I am looking to buy a tent to go to a festival in Spain and have a few concerns as to what tent to buy.
Will I be able to get away with a single skinned tent or should I opt for a double skinned?My thought are that due to there being no chance of rain (as it will be used in the middle of July in Southern Spain) then there would be no condensation. However, as I am not in the know about tents and camping or condensation for that matter, I dont know what else the second skin does....
Moreover, I want it to be easy to assemble and lightweight...
Any advice on what type of tent to buy for this situation? please...
It's often easier to get condensation in hot weather than in milder climates because the outside air temperature can fall fast at night to below the dew point temperature and then moisture held in the warm air of the tent condenses on the inside of the outer/flysheet. The plus side is that condensation's less of a concern in warm, dry weather as you can take off the fly - or at least vent it as much as possible - during the morning and it will dry out fast. I've camped in Portugal in Summer in a low profile mountain two-skin tent and it wasn't pleasant! The main problem was that, as soon as the sun came out in the morning, it turned into a furnace inside. This was a problem as I was up dancing at night and wanted to sleep during the day!
So what would I recommend? Assuming that you don't have to carry this tent too far, get something cheap, big and tall with plenty of ventilation- a family summer dome tent or whatever from a supermarket or argos or similar. The teepee style could be good even though there will be condensation as it tends to run down the inside & not fall on you too much and being able to stand up is a bonus. I know that some companies are offering blackout tents to help with the festy sleep issue but I don't know how good they are; personally I'd say it was a gimmick and you'd be better off taking eye patches & earplugs!
The real luxury will come if you add some extra sun shielding in the form of a large tarpaulin (again the cheap variety sold in DIY stores). You'll need to rig it up above the tent to give shade and allow airflow. I've seen this done using lengths of bamboo or strung from trees. Either way, the idea is to provide shade for your tent and then it should remain bearable inside.
Two offset layers of fabric is the standard way of reducing the temperature in an emergency sun shelter; the air space between the two layers warms up, but is then swept out by any breeze, keeping the air within the inner layer cooler. John's suggestion of a tarp for shade would do this, provided you pitch it so as to maintain an airflow.
This effect will even work to some extent with a conventional double-skin tent, and I suspect a single skin tent would prove unpleasantly hot.
For a festival, I'd suggest a cheap, simple, double-skinned tent. How big it needs to be will depend on how much time you intend to spend in it: more time=bigger; purely sleeping=smaller.
I'm with John on thinking a blackout inner is a gimmick. A friend of mine had (note...past tense) one and it was horrible. It worked fine as a blackout but did nothing about noise (what a surprise) and seemed to make the inner most oppressive and really hot.....very unpleasant. The spent most of the time with the inner door open to allow some air and light in...
Do you want a 1, 2, or 3 person tent? Is this tent for use later or just one-time use? Do you want to stand up in it?
Here in the U.S. there are many car camping tents from cheap Wal Mart to highest quality. Try Cabela's online catalog. They have great car camping tents that are very airy and well-ventilated yet well shaded.
