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When my daughter was in girl scouts, my friend and I got roped into being the "Camping Moms". That is, we had to take this weekend training course so we would know how to properly instruct the girls in the "girl scout" way. After much grumbling about losing our whole weekend, we settled in to take notes. When they got to the point about tents, the trainers advised, never buy a tent and then bring it camping without first setting it up! Right, I scribbled in my note pad, test out tent before actually camping. Good advice. Several months later when we took our troop camping, my partner in crime brought out a tent still in its sealed box. She had bought it the night before, and worse, had never set it up. How hard can it be, we reasoned. Turned out, darn hard! So my first piece of advice to you is always do a practice run before you are out in the wilderness. Here are some other things I have learned over the years either through experience, research, or talking to other campers. Size There are many types of tents. It helps to determine what your needs are. If you are going backpacking, and are literally carrying the tent on your back, then the tent should be light weight and packs small, and will probably accommodate one person. Are you going car camping or family camping? That is, will you drive to your camping spot and unload your tent from there? If so, you can pack a bigger family-sized tent, which should be spacious and have good ventilation. To help determine the size, determine the number of people who will be staying in it. Most backpacking tents are single person, and really only wide enough for sleeping. A two person tent is just that. It has room for two sleeping bags, but not much else. Experienced two person campers sometimes get a three or four person to have room to spread out and store gear. For a family of four, a four person tent will do, but be tight, and they might consider a bigger sized tent. Something a family might want to consider is multi-roomed tents. Multi-room tents have two, or three, rooms, separated by a wall with a zippered door. Some multi-roomed tents have screened in areas. You can use this to store gear or have chairs and an area to go to when it rains. Types of tents Although there can be many varieties, for two or more people, you can break tents down into domed tents, and A-Frame tents or cabin tents. The dome tent tends to be compact, well suited to different weather conditions and are relatively easy to set up. The ceilings tend to be low, though, so if you desire room to stand up, test them out in the store. The second category is a bigger tent, called cabin tents, or multi-roomed or even A-frames, due to how they are set up. These bigger tents, which take longer to set up, generally have separate rooms, higher ceiling, and bigger windows due to their larger size. I prefer the easier to set up dome tents. Again, your needs will determine which type. Ready to buy-what to look for Poles Most tents have poles in two varieties, fiberglass and aluminum. Check for high quality in both. Aluminum works well and are durable, but are heavy. Fiberglass poles, also called "shock poles", are sections of poles linked together by a strong elastic cable. Shock poles are lighter in weight, which is a concern in carrying the tent. But, they can be more fragile and break more quickly than aluminum. The elastic can wear out, as well, but most camping stores sell replacement poles if this does happen. My camping friends have found that an A frame tents can be jury rigged easier then a domed tent, and a fiberglass section is more difficult to fix in the wild if it does break. Consider carefully, although I have had my domed tent with fiberglass shock poles for 15 years and it is still going strong. Ventilation Poor air circulation creates a build up of your breathe condensation inside the tent. This is very uncomfortable. Your sleeping bag, pillow, clothes, and gear get clammy and cold. To help solve this problem, look for a tent with a roof vent. Opening this at night will help create some air circulation and eliminate condensation inside your tent. And if it rains, the rainfly will keep you dry! Rainfly A rainfly is a tent's umbrella and sun shade rolled in to one. The bigger the better, as they say. Rainflies are waterproof, but tent walls are water-repellant. Look for a fly that comes  |
well down the sides of the tent and extends past the tent walls, rather than just across the top of the tent. You also can open windows in the rain if you have a rainfly that covers more then just the tent in itself. Rainflies will also act as a barrier between the sun and your tent roof, thus keeping your tent cooler on warm, sunny days.
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