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welcome to UKCS,

The Esvo Dakota is a lovely tent, we did wonder about there not being a groundsheet but we ended up just cutting an old tarp to shape and use that as a groundsheet.

We also found that this helped if packing up wet then the tent canvas does not come in contact with the ground and get covered in mud.

As for drying the canvas at home all we have done with our Dakota and Hypercamp is lay them out in front of the fire and keep turning them around.

My theory is that as canvas is a breathable material then the moisture will find it easier to evaporate.

A canvas tent without a sig is easier to put over a bannister or a fence (if it's dry outside) but if you do have a sig you can put a garden chair or something similar inside to help circulate the air.

A tent without a sig doesn't necessarily need a groundsheet to be attached to the tent. You just lay the groundsheet out, peg the corners and pitch the tent on top. If you do it neatly you can get quite a good seal and hopefully prevent any drafts from coming in. Obviously you'll not have any drafts in a tent with a sig but then the whole tent is much heavier to carry. It's swings and roundabouts, and I do empathise - it's a hard decision to make.

hi there! i cannt comment on canvas tents for you as they're a bit pricey for us atm but we do have a tent with a SIG, only bought it this year after reading about them on here and i would def allways have these kind of tents now as they are soo cosy and great in bad weather to zip yourself in and keep rain and draught free!

ours is one that only takes three poles to erect, wich is so very easy to put up and i'm sure that without my hubby there to help then i could but it up on my own, its got a huge area to sit in and the novelty of the SIG kept us oohing and ahhing all weekend.

Klutzy.

we just use a groundsheet for our Dakota we dont bother with a seperate Footprint.

If the tent has a SIG then i would recomend a seperate footprint as it saves having to try and clean mud from the SIG.

Some canvas tents do have protection against midgies, the Dakota does not have any unless you keep the door closed. Although the inner sleeping pod does offer protection at night and is made from a dark red material which also stops the sun waking you up too early;)

The full bag weight of the Dakota is 19.5kgs which includes everything.

I'd look towards the guadeloupe or the obelink rosas for a weeks camping rather than the noumea

weight of the guadeloupe is 24kg as opposed to the noumea 17kg though (rosas is 28kg)