What type of tent is best for you?

Dave

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Oftentimes people buy what's "cool" or even what is "in stock" at the local big box or outfitter without much real thought being put into it.

I mean, a tent is a tent right?

This thread is for discussion of what type of tent is best for what and why. Here's a clever graphic to spark discussion!

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replace "do you like walls" with "do you mind spiders and bugs and snakes crawling over you while you sleep?" and i think you've pretty much got it nailed
 
What about those of us who prefer real mattresses and don't mind pulling a trailer? I mean, it's no llama, but it gets the job done.
 
Funny how you mention these tents.

I have purchased a couple of tents over the years having over 500 nights in a tent as a Boy Scout. The troop I belonged to was connected to our sponsor organization which was the Air Force Test Pilot School. They purchased us new tents every couple years which back then was usually 2 person Eurekas. For winter camp we rented The North Face tents from the base outdoor recreation office. I have purchased as Dave said several other tents since then from "Box Stores" with mixed results.

At this years DR my tent we had died. It was a 6 person Coleman bought from Big 5. We usually sleep on cots in this tent. The wind storm killed it on top of one of the corner stake holes tore off as we were staking the tent in. Saturday night at DR I barely slept as the wind pushed the side of tent pretty much over me.

So for MR my son and I were packing up and getting ready and with my busy schedule working 72hrs a week I had completely forgot about the tent situation. So I went on Amazon as I had some camp tables from Alps Mountaineering and had good luck with them so I gave them a try. Bought a 4 person Taurus tent along with a "ground cloth" aka a tarp. This also meant no cots.

It arrived on Thursday in a nice oversized stuff sack with two compression straps on the side around the circumference of the bag along with a separate pole bag and stake bag. I packed it in the truck. Arrived after dark on Friday. Unpacked the ground cover and tent from its conveniently oversized stuff bag and with my headlamp and one Luminaid lamp my son and I sat it up with ease. Only 2 poles attaching to the tent with plastic clips on each section of the pole, 4 stakes at each corner for tent and 4 more stakes for the rain fly that has a secure vestibule at both front and back. Another nice bonus for the rain fly was the fastex buckles attaching the fly to the tent and the zipper with accompanying Velcro that helped secure the fly. The inside of the tent had the standard tent floor. It has a nice "attic" basket at the apex of the ceiling attached with four plastic hooks and the elastic loops in addition to the two accessory pockets along the side walls. The front and rear windows roll up and they secure with elastic restraints instead of just material loops. The tent had two mesh side windows that had no cover but the rain fly had two clear plastic "windows" that matched the location of the tent window although they weren't very clear especially when wet.

As all MR attendees can attest to it rained Friday night and quite a few downpours on Saturday. Not one drop in the tent. No the tent is not a cool (and expensive) CVT, Tepui, Overland Pro, ARB, or OzTent but it worked and my son and I enjoyed it. That along with my Wiggys sleeping pad and my military surplus sleeping bags we slept great.

Now here's to say I wouldn't enjoy a nice RTT or a Oz Tent, but it's not in the cards for me and my boys and I will just keep it simple for now.
 
The flow chart doesn't account for wind or weather. For that, the 3 season or 4 season work best. However when your cabin tent collapses you can always sleep in your car!
 
Having slumbred and spent many-a-days, hot and cold wet and dry in a myriad of shelters; this stage of my life has had me in the roof top tent era of my existence. While I miss the palatial estate of my Eezi Awn 1600 T-top with both first and second story accomodations, Ive gone to the tiny house version; in order to maximize roof space while still enjoying an elevated living quarters; I switched to an Autohome Overcamp. It runs the length of the roof and leaves me the option of my kayak or aluboxes and solar panels riding shotgun.

There is also the option of sleeping inside of the Hundy on an air mattresss

Circa ARV 2014
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ARV 2016
 
Neat decision matrix... very reasonable conclusions and recommendations.

Looks like I've checked all the boxes... with the exception of an RTT.

My selection for shelter system is this OzTent RV2 with front and side panels.

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For travel necessitating a hasty shelter solution I enjoy the OzTent produced Bunker. Although to think about it, I'm pretty sure @Dave has spent more time in it than I have. Thank goodness he uses Lilac skin lotion...

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It worked great. That's one well made "Bunker" :cool:
Yeah... there was like 5 flippin' gallons from that deluge collected in the bow of that canvas shelter but it was dry as a bone inside. Didn't you get a picture of that Dave?
 
Yeah... there was like 5 flippin' gallons from that deluge collected in the bow of that canvas shelter but it was dry as a bone inside. Didn't you get a picture of that Dave?

I think so, maybe I can find it
 
Ive spent a fair amount of time in tents, but theyve mostly been old school types. I lived a couple years off and on in a tipi. its hard to beat for year round comfort if you can deal with the weight and size of the poles. Having an open fire inside and out of whatever weather there may be is really nice. Only a torrential downpour caused issues with the smoke flaps being open. In winter, with it at about zero outside, I was in shirtsleeves in the tipi with a fire going. Mine was 16'. Thats the farthest outside size, the walls slope inward right away, but it does give decent storage space around the edges. It was fine with 3 beds, 4 would work, but youd have to get them put up when people were up instead of sitting on beds and having room to walk around and cook and such. A tipi only really functions correctly with a liner, if it doesnt have a liner, its basically just a tarp, open on the sides. The liner is 5 to 6 ft high, and set up on the inside of the poles, allowing ventilation between the cover and liner, and the bottom of the liner going under the floor. The liner is the part that magically transforms it into an all weather, all year home. Tipis are almost windproof if set up correctly.

I could set mine up alone in a little over an hour, and strike camp and be loaded in 20-30 minutes. I had a ladder rack on my truck and just piled the poles on it, then pulled a rope around them to bundle them and lashed the pile down, It was far simpler than trying to lash each one down and make a platform out of them or some other creative thing. A tipi would be my first choice for the colder 3 seasons, and if snakes werent an issue.

I also have a wall tent, or outfitter tent as seems to be the term today. Mine is 9x12, with 5' sidewalls and 8' ridge. I have a stove jack in it for a sheet metal woodstove, mine is a Sims stove. Ive camped in all sorts of weather, and in pretty cold places. The stove helps quite a lot, but isnt as nice as the open fire in the tipi. The longest time Ive spend in it was 2 months. it was too hot out at first, and too cold at the end, but I was fairly comfortable. I was waiting for a rental to open up, so had my twin bed with frame in it, and room size rug, small dresser and othjr odds and ends to make it comfortable. I had a full metal frame, which is very heavy, and I used it with wood poles. The simplest wood poles are one long enough for a ridge, and two long enough to support the ridge, then 6 @ 5' for the sides. I used lodgepole pine poles I cut in the mountains and peeled with a drawknife, nice and light, straight and few knots. Ive also used regular lumber when I didnt have access to my poles or didnt want to pack them along on a trip (or forgot them). The tent packed down into a package about the size of a military duffle bag, minus the poles and stove. It would benefit from a large awning on the front, for shade, to keep firewood dry, and have a fire and still be out of the weather.

Smaller, modern tents are pretty handy, and pack up into small packages, but if one has the time and space to deal with the larger tents, its really nice to be able to get dressed standing up, and function in a decent sized space if weather is bad. For longer term use, the larger tents seems like a pretty good investment in time and effort. The little iritating things that come along with being in smaller spaces arent as much of an issue.

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Then start an alternate (other than tents) shelter thread? ;)

"the spoon is not bending at all; but it is you bending around the spoon"
 
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