have just bought a monty 6 we have always had canvas frame tents in the past and always cooked in them without problems.My problem is can you cook inside the monty the material seems very flimsy.
We have a single burner cooker we use inside the monty, on a small table away from the walls, but only to do a cuppa during the night, as our main cooker and bits are outside. We brought the canopy for the monty 6, and cook under that mainly.
We Have a Sunvalley 6 and cook in the tent,just keep your kitchen unit and cooker away from the wall a bit. We have always cooked inside every tent we have had.I think if I had small children though then I would get a utility tent just to be on the safe side.
------------- Sue & Phil
--------------------- I Love My AeroBed
We bought our Monty at the end of August and for our first trip we cooked inside but we weren't at all comfortable with it especially with our young children milling about around us but also for the fabric of the tent. We bought the extension which is like the canopy but has sides on it and now cook in there with a windbreak in front of it - I'd really recommend the extension its a really useful addition to the tent we got ours second hand on Ebay.
we have the extension and its like cooking inside you still stay dry if its raining, also cooking equipment can take up lots of room in the tent so the extension creates extra space leaving loads of room in monty, we had 10 of us sat comfortable in the monty on deckchairs we couldnt have done that with a big cooker stand.
------------- A tent is like a newborn born baby..... to some they all look the same..... but if its yours it's beautiful.
:o) gillychick
Willows - Laceby March
Lee Valley - London May
Nanctol Wales June
Croatia September
undecided October
I agree with gilly+fiona the extension ia a worthwhile addition to the monty,creates more space and keeps the worse of the weather off the front of the tent.
we cook inside making sure the cooker is away from the walls and towards the middle so there is maximum distance between the cooker and roof. Also open the door a little to provide some ventilation to circulate the hot air that gathers in the top of the tent while cooking.
We haven't been anywhere warm enough to cook outside yet!
We cook in our Monty 6 but then again our children are older and quite sensible. Even though we have a screen around the cooker I still always add a bit of tin foil above this to protect the tent from splashes etc Have a look at my gallery images although be warned we're not the tidiest campers lol!
------------- If you have a problem stressing you, sort it. If you can't, there's no point worrying about it coz it won't make a blind bit of difference!!!! Jules
We always cook inside. No probs. If you have kids just watch them and keep them well away. We try to cook with the window open to cut down on the condensation. To be honest, we've had no bother with that.
------------- The true test of fairness is how fair you are to those who are not
We have a monty 6 and I have to say the extention is well worth it to cook under and keeping the worst of the weather off when raining however when the winds are strong I highly recommend taking it down as we did have a few problems with ours. Wasn't banking on having to take this down and had to resort to cooking inside. We used the awning part at low level which worked really well I also felt it was a bit safer as it out the way of our two young children. Its also handy to be able to make a cupa when your not ready for the outside world first thing in the morning.
Can't wait until next season come rain or shine........
I think like most matters concerning safety it just boils down to common sense. If you have small children and/or hyperactive dogs then maybe cooking inside isn't necessarily the safest option but with care cooking inside shouldn't be a no go. We always have a bucket of water on hand when we cook in our tent too.
------------- If you have a problem stressing you, sort it. If you can't, there's no point worrying about it coz it won't make a blind bit of difference!!!! Jules