Methods To Purchase The Appropriate Tent For Your Camping Holidays

Your choice of tent has a direct effect on your camping vacation. It will definitely make it or break it. Do your homework before you buy a tent so you won’t be disappointed.

First you must decide what type of camping you are going to be doing. Are you going to be back packing or are you doing car camping? Car camping is where you pull your car up to a base camp site.

If you are backpacking it goes without saying that you’ll want as lightweight a tent as you can find and also one that will withstand expected weather conditions. You may want to look into a warm weather tent or single wall tent if you’re camping in summer weather conditions. If you decide you want the comfort of a larger tent, and if you need a 3-season or 4-season tent each backpacker can carry some of the tents components to lighten the load for each.

If you are car camping then the weight of the tent is not a problem for you.

Most families do car camping. The ACA or American Camping Association and KOA or Kampgrounds of America have thousands of camp sites all over the country. You can check their online web sites for information. These sites generally are tree shaded with an area for a grill to be set up. Most have facilities within easy walking distance such as a bathroom, shower, pool and even sometimes light food restaurants.

What you will always want to keep in mind, no matter what type of camping you do is what type of weather you will be camping in.

As mentioned above there are 3-season and 4-season tents. 4-season tents are heavier than 3-season. They are made to withstand heavier winds and rain and the weight of snow on them. Generally if you camp between May and September a 3-season tent will suit your needs.

The size of the tent you choose is a very important consideration.

The first rule of thumb is never to buy a tent that you can’t get into, walk around in, lie down in and stand up in.

In other words find a camping store where the tents are set up.

Now consider how many adults and children will be sleeping in the tent. Will you be using sleeping bags and/or air mattresses? How much gear are you planning to take and stow in the tent? When you visit the store take your sleeping bag with you, or borrow one from the store. Lay it out on the floor in the tent. Now, consider three or four more, depending on the size of your group. How much room is left?

Most seasoned campers will tell you to take the manufacturers recommended number of people a tent will accommodate and divide it by two. If a manufacturer says a tent will accommodate 4 people, it’s really 2. Most two men pup tents are not comfortable for two large adults and are definitely not comfortable for two adults and their gear. Also remember if it rains all your gear will need to go into the tent along with you.

A small tent where there is no head room, such as a pup tent may be fine for some campers, but definitely not those that camp with children.

If you are going to have children camping with you another consideration is that in case of inclement weather you may have your children in your tent longer than you expected. This can definitely lead to some over crowding and short fuses. When you go out to look at tents remember this rule – at least 30 square feet per person is what you want to look for, perhaps even more if you have children. That way they can have a quiet corner to entertain themselves with board games in case of inclement weather.

I frequently write about sports, the outdoors and martials arts. If you enjoyed this article have a look at my previous article regarding martial arts.