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Hi

We have a royal Biarritz 6 that we love but maybe considering a diffrent tent, we are looking at the Royal Bordeaux 6 XL, I am wondering if we will feel any difference in warmth/ condensation ( we dont have any in the Biarritz with a Bordeux as its single skinned and our Biarritz is double skinned. Can  any one tell me the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Many thanks

Hi,

I have a double skin Aspen. I much prefere it to the single skin tents that I have but, as it is inner up first, we do have trouble drying the condensation from the fly sheet when taking it down. We have found the easiest way is to take it off, then turn it inside out and drape it over the inner for a few minutes before packing it away. I have just had a couple of days away in a single skin tent, and I did notice the temperature inside the inner tent was a few degrees higher at night. Also, if you rub against the inner tent you don't get wet. So my preference is double.

Any other opnions ??

Thanks

A single skin tent pros:-

Easier to pitch.

Cons:-

Hotter in the summer, more condensation, if any water gets in it will run down the inside of the fly and pool on the groundsheet.

A double skin tent pros:-

Normally much cooler in hot weather and warmer in cool weather due to the air gap which acts like a layer of insulation. If any water gets through the fly it runs down the inside of the fly and drips onto the ground, so no pooling inside the main tent. Condensation still forms but you dont notice this as much due as the condensation forms on the inside of the outer flysheet and not on the inside on the large inner tent.

Cons:-

Normally much harder to pitch, if its raining hard the inner will get soaked before you get the flysheet over the top of the tent. Double skin tents are mostly dome and pod style so you may have problems with pitch sizes.

The best double skin style of tent is one where you put the outer up first then the inner fills the whole tent and hangs from the outer. The only family size tent i know of like this is the Outdoor revolution 7.0i. This is also a steel framed tunnel style tent so it should be ok re pitch size.

Regards

Gary Cross