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Opinions about canvas frame tents please.

12 replies

Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 15:14

Yes...I'm still asking about tents. It has become an obsession, I know.

DH has banned all purchase of new tents this year, so this question is purely "research" for next years possible purchase.

Lucycat, hours of happy thread reading on UKCampsite (oh they are so lovely over there) and the smell inside the Cabanon at our camping shop have made me very nearly almost decide that I would like to buy a canvas/polycotton tent.

But they are rather expensive aren't they?

My other haunt is e-bay tents, and have found this one today.

We Eurocamped last year in something similar, was great.

Apart from looking frumpy, and weighing a tonne, and being a sod to dry...what else is bad about a canvas frame tent?

Answers on a postcard please to Mrs Slubber,
Obsessed to an alarmingly unatural degree about tents, Up North etc.

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 15:30

It's probably best if no one answers this thread. Talking to me is feeding the problem.

If I am met with stony silence maybe there's a message there for me about leaving tents alone for a while.

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dustystar · 03/09/2007 17:47

lol slubber

My friend has the new tunnel Cabannon and it is lush She used to have one similar to the one in your link and she was very happy with it. they ahd it for about 7 years though and fancied a change. Cabanon are quite a bit more expensive than the Outwell polycotton tents though.

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 18:00

dustystar you responded!! You have sent me a subliminal meassage that it is actually perfectly fine and normal to enjoy looking/thinking/talking about to what is (to all intents and purposes) a fabric shed.

The tunnel Cabanons are lovely, the domey/tunnely design is dead trendy,and I'm sure more stable in a gale, is that why they are so blooming expensive?

The frame ones aren't very er aerodynamic, do they blow over more easily? We camped in one all throughout my child hood and I don't remember it blowing over. Do remember my father shouting "Don't touch the bloody sides" when it was raining.

Sorry, I suppose I'm wondering why I can pick up a 2nd hand frame Cabanon for a few hundred quid but the Biscayas (?sp) are just humungously pricey.

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dustystar · 03/09/2007 18:05

Thats just the going rate for 2nd hand I think Slubber. my friend bought her old one 2nd hand for about £500 and offered it to us last year for £200. They are solid and tend to be the tents that stand up to the weather so don't worry in that respect.

I remember the don't touch the sides thing - I always did though For some reason rain dripping through onto my bed was a thrill when i was a child. I don't know if the more modern canvas tents have the same problem - you'd have to ask on ukcampsite.

Camping is as addictive as this bloddy site!

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TellusMater · 03/09/2007 18:06

Nothing. They are fab!

We have a vintage number in Seventies orange and brown. With curtains

We love it. And we can always spot our tent on the campsite among the throng of pod and tunnel clones

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TellusMater · 03/09/2007 18:07

We bought ours for £60 from a newspaper ad.

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 18:08

Camping threads on MN.....ghaaaaa I am powerless to resist .

IMO the camping threads are the yang to the classic kick off full moon shouty threads. It is an oasis of peace and calm and talk of bedroom size and pole weight here. I love it.

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 18:09

Tellus, what are the down sides then? There must be some.

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TellusMater · 03/09/2007 18:16

Hard to get parts for.

I guess if you bought a new one then that wouldn't be the case, but ours is old when a pole got broken for a while we were worried that replacing it would cost more than the tent. DH fired up the welder in the end.

And it is heavy. And we have to take the trailer camping with us (but I suppose if we took less stuff...)

And it takes longer to put up than the pods. Although we can put it up quicker than a novice with completely coordinating camping gear

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 18:30

lol I'm sensing some retro tent snobbery from you there Tellus .

Hmmm the replacement of broken parts is an issue I hadn't thought of. My DH and a welder...doesn't bear thinking about it really.

The tent on ebay already comes with the trailer which is handy.

dum dum decisions decisions. Went on the Eurocamp web site last night, 2 weeks in Brittany in June costing nearly £1000, increases the desire to buy really.

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TellusMater · 03/09/2007 18:32

LOL.

"Oh yes I've seen them in Millets. Ours in vintage"

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Slubberdegullion · 03/09/2007 18:37

I'm sure the one we used to have whan I was a kid was brown and orange with big flowery curtains. Oh the 70's eh?
My parents recently moved and when I asked a few months ago what happened to it she said "Oh we just chucked it on the tip" . Probably would have been fine for another 20 years.

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