Weight of tent

[nappy501]

Hi

I live in the UK and have two children whom are home educated.

We attend various home education festivals during the summer months.

Normally we hire a van load up the bikes and stuff and go. We normally stay in
a Vango Vista 600 DLX, we don't put up the third bedroom. Myself and my youngest
sleep in one bedroom and my eldest sleeps in a small tent outside. All the clothes and food go in the other bedroom.

Due to changes in my occupation I can't afford to hire a van this year and we
are going to try going by public transport. We will all carry rucksacks and
will probably have a small suitcase as well. We will be travelling by train or
coach.

So we need a new tent, but I have to beable to carry it. I am looking at a
small 3 person tunnel tent with porch. However the ones up to 6 kgs are out of
our price range. I have seen a Gelert Stratus 3 one review says it weighs 7.3
kgs the other 8.75 kgs. Is this really too heavy? I have thought of strapping
it to the suitcase.

I have picked a 3 person because normally it will only be the two of us, but
normally on the last night my eldest sleeps in with us after they have packed up
their tent, so there is less to do on the day we leave.

We normally camp for about a week and of course the weather can be unpleasant.

[DaveS]

Welcome to the other side.

Well one thing I'm thinking of is the Khyam Biker for you.
It certainly packs down fairly small but you could sleep 3 at a squeeze and it has plenty of room in the porch bit, plus you can open it out a bit when the weather's nice?

Depends how big the kids are I guess!
And of course you could be looking for something even lighter.
My lad took my Khyam Biker on public transport from Weston-Super-Mare down to South Devon on public transport. He said it was a bit of a fag though carrying it.
We've just bought him a 3 man pop-up, so may be that's worth considering as well? Although that is smaller than the Biker it is much lighter and easier to transport. It comes with straps as well to carry it like a rucksack on your back.

Vango Dart DS 300
Packed dimensions: 63 x 63 x 6
Weight: Approx 3Kg.






Khyam Biker
Weight: Approx 6Kg.
Packed Dimensions: 60 x 20 x 20 cm.

[nappy501]

Welcome to the other side.

Well one thing I'm thinking of is the Khyam Biker for you.
It certainly packs down fairly small but you could sleep 3 at a squeeze and it has plenty of room in the porch bit, plus you can open it out a bit when the weather's nice?

Mm! Looks nice, but I have an aversion to dome tents. I went camping as a teenager in ridge tents and then for a number of years did not consider camping.

Since the children I have always camped big. The first tent I purchased second hand from Ebay was an Argos 9 person with 3 bedrooms and a domed living area in the middle. The food and clothes went in one bedroom and the two children slept together.

That had to change as the youngest kept battering the eldest at 5 am in the morning. So the eldest slept in one bedroom and I slept with the youngest.

There was a fateful camp in Derbyshire, where it rained and in the night we had gale force 9 winds. I believe the Argos tent survived, because we had warning and I was told to fully extend the guy ropes. At the end of the night where people just chucked wet stuff in their cars and went home we survived with on broken bedroom pole, which someone gaffered taped up for us until it could be replaced.

We spent a whole day in a town just to get out of the weather at a cost of £25. So my eldest decided a pup tent would be good. Then when we went camping I put up two bedrooms and the third gave us extra living space.

I got a YHA dome tent cheap off Ebay for my eldest. I would put it up for her an often would get the 3 poles wrong and have to redo it.

I am not very tall, so we looked at lots of tents and I decided on the Vango Vista DLX 600. I purchased it new from Ebay, but it was the last year's model. So it was less than 1/2 price. We only put the 2 end bedrooms up. There is enough room for one of those blue picnic table at the end. Toys and musical instruments and electrics if we have a hook up. Room for me to prepare a meal as well as in bad weather my youngest to have her friends around, possible five children sat around playing together. The only problem with this tent is it is definitely a car job. It lives on my upstairs hall and someone has to carry it down to the car.

The Khyham is a dome tent and I didn't fancy one. Due to my ability to go wrong with the poles crossing.

Depends how big the kids are I guess!

The kids are 12 and 8 tall, but average weight.

And of course you could be looking for something even lighter.
My lad took my Khyam Biker on public transport from Weston-Super-Mare down to South Devon on public transport. He said it was a bit of a fag though carrying it.

I was thinking of one of these:
China Luggage Trolley. Jiangmen Manufacturer

Luggage trolley to put the tent on.

We've just bought him a 3 man pop-up, so may be that's worth considering as well? Although that is smaller than the Biker it is much lighter and easier to transport. It comes with straps as well to carry it like a rucksack on your back.

I'm not sure about this, how do you carry it with a 70 L rucksack and suitcase? When I have seen them in the shops they have looked big and round.

The dart also doesn't have much of a porch. I was looking for a reasonable size porch. As all the times we are going away is for a week. I will need to store food and clothes. Maybe the food or clothes can go in the bedroom, but something will have to go in the porch. I thought we could eat meals in the porch if the weathe is bad, rather than the bedroom. So three of us have to fit in there.

I have been looking at these:

Lichfield Cherokee 3 person
Lichfield Cherokee 3 Man Tent Red: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure
6 kg

Gelert Stratus 3 person
Stratus Tunnel 3 - Gelert
8.75 kg

Coleman Coastline 3 person
Coleman Coastline 3 Man Tent : Coleman Tents : WildDay.com
6.3 kg

There's a Ridgeway Intrepid 3 person tunnel tent.
Under 5 kgs.
I have seen one second hand on Ebay, but can't find any reviews for it and not sure of the porch sizes.

I suppose I am looking for a tent that is about 2 years old, to come within our price range. However, the tent companies change the names so it is hard to know what to search for.

Not sure what the quotes are doing?

[YEN_POWELL]

There are no poles to get wrong on the Kyham tent, they are fitted permanently, you just unfold and lock them and the tent is up.

[nappy501]

There are no poles to get wrong on the Kyham tent, they are fitted permanently, you just unfold and lock them and the tent is up.

Oh! I didn't realise the little ones worked like the big ones. Mm! very tempting.

A bit out of my price range.

Regards

[evochic]

HI a lot of quite large poly tents now come in bags with wheels maybe this would be good for you..I personally love the vv 500 and that with some strap on luggage wheels could work maybe...?!
ps if you are near notts/derby border I have some strap on luggage wheels you are very welcome to..
Evo

[Mabels Old Man]

Oh! I didn't realise the little ones worked like the big ones. Mm! very tempting.

A bit out of my price range.

Regards

There's one for sale here

[DaveS]

HI a lot of quite large poly tents now come in bags with wheels maybe this would be good for you..I personally love the vv 500 and that with some strap on luggage wheels could work maybe...?!
ps if you are near notts/derby border I have some strap on luggage wheels you are very welcome to..
Evo

Actually that's a really good point as even if it doesn't come with a bag there are loads of bags with wheels that you can buy.
My son works in TK Maxx and they loads in there at reasonable prices.