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Hello all!!

I'm looking at going on a short break with my two children and staying in a Vango Colorado 600DLX. My wife is not coming because she has "too many reports to do"

Trouble is my hildren are both short!

Can I get it up (so to speak) on my own?

No mucky replies please!

How short is short? From about age seven the average child starts to be of some use while putting up a tent. My eleven year old is as tall as me...which is not that tall at 5'4".

I've got a Vango Colorado 1200dlx, so I know your tent and how it goes up. Also I've been putting up tents for 30 years, as has Hubby. Hubby is 6'4" tall, so  I asked him if he would do this solo, just to be fair. He said he might give it a go IF it was dead calm, IF he was desperate and IF I was sitting ten feet away ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble.Trouble is, there's a huge amount of canvas in a Colorado and a lot of pole threading (v.difficult to do smoothly solo) and the slightest breeze will have the whole thing moving. Plus putting up that big dome solo with no-one to support it? The chances are high you'd break a pole. Even when Hubby and I are doing it together, we make DS go inside just to help the dome poles go up.

I wouldn't even consider trying it solo at my height and strength, even with DS's help tbh.So...in my opinion, based on mucho knowledge, you'd be really, really struggling and most likely won't manage it and/or break the tent.

Last comment on this. If it's breezy and your kids are small or lightweight, keep them well away from the tent while you're putting it up or taking it down. Small kids can get caught in billowing canvas and dragged around. My son is 10 stone but he doesn't quite have the knowledge yet to keep out of trouble and not get tangled up in straps, even at 11. I won't let my six year old DD near a tent when it's on the ground.

Why not get a nice little weekend tent instead? There was a report on here last night of Go Outdoors selling off the classic Vango Venture 500 for £60 each, which is a dirt cheap bargain and an easy tent for one person to put up solo, plus it's a great size of a weekend tent for one parent plus a couple of kids.

Easy !!!

I had a 800dlx and only ever put it up on my own.

After putting all the poles in I used a camera tri-pod and an up turned plastic bowl to support the center where the poles crossed over. Went back outside and slowly walked each corner up.

Taking it down it's just a matter of taking the big poles out of the pegs and walking it down