New tent day

[tjmouse]

Went with the Fjern Gokotta 2 from SportPursuit as the had 10% off over the weekend.

It’s a poor man’s MSR Hubba Hubba but it looks pretty good and is very light and compact.

Will get a proper try out over the August bank holiday.

 

[Udders]

Looks great.
You’ll get wet if it rains though!

Nice and light at 1.5kgs too.

 

[tjmouse]

Looks great.
You’ll get wet if it rains though!

Nice and light at 1.5kgs too.

I will indeed. It’s got a nice light outer to go with it fortunately.

Very light package and short enough to fit in a pannier which was a key requirement for me. Only issue is it doesn’t come with enough pegs for all the guy ropes (given they must cost less than 10p each I don’t know why they don’t give you n+1 pegs - it’d be such a selling point!) fortunately I’ve got spares from an old tent.


Looking forward to testing it out now!

 

[boatman]

I will indeed. It’s got a nice light outer to go with it fortunately.

Very light package and short enough to fit in a pannier which was a key requirement for me. Only issue is it doesn’t come with enough pegs for all the guy ropes (given they must cost less than 10p each I don’t know why they don’t give you n+1 pegs - it’d be such a selling point!) fortunately I’ve got spares from an old tent.


Looking forward to testing it out now!

It would either need to be :-
The only thing in the pannier
Or
In with stuff that does not mind getting wet
Tents are often very wet soggy things if it’s been raining or there is heavy dewfall .

 

[The Other PaulG]

Tents fascinate me.

They all serve the same purpose, creating a dry 8x4x4 foot space (for example). But the number of vastly different designs is staggering.

That design looks great, I’m sure it will perform well.

 

[Coppertop]

Went with the Fjern Gokotta 2 from SportPursuit as the had 10% off over the weekend.

It’s a poor man’s MSR Hubba Hubba but it looks pretty good and is very light and compact.

Will get a proper try out over the August bank holiday.

Looks great, I'm on the lookout for a new tent. Will have to wait for their next code.

 

[Wapping]

Tents fascinate me.

If you were female, you could wear a tent themed fascinator.

You could also wear one as a male, but please don’t.

 

[tjmouse]

It would either need to be :-
The only thing in the pannier
Or
In with stuff that does not mind getting wet
Tents are often very wet soggy things if it’s been raining or there is heavy dewfall .

I don’t do long trips at the moment so dampness is less of an issue for me. Even if I put it away wet it’ll only be there for a few hours.

Left pannier has tent, roll mat, sleeping bag, pillow, camping chair and trainers in it.

Right for clothes and wash kit.

Top box for cooking and electronics.

It’s a setup that has served me well over the years.

 

[AustinW]

Went with the Fjern Gokotta 2 from SportPursuit as the had 10% off over the weekend.

It’s a poor man’s MSR Hubba Hubba but it looks pretty good and is very light and compact.

Will get a proper try out over the August bank holiday.

Nice tent.

That looks very very similar to our “Big Agnes Copper Spur UL Bike Packer 3” (phew) tent. Even the poles look the same. Ours is a 3-man, which is just, and I mean just enough for two sleep mats. It works really well when it’s warm/hot & dry, so in southern Europe it’s been great, but I’ve used it a few times spring & autumn here and it’s at best ok. Lots of condensation, doors seem to allow loads of water to run inside when you open them despite claims of some sort of gutter, and going up inner first you need to be quick if it’s raining, or just wait it out somewhere until stops which is what I’ve done a couple of times. Fabric wets out rather quickly too, but rain hasn’t come through other than when the doors open. Packs light tiny & fits into a pannier lid top bag. About 1.5kg iirc. Takes decent bit of wind to upset it.

 

[tjmouse]

Looks great, I'm on the lookout for a new tent. Will have to wait for their next code.

The code basically bought the footprint for free. For some reason the footprint for this tent has a different name (s something) but it says it fits in the description!

 

[tjmouse]

Nice tent.

That looks very very similar to our “Big Agnes Copper Spur UL Bike Packer 3” (phew) tent. Even the poles look the same. Ours is a 3-man, which is just, and I mean just enough for two sleep mats. It works really well when it’s warm/hot & dry, so in southern Europe it’s been great, but I’ve used it a few times spring & autumn here and it’s at best ok. Lots of condensation, doors seem to allow loads of water to run inside when you open them despite claims of some sort of gutter, and going up inner first you need to be quick if it’s raining, or just wait it out somewhere until stops which is what I’ve done a couple of times. Fabric wets out rather quickly too, but rain hasn’t come through other than when the doors open. Packs light tiny & fits into a pannier lid top bag. About 1.5kg iirc. Takes decent bit of wind to upset it.

I was going to get the 2 man of that tent on sportpursuit a while back and it went out of stock. This one is £100 less and I think is missing some of the storage pockets but it’s got 2 big ones and seems well made so I’m happy with it.

 

[tjmouse]

Nice tent.

That looks very very similar to our “Big Agnes Copper Spur UL Bike Packer 3” (phew) tent. Even the poles look the same. Ours is a 3-man, which is just, and I mean just enough for two sleep mats. It works really well when it’s warm/hot & dry, so in southern Europe it’s been great, but I’ve used it a few times spring & autumn here and it’s at best ok. Lots of condensation, doors seem to allow loads of water to run inside when you open them despite claims of some sort of gutter, and going up inner first you need to be quick if it’s raining, or just wait it out somewhere until stops which is what I’ve done a couple of times. Fabric wets out rather quickly too, but rain hasn’t come through other than when the doors open. Packs light tiny & fits into a pannier lid top bag. About 1.5kg iirc. Takes decent bit of wind to upset it.

Interesting about it wetting out quickly.

One thing I normally do with a new tent is “re”waterproof them before first use just to increase the water resistance, I sometimes do the underside as well.

Might be a job for this evening!

 

[jefformston]

Nice tent.

That looks very very similar to our “Big Agnes Copper Spur UL Bike Packer 3” (phew) tent. Even the poles look the same. Ours is a 3-man, which is just, and I mean just enough for two sleep mats. It works really well when it’s warm/hot & dry, so in southern Europe it’s been great, but I’ve used it a few times spring & autumn here and it’s at best ok. Lots of condensation, doors seem to allow loads of water to run inside when you open them despite claims of some sort of gutter, and going up inner first you need to be quick if it’s raining, or just wait it out somewhere until stops which is what I’ve done a couple of times. Fabric wets out rather quickly too, but rain hasn’t come through other than when the doors open. Packs light tiny & fits into a pannier lid top bag. About 1.5kg iirc. Takes decent bit of wind to upset it.

I’ve been using a very similar ‘copy’ bought off Amazon 4 years ago for about $60. It’s been used every year for about 3 weeks each time, so approx 80-90 nights & I’ve got to say it’s worked very well, kept out some very heavy rain, easy to pitch and fits well into a pannier. Had my first damp patch on the floor this year during some very heavy rain when the tent was effectively floating for 4 hours. Great tents with plenty of space.

 

[Udders]

One of the bonuses of those “ two part tents “ is that if it’s hot you can pitch it without the rain fly under a small tarp. This keeps the sun off but you get maximum air flow.
They also tend to be slightly bigger for a 2 man tent and you can usually peg them down hard if the wind gets up.

Now, tent pegs…….
The ones you get with the tent are normally crap ( that includes Hilleberg surprisingly ) so over the years I’ve tried loads of different makes, sizes and materials. I now remove the standard pegs completely and use a bag of 6” & 9” nail ones similar to these….

Otimos XL Tent Stakes Aluminium - Red (Pack of 6) - Otimos Outdoor Gear

otimos.co.uk

I have a combination of 6” for the tent and 9” ones for the guy lines.
Not cheap but well worth getting a set.

Or if you’re happy with the standard ones, that’s great.
I tend to camp in more exposed places like up mountains. Not done much of that lately though.

 

[zerax9]

The only true way to test a tent... is to use it ! In all conditions. Once you've put it up, slept in it, lived in it and taken it down 20-30 times, when it's baking hot, monsoon season or a howling gale... you'll know.