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We are about to change over from years of using our old faithful frame tent to something lighter and quicker to put up (dome/tunnel...the jury's still out on preceisely what.)

We are just beginiing to realise that with no inside frame we will not be able to hang up our coat rail or the tent tidy where we usually keep our sharp knives and matches etc. well away from little fingers.

I have been told on another discussion that we need some free standing storage but there seem to be hundreds of camping equipment shops to trawl through without obvious solutions.

Please tell me what do people do with their soaking wet coats (there are 5 of us and we sometimes have visitors too.) And how do you all store dangerous items such as sharp knives and matches?

Soaking wet jackets should be kept in the car or at least the porch. Synthetic tents suffer more from condensation than canvas tents so it helps to keep any extra sources of water out the tent.

I keep knives and matches in a tightly lidded plastic box. That stays in the kitchen equipment box which either lives in a storage pod with the zip closed or in the kitchen tent. Out of sight out of mind. The kids have been taught from an early age not to go near any of the kitchen equipment (including gas bottles and cookers, corkscrews etc etc) anyway. How old are your kids? 

Some tents have hooks mounted internally so you can put up  a clothes line or a gear hammock look out for those on the inner maybe.

Or sew some in yourself at structural strong points.

I take just one sharp knife- it cuts everything-it is from a company called Pampered Chef- it comes with its own sheath/sharpener.

We camp in France- it rarely rains!   Seriously in the past we have hung them up on hangers in the gazebo. This year we hope to buy a proper Day Tent- will have to see if that has hanging space.

Don't do it Jenny and Andy!  I've used both types of tent.  After a frame tent, a nylon one seems flimsy, damp and claustraphobic.  They can be fiddly to erect and don't last long, and they do rock and roll in bad weather.

Steve

If you have untrustworthy kids, then the best place for any dangerous items is locked in the car.

I don`t let casual visiting kids in the tent anyway. Apart from the fact that only about 25% of them seem to be trained to take off their shoes in the inners, I just don`t like strangers in the tent. Things "wander", both around the tent and out of it. Bad enough keeping track of my own kids mess. Plus if there`s just Hubby about he gets uneasy about being alone with strange kids, especially small girls, you know? Sad times we live in but you`ve got to be careful about that sort of thing if you`re a man.

If you have very small kids that can`t in all fairness be expected to remember things, then they should have an adult closely supervising them at all times on a campsite unless they`re asleep. Tents and campsites can`t be babyproofed to the same extent as a house. Gas lamps, EHU, gas cookers, medicines, blades and scissors, mallet, sharp pegs...the list of horrid things is pretty long.No small kids in tent without adult is my rule.

One compromise would be to get a kitchen tent, btw. It has a frame to hang things up from and you can keep the cooker and gas out of the way. It`s easy to make strictly off-limits to all kids as well. Synthetic domes don`t have the same sort of cooking areas as frame tents do, and it`s not a safe to cook in one as in a cotton canvas tent. Many folk here (I`m one of them) won`t cook in a synthetic tent on safely grounds, especially with kids around.

Thanks for all your replies - it's certainly given me more to look for when choosing another tent.

I guess I'm a bit concerned about some of your worries about tunnel or dome tents. The frame tent we have been using is over 30 years old and the canvas is starting to wear out. Added to that, now that there are 5 of us we could do with a bit more space. So it wouldn't really be a case of sticking with that frame tent - we need to get another tent of some kind and my impression is that current frame tents are also bulky however I'm interested to read that a tunnel or dome may not save us any time is putting it up. Since reading your replies I've had a little look on the web at frame tents and it looks much harder to get a 4 bedroom frame tent (I've only found 2) and also more expensive. If anyone has any recommendations please let us know.  

Yep...keep the coats in the car...knives there too..! We always put our towels in the car to dry after use too..(we found that some sites don't like you 'airing towels' behind your tent..)

For other nick nacks that you need to keep off the floor and out of site - we 'invested' in a shoe caddy from the Pound Shop that hooks between the two bedrooms..We have no fomal storage units other than the kitchen stand - an have never found we have needed one..!