We have had our current tent for 6 years and looking for a change. Our current Sunncamp 6XP is a large dome with fibre glass flexi poles, which in a strong wind is not very stable and flexes an alarming amount in a gale, we have had a number of poles shatter. We were camping in Devon the day Boscastle was flooded for the first time and the tent that night was not a pleasant place to be as the side pods were almost flattened by the gale. All credit to the tent it did stay up even if we did have three poles break. We are now looking for something more stable, so we no longer need to pitch in sheltered areas, which often do not have a view. After looking at the new ranges available we are thinking of the Norfolk Lake, any other ideas for a large family tent.
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We have the Norfolk lake and love it. It is very sturdy and loads of room. If you look at my gallery you will see that I have put the side canopy on the front of the tent. This gives more shelter for the front door in bad weather, as the only problem with the NL was the sloping front door when it rained.
The only problem was in bad weather and we were resigned to using the side doors, but we didn't want to have wet feet going into our zig. So we thought side canopy and take our shoes off before going in. Well when the side canopy came we tried it on the front and found it was perfect. Gave extra shade in sunny days and cover in rainy days. In fact you can have the front rolled up and still be covered. Well as long as it is not driving rain. The sloping door did not put us off this tent, as lots of tents have them and it only was opening into the porch area. The really bad weather over the half term, showed us how good this tent is. We were able to cook inside (carefully!) and live while the weather was terrible outside.
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yes the carpet goes under the pod of the 3rd bedroom, we have bought the sun valley 6 carpet as it doesn't have the hole cut out for the third bedroom fixing, don't intend on using the 3rd bedroom that often.
Also bought the minnesota 6 canopy for the front - absolutely fantastic, didn't have any probs with the wet sloping door and all wet shoes etc, stayed in the outer area rather than going into the zig!
A question about the side canopy on the Norfolk Lake, when it is used on the front are you still able to use the front door without any problems, as someone said that you have to put the strap under the front door, which confused me as how would you be able to zip it up?
As bertie said put the strap under the groundsheet, that way it sits closer to the tent and does not effect the door in anyway. In fact we can have the door open in the rain as long as is not blowing in our direction!