Tents suitable for Girl Guide unit

LucyBliss

I need some advice about tents. I'm a Girl Guide leader and when we reopened the unit a couple of years ago, we inherited a few tents that turned out to be bought in Lidl (I know but when you're a voluntary group, you work with what you have) and on our last camp in May, the continuously wet and windy weather (seriously it didn't stop all weekend) meant that our tents are now fit for nothing but the scrap heap. Poles snapped and guylines tore parts off the tent and frankly I am done with them. DONE!

Ahem.

So the unit needs new tents. I've decided to go pricing them and researching them now so I'm going about at the last minute for next summer's camp.

We'd be looking for tents that would fit six girls. They also need to be the kind that kids between the ages of 10 - 15 can safely and competently put together themselves. And while it's great to be able to stand up in a tent like it was in our last ones, I gotta say that it just meant more problems when the wind picked up and the tent was shaking like crazy so I'd be willing to sacrifice standing up in them for something that would be secure enough in bad weather.

Our budget wouldn't be great, which is why we ended up with Lidl tents in the first place, but if I know what I'm looking for we can do some fundraising to get something better during the year. But I doubt I could spend more than 300euro on one because I would need around 2/3 tents depending on my numbers next year. But while I'm unwilling to blow our entire budget on tents, I would be happy to get something a bit dearer as an investment. If that makes sense.

All and any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Tabnabs

There's a Scouting and Guiding forum hidden away on boards http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=617 you could try there for some experienced advice.

There's also a great forum based in the UK with a Scouting Leaders subforum http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=21

Bannasidhe

LucyBliss wrote: »

I need some advice about tents. I'm a Girl Guide leader and when we reopened the unit a couple of years ago, we inherited a few tents that turned out to be bought in Lidl (I know but when you're a voluntary group, you work with what you have) and on our last camp in May, the continuously wet and windy weather (seriously it didn't stop all weekend) meant that our tents are now fit for nothing but the scrap heap. Poles snapped and guylines tore parts off the tent and frankly I am done with them. DONE!

Ahem.

So the unit needs new tents. I've decided to go pricing them and researching them now so I'm going about at the last minute for next summer's camp.

We'd be looking for tents that would fit six girls. They also need to be the kind that kids between the ages of 10 - 15 can safely and competently put together themselves. And while it's great to be able to stand up in a tent like it was in our last ones, I gotta say that it just meant more problems when the wind picked up and the tent was shaking like crazy so I'd be willing to sacrifice standing up in them for something that would be secure enough in bad weather.

Our budget wouldn't be great, which is why we ended up with Lidl tents in the first place, but if I know what I'm looking for we can do some fundraising to get something better during the year. But I doubt I could spend more than 300euro on one because I would need around 2/3 tents depending on my numbers next year. But while I'm unwilling to blow our entire budget on tents, I would be happy to get something a bit dearer as an investment. If that makes sense.

All and any suggestions greatly appreciated!

PM sent as not sure of forum charter re: linking to a company.

BarryD

I think that's why Vango Force Ten tents were popular with scout groups for many years. Heavy, but pretty bombproof and with a bit of care will last for decades. http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?14759-Vango-Force-10-Classic-Review

Orion

Our scout group has Force Ten's (or Jaffas as the scouts call them). The tents themselves are fine but I don't like the triangles - they break too easily - and that you pitch inner first.

You'd pick up some Vango 6 man tents for under 300 if you shop around. I think Charles Camping do discounts for scout groups. Just don't buy from the scout shop without shopping around - they're stupidly overpriced.
Here's a 6 man for €289.

Talk to some of the other scout and guide groups near you too - the leaders will be more than happy to give you advice as to what works for their scouts and where they get their tents. I'm sure they'd show you what they have in the stores too so you can see what they look like and judge if they're suitable for your needs.

You're right to consider it an investment. Things like the Force Tens last for years if looked after but cost about €400 each initially. Worth paying for quality and looking after them than buying cheap and having to replace them in a couple of years.

LucyBliss

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Appreciate it.

time lord

O mearas camping, Irish and online have a section for scouts and guides patrol tents if only to see what's about.

LucyBliss

O'Meara's is a great site. I remember back in the 1980's, my family rented a couple of tents from them a few summers in a row and we all headed off down to County Kerry for a few weeks. Of course back then, it was my father's job to deal with the tents so I was sitting pretty! Oh, how things have changed!

They mostly show the icelandic tents for the scouts and guides. We did bring one on camp with us, we use them as store tents. Actually, they're the tents that we used to camp in when I was a Guide. The only problem with them is that they're bulky and heavy and the lightweights are so much easier to handle and pack into a bus.

tomc

Hi

Dont go down the road of buying dome tents unless they are for 2 or 3 peeps, they become big and unstable if bigger. If I could give one piece of knowledge gained from 20+ years of scouting it would always, always go for a Blacks Icelandic tent. Sure its old school, heavy, pricey, awkward but you wont regret it when there is a gale out and its pidlling rain. We are a resurgent Scout group and we are only now starting to replace our 30 year old Icelandic tents, once the guides are practiced then they are a piece of cake.

TomC

LucyBliss

tomc, that's true for you. On our last camp, the only tent that was in no danger of the pegs or poles flying out of the ground was the icelandic tent that my girls were sleeping in. Thanks for the input.

BarryD

I'll add one or two other observations, I never brought the same gang of young people camping as in scouting but as an outdoor pursuits instructor, we frequently organised overnight camps for school groups, often twice a week. Many of these would never have camped before so one's modus operandi was to get them camping for the one night with as much enjoyment for them and as little hassle as possible for yourself. You get pretty good at it after a while...

The most efficient way was to bring the group together and show them collectively how to put up a tent and take it down. Ditto for lighting a stove. The group of teenagers would then be split into tent units; 4, 5, 6 depending on what tents were available and off you'd go. When I started first it was all ridge tents, Force Tens etc. Later centre switched to dome tents. Well with the ridge tents, if we had say 5 tents in the group, you could be fairly certain that at least 3 groups would manage it fine first time. You might have to help 1 or 2 groups. When we got the dome tents, that reversed sharply and nearly all groups needed assistance. So that tells you something about usability.

Also with group camping, I think the leader/ instructor can do a lot to help prevent problems before they become an issue:
- site selection and try and avoid pitching in strong winds/ rain.

- check each tent after it's erected and before it's swamped with gear. Are poles in correctly? Are there sufficient pegs and put in at the right angle? etc.

- if staying in one spot a few days, check periodically.

- keep an eye on weather forecast and local weather. If it's going to lash and get windy, have a quick look over, put up/ tighten guyropes. Warn the groups again to keep gear away from outer tent etc.

- when it does lash and blow a gale, keep an eye out and see if any issues are developing with the tentage.

- before you pack up, do a quick look over each tent and note any repairs that might need to be done back at base. Mark if you can with chalk etc. It's much easier to spot and find problems when the tent is still up.

- try and avoid taking down tents in strong winds and preferably wait till they've dried. Have some system for checking that all the poles and pegs and other bits are collected for each tent.

- back in base, dry properly, attend to repairs and store loosely.

And so ends my treatise on group camping and how to make it easier on yourself and more enjoyable for all

LucyBliss

Thanks BarryD. Some good points there, which I've done with the girls over the years because yeah, introducing the girls to the mechanics of putting up a tent for the first time actually on site? Recipe for disaster! We normally devote three meeting before camp to everything camp related so there's plenty of time for questions. (Like the bright spark one year who told me that she didn't need to buy a bivvy bag for her bedding roll because her mother said sure wouldn't she going straight from the bus to the tent and it wouldn't get wet. Uh-huh. Let's just say the other girls swiftly disabused her of this notion).

Interesting what you say about the dome tents and how the group seemed to manage easier with the other tents.

eirator

Another +1 for Vango Force Tens. Easy to pitch (flysheet first if its raining) and will take anything the Irish weather will throw at them. But never broken any of the "triangles" which are available as spares, when I worked selling tents for Blacks Camping and Leisure years ago we kept the Vango spares and never sold any of them?