Mountain. Time to replace it.

I'm EXTREMELY picky about the tent I will buy. As a home away from home, it must meet many needs (and be cool taboot). I'm ready to spend SOME money on it, but don't really need an Everest tent, as we don't often do survivalist camping.

I looked at Bass Pro this past weekend, and they had some decent ones. I'm looking for one that has a footprint of 13x13 or less, yet have room for an air mattress and some extra space. It must have a decent interior height, as I want to be able to stand up (or nearly) inside my tent. It's much easier to keep your mattress dry when you don't have to lay on it to take off wet clothes coming in out of the rain.

I will look at the Mountain Hardware stuff, and at the Target branded stuff as well. One of my main concerns is the floor. I've seen the cheap \"blue tarp\" style floors, and I DON'T want one of those. I need to develop a thin kevlar that would work as a floor and double as protection in case degenerate tree-thugger gangs pull a a drive-by on the tent. Can't be too careful....

Thanks for the tips - keep 'em coming. I fully intend on buying the \"perfect\" tent and debuting it at Wakarusa.......[/quote:1db9924e10]

KB beware of the \"Bass Pro\" branded tents...I have had two friends who had such tents have seam-ripping and pole snappage...very low priced, and worth it! I have no prblem with \"off brand\" tents, but these did not even hold up to MILD camp wear-n-tear.

I am assuming you always lay a ground tarp down before putting up the tent, I find a \"ballistic-qual\" tarp from Walmart (usually silver colored) is superb...such a ground cover makes up for any deficiency in tent floor quality when getting a non-Everest tent. Most of the Greatland tents from Target have a very nice grey heavy-duty flooring, never had a problem at all with them.

Also, you'll want to treat the outer walls of any tent with a Prime Grade Wookie repellent. After last year, the word is out on the Jambase forums about Waka being cool again, so you can expect a high concentration of wandering Tree Thuggers. A pine scented repellent reminds wookies of cleanliness and scares them greatly. You can also hang empty shampoo bottles in the trees, as well as \"soap on a ropes\"...if there is a really bad infestation, just put out some signs that say \"Camp Straight Edge\" and that should act as a final word.

[hitman69]

I just purchesed this Airzone tent: http://www.airzonetents.com/airzone2.htm

No poles and supposedly air up very quickly. Regularly $299, i got it for $179. I was gonna buy one last year but the $$$ flow was running low, between squeezing in Waka & Bonnaroo. Thought i'd treat myself this year. :D I spent $59.95 on one of their air pumps, then read one comes free with purchase! :evil: Oh well, nice to have an extra.

[cornboarder]

I bought a Columbia Bugaboo tent: http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Bugaboo-Four-Five-Person-Family/dp/B0007IS606

It's a great tent design for summer camping, but the cords in the poles broke after having it a year and a half. I only set it up about 5-6 times before they broke. I had to duct tape the poles so I had a place to sleep at one show. Next show I went to, the cord in another pole broke..... It came with a remote control light that worked for about 15 minutes. Then a couple shows later, the light's manual switch failed.

I have a backpacking tent my parents gave me that is 20 years old and the cords in those poles are still good. I guess Columbia is just using some low quality cords.

[KB]

[quote:dc9fc2e51c=\"hitman69\"]I just purchesed this Airzone tent: http://www.airzonetents.com/airzone2.htm
[/quote:dc9fc2e51c]

I was just telling some friends about the \"inflatable pole\" tent, and they thought I was crazy. I think this is an genius idea. Wish they still had a 4-man tent available. I like my tent too feel more like a \"room\" than a sleeping hut.

KB

[lambwood]

Cash and a toothbrush that's all I bring. Smile and things work out. :D

[~dave~~wave~]

Regardless of the brand of tent, I highly recommend getting some extra heavy-duty tent stakes, and a rubber hammer and stake pulling tool of some kind, like vise grips.

The cheap-o steel stakes that came with my tent were no match for the tough Kansas sun-baked clay soil full of limestone rocks.

[bogmonkey]

[quote:5a4bba1085=\"~dave~~wave~\"]Regardless of the brand of tent, I highly recommend getting some extra heavy-duty tent stakes, and a rubber hammer and stake pulling tool of some kind, like vise grips.

The cheap-o steel stakes that came with my tent were no match for the tough Kansas sun-baked clay soil full of limestone rocks.[/quote:5a4bba1085]

An absolute must dave-o...I always just throw away the \"stock\" stakes that come with the tent...how they can even call those little things stakes is beyond me.

[algernon]

A note about tents in the wind:

When the wind was blowing hard and steady like it was Wednesday night at Waka last year, all the dome tents were laying over flat, guy lines or not. My much less aerodynamic looking cabin tent stood tall.

[groovepuppy]

Years ago you used to be able to get military surplus, \"captains tents\". Talk about big and sturdy! I even attended a new years party in one that my friend had rigged a woodburner with a fluke in. It was made of that old \"duck\" canvas that was notorious for dry-rotting if even the smallest amount of water was on the canvas wjem packed. Last year I saw a couple of civilian styles that looked similar. They have a really solid frame and are approximately 10' x 10'. I bought a \"Hillary\" tent from Sears in '93 (the summer of the floods), and my first night in it was at Lake Wilson, Kansas, in severe thunderstorms and high winds. The tent survived while most of my friend's had to go find their tents in the morning. I gave that tent away about 5 years ago and I think I had paid maybe $70 for it. I have seen some nice tents on cabella's website, but they seem very pricey.

[Pauly's Cheese]

[quote:6b69c3ea99=\"algernon\"]A note about tents in the wind:

When the wind was blowing hard and steady like it was Wednesday night at Waka last year, all the dome tents were laying over flat, guy lines or not.[/quote:6b69c3ea99]
That wind took out lots of tents. It took out my sunshade by tacoing part of the frame (which I splinted back together with my kayak paddles), but the MH tent held solid as a rock. Slept like a log during that semi-tornado 8)

[keyoke]

I've been using one of these for a few years at fests.

http://www.mountain-bikes-now.com/truck_tent_SUV_minivan.htm

You can exit the tent on the side, or straight out the back. Gives you different options depending on how cramped your parking situation is. I'm over 6' tall and I can stand up inside it with plenty of head room. I put an old piece of carpet down inside it to make it a little more like home :D

I use an EZ up for shade if I have the room.

You can unzip the \"boot\" and use it as a stand alone tent if your not camping by your car as well.

There's different models on this basic design if you have a pick up, or a smaller car. Just google your vehicle model + tent.

[bvturners]

Target now has the easy up canopies on clearance for 20.00.

[~dave~~wave~]

[quote:9f0623c1e8=\"bvturners\"]Target now has the easy up canopies on clearance for 20.00.[/quote:9f0623c1e8]

Thanks for the heads up, bv.

My local Tar-zhay has a bunch of camping stuff for half price. I scored a bogmonkey-endorsed tent and a Coleman stainless steel french press campfire coffee maker.

I also picked up a sun canopy, but returned it. It had a plastic piece broken right out of the box, and was too lightweight IMO for Kansas wind anyway.

[KB]

I'm heading out there today at lunch - gonna see if I can score some good stuff m'self.

KB

[bvturners]

I almost took flight setting up our screen tent last year.

[KB]

The EZ ups at our Target were $35, but still picked one up for a friend - I have a screen tent that I love, but may end up cruising back out there for another one - I just don't know where I'd put it in my Subaru. I already haul so much stuff that we almost had to lash Dustin (a.k.a. MaxAmp) to the roof rack to get him to Mulberry......

I also may drive to the Jeff City Target - bigger store and fewer people = they don't sell out near as quickly......

As far as my tent research goes, I'm sorry to hear the Bugaboo didn't review well, because I like it very much. I'm also considering the R.E.I. Hobitat. I ALSO like the boot tent that fits over the back of the Subaru - much thinking to do......

[cornboarder]

Like I said, the Bugaboo is a great design, love the design, air flows through it so well, and in the rain, I didn't get a drop on me, it's just those damn poles. I'm gonna just buy some cord and fix it myself.

Big recommendation for camping.... A nice big rug!