Gear

Ive come to that time in my life i may have to invest in a 'family tent' - unless we stitch together our plethora of 2 man 3 man and 4 man mountain tents. Our WC monsoon has been great but it is a little cosy with two kids and dog.

 I want a tent suitable for the west coast of scotlands highlands and islands. I guess i am going to have a base camp tent with that wet weather play area, I dont want tent fabric flapping about, just a sturdy basic tent - i dont ask for much, but why doesnt someone produce one then!!????

I nearly went out to get a hilleberg stallon combi with the 4man and 2 man zipped together, bit pricey and maybe we would be better off with more room. Like look of Outwell bear lake, with cotton fly. ticks lots of boxes, and can simply be lashed down with extra supports if needed. Weight, yes its heavy, but we will be getting vehicle with space.

Any suggestions? Anyone own the Bearlake?

Hi Peter,

welcome to the forum!

I'd suggest that a lavvu or teepee /tipi might be worth considering. They're very stable, spacious and sociable (though you might want more privacy I suppose).

I like the look of the Helsport range but haven't owned one - perhaps later down the line. But tentipi look great too.

Otherwise, a good option might be the t3 xt from lightwave. I'm not sure if there's enough space in there for 2 adults and 2 kids but my t2 xt is big enough for my wife and I plus our 2 yearold with a whopping porch. It lacks the height of a lavvu but is double-skinned so might be drier.

John

We use a Primus Bifrost Y6.  It hasn't had a real sturdiness wind-test yet, but it seems well made and uses things like quality alloy poles which boost the confidence somewhat.  They also do an H4 and H6 versiosn which are elongated domes, while our Y is a multiple-tunnel affair.

For a family tent we wanted something we could stand up in (bedrooms are like lightweight tunnels that are the prongs of the 'Y' so those are sitting space, but the mainliving area is standing room), and also have chairs and tables.

We'd use it in the Highlands as long as particularly fierce weather hadn't been forecast.  We got ours from Cotswolds, but they don't do them any more.  If you get on to Primus's UK distributor they may be able to give you more info on availability.

Pricewise it's in the middle ground between cheapies with blass poles and stuff like a Hilleberg Atlas.  Vau De make some good looking family tents, with prices from middle to highif you want to get past the usual bargain fare and have a bit more storm-proofing.

Pete.

How about the Terra Nova Terra Firma?

A 4 man basecamp tent with large porches. It is a tried and tested design that has been in existence for more than 20 years now.

Terra Nova are selling off a production sample for £595 rather than the £800 rrp. Alternatively you can buy it for a fiver more from a number of retailers and enjoy the full TN warranty.

Not a bad weight for great big beast of a tent.

Ok, just re-read your OP and you're not looking for something you can backpack so my suggestion might be superflous.

I rather like the look of the Marmot Townhouse looks rather like the Primus that Peter was suggesting.

I second what John said.  I have a Helsport Varanger (the 4-6 person version) and can't fault it.  We've had it in storm force winds on the west coast of scotland and with the guys out it didn't move an inch, winds were at least 70mph.  Add in the helsport stove (though there are cheaper options out there for stoves) and you have a very comfortable cosy space.  The inside is enormous - I would advise to get the groundsheet and the inner tent to avoid condensation.

 If you do a search on the "song of the paddle" forum for tipi/helpsort etc there is a long thread about adding a tarp to the front. The reason being that when its raining, you can;'t have the door open as it slopes and rains in. the addition of the tarp means you have a dry space outside the tent for wet gear etc, and you can have the door open and still look out when its raining.  I love mine and wouldnt be without it.  Got it from Tamarack who were fabulous. one other thing to note about the helsport lavuus, they all have snow skirts at the bottom which need to be secured to the ground to prevent them flapping.  If you do end up choosing one and go to tamarack, they ll give you clips for the snow skirt which pegs slot through and the whole thing is super tight and wind/waterproof, though I did end up using seam sealer on the outer zip on mine as some drips came through during the strom we experienced.  Must stress though that conditions were extreme, and pretty rare as far as the UK goes.

I totally agree with John Burley, since very light weight isn't really that important. Lavu's/teepee's are great for groups or large families who do not want any privacy (separate innertents). And in winter you even can add a stove in a lavu/teepee. In the winter also some skins on the floor and your a complete indian family!

Other over the top sturdy options are the Hilleberg Atlas range (two pieces and you have separate inners).

But if your thinking of cotton tents, that's the heavy weight league, you can better look into the so called- pyramid designs, not the bow poles/tunnel designs. Pyramid designs are far more superior in withstanding worst conditions, that's because they are less 'box' like. 

But if you really want to stay light weight for 4 persons (two adults and two kids and a dog) and want to be able to trek with it, your better off with separate light weight tents connected with a tarp. That is if your kids are old enough to sleep in a tent alone. The tent of the adults has to have room enough to dine in with all four. A tunnel model like the Hilleberg Stalon 3 GT or a Kaitum 3 GT or an whatever 3 GT does the job for that.

 You als might want to check out the terra Nova Laser Space 5, The Nordisk Lagerlof, Birdland Multi Nova as light weight options for trekking.

woooooooo.... thanks chaps. I feel a little embarrassed looking at family tents... but needs must.

If money no option, yes hilliberg atlas withy porch look fun. You all have good ideas, yes nordisk, birdland - wife has seen at shows, good trekking family tents. like the vaudau, but central space not very easy to keep scottish midges at bay in the badawi.

Very interested to hear about lavvus/tepee and stability, i think they would be fun and sociable - with tarp over front solves a problem of wet dripping into tent. With nice cosy stove... you will never want to get out and go for a walk/canoe! I have been to tamarack outdoors to have a look, but until you go and try one you never really are sure of that style of tent. Tamarack where happy to loan a tent - think he may of said that just to get rid of me! Wife not convinced.

As a basecamp tent at a good price I am quite taken with the new wild country citadel 6 

 www.terra-nova.co.uk/Brand/Wild_Country/Tents/Citadel_6_Tent_Green.html

It doesnt look much on the website, but they have just put one up at Hayes (yeomans outdoor display - mark is very helpful there) I had good look round and very pleasantly surprised. Simple, solid, few potential design issues plastic rings on guy lines but these can easily be changed but, good poles 25mm, decent attachments , looks ok material, good mosquito netting. Ok steel poles bend/tent is getting back to the old frame tents... but ive always found our WC / TN mountain tents reliable, we still have them for wild camping. I feel i could lash this WC citadel down in a storm relatively easily if needs be, but it looks pretty strong and stable in its own right.

Wa da think?

36 kg's.... What I do think? not my cookie, waaaaay too much weight . But if your happy with such weights, I've no other suggestions in this range. It's not my speciality. In these weight ranges I would look for lightweight cotton pyramid models. These kind of tents suffer almost no condensation problems. The only problem of cotton is it's weight....  

yes zuma, not really my cookie too... but as i am probably only going to be carrying this tent from car to field to pitch it, weight not really issue.  The citadel does have good vents at high level as well as low level. Its just new and untested.

Another problem with cotton is if you touch it it will drip in water... can take ages to dry out properly and can have a distinctive aroma sometimes. Dont get me wrong i like cotton tents but this WC citadel is reasonable priced and as soon as you tell kids dont touch the sides of tents when its raining or it will leak in water.... what are they going to do.... yes. I just have to weigh this against the condensation issue. 

Hi Peter.

Have you come across the GoLite Shagri La 5. It's pretty big and light as well.

Agnes....yes....but it wasn't them!

 Sorry really can't find them.

If you really want to keep your kids inside when the wheater is foul you indeed can have enough space in your tent. But my opinion is that the wheater (except for cold) isn't a really important factor. Wheater or no wheater kids have great fun in playing outside, running and junping and climbing around. Some good wet wheater gear for your kids does wonders. When they are tired they want to play inside but the need of space is than much much less (playing a game, or reading or some other play with less energy output.

Cold however is something you cannot cope with small kids, their inner warmth source doesn't work good enough. No matter what they do they will cool down. From a year or four kids are better with coping with cold, then they can keep warm by runing around, but extremities like hands and feet keep dbeing difficult to keep warm. Therefor I do not camp in winter with my kids, but we do make day hikes. This month is usually the beginning of the camping season with our kids. and we stop in november.

been a while since i checked thread.... thanks Julie, jon, zuma jaegerwotsit. Nice to hear your experience julie - norfolk lake with extra area for dripping clothes etc looks very palace like.

Big Agnes... yep big in the states, but designed for their climate. sierra designs also do some interesting ones. Dont know why im getting so worked up... a tent is a tent after all!!!

Zuma we have an embarrassing endless supply of wet weather gear.

I use to think keep kids warmmmmm..... last month our two year old and five year old were running round the garden naked, now we are above freezing, T shirt is required... will this mean by summer they might be in down jackets???

We are off to islay/jura in may. Never been before, thinking of camping at Kintra.

Kintra has a lovely setting Peter - plenty of pitches right on the edge of the wide sandy beach - great for the kids.

There are more sheltered pitches further back in the dunes if the wind gets up to challenge whatever tent you get.

Facilities are OK and the rules might take some getting used to but I've enjoyed staying there even the first time it took about 15 minutes looking through their book of tent pictures to find a close-ish match to find a price.

For Jura, as far as I know, just camping on the lawn of the Jura Hotel in Craighouse - don't what facilities they have though.

Off topic, I know...

Hi Peter,

i don't know if it's of interest but i have a marmot townhouse 6p (the one that 'tmm' has suggested above) which i've just put onto the classifieds section. it's only been used a couple of times in the summer last year so is still in excellent condition and is a great family tent which can comfortably sleep six people with 3 in each pod and also has a massive front vestibule. it makes a great basecamp and is designed to be very stable. i'm looking for £300 for it and i'm in fleet hampshire but can probably ship if required.

if you have a look at http://www.ellis-brigham.com/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi?prod_code_in=227026 it shows the specification and if you go to http://www.marmot.de/index.php?page=multimedia then videos and then 'townhouse tent setup' it will give you a better idea of the huge amount of space available.

best regards

steve