Pack camp out

[Lenae]

Our new pack has a family camping event at the beginning of August. My family camps all the time, so I'm not a newbie or anything. The problem is, we bought a small camp trailer last summer and sold our tent. I'm wondering what size tent to buy to use for Cub Scout camping. The tent we previously had was an older Coleman something or other that my husband and I were gifted when we were married. It was a fairly good sized tent, but with two growing kids, it did feel like it was starting to get too small. Should we go with something bigger that holds us all (self, husband, 6yo son, 4yo daughter) more comfortably? Or maybe keep it small so that husband and son can use it just the two of them later on?

[JasonG172]

Ill tell you the Coleman 8 Person Instant would be perfect for all of you. If you dont go that route go with the Coleman 4 man instant (2 of them)

 

Other than that I'd get personal tents for the Boys for sure

[mattman578]

Lenae

For Cub Scout camping I went to Walmart and purchased the cheapest 4 man tent I could find with a rain fly and it has worked out great and did not cost me that much the kids are small and do not take up that much room and you might not all go sometimes. Do not worry about tent envy every time I see a better tent while camping I think about buying it until I see how much it cost LOL go cheap you are not going to be using in much to start out with and wont be in that much bad weather cubbys tend to cancel trips if the weather is bad. as you have the cheap tent work with you son to find out what you do not like about it so if he goes to boy scouts you can get him one that works better

[ScoutNut]

Please remember that cheaply made, and cheap price are often (but not always) the same.

 

Coleman makes a decent tent. Coleman also offers discounts to members of non-profit groups.

 

Scout Direct, an online branch of ALPS Mountaineering, offers good products, at deep discounts for Scouts.

 

Things to keep in mind -

Your tent must have a rain fly (I prefer full coverage to the ground).

Make sure the floor wraps up the wall . Seams at the base of a wall tend to leak.

Occupancy numbers for a tent should be reduced by at least 1 person (4 person is actually only good for 3 adults).

 

Since you are taking the entire family camping with the Pack, I suggest you get a tent that will hold all 4 of you . If your kids are comfortable tenting on their own, you might consider getting two, 3-4-man tents. One for you, one for the kids.

 

[Faith]

Glad you posted about this, as my husband and I have been debating for awhile what to get ourselves once we retire our current one. We have an older Coleman 8 man tent (has a rain fly and the floors wrap up the sides, which works great.) Its at least ten years old and has been used quite a bit. Our boys are 7 and 4 & we are not sure when to separate them from us at family campouts, which is our main deciding factor on what we go with. I like the idea of two smaller tents, personally, but until I know the boys don't mind going into their own, we're probably going to stick with this size one (or until it bites the dust.)

[SSScout]

Buy the seven year old a decent 3person tent for his 8 b-day. He will love learning to set it up in the back yard, the lil'bro can play with him in it. Show him how to seamseal the rainfly and the floor walls. I did this for (now 20!)then 10 year old Scoutson and he learned to take care of it, and I STILL use it.

Buy good, take care of it, use it up....

 

And experiment with just a tarp.....

[dedkad]

The bigger the tent, the harder it is to find a level open spot on the ground to set it up. This becomes an even a bigger problem when you're sharing a campsite with others. I'd go for the smallest size that you are reasonably comfortable in. Since it's for Cub camping, it's not like you are going to be spending a bunch of nights in it during one trip. Personally, I can put up with most anything if just for 1 or 2 nights at a time. As ScoutNut said, you'll need at least a 5 person tent to accommodate 4 people. Also consider your air mattress situation. I don't have a battery-powered pump. I use our car's 12 volt charger to run the pump to blow up the mattress. Unfortunately, with one of our tents, the fully inflated queen-size air mattress won't fit through the door of the tent.

[Sidney Porter]

I think the Wal Mart house brand Ozak Trail makes some good value for the moeny products when it comes to car camping. My understainding is that they are manufactured by Wenzel. I have both a 6 and 4 person dome. I like the dome because they are easy to put up. I see some families with 6 and 8 person multi room tents that takes a pretty long time to assemble.

[Tampa Turtle]

I'd go with the Coleman or Walmart with the full understanding that once they hit Boy Scouts you are gonna replace everything. I had a huge 9 person sears tent (the great white whale) which slept our family of 4 and the german sheppard. I coulda parked a mini in there! Really nevered used it except for those first few family campouts. I got far more use out of a pair of Eureka 2 man tents as they moved into Webelos and Scouts.

[Austinole]

We bought a Kelty 6 man tent for our Cub Scout family camping. It has served us well throughout Cub Scouts and we still use it on occasion. As your son gets older he will move out and start camping with his friends. My wife insists on the blow up mattress too.

[JasonG172]

Always remember to waterproof your tent, It makes Sleeping in the rain much more BEARable lol

[jc2008]

This is the tent we have used the past 3 years:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-17-Foo...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

And we have 8 other families in our pack with the SAME tent (yes our camp sites look matchy matchy

 

Its $109 - $20 promo coupon right now and you might not have to pay tax either depending on where you live.

 

Cant really beat that tent for $90 shipped, its huge on the inside, plenty of room for a family.

 

My husband uses this tent when he is just off by himself too! (ie woodbadge this year)

[SM bob]

The question you have to ask yourself is 1) what are the weather conditions like? If it rains all the time where you are get a bigger family tent with a fly that provides an awning. If not a simple 6 person dome will be fine. 2) more tents never hurt anyone. Buy a family tent, then also get a 4 person tent for your husband and son. I have 4 tents. A winter, summer, family, and a loaner. 3) scout direct sells great tents to packs and troops. My troop uses the alps cedar ridge 4 person tent. Not that expensive but the largest 4 person I have ever seen and good head room with a full fly.

[SM bob]

Correction - alps granite falls 4 tents

[Lenae]

I'll check Scout Direct for some good deals.