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Camping under canvas - Tent talk. Advice, info and recommendations

Topic: Tent with doors that zip fully

thwaiteschris

03/1/2021 at 10:21pm
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Hi There,

This has been asked before, but not recently, so I was hoping for any more up-to-date recommendations.

We need a tent with a sewn in groundsheet where all the doors can zip fully closed. Our dog comes camping with us, and we need to know that he's zipped securely in with us, and not raiding the neighbouring pitches for food!

Ideally it'll have a blackout or dark bedroom of some sort.

Size and spec wise, the Vango Winslow II 500 looks great, but it's not clear from the website whether the doors close at the bottom. I also like the look of the Ferrino Proxes tents, but I'm worried that they'll be too bright in the morning for our toddler kids...

Decisions, decisions... Any recommendations will be very gratefully received!

Anyway

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Fiona W

via mobile 03/1/2021 at 10:40pm
Location: Ayrshire
Outfit: Auto-Sleeper MHs

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Just saying, the tiniest gap at the bottom of a zip is enough for the nose of a determined dog to push in & open it. Been there....
Might be less restricting for the tent choice to use a dog crate: there are canvas ones that pack away small when they’re not needed. Our current mutt travels in one. The dog in our tenting days feared the tent, so she slept happily in the estate car boot - that’s another option, subject to heat / cold considerations.

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Bob61

04/1/2021 at 10:24am
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Most tents that I know of just have velcro at the bottom of the doors, however, if you buy a tent with fly netting on all the doors, the fly netting is usually zipped all the way round so will serve the same purpose.

Don't forget to keep a sharp knife handy in case you need to exit the tent quickly in an emergency.

Francais

04/1/2021 at 11:30am
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Our Cabanon Biscaya which has a ZiG, has a simple toggle affair, on the outside that connects the zip ends together, to prevent the door/ZiG from working itself open, I don’t think it’s a exclusive feature to Cabanon, so other tent makes will probably have the same system.

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dk168

04/1/2021 at 6:10pm
Location: Devizes Wiltshire
Outfit: MWB VW Crafter PVC

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My dog, a very inquisitive Border Terrier, figured out that if he bashed his nose against the point where 3 zips meet at the bottom of the door enough times, he could make a big enough hole for him to wiggle out.

Hence he had to be tethered inside the tent using a long training lead wrapped around the centre pole of my Dutch pyramid tent.

The other option was to hook up the taps of 3 zips using a small karabina on the outside, which I found fiddly.

DK

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Caligula

04/1/2021 at 11:05pm
Location: Suffolk
Outfit: Very variable

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Some bell tents have large enough holes in the zip toggles to nominally lock the tent? (As I'm sure others will?) As DM says above, a caribiner, or a split ring or a piece of cord?

GoDutch

via mobile 31/1/2021 at 7:54pm
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To overcome the small holes in the zips just use some guy line, thread it through the small hole in the zip and tie it to make a small loop on each zip. 3 loops to now secure with a clip. Much easier to fasten and also easier to remove when you need to exit the tent and secure enough to stop the dog making a bid for freedom.

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DeborahTurner

via mobile 05/2/2021 at 10:07pm
Location: London
Outfit: Vango Kalu Hypercamp Eldorado

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The Vango tents I have used have the zip all the way round mesh and window door, zipped to the groundsheet, and as any parent of toddlers will tell you you need to zip both zips to the top on one side rather than letting them meet in the middle at the bottom where little fingers or damp noses can open them.

Monty15

06/2/2021 at 11:46am
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524

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Never really given much thought to it, but also been grateful for the condensation limiting ventilation provided by the door bottom 'gap' which seems to be pretty common.

I too have an inquisitive and inventive Border Collie dog, I crate her when not supervising her as she WILL find a way out if it's possible.

I have an oldish Outwell Glendale tent that whilst it has an opening at bottom of outer weather door has fully zipped inner mesh flyscreen, this IIRC has two runners on a single zip, so you can choose where the runners meet, enabling you to place them high up so dog noses can't reach to force them open (assuming it's not a Great Dane!)! I'm sure that is not unique to my tent.

I would strongly advise against 'securing' zip tags, in case you need to evacuate the tent in an emergency and any delays hamper your exit! I can think of two incidents where there have been fires on neighbouring pitches and being out of your unit ASAP was wise!

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