Your number one camping woe?

[DancesWithSpreadsheets]

I'll second what BasementDweller said about WalMart tents, some of them may by good, but you never know what you're getting. My wife bought one for us a few years back, 10 x 14 or thereabouts with a screened porch. We used it for some family camping and for a couple of years of Cub Scout camping.

 

It does have plenty of room, and the porch is nice to stow your gear in or to wait out a short rainstorm, but it weighs about 35 pounds and is a bear to put up, six different kinds of poles, and a rainfly that barely covers the top. (Did I mention my wife bought it?)

 

I never could get it to set up right, the corners seemed to always be staked in the wrong place, and the floor would not lay down flat, always turned up at the sides. We tried everything, staking out opposite corners first, staking the middle first, etc. It finally dawned on me, the tent is not square, the corners are not sewed together at right angles! No matter how you set it up it's always going to look sloppy.

 

Earlier this year I bought an Alps Mountaineering Meramac 6 (10' x 10') through Scoutdirect and I am a much happier camper. The quality of construction is far better, it's easy to set up and it weighs less than half of the Ozark Trail monstrosity.

 

Regards,

DWS

[Engineer61]

Oh....I just have to do it...it's Friday...I turn 50...baseball season is here...

 

Number one camping woe?

 

Getting the RV backed in close enough to the water/electricity/cable hookup!

 

Happy Friday all!

[Eagle92]

Well my wife got me a Coleman Villa del Mar from wallyworld for a Valentine's day gift. It's a 7 man tent (3.5 with gear) and has nice head room when I stand up. While it is a PITA to put up, esp. with 3 "helpers" under the age of 5 (it does get eaasier as the helpers get older but still a pain), I've had no problems with wind or rain. This past week wind gusts was up to 60mph and there was some rain, but we had no problems.

 

An aside, if you need a great place to camp in the Asheville,NC area, Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest is AWESOME.

[perdidochas]

I don't recommend that tent. I have a very similar tent sold by Academy (a Magellan). The problem is that the only part of the tent that's tall is the center. The rest is at about 5'. The floor plan is a pain (barely fits 4 cots. it's primarily my family camping tent). It's not particularly easy to set up (not too hard either). I would get the tallest tent I could find with a rectangular floor plan and no "wings" off to the side. You might also think about hammock camping. In hammock camping you set up a tarp (fly) at about 6 ft off the ground. You sleep diagonally in the hammock so that it lies flat (not like a banana). Go to hammock forum for more info. I made my own hammock out of a 4 yd. piece of nylon fabric. Sleeps well, and I woke up w/o back problems.

[perdidochas]

Another comment about my magellan tent (that looks like the same size/design as the one you linked). It's a "leaky" tent, in terms of airflow. Not bad here in FL, but if I lived north of here, it would irritate me. Look for the smallest footprint tent that has a 6'+ ceiling.

 

Are you tenting alone, or with your cub scout sons?

[Scoutfish]

Well, another year with my son as far as Cub Scouts is concerened, but after that, maybe the occasional trip somewhere. I'll still continue as CM for a while, but will be solo in the tent.

 

It doesn't have to be 6' tall everywhere. I'm thinking that as long as I don't have to drop to my knees to get in.....and If I have enough rooom to sit up in a camp chair...I will be fine.

 

My biggest issue is crawling out and standing uop, and the part where youi lay on your back with you feet in the air to put your pants on!

[Lisabob]

Unless you have back problems already, then the discomfort you are feeling with kneeling/wriggling around to get dressed is probably a symptom of some other things, and not really the cause of your distress. Maybe time to consider a fitness program that includes more back-care and stretching in it?

 

One other thing to consider is what you might want to do with that tent in a few years. I know you aren't currently thinking about being an ASM or anything, but that could change once your son gets into boy scouts. Will you want to buy another tent then? Because the one you are describing, while ok for cub camping, would be less suitable for many boy scout outings. On the other hand, many (but not all) troops have enough troop tents to allow adults to just use the troop gear, and some folks do own a whole bunch of tents. For me, I just didn't want to have to buy a tent for cub camping and another for boy scout camping.

 

 

[Stosh]

I usually use a 3-man tent which is quite low-profile and so at 6' I have a wee bit of a getting dressed problem.

 

Solution? - buy a camp shower. Go in, get dressed standing up, and bingo, you're done. I picked one up for about $35. It doesn't need to be anything terrific, just a privacy screen. If it's raining, I stick with the struggle in the little tent. I have actually used it as a shower too. Not too bad on extended campouts.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

[JoeBob]

Definitely not for backpacking:

 

http://www.pantherprimitives.com/2007-catalog.pdf

 

Check out the 'Hunter's Tent' on page 44. The shortest option is 7 foot tall. Fastest set-up time is 30 seconds.

We've got trees, so I'm liking the 'No Pole' option.

[Tampa Turtle]

Number one woe?

 

I hammock camp now....worrying about having 2 trees in the right place, doing my knots correctly in the dark Friday, and staying warm if the temperature dips.

 

Number two?

 

Did I pack the Gold Bond.

[Eliza]

I get that standing up to get dressed is SO much better than wiggling in a cramped space. One of our tents is a Eureka Sunrise -- they used to make a 10' model -- now I see the only Sunrise that would allow you to stand up is the 11' one. The Sunrises are great tents, IMO -- sturdy and very easy to put up. I should think that, at 6'2", you'd be able to get the rain fly over the top of the 11' model without help.

 

We also got a smaller tent -- it got to be hard to find a large, clear, rootless space in the woods where we camp. But I love that big tent!

 

Good luck, whatever you choose!

[anderle]

Actually I did the opposite and ditched a tent altogether. I now use a hammock with a tarp. The roof is as high as I want, the bed is always the right height, and I never ever have to worry about water coming in or what the ground is like (roots, rocks, slope, etc). The best part is that my back feels better after a night in the hammock than it does sleeping in my bed at home (still trying to figure out how to hang the hammock in the bedroom without being shot by the missus). At this point half the troop has converted to hanging

 

There were a few things I had to learn like insulation tricks but I can use the same set-up either plop camping or backpacking. If you really want to see what the rage is all about check out http://www.hammockforums.net.

[USMA_Eagle]

I'm a big fan of bivouac ("bivvy") sacks generally... I've used them quite a bit, and they're great pieces of equipment. A good technique is to have one person in a group bring a tent, and the rest bring bivvys, just so if you need to provide shelter you can--but the group isn't weighed down with tents.

 

Pros: Very light, portable, durable, and will keep you dry and warm. Great for trekking, not so much for fixed campsites. If you're doing some serious backpacking where you're moving around a lot, these are a great solution. Your mileage may vary with your tolerance for camping in the rain.

 

Downsides: If you will be at a fixed location for a considerable amount of time, then you probably want that tent. Not for mixed-sex encampments. Not for lots and lots of wet weather. And you still need a sleeping pad or mat.

 

I'd also go with some heavy-duty gore-tex ripstop material. I think REI has some good ones, as does Snugpak.

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

http://www.scoutspirit.com