i have got my hands on an orginal force ten tent, you know the bright orange 'A' frame style.

what are peoples thought on them???

i think they are great tents for a base camp tent, mine is 25 years old and still goes strong, all i hae done is clean the fly a bit! i know they are heavy but... they never fail!

discuss

I used one of those when I was at school. It was very heavy but we had a wet and windy night on the Island of 'Hoy' on Orkney...

We were comfortable, warm and dry. They are great for base camps, not so good for backpacking due to the weight.

The cotton will probably be cooler in summer and last longer than nylon if left pitched up in the sun.

in the sun the cotton does fade, mine was bright orange when first made but is now a peach colour, i re-proofed my flysheet and it is like new now.

they are heavy but i can not find and information from people that they have ever failed in weather or fallen apart like some of the new light weight tents on the market today.

One word, 'nostalgia' :-) Spent my teenage years using one, in fact it's still in a mate's attic I think. Dragged on up the Pennine Way while I was waiting for my A-Level results too.

Tough as old boots, but heavy and you can still get all the spare parts from Vango I think.

i recon if you got it out the loft at your friends it would still be ok to use in the UK weather.

i got mine off my old scout troop when the folded and they got rid of all there kit, there was loads of it!

My Force 10 is over 30 years old now and still going strong as my base-camp tent. Yes it's faded but has needed only minimal maintenance in that time. An outdoor classic!

I loved my old cotton F10 when I was a teenager. Can't believe all the places I carried it, along with all the other super-heavyweight gear I had. My average pack was over 40lbs... shudder!!

One of my abiding regrets was flogging the Force 10 and buying a single skin non-breathable nylon thing that was really light but covered me in condensation all the time.

Still got mine after 30 years - and still use it from time to time. Virtually indestructable

i have one in the loft i am assured by my parents....a humungus 4 man affair. i now know why hannibal used elephants to move his entourage cos he was packing numerous F10'ers. But seriously they are a real big hittier when it comes to being the last tent standing and it always makes me smile when i see one pitched among the TN'ers TNF'ers ME's and if i can i pitch my very young and decidely infantile F10 as near as possible to them. Dib Dib Dob and gin gan goolie and all that jazz. Apparently manufactured exclusively for the stealth campers (green tent brigade) they now have a green fly with extra guying points out now and its a touch lighter. Its called the F10 Classic CN the 2 pers at a reasonable 5.3kg and the 4 person at 6.5kg not at all that heavey in the scheme of things. For those of you who want a trip down memory lane try out www.forcetentents.com and follow the links to the triangular undefeated heavey weight champion of the mountains!!!!!

Best regards

Drew(F10 owner)

Great tent, monstrously heavy when wet (well, the cotton fly version is).

Have seen a couple that had collapsed, but I reckon it was down to poor pitching rather than the tent failing.

Seem to remember that the reason they were so (comparatively) heavy was that they were made out of materials that would stop a bullet from an elephant gun! One of the toughest things known to man.

Si

PS Ok, slight exageration there - but you get the point.....

i was on e-bay about 2 weeks ago and someone was selling a 2 man force ten classic, they were also offering an extention to go on the front of the tent.

has anyone every heard of a force ten extention???

sounds like a good idea if you are using it as a base tent for a long period.

anyone know how to get one???

toodle pip!

I remember the extension - came out on the front from the ridge pole and gave a big porch. (Distant memories...)

Phil

great!
do you know if there are pics of it on a web page?
where do you get them?

chris

Yes I bought an extension for my 3-man F10 many years ago. The tent is cotton but the extension is nylon -about 3 ft long: comes with the extension ridge and a set of A poles. The whole of the side can be raised to give a sort of low awning.

Oh the memories come flooding back.....I ran away from college @ 17 to go and teach Outdoor pursuits for a few years..and guess what I spent the first 8 months living in ?

My very own little piece of orange heaven, I even cut up carboard boxes from the local shops to make a nifty half pyramid set of shelves.

20 years on and I am still getting out + about in my litle 1 woman tent as often as I can.
But now it's a green Coleman .




Wish they'd made one in orange....

I've had my Mk 4st for years. Like yer favourite teddy, it's always there.

Bit like Trigger's brush really. Two new flysheets and four new poles.

D of E Gold Award in the late 1980's.

Lugged force tens all over the Lakes in some pretty abonimbale weather.

They weighed a ton but by god they were solid and did the job.

Ace.

Greetings!

just had a flash back to my childhood, my next door neighbour had a one man version of this classic force ten tent!

i have never heard of or seen any other one man versions, have any of you???

I have one in the loft, borrowed it from the QM at Rockingham Forest Venture unit in 1974. To scared to take it back - ebay you say - hmmmmmmm £££££. Only kidding, anyway we have mice in the attic, probably a hamster bed by now.

Yuk! Nasty, heavy, smelly things. Used one on one trip over 20 years ago and bought an Ultimate Peapod a week later.

Good for group use, weightlifters and Himalayan gales but next to useless for backpacking.