Tents that are up to a Global Adventure

hydrostatic head

Simon, when considering which tent to buy, and as a means of comparing on something other than dimensions, find out what the hydrostatic head of the tent is, that is to say how waterproof it is. This is a standard test comprising of a small square of the tents material being stretched out and a cylinder placed above it. The cylinder is then filled with water until the material leaks, the height of the water in mm at this point is the hydrostatic head of the material.

Apologies if you knew that already.

If you look in the YHA shops and find a tent you like in one, join the YHA for a year which is about £15, then get 20% of your first purchase. If you are spending a couple hundred quid, its worth it and you get the benefit of a years YHA membership thrown in.

For a very cheap but half decent tent take a look at the Outdoors Shops (i believe thats their name), they are the old scout shops, they import a range of tents from the far east which have a reasonable spec and sell them straight on without a middleman, hence a very fair price.

Personally I think Jack Wolfskins are the daddy tents, but I would suggest carrying a spare section of pole for DIY repairs, I have had mine snap, although I think this is through fair ware and tear of a lot of use. Build quality is very good.

Big Gordy
 
Quality tents.

The two makes which I have had recommended to me are: Hilleberg (excellent but expensive - eg £400-£500 for a 2 man) and Terra Nova (good, not cheap). You can get them from www.fieldandtrek.com or www.outdoorco-op.co.uk which gives 10% discount but you have to join the club at a cost of £15. You will want to avoid 'cheap and cheerful' on a RTW - it might be the cheap but it won't be cheerful!

Good fortune on your trip and keep us posted.
 
Hi, I used a Khyam one touch tent on an 18 month trip overland to Australia from the UK, we slept in it for about 7 months all together in all kinds of weather except snow, it did hail very very heavily in Australia though and the tent didn't let us down once, as other folk have said, these tent's go up so quickly that after a long days ride it's a god send, especially when it's raining. I'm off in two weeks time to South Africa via Nord Kapp and I have bought another Khyam to take with me, the old one was 10 years old and the zips had started to go. We had no problems with the poles or any other part of the tent. After using a Khyam tent you will not want any other kind, they are that good.
 
Plug, is the one touch Kyham a brand name or a model of a tent range. Also how small do the poles collapse to?

I've tried to find it in catalogues but I haven't been succesfull so far.

Mick.
 
Kyham

I've got a Kyham Igloo tent, goes up really quickly. It says 20 secs on the bag which i reckon isn't far off. When packed it's a bit longer than normal tents due to the fixed poles but it still fits on the bike ok.
Got mine from the Outdoor Megastore, good price & very nice people, check out this link as they have lots of other tents as well as kit. :D :D :D
http://www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/acatalog/Outdoor_Megastore_Camping_Department_1.html

Lee.

(Kyham, when you've gota get it up quick!!:rolleyes: :p )
 
The CTC rally at York on the weekend of 22nd June has displays of most of the tents mentioned in this thread. They will be erected for inspection and there will be over 1000 users with their tents. Many users have travelled round the world and have used their kit in the harshest of conditions over long periods. Tents on sale are usually well discounted for the duration of the rally.

If you can make this event it should allow you to make some independent choices.

best of luck
 
TENTS OR IS THAT TENSE

Go for a WILD COUNTRY QUASAR or also made by TERRA NOVA. Superb tents that have double entrance Easton TUBES and are fully taped and even have a gear loft to keep the floor space inside to a maximum. Have had the last one for 6 years and its been to USA ( Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colarado), Africa twice, China, Iceland ans countless Scotish winters and summers. Top kit and superb spares back up. Even had a pole go due to bag throwers at Rejkavick and they posted me a replacemant free of charge within two days. You cannot get better service than that. Who else would post a package to another country and cover the costs rather than have one of their products leave an expedition down. Top kit and top company. Buy from Cotswold camping and they will have the same attitiude. They also agreed to send a pole out to me if Terra Nova could not.

ANDY MELTON
 
SIMON

Drop me an e mail if you want more info re the tents and I will get you more info if you need printed ,matter. The TRISAR model is basicly the same but a pole less and one entrance.
 
GETTING ABOUT

Problem with being in charge of an Outdoor Pursuits Dept. is that you always have a group of 12-18 yr olds with you and never the bike. The nearest I got to as much fun as the GS was the Unimog we had for a month in Africa. Now that WAS the 4 wheel equivalaent of the GS.
Iceland just has to be the biking Nirvana and will definately have the time to go back there now I have given the outdor education scene up. The river crossing as brutal if you fall in with a full loaded expo. sack so shudder to think what a GS would make of them. Suppose if you get up early enough to miss the melt water off the glaciers they are only knee to thigh deep.

ANDY
 
I am just waiting for my new tent to arrive!! I have used a Vaude Ferret 1 for about 4 years now, fab tent, very good quality and in perfect nick!!! I'm replacing it for 2 reasons (bear in mind all I do nowadays is bike camping)

1. I am sick of having naff access, which is common with most tents unfortunately, especially when wearing bike gear, I always end up catching guy lines or tent fabric with my armour and if its wet, when the tension is released 2 galons of water is deposited down your neck! Also in this catagory is the fact that you have to try and get undressed with your feet sticking out the end of the tent so you don't drag mud in! impractical for anything more than sleeping in.

2. the most frustrating thing is having no where to sit or cook or make a brew on a rainy day, so you end up lying in your tent thoroughly uncomfortable, If you want a drink on a rainy day - you get wet, if you want to cook, you get wet, if you want to get changed, you squirm about like a magott then discover you've put your undies on back to front!!

Anyway, I was camping up at Kinross last weekend for the BSB race meet and got talking to a couple of happy campers who were in a fab looking tent, It was a Vango Equinox 350, The sleeping accomodation was about the same size as my Vaude but it also had a porch at least as big again, with enough space to cook, chill out, enjoy rainy days.....you could probably get your bike in there (they do say it will store a couple of push bikes!!)

So that was it.... I was gettin me a new tent!!!!!!

After much research I have ended up ordering a Wild Country 'Scirocco Plus' which has the big porch, has the nice big access doors, has somewhere to take your boots off without squirming like a magott, but is around 1KG lighter than the Vango and is of a semi geodesic construction so you dont need loads of guy lines and it is very stable in bad weather. the standard Scirocco has won awards in the past and is the same as mine but without the porch. I also feel that the quality of the Wild Country is better than the Vango (my opinion only), Wild Country are part of Terra Nova.

Anyway these are just my thoughts but whatever you do make sure you have a) VERY good access 'cos this'll do your nut real quick and b) You will not regret getting a tent with a very big porch, remember at home you go for a house with a bigger living room than bedroom..... work on this philosophy with a tent and you won't go wrong!

Once you have made up your mind which one you are going for check out www.cheaptents.co.uk They are an adventure store in Warrington, used to go there to get gear years ago, very good outfit and i doubt you'll find cheaper elsewhere (e.g. my Scirocco plus has cost me £221 from these guys, Field and Trek are selling it for £299! the cheapest I've seen it anywhere else is £249)

Hope my little rant helped and convinced you to get BIG DOORS AND A PORCH :shout

Good luck with your travels
Paul

P.S. do yourselves and your backs a favour... invest in a couple of Thermarest camping matresses!!!!!!!!!
 
Just a final thought... I've just had a look at the Hilleberg tent you are considering, a couple of points worth considering (although I am glad you have got the big doorway and the porch)

Tunnel tents are great as long as you pitch them into the wind, if the wind changes direction during the night the poles will flex sideways, I have been in the lakes before now and been woken up by the roof of the tent touching my face (rather scary at the time)

The way round this is with guy lines.... lots of them... guy lines are fine but create a hazard area around the tent (i.e. tripping over them) and start to encroach on access again (i.e. catching them with your bike gear)

This is the main reason I went for the Wild Country over the Vango as Geodesic or semi Geodesic designs are inherently more stable so need (far) less in the way of guy lines. So it may be worth considering slightly different designs for strength and stability with the minimum use of string!

Whatever you do though don't compromise on that porch and the big doors :)

Paul (again)
 
Just back from Norway - so an update on my MacPac. It is fundamentally a tunnel tent, and coped brilliantly with 90 changes in gale force artic conditions.
Also the MacPac needs only four pegs to pitch, two more to hold open the vents in hot weather, and two more for the six storm guys in high winds. All three guys on each side attach to one peg, which is quick and keeps them out of the way. And unlike many other tents, it pitches all in a go, flysheet attached and upright, which was hugely usefull in some of the heavy rain we found ourselves in.

As to cooking, anyone who went to the BMF will probably have seen my tarp, which has the advantages of not bringing cooking smells and such like into the tent. Although I must admit I did not take it to Norway 'cause nearly all the camping sites had indoor cooking facilities, and in an emergency the inner of the MacPac unclips (well un velcros) from the poles, and can be rolled back leaving a huge cooking area.

Hey, what can I say, I loves my tent :)

Oh yeah, and I bought it from Cotswold Camping.
 


Back
Top Bottom