How to See the World on $25 a Day or LessARTOFTRAVEL.COM

 

Chapter 18

Travel Tents

I was determined, if not to camp out, at least to have the means of camping out in my possession; for there is nothing more harassing to an easy mind than the necessity of reaching shelter by dusk, and the hospitality of a village inn is not always to be reckoned sure by those who trudge on foot. Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland, from Travels with a Donkey, 1879



While only one travel backpacker in ten or twenty carries a tent or stove, that's still at least 100,000 readers, right?

Traveling by myself or with a girlfriend small tents have worked fine. Traveling with a guy for any length of time I would want a really big tent, or, preferably, for both of us to have our own. For couples on a camping tour a six to seven pounder should provide plenty of room. I would just use my five-pound two-pole dome since that's what I have and it has worked well. I've also successfully used a four-pounder for two months with a close companion.

For summer camping in Europe just about any two or three-pole nylon dome tent will work fine as long as it has a fly and you seal the seams. The better quality tents, however, are lighter, more durable, and more convenient.

Hungarian wine camp Photo: After an afternoon and evening of revelry with the owner of this wine cellar, he offered my drunk travel-mate and very drunk me a convenient camping spot.

For spring and fall camping you should lean toward a better quality three-season tent. For winter and heavy-weather camping you will want a heavy-duty, four-season tent.

For the tropics a tent must have good ventilation--at least two large mesh windows to let air in and keep bugs out. Even more mesh is better. In the tropics if your tent doesn't have adequate ventilation it will be like trying to sleep in a sauna. Hammocks are most used in these areas because they are the coolest way to sleep.

Most backpackers prefer freestanding tents because they are easier and faster to set up, and can be moved around. Good freestanders can be ready for habitation in two or three minutes.

While solo campers may be tempted to go with a tiny bivouac tent to save weight, one fellow who camped beside me for a few days was unhappy he couldn't even sit up in his. In my view an extra pound or so is a fair tradeoff for the extra headroom and space, especially if you plan on more than a few nights of camping. You will need a peak height of at least thirty-six inches to sit comfortably.

On the other hand carrying a too-large tent is a real drag, especially if you aren't using it all the time. If it's raining there is almost always someplace nearby where you can hang out. Cafes, bars, and laundry rooms beat huddling in a tent any day. When wild camping you can stay dry underneath pine trees, even in heavy rains.


How Much to Spend on a Tent

Some name brand tents offer good value, but you don't have to spend a lot of money. If your budget is tight a simple two or three-pole dome tent from a discount store will keep you mostly dry if you seal the seams properly, which is necessary for any tent. They cost about $40.

Pup tents--which are low with poles at either end--can really suck. They take a long time to set up, regularly blow down with light puffs of wind, and this one looks roomier than it really is. They often require thirty or more minutes a day of maintenance, and may be associated with a slight drowning risk.

On the other hand if you're a couple of lads with fifty quid between you, you've borrowed the thing from an old girlfriend, and you've hitched over to Amsterdam, that's cool!



Tent Care

My tent suffered more wear during a few weeks of use in Central America than in five months in Europe. This was due to the high humidity and constant wet that enabled mold to readily grow. Mold especially attacks the plastic waterproof coating on tent floors. Always dry your tent before packing it away, or at least at your first opportunity.

Ground cloths are thick plastic or coated nylon which some campers put under their tents to protect the floor. Others put it inside the tent. I consider ground cloths unnecessary weight and complexity. When my floor gets a hole I patch it with rubber cement, nylon tape, or duct tape. This rarely happens since coated nylon tent floors are quite strong.

For the tropics a ground cloth might inhibit mold growth. If you do use a ground cloth be certain it doesn't extend beyond the tent since that would catch rain and create a silly surprise right away. That happens a lot.


Tents and Cooking

Never cook inside a tent. The combustion can poison your atmosphere, consume your oxygen, and send flames up the walls of your tent. You could pass out and never wake up. Spilled fuel could make you a human torch. Leaking gas could concentrate and explode, prematurely ending your tour.

For extra safety I use a frypan with a four-foot handle. While tent walls are treated for fire retardancy, it wears off, and the fact that they are treated indicates the danger is no joke.


Tent Glossary

Seam sealing
Seams on tents must be sealed with seam sealer ($4) to prevent water from seeping through thread holes in the fabric. Erect the tent and apply two coats to the underside of the fly, and two coats to both sides of the floor. Check the walls for areas that need sealer. This is better done before the storm.
 Freestanding vs. not freestanding
A freestanding tent is a dome or modified dome design. After attaching the poles the tent can be picked up and tossed back and forth with your travel buddy. This is convenient as it speeds set-up and site selection. A not-freestanding tent must be staked-out for it to take shape, which can be ludicrously time-consuming depending upon the terrain, atmospheric conditions, and/or the fitness of the traveler.
Fly
A coated nylon tarp which attaches over the main body of the tent to block rain. This allows air to circulate through the main body, which reduces condensation on the inner walls.
Ventilation
Air flow inside a tent must be sufficient to prevent condensation on the inner walls. This could easily amount to a gallon of water from two heavy breathers. In the tropics maximum ventilation is essential.
Storm flaps
All four-season and some three-season tents have storm flaps zippered behind mesh windows. They allow you to control air flow. A too-breezy tent on a cold night is not much warmer than no tent, while a less-breezy tent on the same night may give you an amazing twenty degrees of comfort.
Vestibule
An area outside the entrance covered by the fly which is very useful for storing shoes and gear, and for careful cooking in inclement weather. Not all tents have one.
No-see-um netting
Very fine mesh used on all good tents to allow air circulation, yet screen out very tiny biting insects such as black flies and no-see-ums.
Three-season tent
A tent designed to withstand relatively mild conditions. They have fewer poles (for less weight and strength) and use more no-see-um netting for better ventilation on warm nights. A three-season tent may flap incessantly or come apart in high winds, and may collapse under too much snow. They are lighter, more compact, and cheaper than four-season tents. See The Amazing Floating Grommet Technique for quieting three-season tents in high winds.
Four-season tent
Designed for winter/extreme condition use. They are warmer, have more fly coverage, more poles, less no-see-um netting, and usually two entrances in case one becomes blocked by an avalanche or grizzly bear. Four-season tents are overkill for most backpacker travelers.
Clips vs. sleeves
Many manufacturers slightly expedite set-up by using plastic clips to attach the tent body to the poles instead of sliding the poles through nylon sleeves sewn into the tent body.


Travel Tents Compared

The following are representative of the hundreds of good backpacker tents on the market. It's wise to set up a tent before you buy. The square-foot measure is more accurate since the dimensions for three-pole domes and hoop tents are maximums. (COMING SOON: Separate metric file)

REI Halfdome
$100, 5 lbs., 5 oz. Freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 54"x83" (32 sq. feet, no vestibule). Peak height: 48". Packed size: 6.5"x30". Two long and one short aluminum poles using sleeves. I used this on hitchhiking tours in Alaska, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It was fine for two friendly people traveling light. Has zippered storm flaps to control ventilation. It sometimes goes on sale for $80, but is a great value at either price. This design is available from many outdoor shops under the generic descriptions "two-pole modified dome" or "wedge dome."
Left: Two-pole half dome without fly, two minutes into setup.







Right: Same tent ready for habitation two minutes later with fly installed and two stakes pushed into ground.
REI Traildome
$150, 6 lbs. 8 oz. Freestanding, 3.5-season. Floor area: 83" (max.) x93" (41 sq. feet). No vestibule. Peak height: 52". Packed size: 7"x27". Three long and one short aluminum poles using sleeves. Storm flaps. This is a traditional three-pole strong dome design. Every outdoor shop will have a version of this design. Spacious for two, in my opinion.
Sierra Designs Bike Light
No longer made, 3 lbs. 11 oz. Freestanding, 2.5 season. Floor area: 47"x79" (26 sq. feet). Great little 3 sq. foot vestibule. Peak height: 36". Packed size: 5"x17". This was my first quality tent. While it's quite small, it was roomy enough for one medium guy and pack, and great fun for one medium guy and one medium-small gal with covered packs stacked partially under the vesibule . I got it on sale for $119 from Wilderness Supply in Austin. Support your local independent outdoor retailer. They're cool!
 
Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight 2
$170, 3 lbs. 13 oz. Not freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 59" (max.) x89" (32 sq. feet + 5.5 sq. foot vestibule). Peak height: 43". Packed size: 5"x17". Two aluminum poles with clips. Requires nine stakes to take shape, which in bad weather or on Gibraltar could be a real bummer. I would hate this tent. Nevertheless the Clip Flashlight has been a very popular tent for many years, since this "tunnel" or "hoop" design provides the maximum space for the weight.
Sierra Designs Meteor Light
$250, 5 lbs. 13 oz. Freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 60"x96" (40 sq. feet + 6.5 sq. ft. vestibule). Peak height: 46". Packed size: 6.5"x20". Three aluminum poles with clips and sleeves. Has large no-see-um skypanel. Kept me and a buddy dry in a rainforest. Plenty of room for two.
The North Face Lunar Light
$240, 4 lbs. 4 oz. Freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 54"x84" (28 sq. ft. + 7 sq. ft. vestibule). Peak height: 43". Packed size: 7"x21". Three long aluminum poles using clips. Two poles are permanently connected to the tent body to speed set-up.
Eureka Clip Timberlite 2
$170, 4 lbs. 11 oz. Freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 54"x92" (31 sq.ft., no vestibule). Peak height: 38". Packed size: 6"x15". Two long and one short aluminum poles using clips. Has an A-frame design.
Eureka Gossamer
$130, 2 lbs. 14 oz. Not freestanding, three-season. Floor area: 32"x96" (21 sq. ft. + 1.5 sq. ft. vestibule). Peak height: 26". Packed size: 5"x18". Two aluminum poles using sleeves. Essentially a large bivy sac for ultralight solo travelers, but an extra pound will get you a real tent.
Black Diamond Megamid
$170, 3 lbs. 6 oz. Not freestanding, three-season. Covered area: 9'x9' (81 sq. ft.). Peak height: 6'. Pack size: 5"x18". This tarp tent is supported at center by one aluminum pole underneath or an overhead line, plus five stakes at the corners. Has room for two or three plus packs and a bicycle or two, but can take a while to setup, has no floor, and offers little mosquito protection.
Homemade Tarp Tent
$25, 1 lb. 8 oz. Use a thin (approximately 2 oz. per square yard of material) 10'x10' coated nylon tarp and The Amazing Floating Grommet Technique. In the field make attachment points for overhead branches and staking by pressing a rock or other small object (preferably smooth and round) against the tarp from the underside and then looping the rock and tarp from the outside with 1/8 inch braided nylon cord. This allows complete flexibility of attachment points and is much stronger than grommets, which often pull out
This technique is also useful for stabilizing and quieting any tent buffeted by winds. Sierra Designs Grip Clips use the same principle and work well, but cost $12 for four and take up space and weight.
Discount Store two- or three-pole dome
$40-$70, 5-8 lbs. Freestanding, three-season. Poles are made of fiberglass, which is strong and flexible, but twice as heavy as aluminum. The fly should extend at least half-way down the tent walls. Check the stitching before leaving the store. An old cheapie worked fine on my first tour from Scotland to Greece, and was easy to sell for 2000 drachma when it become superfluous due to perfect weather.
Bivy sack
18 to 30 oz., $80-$200. Surrounds your sleeping bag to keep out weather. Usually made with a coated nylon bottom and a breathable GoreTex top. Extra nylon at the top allows you to form a cover over your head. Bivy sacks are for ultra-ultralight campers.


Zipper Repair 101

A zipper on my tent door failed on my last European tour, and I promptly mangled it beyond repair because I didn't know how to fix it. I could have saved $45 from having the entire zipper replaced, and slept warmer for a few weeks.

The most likely zipper failure is as the slider wears, it will not press the coils together tight enough, which means the coils will separate behind the slider as it is pushed along. You can probably make a fix by borrowing a pair of needle-nose pliers from a native, moving the zip to the start position, and then gently squeezing on the wing of the zipper a little at a time until it works again. If you squeeze too hard you will lock the slider in place and permanently disfunctionalize it, which is what I did.


Next Table of Contents Reader Comment Top

How to See the World on $25 a Day or Less is copyright © John Gregory 1995, 1996, 1997. Except for personal use (like showing to a friend), it may not be reproduced, retransmitted, archived, or altered without author permission (
webmaster@artoftravel.com) Permission to link and review is freely granted. All product names and trademarks are property of their owners. Updated February 27, 1997. Thank you.

adventure .       budget . travel backpacking guidebooks world       guidebooks travel
travel :) eco travel   .   .   ARTOFTRAVEL      . backpacking green travel
travelling tourism    w .  backpacking bakpaking guidebooks independent travel health cheap voyage voyageur reisen viajar    c   travel health world solo
youth hostels travel  w     hitchhiking hosteling . camping budget travel hostelling adventure backpacks visa passport gear  .    o passports
wll     . cultural understanding backpacking hostels . hotel visas hitchhiking independent tours travel       llm
guide camping rhostels. this is fun ecotourism real . .  .  . Our friend  . .   romance travel hello bujet cheep packing guidebooks . hitchhiking europe . (:adventure
     .   travel romance camping . backpacking adventure travelling this is for fun travelll travl hostil adventur guidebooks superfun    .  .