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Hi,

I'd like some recommendations on a 2 man tent. It's for my partner and I, it's our first tent, i suppose initially we'll be camping one or two days on weekends and possibly a week or so near the end of the summer.

I've not camped since i was younger so i'm not sure about the details. I guess it would be useful to have a covered area seperate from the sleeping area for storage and possible cooking too? What do you think?

Thanks for any help,

Ross

Hi Ross & welcome to the forum

For two of you, you need to look at a 3-man tent at least. The manufacturers seem to think that all campers are stick-insects & only use a narrow roll-mat when they state the berth size of a tent

Thanks for the replies everyone.

It's a good job you mentioned going one up on the size, i was definately going to get a 2. I was just thinking that like sleeping bags that the more wasted space the more dead air to warm, but if it's unbareably small then 3 man sounds good.

Do most people have a seperate tent for cooking etc in then? One requirement i do have (and a lot of people do i suspect), is that the tent goes up pretty quick. I must admit that having to spend 20 minutes putting a tent up in the pouring rain might not go down so well with the OT. I was thinking something closer to 5-10 minutes.

Also, i'm not really up on the different materials of tents (i.e. what's hot and what's not). I know from the clothing world that goretex is breathable and waterproof, but i don't know what the big material players are in tents. What does everyone recommend (I realise this may be different for everyone). I live in the south-west and it rains quite consistently so something that can stand up to some heavyish rain and wind would be good.

Thanks again,

Ross

It's risky to cook in a polyester tent, so a lot of owners use a utility or day tent for cooking in. It is safer to cook in a canvas tent, in fact nearly all canvas frame tents have a kitchen area with vented window.

Canvas tents will last up to 30 years, easy to erect, are cooler in summer & warmer in winter, have full standing height if it's a frame tent & you can cook inside. Also canvas doesn't suffer with condensation like synthetic tents do. With the metal poles, they feel far more secure in stormy weather, and don't flap about in winds. The downside to canvas tents is that they take up more space in the car. There are many bargains to be had on ebay with second-hand frame tents.

Polycotton tents are fairly new on the market, so the life expectancy isn't really known yet. They take up less space than a canvas tent. However, they are  expensive, and being so new on the market there are very few second-hand ones available.

Synthetic tents have a lifespan of up to seven years. They are available with sewn-in-groundsheet/sip-in-groundsheet (living area as well as bedroom pods), take up less space in the car. Some have metal poles, some have fibreglass poles. They do suffer with condensation, so they need to be vented well. They can get hot inside if we have any of that summer sunshine which we used to have up till a couple of years ago  Risky to cook inside them. Easier to dry them out at home if you pack up in wet weather. Cheaper to buy new than either canvas or polycotton, and bargains to be had second-hand too.

As regards the time to erect a tent, most 'standing height' tents take 20 minutes or more to erect & fully peg out. Khyam do 'quick erect tents', the poles are attached to the polyester flysheet & you just have to click the joints to erect it, but you still have to peg it out & peg the guy ropes out too. The only really quick to erect tents are the Quechua pop-up tents with a base tent as the living area.