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Quote: Originally posted by daisybev on 13/10/2007

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And I would also much rather put up a small canvas frame tent on my own than an equal sized but much lighter dome or tunnel tent. The process is just so much simpler and you don't have to lift it in the same way, bend poles, ring and pin or anything. MT

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Exactly so.  My Aruba is enormous but two of us can get the tent up including ceiling, curtains, bedrooms and pegs in thirty five minutes.

Getting the thing down and packed in rain and a gale is another thing however!

Don't know how quickly the Force Ten goes up and down but probably as quick as you can thread the poles through the "tunnels" on a dome:  and it goes up flysheet first if it's raining!

Take care

R

Quote: Originally posted by Rik Brooks on 14/10/2007

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The big plastic tents seem to be on the way out

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Interesting point Rik. What do others think ? I can imagine that this year a lot of people watched tents disintigrate before their very eyes in high winds while at the same time observing that the canvas tents where hardly moving. I made the move to canvas this year because I wanted something quality that would last. Good ones don't come cheap of course and they weigh a ton compared with a similar sized poly tent but they are built to last for years. I bought mine second hand for the same price as a top of the range poly tent. I expect to be still using it for at least another 15 years - I wonder what my Outwell polyester would look like after 15 years use.

martin

Quote: Originally posted by Nannycatch on 14/10/2007

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Listening to all the posts on this 'canvas' tents topic...reminds me of how many times over the years..i have stood up nearly half the night holding down the frame tent....in the heavy rain and the high winds...and it was usually whilst camping somewhere in North wales...lol...one time on a site near Conway....the wind and rain was coming straight off the Irish sea...it hit the caravans first ...took 6 over ...then it hit the tents....my god !!! what a night that was... we had to drag our frame tent down...and i remember stuffing the canvas under our old Austin Maxi car... the frame was by this time 'history'.....and sleeping...well sitting up all night ..to be accurate...in the laundry room of the campsite with about 14 other people....does my story... ( this is just one of many )...ring a bell to any of you fellow 'Happy' campers ?...i bet it does !!!! oh and by the way....i'm not 'sl*gging' North wales off at all ...we love the place...ha ha my kids may not agree with me though....i asked recently two of our three kids ( their grown up now )...what do they remember about the 'GOOD' old days family camping ....answer !!!! Wales....rain....and arguing....lol....come on all you mams and dads do you remember all this ?????........ has it brought back memories ?

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Of course it has !!! Great memories from the seventies,  madly holding onto a roof pole as the whole tent rose and fell with the wind while dad was outside, mallet in hand and a determined look in his eye.

Put me off frame tents forever but not off canvas.

martin

Quote: Originally posted by martinandzoe on 14/10/2007

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Quote: Originally posted by Rik Brooks on 14/10/2007

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The big plastic tents seem to be on the way out

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Interesting point Rik. What do others think ? I can imagine that this year a lot of people watched tents disintigrate before their very eyes in high winds while at the same time observing that the canvas tents where hardly moving.

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Well, personally, having had a huge Royal 9 berth tent, I wouldn't go for that big a tent again. The WC Homestead is big enough to live in, and small enough to be manageable. It's also very, very stable. The only way I could see me moving to canvas is for a folding camper - so all the problems (size, weight, drying out) go away, as it's easy to put up in the garden to dry out. When you're putting all your gear and 4 people in a car, every spare inch and lb counts, so for the moment, it's nylon for me.

I have not had a canvas tent for years . I now have a wynster shrike 6 just for myself and the mrs although after reading this thread i am considering looking for a canvas one i just love the smell when you first erect it , not to sure about the drying time though

After having survived N Wales on a particularly windy night in our frame tent I don't think I would swap although I have secretly been coveting out the Outwell Bear Lake.  Saw one in Ambleside this summer and have needed one ever since.