tent question

[mickeg]

I have been using two different solo tents, each about 4 pounds (about 1.8 kg) but they are really not much more than oversized bivvy sacks.   These tents work ok in camping areas where I have enough privacy to change clothes outside, and where it is dry enough to spend almost all time outside.  But, I can't get all my gear inside it at night and they are quite crowded for changing clothes.  See photo, sorry I cut of a tiny bit of the tent in the photo.

For my next trip I might bring a 7 pound (about 3.1 kg) tent for more interior room, that trip will be about 5 weeks and will be an in area known for wet weather where I might be stuck in the tent trying to stay dry.

[jags]

Wow what a place to pitch a tent class.
but yeah it make perfect sense to me to have loads of room in a tent even with the weight penalty.

[il padrone]

mickeyg, how were you carrying the gear on that bike? No racks, so did you run a BOB trailer?

Re. space in the tent vestibule for gear, here is my Exped Vela 1. The vestibule is under the zip-free fly, drawn up for access here. As you can see there are panniers in the vestibule and two on the bike - I carried six on this tour in the outback. When the camp is set I have two rear bags pretty much empty - sleeping and cooking gear in use, clothing bags in the tent. These empty panniers plus the four other panniers could easily fit in the vestibule without blocking my access.




Here's a view of the Vela 1 from the head-end. You can see how it gives good room around your head.

[John Saxby]

Fine contrast in those photos, Padrone!

Jags, I use a different approach to the problem of shelter-in-the-rain-and-wind:  Learned from my canoeing trips that a good tarp is a very handy way of cooking outside the tent and staying dry. See the foto below -- tarp pitched between a couple of trees, and my 2-man tent, fly only, just below.  The tarp is very light, about 400 gms. Best pitched Where There Are Trees, of which we have lots :-)

This foto was taken near the Rhine in NW Germany in late Sept., so no bugs. You can adjust the corners, of course, bef settling in the for night, bringing the tarp lower to shield from any rain.  Cycling in eastern Canada in the summer months, I use inner tent + fly, and the tarp. (Sometimes the rain comes in horizontal.) In Southern Africa in the dry season, or in the Oz outback, one wouldn't need the tarp.

[jags]

Thanks lads for the Photos fantastic to see how you experts do it, i'm a total fred when it comes to all things camping
i kinda know what i like in a tent but it would cost a fortune to make it.
please post more photos of your camping trips.
thanks
anto.

[mickeg]

mickeyg, how were you carrying the gear on that bike? No racks, so did you run a BOB trailer?

Vehicle supported trip.  Ten of us, the driver/cook hauled our luggage, food and water in a four wheel drive pickup truck.

[mickeg]

Another photo of the truck.

[jags]

thats one hell of a stake .

[Danneaux]

Really glad the trip went well, mickeg; you ate well, if nothing else, and the Nomad looks great!

Best,

Dan. (...who always uses a 1-person tent but only for sleeping 'cos he rides and cooks in the rain and there's enough room under the fly or inside for himself and four panniers and a handlebar bag and helmet and he can change clothes inside -- whew!)

[John Saxby]

'cos he ... cooks in the rain

  Dan, Dan, it doesn't have to be like this.  - J.   :-)

[Danneaux]

 

Dan, Dan, it doesn't have to be like this.

All the best,

Dan. (...who can't wait 'til Tuesday for word on your new bike)

[Pavel]

I'd like a ultralight, less that one killo, three man Hilleberg Keron.  Then I found out that I can't have it all! 

When I recovered from the shock, I started to think that the one place I don't want to compromise on is the integrity and comfort of my nighttime rest. Thinking further, that I don't have to carry the gear as hikers do I decided to pare down weight in other sensible areas such as the tags on my underwear - but I shall be happy to carry six to seven pounds extra in the best possible tent and and a comfortable mat. Besides, after a week or two riding with the extra weight ... it expect to lose a commensurate weight, off of my beer belly and I will be back to a weight "square one", I figure. 

sleeping in comfort is so marvelous, I consider it as much fun as any of the rest of cycling.  In fact now that I can't likely ever cycle again, I'm hoping to be able to get a motorcycle and continue the idea of exploration and camping that up to now has been such a marvelous aspect of cycling.  Second best, compared to cycling, I know ... but it gives me a bit of hope.  Funny thing is, I've noticed that even motorcyclists are concerned with weight, to an unnatural degree, by my thinking, seeing as the don't have to strain up those hills.  But they still go on and on about lightweight ... much like the hikers.  I don't quite get it.   

[jags]

Pavel i'm also thinking about will the tent i have take  the weight  all my other gear is lightweight.
but being honest i'm kinda gone off the idea of cycle touring ,if i had a good cycling companion i would do  any amount of it, but i just dont like touring on my own but worse still is touring with a complete dick who like to call the shots on every pedal stroke.
but thats for another thread me thinks.


anto.

[Pavel]

I've soured on it a bit too, but the part that I have gotten tired of is the cycling in traffic.  I found that here in North Carolina, everything is located near either primary or secondary highways.  Not much anymore near the picturesque off the main traffic routes. So that means carrying a lot of water - and still constantly running out.  Most car riders I have found to be more that nice, but still it is not my idea of touring.  I wonder about shorter trips that are mostly off road or on almost untraveled gravel roads, but here in NC I have not found any way to go any distance that way.  I wonder if it is better that way out West?

I know what you mean about partners.  With my daughter it worked out perfectly.  We both like to get up at the crack of noon and go slow, or slower.  But almost everyone I met along the way on any trip, although nice guys, were all to much concerned with times and mileage for me to be able to cycle with any length of time.

I do enjoy going all by myself fortunately.  Just me, a nice comfy tent and mat, food for days and the same two smelly changes of clothes. Add nice weather and I can enjoy that at eight miles an hour for days and days.  There is something about the simple cycle of peddling, eating and sleeping that is marvelous for the spirit. 

And the d*ckheads always fly past me on their own imaginary record runs. At their pace all I'd get to see of the country is the patch of asphalt twenty feet in front of me as I gasp for air.

Yeah, I think motorcycle camping may be able to satisfy all that I crave.  Maybe one day. Anyone need a good Nomad mkII? 

[John Saxby]

Pavel, I can understand your desire to avoid the traffic:  I rode my '86 BMW airhead from Ottawa to the Carolinas & back in the fall of 2011 -- the traffic in many parts (not all) of the Carolinas scared the bejesus out of me on my motorcycle. 

Before that trip, I had been thinking about a cycling trip in S/Carolina -- but when I was there, I saw very few roads that I'd want to cycle on.  Some of the roads closer to the Blue Ridge Pkway in the virginias seemed more manageable (tho' hilly!)

It's interesting -- I've covered a couple of routes by both bicycle and m/cycle, and I see and remember a whole lot more by bicycle.  For m/cycle camping, you can cheat a bit on the weight, such as your 6 - 7-lb tent.  Aerostich (in Duluth, Minnesota) is a great source of supplies for touring on two motorized wheels.

(BTW - I have a vgc Sierra Designs 2 - 3 person tent, surplus to requirements.  You can have it free if you'll pay the postage, Ottawa to the Carolinas -- send me a PM if you're interested.)