Having NEVER been camping before I popped in to my local camping and leisure store at the weekend and walked out with a Suncamp APS3004.
Have booked a weekend away in July in Suffolk and have so far bought a couple of airbeds, chairs and table from Woolworths, also found a single gas stove buried away in the garage. Planning on taking pillows and quilts of the bed as I leave the house.
What else would I need and does anyone have any experience of these tents - how hard are they to errect etc?
P.S. Why not have a go at pitching, prior to your trip, just to get the hang of it and to make sure you have all the relevant bits? Then you can colour-code any poles if necessary and next time it should be quicker to pitch.
Planning to have a dummy run at putting the tent up in the garden this weekend, it was a display model which had to be taken down so I am presuming no bits are missing - or should that be hoping!
Next question - do you think the tent we have will large enough for three adults - one couple and my mother who will come with on some trips (she has visions of re-living her childhood holidays!). In the shop it seemed big enough but did not give much thought to the amount of equipment you need to put inside it - but I suppose the idea is you are only in the tent to sleep or play cards when it is raining!
We have the 3006 plus which has the three bedrooms and porch but there are 5 of us and the dog, plenty of room. If you like it you could always invest in a day room which will giv you more room in the wet/colder weather. It is like a gazebo but made from the same fabric as the tent, two mesh sides with zip down covers and 2 pvc sides with roll down velcro covers. very good if you feel you need more space! all being well will add some pictures onto my gallery soon.
We have APS 3004 although it's gathering dust in the shed since buying the confortmatic, Plenty of room for 3 adults and easy to put up ours too was an ex display one and was all complete! Do you have instructions with it? If not I can send a copy.Just one small point be aware of drips from sky light zip when raining hard
We've got the APS2302 - great little tent. It's withstood very high winds & heavy rain with no problems - it feels sturdy & secure with it's metal poles Very easy to erect too.
Don't forget the mallet Water carrier, torch and bucket with a lid to save those midnight treks to the loo block . Kettle, saucepans, crockery & cutlery from home.
I have the mallet, tent peg pull, water carrier and torch...now just hoping it will all fit in the car!
If the weather is good on Sunday will have a trial run in the garden, if their are not instructions in the bag I will go back to Camping and General where I got it from - it is only 200 mts from the house - handy for all those bits I probably dont need but seem like a good idea at the time!