Need Help Buying a Tent

Hey everyone!

I need some help buying a tent. I will admit that I don't know anything about this or what to look for! My g/f, I, and some friends want to camp a lot this summer and we are wanting to get a tent that will allow us to segregate the sexes.

I've seen tents that fold up into backpacks... is it a good idea to get those? I've always just used other peoples tents. I know how to set them up, but not buy them.

Ease of set-up is a big factor, that's for sure.

Do NOT buy any military surplus tents....most military tents don't have a built-in floor.

Regardless, tents are pretty inexpensive and lightweight these days, and getting better all the time.

Lessee, there's some questions to ask.

First, are you doing backwoods or site camping?

Are you going to be hiking in or will you be close to your vehicle?

Are you comfortable having to crawl around in the tent or are you more comfortable standing up?

What will you be sleeping on? matress pad or air matress? What size air mattress?

I will do both kinds of camping - want to start out site camping and get comfortable with it.

And I'm comfortable crawling around, but it's always cool to be able to stand up.

Probably would go with an air mattress - aren't they less bulky per comfort factor?

Well, I'd say start with a good quality 5 man tent then. Plenty of room to move around and stand up in, and big enough for up to a queen size inflatable.
To find out what site camping is about, you might run up to Shelby-Meehan State Park and check out the camp sites there.
THat's a good park to learn on since you've got a wide range of site camping options, plus they allow backwoods camping...and even have trails with overnight shelters.

Here's a good place inexpensive gear:
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/s...y?storeId=226&catalogId=40000000226&langId=-1



Personally, I have a Mountain Hard Wear Room With a View, which I've had for damn near ten years now and love it. It's only a 'two man' tent, but sleeps three comfortably. Sleeps four uncomfortably (mother and brother got scared by was most likely just a moose or elk out in the woods and decided they wanted to come share with me and vera).

Oh, and no need to 'work your way to hiking.' Just go buy an old external frame pack, a tent and bag, a water filter and some MREs and go on a one nighter.

I have this for site camping. It's an eight person tent, but we usually only put four in there. Two in each zippered-off side room. The center room would easily hold two queen sized air mattresses and four person's worth of gear, but we use it for the card table, etc. if it starts to rain. Each side room will easily hold a queen sized air mattress and two person's worth of gear. My buddy and I have it down to an art and we can have the ten out of the bag and staked down in <10 minutes.

I have this tent for hiking. Light, simple, and tough. That's all that needs to be said about this tent.

Of course, this is my preferred method of camping.

Would this be decent?
I know I've been told five man tent, but this is only 25lbs and... well, would it make sense for camping near car sites, etc? Just a decent first tent?

Might want to go a bit smaller. 10 x 10 works well for me and my wife. Fits nicely on the tent pads of most state park camping areas.

https://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/...tDisplay?productId=39282684&memberId=12500226

I'm really a newb at camping... you're sure that would be a good first tent?

Cause if so, I'm gonna look for it on ebay

Not a bad one. But 10 x 10 is what you should be looking for.

To make sure I understand you, I'm looking for a 10x10 because those will fit the camp sites in most parks?

I suggest whatever you buy, setting up at home to make sure you know what you're doing before you're off in the middle of nowhere trying to set it up.

That, and the bigger a tent is, the more you have to clear out from under it.

The bigger it is, the harder it is to find a flat clear spot to put the tent up without doing a lot of extra work.

Ah. Gotcha.

Thanks for the help, I think I am armed to not make too big a mistake .

Don't forget to go to Lowes and get a poly tarp that's a bit larger than the tent. Makes for a good ground pad to protect the tent floor from any twigs and rocks you miss cleaning out your spot. Also acts as a barrier to help prevent condensation.

If it's warm enough when you go, consider not even buying a tent and instead getting a hammock with a mosquito netting and roof. You wouldn't store anything like food in the tent anyways (in case a bear is hungry and wanders into the camp) and they're smaller and lighter for hiking.

Buying a tent on E-Bay? Perhaps it will save you, but shipping costs could offset any savings. Walmart, K-Mart, pretty much any department store sells tents pretty cheap.

And yes, don't bring food into the tent. Bears are all over America these days (more states have them than don't have them) and there are
racoons, mice, etc. everywhere too.

Keep in mind that you need to subtract 2 people from the claimed tent capacity to get the real world, halfway comfortable capacity. If they say "sleeps 6", it's really 4. "sleeps 8-10" means 6-8, etc.... A 2-man tent means a solo person can fit comfortably.

We got our latest tent a couple years ago @ Target. Pretty reasonable, decent tent so far.

I don't run into this problem when I'm anchored down in the river.

I don't run into pirates in the woods. It's a tradeoff.

The only pirates in the woods are butt pirates.

Depends on what you mean by comfort. I learned the hard way that the weather can change pretty quick up in the Appalatians. Thankfully a buddy let me share his single man tent with him. And as I said before my two man sleeps 3 comfortably.

So I guess it depends on why makes the tent as well.

*dueling banjos*

Have you considered getting two separate tents? If you want to segregate the sexes, that way, guys and girls can change or wash regardless of who else is in the tent. However, even with a divider, if a woman is uncomfortable getting naked in front of a guy, she isn't going to get naked with those (not quite) dividers on tents.

And the day you pack up and get ready to go home, time is of the essence. And all the days in between, if you have plans, waiting for four people (or 6 or 8) to go through washing and changing ... well, look forward to getting up early.

I've camped with friends and we each (couple) had our own tent, plus each kid had their own. Site camping, of course.


Pots and pans? If you're planning on cooking on an open fire (and let's face it, if you're camping, you probably want to - otherwise, you might as well stay home and cook on the stove), first attempts should always be done in cast iron. They hold and distribute the heat much more effectively, and there's less chance of burning. Don't - whatever you do - try to use aluminum the first time you cook over a fire.

Don't forget to pack coffee.

I have a 15X15 tent. We set it up fairly easily with two people and we have not found it to be to hard to find a flat enough spot for it.

So a guy goes into the psychiatrist. "Doc, you gotta help me."
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, I keep having these dreams. One night I'll dream I'm a teepee. The next night I dream I'm a wigwam. Every night--I'm a teepee. I'm a wigwam. I'm a teepee. I'm a wigwam..."
"OK. Calm down. Your problem is you're just too tents."