I was a little short sighted when I bought my tent earlier this year and didn't get enough bedrooms, I have a boy and a girl and pretty soon they won't want to share.
I have a Vermont L and love the tent so the obvious answer is to buy a Vermont XL and everyone is happy. Well everyone except my wallet will be happy, by the time I sell the old and buy the new it will probably cost me about £200-£300 to gain a couple of KG of fabric.
I've thought of a couple of alternatives but they aren't great so I'd like to hear what others recommend, the kids are still too young to sleep in seperate tents.
I have a boy and a girl (7 and 3) and they share 3 man pod happily. I put their heads at different ends of the pod so the older one can read at night and their bags in the middle. They are quite happy and accept that's where they sleep when they camp. If its not a problem now, I'd just wait until their older before making any changes, who knows what tents will be arround then anyway!
Second vote for the pop-up. We are a family of 6 and have the XL - we use the pop up at nights to separate the children out as they do like a bit of space. Daytime we fold it away leaving the beds in the bedroom area.
when we had a Montana 6 we used a cheap 2 man in the living area as an extra bedroom, worked really well as it could be taken down if we needed the space
------------- -x- Diane -x-
May 13 - Cala Gogo, St Cyprien (didn't go, hubby too ill to travel)
May 14 Ranc Davaine
August 14 Les Sablons
August 13 - Camping Playa Brava, Pals
If you're going to use a pop up or a small tent inside it's not so important to be a double skinned one. A singled skin tent will do. I saw a very simple dome tent for £8 in, I think, Millets recently.
I think it's too early to change, the kids will be fine and when they're 12 or 13 they might be fighting over who gets to sleep in the pup tent outside!
How old are your children? Ours are 9 (girl) and 7 (boy) and part of the fun of camping just now is sharing a pod. If they muck about at bedtime the threat of putting them in different pods (we do have a spare but use it for storage) is enough to sort them out. I know that the 9 year old is going to want more privacy in the not too distant future but I'm hoping that using our pod as a dressing room and still sleeping in with her brother will work. Once she's old enough, we'll give her the option of a pup tent on her own, outside! Honestly, if they're happy just now leave things as they are, as everyone as said you can very cheaply get a popup to go in your living room if it comes to that.
Mairi
------------- April/May - Georgia destroyed in high winds sob
May - Loch Ken, 1st outing for the wolf lake
July - Waterside House, Lake District
July - Inside Park, Dorset
We're in a simular position, with an 11 year boy and 8 year girl both who like their own space. We bought a second hand 3 room tent from a friend last year and found it works. The daughter complains if our male cat walks into the bathroom when she's having a bath!
The tent must be 8 years old is starting to show signs of age, not helped by me sticking one of the poles through the flysheet on Monday night! Now we're saving our pennies for a Vango Samara 600 or something like that.