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I am a newbie! Went camping in a tent for the first time last week (at 45 years of age!) with my partner and 2 kids. We borrowed a tent and all the gear - and we are all now hooked and want to buy our own gear.

The tent that we had was quite difficult to erect - an 8 man one.

I saw other tents on the site we stayed at and the one that looked easiest to erect was a tunnel tent.

Can anyone recommend a 6 berth tunnel tent? Also, we want good lighting (my youngest is only 3 and getting him ready for bed with only on small lamp and a torch was difficult once night fell). Can anyone recommend a good strong light that will illuminate the whole 6 berth tent?

Thanks,

Nigel

Welcome Nigel, great to see that this years poor summer has failed to dampen your enthusiasm.

This section of the forum is mainly aimed at Trailer Tents & Folding Campers so I doubt you'll get that much info. However, if you were to post your query in the "Camping Under Canvas" section you'll get loads of feedback.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_forum_topics.asp?ForumID=3

Good luck.

Not necessarily that much more expensive if you look for a good second hand older model.  I bought a 1993 Trigano complete with electrics (have as much light as you want!) for £400.  Came complete with loads of equipment.  Have a look in your local paper/bargain pages and you may be surprised what you come up with.

I got rid of my tunnel tent after the wind bent the poles so far over that they hit me on the head and nearly knocked me out earlier this year - decided to go back to canvas and steel poles.

My sister-in-law has a trailer tent and the main reason she says that she prefers it is because as opposed to a canvas tent, you are raised off the ground.

She got hers for £300 and it is in very good condition and the seller threw in loads of extras.

The thing that put me off one is the fact that in addition to buying the trailer tent I would need to have a tow bar fitted to my car which I am told could cost an additional £300. As I drive a small engined car (1.4 Escort) the tow bar would not add value when I sell the car as the only thing you can tow with such a car is a trailer tent (if you get my drift! -eg: you can't tow a caravan with it).

Nigel

Hi Nigel, Welcome! we've been though this loop - if you are heading down the tent route we recommend u go for the tow bar and a box trailer.  £300 seems a lot for a towbar on an escort - check out www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.towsure.com  for prices. In last years catalog Escort towbars came in at about £130 with electrics (supply only). I'd have thought you could have one supplied and fitted for no more than £200.  Its also a lot easier to pack into a trailer than just the car and u can use the trailer for other applications too. You'd honestly be surprised! We wasted money on a roof box for our Cavalier but "were'nt born" until we took a loan of a trailer.  If your family are comitted to camping then skip a step and look towards a trailer tent/ folding camper. Don't be under a misconception about the 1.4 Escort - look for a camper with a max laden weight of 85% of the cars kerbweight and you should be OK. Its weight not engine size that limits towing. Look around and you'll see cars smaller than your escort towing small caravans. Sleeping up off the ground is also much better than on it even with an airbed and a Trailer tent or Folding Camper gives more space and better living accomodation when the weather's sour (especially at our age!). The family will also appreciate having the faciltites a TT or FC offers over a tent alone.

p.s. for tent lights look into blacks/ millets for a LED tent lighting set up - its 3-4 clip on LED's and a batterypack, almost like a set of white fairy lights that clip to the tent inner but amazingly effective as LED's are. Or try a hand held battery powered fluorescent lamp  or a one that runs off the car's cigarette lighter socket.  

Quote: Originally posted by rorysdad on 12/9/2007

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The thing that put me off one is the fact that in addition to buying the trailer tent I would need to have a tow bar fitted to my car which I am told could cost an additional £300. As I drive a small engined car (1.4 Escort) the tow bar would not add value when I sell the car as the only thing you can tow with such a car is a trailer tent (if you get my drift! -eg: you can't tow a caravan with it).

Hi, don't know where you got that price from, but you can get a towbar fitted for half that figure, between £100 - £150. Just an observation.

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