Saunders GC2

Robert Saunders

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john baxter
05/10/2008 at 13:11

Hi...newbie here,have been a browser for a while and have enjoyed the banter and picked up a good few tips.

Anyway today I bought a Saunders GC2 ..2 person tent from one of the local free ads,realised that it was an older model but gave it a thorough check and can't believe the condition its in,practically new.The guy was selling it on behalf of his daughter who had bought it new a good few years ago...I have bought it for my son as his existing tent is really a bit to heavy for backpacking...the guy let me have it for £35.I have pitched it in the garden today and it looks the biz.....any comments on this model????

GG64
05/10/2008 at 13:40

why not post some pics??

oh, and hi and welcome

john baxter
05/10/2008 at 13:47
Mmmmm!!! techie stuff,will need to research and get back to you on that one???
Andy W.
05/10/2008 at 18:55
If it is Saunders, it will be good, I pitched my 22 year old Spacepacker Plus the day before yesterday, first time in twelve years. That twelve years, it had been loaned to a member of the family who has used it all over the world. No significant damage, it can all be lived with, but me being me, I am replacing the poles and pegs. Some of the pole sections have small cracks in them. Oh, and it survived a night of hurricane force winds, that was in '86, the poles looked a bit sick in the morning, but they have been used ever since.

Absolutely excellent tents, and British.
Julian (world cup winners 2003)
05/10/2008 at 19:51
Ditto excellent tents,ive had my spacepacker since 1985,used all over the world even if the colour has now faded,  think it used to be olive green.
Peter Clinch
05/10/2008 at 20:06

The only reason I replaced my original Spacepacker after ~8 years was some toerag stole it in a burglary.  It's replacement is still doing good service over a decade later.  But the GC2 is a new one on me...

Pete.

Andy W.
05/10/2008 at 20:15
http://www.robertsaunders.co.uk/pages/frame.html

Their website as far as I am aware, no mention of a GC2 though, unless I am going blind


I have also used the Saunders satellite too, again an excellent tent, with a very useful sized porch, my old scout group bought a couple after they saw the quality of my spacepacker.

A search on the net revealed an old thread from here mentioning the GC2, but I am still none the wiser about the design, but the poster said he bought his 25 years ago ;
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/utn/2505/v/8/cp/1/

Edited: 05/10/2008 at 20:27
john baxter
05/10/2008 at 20:24
It is as I said an older model and is not on Robert Saunders website ..so your sight is safe ...there is mention of it in this site,I found it through Google..as I said the condition is amazing for its age which I think could be anything between 10 -20 years old.My son is over the moon with it and it will be getting used in 2 weeks time at Rothiemurchus just outside Aviemore...
andrew_s
05/10/2008 at 20:30
If my memory is correct, the GC2 was like a slightly larger jetpacker, but with 2 upright poles at the front
Edited: 05/10/2008 at 20:30
Andy W.
05/10/2008 at 20:39
Then good luck to you son with his trip, his tent will be fine. Hell, I even had mine pitched between Snowdon and Yr lliwedd off the Watkin Path one winter, a time when pegs were useless and snow anchors were made from plastic bags filled with snow and buried in the snow to hold the tent up. It snowed at night and stopped three foot short of the top of the ridge hoop.

I have seen a spacepacker with snow flaps on, the tent was orange not green as normal, perhaps a special made for an expedition, cool tent I thought at the time, but I will stick with the colour green.
john baxter
05/10/2008 at 20:55
andrew sweetman wrote (see)
If my memory is correct, the GC2 was like a slightly larger jetpacker, but with 2 upright poles at the front

Andrew thats it ,2 poles about 3ft high,small porch and rear pole about 2 ft high and tent tapers towards the back. One thing I did notice unlike most modern tents there is a really good space between inner and outer.
druidh
05/10/2008 at 21:40
I had a GC2!! It got lent out to everyone, eventually had the outer door-zips replaced and might still be in the loft somewhere. Proper "state-of-the-art" it was (in the 1980s).
Richard Staunton
09/10/2008 at 13:09

A friend of mine had A GC2 back in the mid 80's. A great tent - I think his was tan coloured. Back then the Jetpacker didn't exist, but there was a similar model called the Backpacker. Another friend had one of those. In fact RS made the tents of choice back then, with Ultimate.

I think RS still make brilliant tents even today  not over engineered just light and well made. Clearly they have passed the test of time too!!

Matt C
09/10/2008 at 13:31
Aye, my first tent was a Saunders Backpacker II (bought in 1981 iirc), basically a 2kg  2-person tapering ridge design with upright poles at each end - essentially the forerunner to the Jetpacker. It lasted well, although by '83 I switched to other stuff as geodesics came onto the market, but by the mid-90s the groundsheet had perished and I parted with it.
Paddy Dillon
09/10/2008 at 14:47
Jetpacker and spares on my classifieds ^^^
Richard Staunton
10/10/2008 at 12:31
My first tent was an Ultimate Peapod 1. That was a pretty good tent - nice and big but I always regretted not get a Jetpacker. I may have to free some money up to buy one (from my Icelandic bank account - oops)
Chris Billinge
11/12/2008 at 16:09

Hearing about the Backpacker GC2 is a trip down memory lane for me. We purchased a couple around the start of the 80s for my scout group to use for D of E groups.

Fantastic light and robust tents. Two front poles and one small one at the back. Just enough room for two with gear in the porch. A bit like sleeping in a wedge of cheese really.

Worked really well in all conditions and drew admiring glances from other scout groups still using Vango Force 10s etc. So much so that some heartless villains stole them when they were pitched and left unattended!

I reckon you got a great bargain and your son now has a great tent.

Spiritburner
11/12/2008 at 18:58

http://s3.outdoorsmagic.com/members/images/14094/gallery/011-pitch-below-cautley-spo.jpg?width=350&height=283&mode=max


Matt C wrote (see)
Aye, my first tent was a Saunders Backpacker II

Same here Matt!  Back in 1979 followed a few years later by the Ultimate Tramp.

Here's is a GC2 or similar Saunders model in 1985 - it was a few years old by then.

The other tent in the pic is my Phoenix Phreak.

phill thomasson
29/12/2010 at 23:05
i have a gc2 in mint condition any one want to buy it
Richard Lee 3
30/09/2011 at 17:44

I've still got my Saunders Satellite !!

Brilliant tents !!

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