What kind of tent to get for a cub scout and suggstions?

[kcubmom]

Hi All,

 

I am new to this website. I have a question that may or may not sound silly. I have a very independant 7 year old (he will be 8 in August)who will be a bear next year. He has been asking to sleep in his own tent since mid year this year. I told him that it would be ok when he was a bear. Well here we are at the end of the year, and his birthday is coming in a few months, the tent will be his brithday gift. I am unsure as to where to what kind of tent I should get and would like to get some suggestions on tents that are easy to set up. Any suggestions would be much appreicated.

 

I was also wondering if anyone has had a cub scout sleep in their own tent and if so what ground rules did you have, if any?

 

Thank you for all of your suggestions!

[Scoutfish]

I'd get a basic 3 man tent from Wal-Mart.

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-7-x-7-Sundome-Tent/13849028

 

It will cost less than $50.00 - so if he destroys it, it's not like you bought a $250.00 scout tent.

 

At the listed 3 man size, it's more like 1.5 man and one duffle bag.

Height is about 4 1/4 foot and it has two graphite poles with snap clips. After he sets it up once or twice, he will not have a problem setting it up by himself.

 

Now, I am not actually suggesting this particular tent, but any tent along those lines.

 

After he wears it out in a year or two, then you can break down and get a bigger/better tent.

 

This is a great starter tent.

[AnnLaurelB]

THANK YOU for mentioning that the "sleeps" number does not mean, "accommodates 4 adults AND THEIR STUFF"! This is important.

 

I have a 4-man and a 6-man. The 4 is good for 2 people plus STUFF, and the 6 is good for 3 people plus stuff.

 

In a PINCH, you could stuff another person into either of them, if everyone can keep their gear organized. But for room to change clothes and such, see above guidelines. :0)

 

P.S. I think it's fine for a Bear to sleep in a tent by themselves, as long as it's close enough to be in speaking-voice distance. Our last camp out, I let my son share a tent with another Wolf, so that I could have my tent to myself. It was fine.(This message has been edited by annlaurelb)

[Basementdweller]

Expectations........

 

Now would be a good time to look at them.

 

Is this a tent he might carry to boy scouts with him?

Do you camp in foul weather or high wind?

Is he expected to set it up for himself??

 

 

All tents are equal till it rains and blows......

 

 

I bought my son a Eureka timberline as a cub....It is a more expensive tent, but I expect it will last his entire scouting career.

 

Far as rules go.......Your son can sleep alone or with another scout, but cannot share a tent with an adult who is not his parent or guardian. I have never tented with my son on a scout outing, he would rather be with his buddys.

[topshot]

Unless you're going to be with him every trip to watch after the tent, I'd just get a basic 2-pole dome tent like the Walmart one mentioned. There are only 2 real issues I know of with those. The mesh isn't real fine so may not keep out noseeums and the rainflys are quite small on both the 6x5 and 7x7 models so if you have much wind with any rain he might get some spray.

[Basementdweller]

have you actually set up a Walmart Ozark Trail tent?????

 

They are horrible, terrible finish on fiberglass poles...next to zero rain fly........

 

 

 

[qwazse]

We have a Eureka Teragon 4 that child #1 got and is now the tent of choice for child #3. The only issue was the fly's plastic windows that ruptured in maniacal gale force last-gasp-of-winter winds after it's second outing. Needs regular reapplication of packing/duct tape.

 

It's suitable as a 3 man (cubs), 2 man (scout before the voice drops an octave), or 1 man (i.e., me). I'm guessing it has another couple of dozen outings left in it.

 

As BD implies, he'll be chucking the Walmart tent in the trash the minute he wakes up after (or during) the first storm or gnat swarm, so get him started earning and socking away $100 a month so he can afford the equipment (and Jambo/Philmont/Seabase/NTier fees) he really wants.

[Scoutfish]

WEll, the key thing here is that this boy is a Bear, Not a First class scout.

 

He's still young, and being independant, maybe slightly hardheaded?

 

As this is going to be the FIRST TIME SOLO IN A TENT : Considering that most kids this age do not have the tent zipper finess that older boys and adults have and trhat he may change his mind after one or two nights solo ..I would not lay out more than $60 tops for a tent.

 

Now, the difficulty of the tent setup is also dependant on who is settiung op. I have an Ozark Trail tent that I can set up in 5 mins total time. My Webelos son can do it all by himself in 8. it's slightly askewered when he does it, but that is due to his age ability and not the tent.

 

 

AS far as one good storm...though it can happen unexpectedly , we are still talking cubs, not boy scouts....where you tend to monitor and plan for the weather a bit better.

 

 

In the end, this boy may decide that solo tenting is the bet way to go and trurn out to be an awesome tent connoisseur.

 

If that's the case, go ahead and buy one of those $250.00 3 season trek tents.

 

But for now, until you know for sure, buy a cheaper , and possibly "disposable" tent ...just in case.

[AlamanceScouter]

The Christmas before last we purchased a BSA instant pop-up tent for our Cub. Both he and I have used it on numerous Pack campouts and it has worked great for us......and it has gotten us through some pretty big down pours.

[Basementdweller]

Just curious, how do you plan for rain storms when you create the Pack calendar a year in advance???? We go camp rain or not. One year it was just the core group that went...this year we had 115.

 

you can get a eureka timberline for $115 right now on amazon.......with free shipping

 

I guess I would rather spend $115 right now than $50 then $115 in 6 months.

 

 

If he wants to try to tent by himself, why buy a tent......see if you could borrow one first.

 

 

 

[kari_cardi]

If you think you will be continuing with scouts and camping in the future, I'd go with a nice quality dome that sleeps 3-4 like those mentioned. Cheap tents mostly work but can be frustrating. And even if your son doesn't want to camp alone at 8, he will probably be ready in a few years and thankfully, tents don't have a short expiration date. Going with a 3-4 man tent means that he has room for a mate if he wants.

 

As far as rules for tenting alone, we tell our sons that they are not allowed to eat/store food in their tent, no shoes, and no open knives. They are also responsible for pitching and breaking down the tent and keeping their gear tidy. There is usually a point while camping when we are trying to settle down for the night that everyone has to pick a spot to sleep and stick with it, but YMMV.

[Scoutfish]

"Just curious, how do you plan for rain storms when you create the Pack calendar a year in advance????"

 

Just like anything else. We adapt, make changes , and reschedule.

 

I live on the NC coast..so you know we are no strangers to hurricanes. Matter of fact, if a hurricane was in the Indian Ocean, it wouls still make fist landfall at Wilmington, NC which is 24 miles to my south!

 

Point is, if we have scheduled a camping weekend way back at the beginning of the year, and then a hurricane comes, we post pone our camping. Same if there was a wild fire at/near our campsite.

 

WE plan for the year ahead of time, be we are not inflexible rigid people.

 

This isn't football or boy scouts, short of a few showers, we get the planning books back out and figure something out.

[Once_Eagle-Always_Eagle]

I would also support the idea of a Eureka Timberline 2 tent. These tents are as easy to setup as a tent can get. When I was a boy scout, our scout master actually had us set these tents up by ourselves in the dark. They hold up well in adverse weather conditions. Replacement parts are easy to come by if needed. I look at it like this... if you spend the $50 for a Ozark tent, you will be getting a mediocre tent or mediocre quality. You are likely to experience issues with the fiberglass poles and small rainfly over time. When you decide to get rid of the tent, you'll end up donating it to someone because you will NOT get anything trying to sell a used Ozark tent. Providing he doesn't rip the Timberline tent, it will either last him well into Boy Scouts with lots of great experiences... and if you decide you want to sell it, resale value of the Timberline tents in good condition is pretty high. It is entirely plausible he'll get $50~$60 or more selling the used timberline, in which case you are out no more money than the Ozark- plus you get the added benefit of a much better tent.

 

(Now to take the other side... my own son is promoting to Webelo scouts in 1 week and I don't believe I would buy him a Timberline myself because I am fairly certain he would not give a $100 tent the respect it is due. So my recommendation for this tent entirely depends on how well you believe your son would treat the tent.)

 

[Eagle92]

OEAE,

 

. Replacement parts are easy to come by if needed.

 

Not necessarily. I'd need to go to Ebay and buy tents or parts as Eureka no longer makes the replacement parts for my Old Timberline. Then again my Eureka is 12+ years old, and the only thing I ever needed to fix on it is a pocket for the ridge pole, and that was this year.

 

I love Timberlines.

[Basementdweller]

I guess living 500 miles inland we don't deal with hurricanes or anything that predictable.

 

 

If they predict rain we still camp.